Aircraft Engine for Young Entrepreneur

Rachel St. Louis is not your average teenager. She started a jewelry making business when she was just 8 years old and through it found in herself a passion for aviation.

What started out as a jewelry-making hobby, quickly turned into a successful business. Rachel was quick to see the opportunity and with the help of her Mom and Dad developed it into a thriving business, operating at craft fairs, airshows and then car and bike shows around the country. With her newfound success, Rachel began looking for ways to realise her dreams of flight, which led her to our booth in 2015 at the world’s most important aviation event. We sell airplanes for a living and when Rachel approached us at an airshow about buying one of our BushCat Light Sport Aircraft Kits, we knew we wanted to help Rachel reach her goal.  Rachel told us that she wanted to build her own airplane and use the proceeds of her business to pay for it.  We were amazed by her entrepreneur drive at such a young age and we were happy to be part of her journey.  No other manufacturer gave her to time of day and didn’t think this girl could do it. 

What Rachel didn’t realise was that her entrepreneurial activities were being noticed.  Before long Rachel’s mobile jewelry shop was being visited by some high profile airshow pilots, who all wanted to know who this your woman was. Before long, Rachel’s influence expanded and she began to be recognised by the Experimental Aircraft Association, the Seaplane pilots association, and others who featured her activities in their magazines. Rachel was invited to speak to teens, young men and women pursuing their own dreams of flight. She has become a fine example of what you can do when you put your mind to it!

For the last few years Rachel has worked tirelessly. In addition to a very full school schedule and extracurricular sports, Rachel has attended shows all over the country, working the business and building her plane as the funds became available. Along the way, she has become an ambassador in several ways; for other entrepreneurs, as a young woman, and for aviation. She’s inspired hundreds of other young people to pursue their goals. The EAA has invited her to display her finished aircraft at their next airshow as a feature exhibit. Her drive and passion have resulted in other outcome too. Rachel’s hard work and dedication propelled her to not only finish High School at the top of her class, but also to garner an offer from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University to study Astro Physics and Chemistry in September 2020. It takes a lot of self-discipline to achieve this level of educational success, but even more so to run a successful business, and build an airplane in the family garage. 

It hasn’t all come easy though. Rachel and her family have faced some serious challenges along the way. Sporting injuries and some skeletomuscular disorders in 2014 resulted in 6 surgeries and difficult recoveries in a series of 6 years. Rachel persevered and never gave up her goals. In 2018, on his way to haul her mobile jewellery showroom to an airshow show in Florida, Rachel’s Dad Mike suffered a stroke along a highway. Misdiagnosed, he spent several days in the hospital and many months recovering from brain surgery. Mike and his wife Rose were determined to see Rachel reach her goal and kept encouraging her to move forward. Mike was back in the saddle in 2019 driving back and forth to their home in Maine with the family camper and Rachel’s mobile trailer in tow.  In 2019 it looked like the goal was finally in reach. With one more year of sales opportunity to go before entering Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, it looked like Rachel was going to be successful in having her BushCat on display at Airventure Oshkosh this summer. Then Covid-19 happened. Suddenly, everything ground to a halt as all the shows, craft fairs and events where Rachel earned her money were shut down or postponed.

Rachel is now at the final stages of her aircraft build, and missing the final component; the engine! Aircraft engines are specialised and built to extremely high tolerances, making them more expensive than car engines. Without the opportunity to attend airshows, craft fairs, or other events, Rachel’s goal is once again in jeopardy. With only months left before school begins, Rachel needs to raise the balance of her engine cost in order to finish the airplane. If she doesn’t finish, the project may be sidetracked for years until she finishes school. