How I Followed My Intuition & Became a Flight Attendant | My Aviation Journey

I share the real story of how I became a flight attendant, including the rejection, the long waits, and the moment I failed training by one question. The bigger lesson is how trusting my inner voice and staying persistent reshaped my confidence, my career, and my life as a mom and business owner. 
• moving across Canada with only a clear goal in mind 
• trying to learn French in Montreal to improve airline hiring odds 
• what flight attendant training is really like, including strict standards and nonstop exams 
• failing near the end of training and rebuilding from disappointment 
• taking a ground role as a GSA and finding unexpected purpose in customer care 
• meeting my husband through airport work and navigating fast life changes 
• losing my role during the pandemic and rethinking the dream as a new mom 
• applying again, passing training, and handling reserve life and commuting 
• the unglamorous reality of the job, including medical emergencies 
• a funny midflight moment searching for a passenger’s dentures 
• how travel and layovers change perspective and strengthen gratitude 
If you're not already following me, you can find me on Instagram at immarisa.xo. 
If this episode resonates, spread the love like you would need to have by sharing this podcast and tagging me so that I can personally thank you. 
And if you are feeling extra loving, leaving a review helps light up another beautiful soul and supports the growth of this space. 

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xoxo, M

Transcript

Welcome To The Inner Beacon

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Inner Beacon. I am your host, Larissa. I'm a Canadian girl mama of two, business owner, flight attendant, and a certified self-love coach. You are in the right place if you are ready to lead your life from within. To reconnect with your intuition, trust yourself deeply, and reclaim your power. My goal and intention here is to inspire and empower you.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

And for fun, I might even add some flight attendant content and travel tips.

The Leap Toward Aviation

Training Reality And A Hard Fail

Ground Work Love And Pandemic Loss

Second Try As A Mom

What Flying Is Really Like

Trust Your Inner Ping

SPEAKER_01 0:30

And I'm so glad you're here. So let's dive into today's episode. Alright, welcome to today's podcast. Today I'm going to be talking about my journey into becoming a flight attendant, what that looked like, and you'll kinda I kind of speak a little bit about in my episode called Trust Your Inner Compass to Rewrite Your Life, how I followed an inner ping to basically leave the life I always knew, pack up my life, pack my life into two suitcases, and moved across the country about a decade ago and to f to pursue flight attending. However, it wasn't as easy as it sounds. And today I'm going to talk a little bit about that and bring you into my experience in aviation and how I got to where I am today. Now, my journey into becoming a flight attendant wasn't easy, but it's per it's a perfect example of how everything doesn't go how you expect it, but happens for a reason we don't always understand. And I went through a lot of uncertainty, rejection, waiting around, and a lot of moments where I questioned myself, and I'm gonna talk about that today. How it really wasn't easy, and I but for whatever reason, I didn't let that stop me because I knew where I was headed. I knew that even though I was taking this leap of faith, that didn't make any sense to anybody. And like I I literally moved without a plan, really, except for that I wanted to become a flight attendant. So initially I had moved to Montreal, Canada, to learn from my my attempt to learn French. And because I thought that because I lived in Canada and that being the second language, that one of the reasons why I wasn't getting any responses for my application in uh pursuing flight attendant was because I didn't speak French. So I thought, maybe I'll go learn. I speak Portuguese and some broken Spanish, so maybe it'll help me. But in fact, like I went in the first two months or almost three, I was studying French and I was looking for work there. I was staying with my friend and her family who mainly speak Portuguese and English. So I wasn't really like diverse in it because I didn't really get out much out outside of that and in the uh the French classes that I was taking. But I actually found it a little bit confusing because a lot of the words that may be masculine in Spanish or Portuguese would be feminine in French, and that really threw me off. Like I get how similar like the Latin languages are, like they have the conjugations of the masculine and the feminine, which we don't have in English. So that does help having that background. But anyhow, I stayed on. I was there for a little while for more a couple more months. I was working at an Airbnb and still applying for in flight. And then I did get a response to one of the airlines in Canada who had hired who gave me a formal like hiring. But what happens is when you bec when you get hired, quote unquote, initially, you actually have to pass a seven weeks, or at least for the company I work in for now is seven weeks. Every company may have more or less weeks, but you have to pass that training in order to actually get the job. And it is not, it is not easy, guys. It's very intensive military-style training. You have exams basically every other day. You're you have homework, like reading to do every night, so that you are prepared for the next lesson for the next day. But then at the same time, you also have to do all the studying from the day of. Like the airline has where you'll be operating. So, if, for example, it has a fleet of seven different aircrafts, you have to learn all the safety procedures, all where the safety equipment is of that particular aircraft. And it's obviously taken very seriously because you have you do have to, there's transport Canada rules that you have to follow, and it's very, very strict. And you will literally get talked to if you have flyaways on your hair, like if your hair is not perfect. Anyway, so I did get on a wait list at initially when I first got the congratulations, you're I guess quote unquote, hired. And you are you are paid for training, and for that particular company, the training would have been in Calgary. I did wait a while and it was very unlike again, like uncertainty of like what was gonna happen. And then when I finally did get the email saying when my training was, the company flew me out to Calgary, and I was there for the weeks that I was going through the experience, and I almost made it. I do think that like having some experience in aviation previous does help, but not required. But in my first experience into the training, I did make it almost to the end, and then I failed one of the exams. And I believe for that company, I can't remember now, I feel like it's been so long ago, but I think you could only get one retest for the written. There's and there's written exams and there's practical exams. Yeah, so I I didn't do so well, and it was literally by one question, which is the most frustrating thing. And like when you're doing if you're going into this and you're listening to this because you're you want to pursue flight ascending, when you're doing the exams, really, really, really focus on reading every word because they trick you. But yeah, I didn't make it through trading, but at that time, because they were gonna be basing me out of Toronto, I had already made arrangements to go live in Toronto. A girlfriend of mine actually was going back to BC, and so I was gonna take over her room for the first little while until she got back, which is awesome. And so I did end up moving to Toronto, and within like the first 24 hours or so of being in Toronto, I got two waitressing jobs right away and started working. And because what the trainers had told me when I got, I guess, left from the training, they said, you know what, like try again in six months. And if I if you need a little bit of a push to get you back into the system when you're going for your interviews and stuff, that they would put in a good