New Jersey Mom Left Six-Figure Jobs and Became a United Boeing 737 Captain at 54

Carole Hopson was comfortable. Executive roles at the NFL, Foot Locker and L’Oréal, a family in northern New Jersey, a solid paycheck. But there was this thing she couldn’t shake: a flight lesson her husband gave her in 1992 that lit a fire still burning 30 years later. Marriage, motherhood and the 9/11 attacks pushed the airline dream back roughly 14 years. She kept saving anyway — around $150,000 for flight training — and finally got the timing right.

At 50, she earned her ATP license. She worked as a flight instructor making $16 an hour, flew for ExpressJet, and joined United Airlines on November 6, 2018, at age 54. Today, at 62, she’s a Boeing 737 Captain based near New York City and one of the small percentage of female aircraft pilots who are Black. Her response to doubters?“It doesn’t matter when you bloom — it just matters that you bloom.”

Her Jet Black Foundation is working to enroll 100 Black women in flight school by 2035, so her second act isn’t just about her own cockpit. What dream have you been dragging along for years — and what’s one tiny step you could take this week to start it?