Brenda Robins has had a love for flying since she was 9-years-old and that love for the skies led her to be the first Black female pilot in U.S Navy history.

Robins said that it was “delightful” o get an education in aviation but that the opportunity wasn’t immediately open for women and people of color to get into naval aviation.

“The law had to be changed,” Robin told BNC’s Brittany Jones. “We had to take folks away from denial that it was a problem to anger that this is not fair. The wheels of progress move very slowly.”

She said that it took two decades before people knew she got her golden wings in 1980.

When she first explored career options in aviation, she initially felt that being a flight attendant would be her only way into the field. Still, she said that an opportunity to visit an airport and air traffic control changed everything.

“I went into the tower and looked around, and it took me less than a minute to decide this is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Robin said. “I never even knew that this existed.”