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Vernice "Flygirl" Armour - Military Profile
Latest Books:
Zero to Breakthrough: The 7-Step, Battle-Tested Method for Accomplishing Goals that Matter
In this book Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour demonstrates she is a force to be reckoned with and believes that women and men from all walks of life have the potential to achieve the highest levels of success with the right flight plan. Within Zero to Breakthrough, Vernice turns aspiration into action by revealing how to create the path that will get you out of your rut on onto the runway – cleared for take off. Zero to Breakthrough helps readers build a sustainable inner force and conviction that result in accomplishing significant goals and becoming an extraordinary member of any business or community.
Vernice "Flygirl" Armour
America’s First Black Female Combat Pilot;
Author & Diversity Speaker
Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour is a gutsy trailblazer, whose resume is an impressive collection of firsts—including being the first Black woman combat pilot in the US Armed Forces. Prior to that she worked as a police officer, served two tours of duty in Iraq as a marine, and acted as a diversity liaison officer between the Pentagon and Headquarters Marine Corps. Following her military service, Armour revved up her career in the private sector as an entrepreneur, business consultant, and author of Zero to Breakthrough: The 7-Step, Battle-Tested Method for Accomplishing Goals that Matter.
As a speaker, Armour unleashes hard-hitting advice and amazing anecdotes from her adventures on the battlefield and in business. She helps individuals and organizations “get gutsy,” and build a sustainable inner force and conviction that results in accomplishing significant goals.
In 2007, FlyGirl launched VAI Consulting & Training, LLC. Through that work, she helps individuals and organizations make gutsy moves and create breakthrough results by applying her “Zero to BreakthroughTM” Success Model – a mindset that helped to propel her career and kept her safe in air combat. FlyGirl regularly takes her message to premier meetings and conferences worldwide and is a Gutsy Confidence Mentor for elite senior executive Women in Tech.
As her newest business venture, in 2020 FlyGirl started FlyGirl Construction, a General Contracting Firm in the Atlanta, GA area.
As a Black gay woman and single mom, FlyGirl brings vital experience to her role as a member of the Forbes School of Business & Technology Board of Advisors and COMCAST/NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Council.
FlyGirl has two honorary doctorates and has received numerous awards as a pioneering pilot, including honors for her commanding role in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour’s story has been featured in the media including on CNN, MSNBC, The View, FOX News, Oprah Winfrey and many more, along with being a running back for the San Diego Sunfire professional women’s football team and two-time title holder of Camp Pendleton’s Strongest Warrior Competition.
She is currently working on her next book, The Gutsy Move.
- Change | Change Mgmt.
- Communication
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- Inspiring Stories
- Leadership
- Motivational Speakers
- Performance & Productivity
- Team-Work & Collaboration
Cleared Hot!: You Have Permission to Engage +
Employee engagement, customer engagement, team engagement, personal engagement—no matter what area an organization is strategically trying to improve, individuals have to be engaged and execute in order for the plan ahead! The key is giving the permission to engage from the inside out. Once that happens, your organization will be cleared hot! There’s no secret: a solid flight plan is the key.
Give your attendees a fast-paced message that will show how them how to:
- Harness the power of a ‘Breakthrough Mentality’ mindset.
- Lead through mentorship.
- Leverage functional and individual diversity as a strategic advantage.
- Create breakthroughs for their teams with five simple steps.
One need only hear Captain Vernice Armour speak to understand why she is so sought after by CNN and shows such as Tavis Smiley and Oprah. --
Who Needs A Runway: Take Off from Where You Are
The bottom line is that we must move into action from where we are! +
Unfortunately, many people become paralyzed in the preparation phase. Decide what you want, put your stake in the ground and execute. Vernice Armour calls this making a commitment to the commitment. Give your organization the boost they need to come together as a team, understand how their objectives support the overall strategy, and accomplish the mission achieving the desired results. Give your attendees an invigorating perspective that reveals how to:
- Infuse passion in your life professionally and personally.
- Recognize and utilize the skills and talents of everyone around you.
- Lead a Zero to Breakthrough life with a ‘Breakthrough Mentality’ as the foundation.
- Unleash your full potential no matter where you are personally starting from. --
Zero to Breakthrough
A Breakthrough Mentality Creates A Breakthrough Life! +
Put passion back in your life and design the path to your dreams with a ‘Breakthrough Mentality.’ Be inspired by Vernice Armour’s personal story of setbacks, challenges, adventure, success, and triumph. Armour will take you on an amazing journey through her life experiences and, most importantly, the lessons learned. Unleash the personal leadership power needed to take your life to the next level. Attendees will discover:
- How passion, purpose & positive steps create breakthrough results and shape your destiny.
