This past summer Commercial UAV News launched a series of interviews highlighting the contributions of women in drones and discussing ways in which we can continue to support women in the industry. Although each interview was different, showcasing the many ways women have found ways into the industry, they all more or less agreed on why the drone industry benefitted from women in the industry and what needed to happen to encourage qualified women to enter the industry. They focused primarily on STEAM education and support from K-12 into college, examining hiring practices for gender bias, and normalizing women in the drone industry through representation and visibility.

In honor of International Women’s Day, we have pulled together five of our most popular and poignant interviews from that series to check out.

To watch more interviews, check out the rest of the series here.

Lisa Ellman 

Lisa Ellman is the chair of the Global Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Group at the global law firm Hogan Lovells, where she focuses on domestic drones and other emerging technologies. She co-founded and leads the Commercial Drone Alliance, an independent non-profit organization that is supporting the growth and adoption of the drone industry. Her primary focus has been on bridging the gap between policy, regulation, and law and businesses in the industry. Her expertise and knowledge have been recognized both inside and outside the industry, making her a powerful voice and enabler for the industry, especially for women.

Eszter Kovács

As the CEO and Founder of Manageld ltd. and DroneTalks, and former Acting Secretary General of GUTMA (Global UTM Association), Eszter Kovács has played an integral part in the design and implementation of UTM and building and supporting a global drone ecosystem. With over 10 years of experience in the technology world, Eszter is using this knowledge, especially with telecommunications technology and Agile processes, to enhance drone connectivity and how companies collaborate, strategize, plan, and grow.

Mélanie Guittet

Mélanie Guittet is the Chief Business Development Officer and Co-Founder of INVOLI, a company that specializes in building the UTM infrastructure for safe integration into the national and global airspace. INVOLI’s work has enabled key stakeholders to get a clear picture of air traffic in the airspace and devise low-risk, secure flight plans for their operations, which has made INVOLI a major player in building and testing the unmanned traffic management programs of the future. Their work in programs like the 5G!Drones Project are establishing important metrics and standardizations that are helping to define the drone ecosystem.

 

Mariya Tarabanovska

Mariya Tarabanovska is the Co-Founder of Flight Crowd, a global platform for supporting the public perception of UAM, as well as an engineer. As a UAM consultant, Tarabanovska focuses on bridging the gap between the industry and the public it wishes to serve through outreach, education, and informative content, as well as bringing critical members within the space together. Her work is critical for the UAM industry to build demand and acceptance of drone technology and plays an important role in paving the way for the enterprise to scale. Commercial UAV News sat down with Tarabanovska to talk about her challenges, successes, and goals she has for the industry.

 

Sharon Rossmark

No series about gender parity and building opportunities for women in the drone industry would be complete without talking to Sharon Rossmark, Founder and CEO of Women and Drones. Sharon’s drive to help businesses and individuals develop a pipeline for women to thrive in the industry has helped define what growth in the industry can and should mean. From providing valuable resources and networking opportunities and highlighting the accomplishments of many qualified professionals in the industry through the Woman and Drones website to supporting educating young girls in STEM, Rossmark has been a champion and role model for many within the industry.