word. So I was in touch with that guy who said that. And six months later, he actually sent me an email saying, Oh, listen, we have a different position on the ground that you might want to look into. If you if you apply, let me know and I'll put in a word and then I'll help you through the process to getting in. I thought, hmm, okay, once I get in the company, then maybe it might be easier to get uh in flight again. Plus, it doesn't hurt, it's a one step forward, and I'm I'm kidding, you guys. Everything that I'm talking about, every part of this experience happened for a reason though. So I did work with a company as a GSA, which is basically like a guest service ambassador, and I helped mostly with wheelchairs for the flights, and I loved my job. I honestly like this whole the thing I love about aviation too is I'm I'm being able to use my second language slash third language. So a lot of the that company didn't fly to Portugal, but we did have people that were connecting onto another airline that was, or we had a lot of the Latin countries coming in and I was able to help them, especially knowing like I came from Canada, not speaking English initially at nine years old, and it's so comforting to come in and somebody understanding you, especially when you're traveling, because it could be very daunting and scary for some people, depending on what what your experience, if it's your first time flying or whatever. So that gives you a little bit of home and comfort, and that's one of two of my favorite things about the airline. I love I also love just like hearing different stories and people where people are from, because we get people from all walks of life, and it's it's really fun. Anyway, so I did the GSA position and I tried for in-flight within the company a few times, but I didn't, I wasn't getting any success with that, and because I worked on the ground, that's actually my and my husband at the time. Well, he wasn't my husband then, but what he was doing was he was working for another company that did the baggage for the airline I worked for. So he was also working in the same terminal, and we actually met because of that job. Had I not worked that position, maybe we would have never met. And you may have heard from my story before that, you know, things happened very fast when we did finally start to date, and we were pregnant. So we started dating in December, moved in by February, and by June we were pregnant with baby number one. And from that, I ended up going on maternity, still as a GSA. And what happened was I had my baby in a pandemic. And during that pandemic, while I was on maternity, I actually got packaged out. So the company wanted to get an outside external company to do my position. So the good news with that is I still have benefits for that company for until December of this year, actually. And and so when my maternity leave ended, I didn't have a job to come back to. So at the time, I wasn't sure what I was gonna do. I was thinking, okay, like I'm a mom now, like becoming a flight attendant, it's gonna look a little bit different. Am I still able to pursue this? Because like I don't have family to have like that support. Is my husband gonna be okay? But he was actually the one that pushed me to apply because he knew how I like he knew my story. He knew that I've always wanted to be become a cabin crew. So he actually said, you know what? Like, apply for the job. I applied for the a different company at this time. And if you get it, we'll figure it out between the two of us. Like, we own our own company, so it is easy to kind of book my jobs because I only work half the month. Flight attendants only work 75 to 80 hours a month. And because it's our own company, we can book his jobs around the days that I'm not working. Anyhow, I applied and I did get a response maybe a month and a half or so after that, and I was in shock. So he's like, okay, let's do this. Like, I got into the training, I it was very intense, but this time I made it through, and I was so proud of it. I was in tears by the end. But the thing is, I was persistent. It didn't like I it wasn't like, oh, in my head, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna move across the country, I'm gonna learn French, you know, I'm gonna pursue this, it's gonna happen. And it happened. I was persistent. I I kept on, especially when I was still working on the ground as a GSA, I kept on it applying and applying and applying, and like it wasn't happening at the time, but everything happens for a reason because the company that I was working for then, like I said, didn't have flights to Portugal. My language didn't make any sense, and so when I got rehired with this company, it makes more sense because we fly to can't to countries who speak the the language that I speak, and at this time I think I was just in a different headspace too. And anyways, I made it through training, and at first, the first year or so we're on what we what's called reserve, which is basically you're on call, so you know which days you're gonna be on call, but you don't know if you're getting called where you're flying, so your bag always has to be ready. A lot of uncertainty there still, and I actually was given Calgary as my base. So I actually had to commute for my first three months before they actually gave me a one-way transfer to be based out of Toronto. And as a mom of like a two-year-old who just started daycare, I actually had my mom come in and help us for the first little while. And luckily, I didn't have to get what we call a crash pad. So if you're a commuter as a flight attendant and you work, your base is somewhere else where you live, you have to make sure that you're flying over to your station on the beginning of your days that you're on call or meant to be working. And I didn't have flight benefits with this company for the first six months. So luckily, because I was packaged out with the other one, and I did make sure with the company first when they hired me and gave me this offer that it was okay to do so. There was, I just had to be more discreet, and when I was commuting out of uniform, etc. But because I had the flight benefits with the old company, I was able to commute to Calgary for this. And it was so hard because I wasn't getting called as much because it's a smaller base, so I was commuting, flying to commute and paying for my way there more than I was actually operating the flights for the first three months. But luckily, I did get that one-way transfer after the three months. But yeah, it was not easy being away from home when I could have been at home instead of twiddling my thumbs somewhere else. And I didn't get a crush back because I did have a girlfriend. I have some friends out in Calgary, and she had a spare room and she was very kind to let me stay with her. I'm very grateful for that. Again, like just things like aligned, and it wasn't the perfect situation, it wasn't what I initially want, like would think it would have been, but it is what it is, and that was part of my journey. And then yeah, when I started based back in Toronto, I actually started to get some really cool flying. I got a lot of I got called a lot for Brazil because of language, and it's been a fun journey. Now, I because in this company too, like you're on call for as long as you are, depending on your seniority, before you can actually hold a block. And what that means when you're holding a block is that you actually have dedicated flights assigned to you for the month. Instead of being on call, I actually know where I'm going, I know where what days I'm actually working, what times and stuff, which has been like ever since so I had my second daughter in 2023. Uh, so I was on maternity leave, and then when I got back to flying again this time around, I was holding a block uh which was new from beforehand when I was on reserve. So it says different side of the contract, but it's been and and my wage went up. Like you already kept on going up, which is really cool. But yeah, that was how I became a flight attendant. The journey was not easy and it took years, but I stayed on point, I stayed persistent, I kept on showing up, and everything apart about this journey was very uncertain and sometimes discouraging for sure, but I still kept on threading the needle, and that's the thing about me. Like when I get these inner pings, I just and I just know I just have like an inner knowing like this is just what I'm meant to do. Same as like coaching and same as how I show up online. I just stay persistent and I just keep following because as I do and as you learn, listen, the only way that you're gonna fail is if you give up. If you keep on threading the needle, and if you keep persisting, even when it makes no sense, even when it feels like all la like you're not gonna get it, it's out of your reach. Keep going. I kept on showing up and trusting myself, even when nothing around me confirmed that it was actually gonna happen or that it would come, but I just knew in my heart that I just had to keep trying. And here I am. And I'm a flight attendant, I'm a mom, I own a business, I own two, technically two businesses. I'm showing up on here. I have I I wear so many hats, but the thing is when there's passion and just like a knowing that this is what you're meant to do, you make it happen. Even when it doesn't look exactly how you expected it to, you're being guided to where you're meant to. And having experienced aviation on the ground, I think actually helped me for my in-flight training the second time around. I came in with more confidence. My when I initially wanted to pursue flight attending, I I was at a place where I'm like, I don't know if kids is in the picture for me or if that was gonna happen, but at the time I had that freedom to just, you know, choose whatever. So when I reapplied the sec for the second airline, there was that uncertainty of like, how am I gonna make this happen? Is this still for me? I'm a mom now. Like, how is it gonna be being away from my child? But then at the same time, what job can you actually say that you only work half of the month? So I'm actually home more than people think. And everything that I went through gave me more resilience. It wasn't the way, you know, like navigating, I had to navigate it a little bit different, but I still made it happen. This job doesn't give me just a career, it changed the way I see myself. And it's giving me balance in my life because I can do this on my layovers, and you know what? If you're most light attendants have like a second thing that they do, like a thing on the side, but also like you you kind of need it because it's this job isn't for everybody. If you like being alone, you spend a lot of time alone in the hotels, and like you do get to miss you, you do miss Christmases sometimes, Thanksgiving. I did this year, but it's also given me so many blessings because I have family literally everywhere but where I live. And the first year when I was on reserve, I hadn't seen my dad post-pandemic. And the first Christmas that I was on, I was on airport standby on reserve, and I actually ended up being able to get a San Jose flight. So I was able to fly on Christmas Day to see my dad, and I was in literal tears. Like, I get to go on labors and have breakfast with my mom in Vancouver and then come right back home to my babies. So there's a blessing, and you have to like obviously flying. If flying's not for you, this isn't for you. You have to be able to go with the flow because like changes in operation happen, and there's a lot of it's not a glamour as glamorized as it may they make it seem. And also we're not just we're not just serving coffee and drinks and cookies and pretzels. What we do is so much bigger. For example, yesterday I actually had a a kid who had a seizure, and this was just before the 10-minute mark of when we were supposed to land, and then when we got on the ground, like paramedics had to come on, and like so. We're the first to attend these kind of things that happen. We are literally taught how to give birth on on the aircraft, like that's part of the training that we go through. The the very intensive, like first eight stuff that we go through. There