- The tangibility of possibility.
- Delay is not denial and to retreat does not mean defeat.
- How to ignite your spark and make your dreams a reality! --
Driving Diversity Deep into the DNA of Your Organization
One Mission, One Goal, One Team +
Vernice Armour reveals, as a former diversity officer for Headquarters Marine Corps and liaison to the Pentagon, what it took to help a 200,000 personnel organization get back on track. When you bring people together, you will have differences and similarities that result in tension and complexities. This is normal. How you manage diversity is the key. In this keynote, you will discover how to:
- Know your people and harness the power, skills and talents of the team.
- Unleash the full potential of diversity to impact the bottom line.
- Effectively tap into the power of the Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).
- Teach everyone to be an ambassador for diversity.
- Create a culture that values and respects all team members: One Mission, One Goal, One Team! --
For more information, Vernice Armour's speaking schedule and booking Vernice "Flygirl" Armour, contact us. Very SERIOUS booking-related inquiries only.
Your energy and message started the event off on such a high note, and we are so grateful for that! The attendees felt so empowered and motivated after listening to your story—they definitely feel gutsy now!
–Stanford Women in Business (VIRTUAL EVENT)
Your energy and message started the event off on such a high note, and we are so grateful for that! The attendees felt so empowered and motivated after listening to your story—they definitely feel gutsy now!
–Stanford Women in Business (VIRTUAL EVENT)
You have been beyond an inspiration! You are so engaging, motivational, unique, and powerful. We all felt your energy through the screen.
–Iron Mountain (VIRTUAL EVENT)
You are engaging, thoughtful, funny and genuine. Immediately following our virtual session focused on how to actively transform a company, culture and country; C-level executives were raving about how they felt engaged the entire time and felt like they walked away with specific actionable items. The level of passion and customization of your message targeting their specific challenges and leadership level, were a pleasant surprise for many.
–Senior Program Manager, Evanta (VIRTUAL EVENT)
It was a pleasure working with you on this event. Your professionalism and desire to deliver an outstanding presentation made a tremendous difference in the overall quality of our event. I would highly recommend you as a speaker for other organizations, particularly those who want to provide a ‘real life’ example of leadership in action.
–Director, Education & Program Development, Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT)
As the first African American female combat pilot in U.S. history, I am certain your journey has not been an easy one. I am also certain that your presentation will influence VA employees because it speaks to a commitment to succeed. Your focus, your passion, your purpose, and your positive attitude are the necessary tools to handle obstacles and help you overcome any barriers. Your message will inspire all to do his or her personal best.
–Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs
Your comments and insights were integral in making the training program kickoff beneficial to all participants. Members of the training committee received many complimentary comments about the Kickoff. In particular, a few of the comments received are:
- ‘Vernice was so inspiring and enthusiastic. She is awesome. She made us all want to follow our passion and break out of our box!’
- ‘Vernice was absolutely wonderful! I would highly recommend people to listen to her. You can feel the passion!’
Again, thank you for being a part of the CAASD Support Staff Training Program Kickoff and making it an enjoyable day for the participants.
–Sr. Vice President & General Manager, Center for Advance Aviation System Development (CAASD)
We have worked with many speakers over the years, and Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour is among the absolute best. She was more than efficient and capable, and truly exceeded our expectations, from the pre-event prep call, until she walked off the stage into an audience of freshly motivated and energized employees. She absorbed and addressed their challenges and concerns as if they were her own, and expertly incorporated an impressive command of our internal language, culture, and objectives. All while infusing bits of humor and contagious energy. She’s on top of her game and industry trends and understands our current corporate climate as it parallels with leadership strategies. Her step-by-step breakthrough mentality model is relatable, and what is more, executable. And we’re off to the races getting gutsy because of her. She gave my team permission to engage, and I’m excited and braced for a no limits year.
–Group Vice President, Evanta, a Gartner Company
The audience was absorbed by your stories of grit, determination and your lessons learned; you clearly connected with every individual as I could see how engaged people were…thank you for demonstrating that we can make dreams happen and seize the joy that awaits us in this life adventure.
–Managing Director, Diversity & Inclusion, Americas, UBS Investment Bank