Did you know that May is Jewish American Heritage Month? To close out the month we’d like to share a pair of quick, 60-second interviews to highlight a couple of our dedicated Envoy employees in the flight deck and the airport. Read below to learn more about Lead Customer Service Agent Abbey Heggan and First Officer Stuart Adler and what their Jewish-American heritage means to them.
Abbey Heggan — DFW Lead Customer Service Agent
What is your Envoy story?
I have been with Envoy for a year and 7 months, and I am currently an acting supervisor. My day-to-day responsibilities are to assist the agents and leads when they need my help, as well as help customers if they have any issues or questions that come up.
What’s the significance of Jewish American Heritage Month to you?
To me it recognizes and celebrates the contributions of Jewish Americans to American culture, history, and society.
Who in your life has inspired you or is your role model?
My role model would be my mom, she has shown me to work hard for my dream even if it’s difficult.
How do you like to celebrate Jewish culture?
Things I enjoy about my culture are holidays such as Hanukkah, Sukkot and Passover. I enjoy them because I have a big family so those are some of the times during the year that we all get together and celebrate the festivities.
Tell us one surprising fact about yourself that others may not know.
Something about me that a lot of people don’t know is that I have a cosmetology license. I do hair on the side for close friends and family.
Stuart Adler — First Officer (MIA)
What is your Envoy story?
I’ve been with Envoy now for just over six months and hold the current position of first officer. My day-to-day responsibilities are assisting the captain in operating the aircraft and ensuring our customers make it to their destinations safely.
What’s the significance of Jewish American Heritage Month to you?
To me it’s about celebrating the lives and contributions of Jewish people all over the world, while recognizing they have been able to overcome a lot of challenges to be successful, and as contributing members in their society.
Favorite historical figures of mine are David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel; Sandy Koufax, a famous baseball player who sat out the World Series on Yom Kippur; and Martin Luther King Jr., who fought for the idea that all people are created equal.
Who in your life has inspired you or is your role model?
My role models and people that I admire are my past college roommate, Jacob Hill, who is currently an operations manager of air traffic in Orlando and President Barack Obama.
How do you like to celebrate Jewish culture?
I like to celebrate Jewish culture by having my family involved in celebrating the Jewish holidays. I also think it’s really neat to be open about my Jewishness as a pilot, as this is an industry that not a lot of Jews are in and are underrepresented.
Most importantly, I try to instill positive values in my sons to do your best, control what you can control, and being charitable and helping others less fortunate.
Tell us one surprising fact about yourself that others may not know.
One surprising fact that others may not know is that I have a passion for good food and cooking, and would like to start a blog for finding the best restaurants on layovers.