Flying Through FailurE: How Vulnerability Fuels Success

With a powerful story and breathtaking visuals, Michelle, also known as Mace, takes her audience on a surprising and compelling journey through her career as a Fighter Pilot, culminating in her role as the Lead Solo Pilot for the Air Force Thunderbirds. Mace shares her struggles with self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and finding her identity in a high-performance, type-A culture. Her evolution from struggling with a crippling fear of failure to flying inverted only inches from other aircraft at 500 mph will inspire audiences to get comfortable being uncomfortable. Drawing on over a decade in high-performance aviation and her own transformation, Mace teaches audiences what they are capable of when they let go of fear, lean into vulnerability, and make bold choices.

What people are saying

Your messages around trust, inclusion, imposter syndrome, allowing failure to happen and be ok, really resonate with our workforce.

-Leader, Microsoft

The very honest, poignant, and personal stories you shared provided important and meaningful perspective and inspiration for all of us.

-Headmaster, St. Mark's School of Texas

I have gotten so many emails or people stopping me to thank me for bringing you to campus, they LOVED it... amazingly well received, I am so happy about that since you were a departure from the speakers we usually have.

-Microsoft CELA Team

Michelle's vulnerability, drive, and warmth were a breath of fresh air and a powerful example in how you can be successful in a high-stress, high-profile position, but still maintain your identity. Whether it was sharing a lesson learned the hard way, coaching our team on how to overcome obstacles they face, or providing tools on how to bring your authentic self to work, Michelle was warm and honest, and did not shy away from the tough questions. It was clear that she put the time in before hand to tailor her presentation to our team, and was able to adapt her experiences to connect and impact all of us.

-Program Chair, Boeing

That is exactly what my team needed to hear! You are so inspiring. The quote of the day was, "If MACE can do that, I can go make that sales call I've been avoiding."

-Senior VP, Royal Bank of Canada

Are you looking for an amazing speaker? One that will speak on teamwork, Inspiration, and what it's like to fail and get back up. Without a doubt, in the 40+ years that we've been doing this, I've never seen anyone come up afterwards and say it was the best ever except this time. Michelle connects to her audience on a personal level and if we didn't cut off the questions afterwards she'd still be there. Every one wanted a picture with her. Normally we have 325 members at the meeting, this year 450 members came out to hear her message.

-President, Greater Bergen Association of Realtor