Col. Nicole Malachowski, USAF (Ret.) knows what it means to achieve greatness and defile stereotypes. She captivates her audiences with an authenticity of someone who has led exceptional teams. She has overcome overwhelming challenges and adversity.
Nicole was a jet fighter pilot and the first woman to pilot on the Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Squadron. She is a combat veteran, a White House Fellow and an inductee into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame. She even has a Star Trek Federal starship named after her called the USS Malachowski (NCC-1619).
She has a distinguished 21-year Air Force career but that ended when a tick-borne illness left her struggling to speak or walk. She prevailed for almost nine months, beating the odds. She leaves audiences empowered knowing that failure and risk is the price for attempting something great, that you must yield to overcome, and that no one wants a scripted life.
Nicole was honoured with The White House Fellows Foundation and Association 2019 IMPACT Award for demonstrating both remarkable achievement and transformational contributions in her field, as well as a sustained commitment to the White House Fellows program. She also held two high-level staff assignments at the Pentagon.
One in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD P&R) and the other was the Secretary of the Air Force Office of International Affairs (SAF/IA).
Nicole was responsible for resources totaling over $1.1B and the execution of a $119M annual flying hour program.