09/18/2020
Employee spotlight
🌟Chantel Baldwin - ACTS Owner/Administer🌟
“Sometimes it feels like I was born to be involved in the aviation world. Maybe even “in my blood” - Grandpa Joe served in the Air Force and also worked for Boeing in Florida during the space launch in 1969 with top secret clearance to all of NASA. Of course I thought that was cool! And my Grandpa Wes would tell me about his float plane lessons at Kenmore Air on Lake Washington when I was a little girl.
Since I was 6 my siblings and I travelled multiple times a year to and from our Dad’s house in Palmer, Alaska – and our Mom’s house on Whidbey Island, Washington. We flew as unaccompanied minors and you can imagine it was sometimes tough on us to say goodbye to either parent - I have vivid memories of the flight attendants that would assist us on those flights and they made a huge impact on me by making my transition from parent to parent run a little smoother. Often that looked like an extra handful of pretzels, but the times that meant the most were when they kept the Kleenex boxes full while I cried through the flight.
Being a flight attendant wasn’t ever my life’s biggest aspiration, but being kind to people always has been. Naturally, because of my own positive experiences with the flight attendants, I associated that job as an opportunity to be in positive relationship with others, but was even more appealing because it coincided with my interest in flying. I always had the FA thing in my back pocket but ended up pursuing a career in cosmetology after high school to love on people that way. I attended Paul Mitchell the school in Utah in 2011 and after graduating moved back to my hometown to work in the salon. 4 years into doing hair I still loved using it as an avenue to make positive relationships but I happened upon an ad from Alaska Airlines posting that they were hiring flight attendants. Next thing I knew I was through 4 stages of interviews and 6 weeks of training in SEA & on the line.
My time at Alaska Airlines was short and sweet. I learned big lessons in being brave enough to not just pursue a dream, but also in being brave enough to admit that it wasn’t the right thing for me and know when to leave it behind. I left flying because I wasn’t able to make as meaningful connections with the people I met and I felt called to being home in Palmer to cultivate connections in my own community. I quit Alaska Airlines in 2015 to return to the salon – coincidentally the same summer that Steve had to move home to Palmer and take over ACTS after he lost his dad, the founder of ACTS, Jay Baldwin.
Steve and I met 6 months later in January of 2016 - even though he had promised himself he would never date a flight attendant and I had promised myself I would never date a pilot, haha. The irony was not lost on us, but there was clearly enough of a pull toward each other that we set our prejudices aside. And my history with Alaska & aviation proved to be essential in being plugged into a life with the one and only “akskyguy”. Our first summer dating I watched Steve juggle the flight school and his job oversees and tried to help however I could while I worked at the salon- Somehow amidst our busy schedules there was still room for Steve to make me fall in love with him and the new “alaskan airline” called ACTS.
After our wedding in June of 2018, Steve and I not only became husband and wife, but also became business partners. (Not a small feat, in case you were wondering, haha) We realized that juggling his new airline career, the flight school, my salon schedule, and a new marriage was not sustainable and we knew something had to give. I chose to leave the salon for a few years and become a full time operator and administrator at ACTS because we felt strongly that ACTS needed to be a priority. After 2 years I have since returned to the salon part-time but continue to perform my duties at the flight school to keep things going. My duties include scheduling, billing, payroll, marketing, merchandising, lodging coordination, morale expert, and drip-coffee barista at the hangar. 😉
I can’t stress enough how grateful I am to have been given an opportunity with my husband to continue his father’s legacy. It is not lost on me how fortunate we are and how important it is that we rise to the challenge and allow ACTS to ascend to its highest potential. I can’t wait to see where the years to come will take us!
Blue skies ahead 💛”