is a reason why the training is the way it is, and I guess I'll give you that. Like, that's a really bad, like that's probably one of the worst so far situations that I've had medical-wise. But then there's always like it's customer service, right? Something funny that happened a couple like it was last month. I was doing a Columbia flight, and a gentleman at first I thought he was saying that he had lost his keys. So I'm asking the custom the the passengers next to him to move so we can kind of like look underneath. I'm looking for keys. I'm like, this was there any key chains or anything? And he goes, like, no, ma'am, my dentures. Like he he lost his teeth. When you think you have heard everything or seen everything, and of course I'm like trying not to laugh. I'm trying to be empathetic. And yeah, so the people in front, the people that like we were looking for his dentures. Later in the flight, I did come back and he did end up finding his dentures, everybody. But yeah, I told you I was gonna do some fun stuff. That's a fun story that I uh that I could share. So it's not like I said, we have people from all walks of life, and you know, like sometimes it's it's heartful. Like you see the mamas struggling to travel on their own, and I completely get that because I've done it plenty of times, so I try and help as much as I can. There's the people that are traveling to go to funerals, there's the people who are traveling to go on vacation, like for spring break. We just had a lot of spring breakers, so like we see everything, and every day is different, which I think I love, and that's what makes me thrive a little bit because I can't do a nine of five, I can't do the everyday is the same, and we also never or very rarely do I work with the same people, so that's kind of fun. And we go all over the world. I say that, but I've been only able to hold right now mostly domestic flights during the winter and spring, which I don't mind because the time difference isn't as big. And I get to get go to my hotels and do this, you know, do my my coaching or do my podcast. So it's given me freedom to have a little bit of me time, and I honestly think it makes me a better mom because I get that balance because my layovers are for getting my rest that I don't get at home. It's for getting work done because it's quiet and at home it's chaos most of the time. So the joys, but balance. But yeah, this it also makes me see life from different perspectives, not only in the people that are on the on the planes, but being exposed. To different ways of living. So on my last reserve flight before I went on maternity leave with my second baby, I actually did a deli and going into India, I remember being in the shuttle and seeing, looking outside the bus and seeing that there's like buses for females and buses for males. So it was a bit of a culture shock in there. And you know, like sometimes you have a really good crew and you you can go and venture off when you're in another country. But because I didn't really get that with this crew, I didn't feel comfortable leaving the hotel because of that. Yeah, it was definitely different. Hotel was beautiful though. That was the first and only time I've been to India so far. But you definitely get to see how big the world is and how beautiful the world we live is in is, honestly, and how small problems can feel so much bigger. But in the grand scheme of life, like I see people who are suffering and people who are going to see loved ones and just all walks of life, again, and it makes you really feel grateful. And I am. I'm so grateful that I followed my inner ping and that I am living the life that I'm living, even when it's hard. It's definitely worth it. And the reason why I'm sharing this is just because it's an example of how I followed my inner ping and how it didn't work out the way I wanted, or not the way I wanted, that's the word I'm rooting. It didn't work out the way I expected it, but it worked out the way it was meant to. And you can too. If you have this vision, or if there's anything that you're holding in your heart, if you're it's meant for you. There's a reason why that was put there. Follow it. Details don't matter. Just follow that and trust that it'll work itself out. You really don't need to have everything figured out. You just need to trust that what's being placed in your heart is meant for you. And now that's kind of one of the bigger purposes of why I do what I do. By guiding women through this and learning how to reconnect with themselves and trust that inner voice again, your intuition. Let my journey be an example to you of how every little part of this story connected and worked in the way that I was meant to. Had I not worked on the ground and had that experience, I wouldn't have come in confidently, more confidently in the second time around. I wouldn't have had my now husband and two beautiful girls. And I evolved, I kept on going, I kept on persisting, and here I am. Just an example once again. But it's up to you to make the decisions to get you where you want to go. Now, if you liked this and you want to hear more about my aviation, my flight attendant, my experiences, and more stories and whatever else, reach out, let me know because I'd love to do that for you. Any feedback on what you're enjoying about the podcast is great and gives me directions how I can best serve you. So find me on my Instagram. You could either message the I am Marisa one that I speak about here or the Inner Beacon podcast is another one. Anyways, it was lovely conversating and sharing my story here with you today. See you on the next one. Thank you for spending this time with me here on the Inner Beacon. If you're not already following me, you can find me on Instagram at immarisa.xo. And if this episode resonates, spread the love like you would need to have by sharing this podcast and tagging me so that I can personally thank you. And if you are feeling extra loving, leaving a review helps light up another beautiful soul and supports the growth of this space. I am so glad you're here. I'll meet you on the next episode.