For #InternationalWomensDay, I thought I’d introduce you all to my lady hero and leading lady in Fighting for Space, JACKIE COCHRAN. #IWD2020 
Jackie learned to fly at age 26 in 1932 with the goal of covering more ground for the cosmetics company she wanted to start. She got her license in 17 days! #IWD2020
By the end of the 1930s, she’s won all the major aviation awards including the Harmon Trophy, the Collier Trophy, and was the first solo woman to win the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race. #IWD2020
When she won the Bendix in 1938, she made the male judges wait while she touched up her lipstick, turning a “superficial” and “feminine” gesture j to the ultimate power play... #IWD2020
Because she had started that cosmetics company! Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics was among the top luxury brands in the United States. She refused to choose between business and flying, so did both! #IWD2020
During the Second World War, she led the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots, a group that proved women could fly as well as men. Here’s her buddy Hap Arnold presenting her with a Distinguished Service Medal. #IWD2020
Another one of her good fiends? Fellow legendary aviatrix Amelia Earhart. The two were such close friends Amelia would sleep in Jackie’s bed if she stayed at the Cochran-Odlum Ranch when Jackie was out of town. #IWD2020
That Odlum in the Cochran-Odlum Ranch refers to Jackie’s husband Floyd, one of the ten richest men in the country when they met in 1932. He facilitated her career dreams; there were the power couple to end all power couples! #IWD2020
Sometimes Jackie and Floyd wore matching ranch outfits! #IWD2020
Floyd also owned RKO pictures for a minute before selling it to his friend Howard Hughes... yeah, they knew everyone! RKO is why Jackie’s chillin’ having lunch with CARY GRANT! #IWD2020
Post-war, Jackie became the first woman to fly faster than sound in 1953. Her good friend @GenChuckYeager taught her... and also apparently waited patiently while she touched up her lipstick... in a T-38! #IWD2020
Jackie also made an (unsuccessful) bid for Congress. But she wasn’t deterred. It was on to the next challenge... and next flight record! #IWD2020
Jackie was an amazingly complex, multifaceted woman. And that’s not going into her backstory, an amazing tale of self-reinvention... #IWD2020
Yup, that’s Jackie in the red pants on my book cover! For more on Jackie and how she navigated aviation’s transition into spaceflight, check out FIGHTING FOR SPACE available wherever books are sold, and at this handy link! bit.ly/FFSamazon #IWD2020
