By: Joshua Finley
When Lydia Clancy began her career over two decades ago, she never envisioned herself as an entrepreneur. As a pilot for Virgin Australia, Lydia was living out her childhood dream of taking to the skies. However, after 21 years of navigating a rigid aviation lifestyle, Lydia yearned for more fulfilling work.
Initially uncertain how to proceed post-layoff but fueled by a drive for purpose, Lydia leaned into her personal development skills and began motivating others. This sparked both her first book and inspiration to help entrepreneurs through coaching.
Today, Lydia is an investor, speaker, and coach who runs a flourishing coaching business focused on mindset. Though the initial career pivot felt daunting, Lydia now feels infinitely freer charting her own course as an entrepreneur.
Yearning for Freedom
Lydia recalls feeling uneasy as a pilot by the end. “I started to feel a little bit uneasy sitting in the cockpit. Living out of suitcases for 15 years or so,” she shares. Despite a successful 21-year career and achievements like becoming the first-ever airline pilot from Papua New Guinea to fly for Virgin Australia, Lydia craved more.
The rigid aviation lifestyle had taken its toll, leaving Lydia feeling trapped. “I always wanted to get out and did not know how. I was scared. I felt as if I couldn’t do anything else on my own, so I leaned to my God and faith,” she admits. Though she had invested in personal development for years, self-doubt and societal pressures to conform paralyzed Lydia from chasing her true passions, but she knew God had a plan. The layoff served as the forceful exit Lydia needed but couldn’t manufacture herself; it was a blessing from God.
Learning to Fly Solo
Unsure how to proceed but determined to find purpose, Lydia wrote her first book post-layoff – a self-development book aptly titled “Be Happier By Tomorrow.” Using the skills built through years of personal growth, Lydia began publicly motivating others, too.
“I had multiple media exposures as well. Appeared on multiple TV channels back at home and our radio stations,” she says. The fulfillment from uplifting people sparked Lydia’s entrepreneurial side. She now coaches budding entrepreneurs on mindset and confidence issues, drawing from her own metamorphosis. Lydia also nurtures several budding business investments.
Though initially daunting, Lydia sees entrepreneurship as infinitely freeing compared to aviation. She stresses that while external barriers exist, the true obstacles arise internally. “The challenge is really in our mind, in our head. It’s the mindset, really,” she notes. By working through self-limiting doubts, Lydia channels courage once suppressed under aviation’s rigid hierarchy.
Paying Excellence Forward
Having walked the path from self-doubt to self-actualization firsthand, Lydia feels called to guide other men and women on their journeys now too. “I wanna help inspire and empower people that think their job is who they are,” she shares. All too often, Lydia watched male and female pilots diminish their light simply because aviation suggested they must choose between their race, gender and command.
Through her unique coaching services, speaking engagements, and continued thought leadership, Lydia aims to help both men and women stuck in confining careers or entrepreneurial roadblocks ignite their inner sparks. She urges them to unlock their “inner giant” and define themselves rather than accept society’s limiting labels. She helps individuals to take charge and live a life of design and not by default.
Final Call to Adventure
Though Lydia occupied the pilot seat for over 11,000 hours collectively, this current adventure feels like her first real flight. Unencumbered by other’s expectations and self-limitations, Lydia now charts the course ahead on her own terms.
Lydia Clancy once created history as Virgin Australia’s first-ever airline pilot from Papua New Guinea. Today, she empowers future history-making men and women to take flight too. The sky ahead remains full of endless possibilities. Aim higher than you can reach so when you fall you’ll fall higher than the average human.
To learn more about Lydia Clancy, visit her LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Published by: Holy Minoza
