Bessie was the world’s first African American woman pilot, and the first African American to earn an international pilot’s license. Born in January of 1892, she entered our world with an innate yearning to “amount to something,” no matter the odds stacked against her. And those odds stood substantially against her, both as an African/Native American and a female of the South before the era of Civil Rights in America.

Every time I visit John the Mercedes Man (that's how he answers the phone) he has something from the M-B past in different states of restoration. Seeing this 190SL sitting on the lift waiting its full restoration... I kinda nearly fell over.  As he tells me what other models are arriving for him to bring back to life for a collector, it made me consider leaving my life behind and trying on the trophy-wife-strategy on whoever this rich collector was (male/female... who cares?).

Many women today may never know war or discrimination in the way the Spitfire Sisters did during World War Two in Britain. By order of the King, women were not allowed to be involved in combat, much less be members of the Royal AirForce transporting aircraft to troops fighting in the war. This documentary tells their important story and reminds us of our role in contributing to collective identity that is empowering and history making.

I had grown up idolizing women, like Amelia [Earhart], that had infiltrated male-dominated fields, all while preserving their femininity. She was a pilot, a record-breaker, a fashion designer, an author, and much much more. But little did I know that the concept was groundbreaking in itself in context of our society. I just thought they were rad people doing rad things, and it was even cooler that they looked like me. I grew to aspire to be just like them.

As an architect, I often get caught in conversations where I’m pegged as the “designer” who knows nothing about engineering, budgeting, building and lets not forget how we destroy the planet. At one level, being a designer is revered but in the industry I work in, it seems us “designers” are just flamboyant artists who get in the way. Hence I looked to the man behind my Mercedes-Benz 230 for inspiration...