This is the inaugural episode of "The Runway to Success," hosted by married couple and MavRec Founders, Trey and Mikaela Rivera, an aerospace and aviation recruitment firm. The podcast blends their personal journey as aspiring private pilots with professional insights into the aerospace and aviation industries.

Personal Aviation Journey: Both hosts are brand new to flight training. Trey has completed three lessons, accumulating approximately six hours of flight time, while Mikaela has logged about 2.5 hours over three days. Their contrasting backgrounds make their shared journey particularly interesting: Trey has aviation "in his blood" since childhood (inspired by Top Gun and family members in the industry), while Mikaela admits she never imagined pursuing a pilot's license until two weeks before recording. She was motivated by wanting to be a "woman in STEM" rather than just supporting it, despite having a subtle fear of heights.

Both describe the overwhelming nature of early flight training - the "drinking from a fire hose" sensation of managing airspeed, altitude, RPMs, heading, and radio communications simultaneously while learning cockpit systems. Mikaela particularly enjoys the confidence-building aspect, proudly realizing "I'm flying a plane" during her training.

Industry Insights: As recruitment professionals serving aerospace and aviation, they highlight critical talent shortages across the industry:

• Maintenance technicians at all levels, exacerbated by retirements
• Pilots, especially those experienced on specific aircraft types
• Leadership and technical roles as senior professionals reach retirement age
• Post-COVID surge in Part 135 charter demand outpacing available aircraft and staff

They discuss how business aviation companies struggle to compete with major commercial airlines for talent, resulting in an increased focus on university programs and competitive compensation packages.

Future Content: The hosts promise weekly episodes featuring their ongoing pilot training adventures, industry trend analysis, and expert guests from various aviation sectors. They plan to conduct live recordings from upcoming industry events, such as the JETNET iQ Summit and NBAA.

Unique Perspective: What sets this podcast apart is the combination of personal vulnerability (sharing their struggles as aviation beginners) with professional expertise in aerospace and aviation recruitment. Their goal is to understand the industry from both inside and outside perspectives, believing that their flight training will provide them with better insight into the daily realities and stressors faced by the aviation professionals they serve.

The episode establishes an authentic, conversational tone between two people genuinely excited about aviation while building a business around serving the industry's talent needs.