Making a Career One Piece at a Time

Rachel St. Louis grew up exposed to aviation throughout her life, riding with her father and hungering for the day she could have a plane to call her own. 

While searching for simple, affordable aircraft, she found that the majority of the industry only offered complete kit planes. In order to afford her build, she wanted to purchase each kit piecemeal, but found most vendors at EAA AirVenture 2015 didn't take a 13-year old too seriously, until finding Aerosport, LLC. The distributor introduced St. Louis to the South African BushCat, which would come to be her plane of choice. 

To finance her project, she intensified her small business selling hand-made jewelry, with profits going towards her plane fund. Devoting her products to an aeronautical theme, she used the family trailer as a traveling showroom to move from air shows and expos. Not long after her 14th birthday, St. Louis gave a keynote speech at the 2016 DeLand Sport Aviation Showcase, where she networked and shared her build progress, having recently finished the completed fuselage on display in front of her store. 

From there, she took the store on all the essential aviation stops throughout the year, working away and building her bird one piece at a time. Now 20 and working her way through her second year at Embry-Riddle, she continues her jewelry store adventures in between gaining her ratings and working at You Fly It LLC on their Aerolite 103 ultralight aircraft. 

FMI: https://www.rachelsjewelrymachias.com/