Youmie Jean Francois
Commercial Pilot | Founder, The Flex-N-Fly Foundation
A commercial pilot and nonprofit founder opening doors to travel, wellness, and entrepreneurship for underserved New Yorkers.
Categories
Talking points
- Becoming a pilot — and the dream of starting her own airline
- Immigrant origin story: Haiti at six, wrongly placed in special ed
- The “exhaustion vs. imposter syndrome” reframe
- Turning vacant NYC storefronts into free community programming
- Financial literacy & money trauma work with underserved youth
- Fundraising lessons from soliciting major gifts
The Hook
Her mother was a master’s-level teacher in Haiti. In New York, none of it counted.
That experience — doors closing no matter how qualified you are — became the foundation for everything Youmie has built since, from the cockpit to the communities she now serves.
Bio for your show notes
124 wordsYoumie Jean Francois is a commercial pilot and the founder of The Flex-N-Fly Foundation, a nonprofit giving underserved New Yorkers access to the same travel, wellness, and entrepreneurship opportunities that wealthier communities take for granted. The daughter of Haitian immigrants — her mother a master’s-level French teacher who had to start over as a retail clerk in New York — Youmie came to the U.S. at six, was wrongly placed in special education, and went on to earn her wings in the cockpit. Through 90-day rotating community hubs built inside vacant commercial spaces, she delivers financial literacy, wellness, and entrepreneurship programming across the boroughs, and recently launched Adopt-A-Dreamer, a two-way mentorship program pairing affluent seniors with underserved youth, backed by H&M as a sponsor.