La'Shanda Holmes

Lieutenant Commander

La'Shanda Renee Holmes
Holmes in 2010
Born1985 (age 38–39)
Plainfield, New Jersey
Service / branchUnited States Coast Guard

La'Shanda R. Holmes is a lieutenant commander in the United States Coast Guard[1] and the first African-American female helicopter pilot[2] for the Coast Guard.[3] She grew up in the foster care system and put herself through Spelman College.[4] She was an Aircraft Commander at Air Station Los Angeles, Air Station Atlantic City (where she was deployed multiple times to Washington D.C. (NCR) as a rotary wing air intercept pilot), and Air Station Miami. She has amassed over 2,000 flight hours conducting search and rescue, counter drug, law enforcement, and Presidential air-intercept missions.[2] She was appointed as a White House Fellow in 2015 by President Barack Obama.[5] In

Official Coast Guard photo of Lt. La’Shanda Holmes, the Coast Guard's first African American female helicopter pilot, and a 2015 White House Fellow (assigned to NASA). Coast Guard

2015–2016 she was the Special Assistant to the NASA Administrator General Charles F. Bolden.

Holmes received her BA in psychology from Spelman College and is a Bonner Scholar.[6] She sits on the board of directors for Tomorrow's Aeronautical Museum, Foster Club, and Girls Fly![2]

  1. ^ "Meet The First Black Female U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter Pilot". News One. 10 February 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Helicopter Pilot La'Shanda Holmes Flies High Above the Crowd". www.spelman.edu. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  3. ^ Service, Rushawn Walters, Howard University News (14 February 2017). "U.S. Coast Guard helicopter pilot La'Shanda Holmes defies odds, expectations to break barriers". St. Louis American. Retrieved 3 March 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "La'Shanda Holmes". FosterClub. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Plainfield: Meet Hometown Hero La'Shanda Holmes". TAPinto. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Celebrating women of character, courage and commitment: Lt. La'Shanda Holmes « Coast Guard All Hands". allhands.coastguard.dodlive.mil. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2019.