Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Carole Hopson is a Boeing 737 captain for United Airlines and the author of “A Pair of Wings”, a historical fiction novel about Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn her pilot license. After a successful 20-year career working with iconic brands (the National Football League, Foot Locker, L’Oréal), Carole left the corporate world to pursue her lifelong dream of flying planes.
In this episode of Everyday Better, Carole explains how she transformed her childhood dream into a groundbreaking second-act career. She also shares her five-step plan for making a major career pivot.
“You can have everything. It’s just really hard to have it all at once,” Carole says. “I love crab cakes, and I love chocolate cake, but I would never think about sticking a fork in each and putting them both in my mouth at the same time.”
Subscribe to the Everyday Better newsletter to get more stories about and strategies for turning a stumble into a fresh start: bit.ly/3D91qoe
03:33 – Meet Carole Hopson
07:48 – Leaving corporate America
13:45 – Crafting a career exit strategy
21:21 – The power of starting small
24:49 – Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman pilot
32:55 – Prioritizing discomfort
35:56 – The Black Jet Project
40:45 – Final thoughts
#linkedinnews #everydaybetter #blackmonth #careerpivot
Carole Hopson is a Boeing 737 captain for United Airlines and the author of “A Pair of Wings”, a historical fiction novel about Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman to earn her pilot license. After a successful 20-year career working with iconic brands (the National Football League, Foot Locker, L’Oréal), Carole left the corporate world to pursue her lifelong dream of flying planes.
In this episode of Everyday Better, Carole explains how she transformed her childhood dream into a groundbreaking second-act career. She also shares her five-step plan for making a major career pivot.
“You can have everything. It’s just really hard to have it all at once,” Carole says. “I love crab cakes, and I love chocolate cake, but I would never think about sticking a fork in each and putting them both in my mouth at the same time.”
Subscribe to the Everyday Better newsletter to get more stories about and strategies for turning a stumble into a fresh start: bit.ly/3D91qoe
03:33 – Meet Carole Hopson
07:48 – Leaving corporate America
13:45 – Crafting a career exit strategy
21:21 – The power of starting small
24:49 – Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman pilot
32:55 – Prioritizing discomfort
35:56 – The Black Jet Project
40:45 – Final thoughts
#linkedinnews #everydaybetter #blackmonth #careerpivot
