Making Room for More: Rethinking What an Aviation Career Can Look Like with Marlis D’Souza

What happens when you love aviation, but it isn’t your only passion? Marlis D’Souza built a career as an aerospace engineer and genuinely loved the work. But she was also an artist. In this episode of AVIATE, Shaesta Waiz sits down with Marlis to talk about stepping away from the expected career path, building a life around more than one passion, and discovering that engineering and art weren’t as separate as they seemed. Marlis shares the realities of building a creative business, what her engineering background brings to her art, and why four years spent building something of her own shouldn’t be viewed as a “career gap.” The conversation also explores a bigger question for aviation: Can we create careers that give talented people room to evolve without asking them to fit into one professional identity? In this episode: • Going against the traditional engineering career path • Building a sustainable life around a passion • How engineering influences Marlis’s art • Why unconventional career paths can build valuable skills • Making room for more than one passion • What Marlis is building toward Explore Marlis’s artwork: ArtsyByM — artsybym.com About AVIATE with Shaesta: AVIATE features conversations with women shaping what comes next in aviation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices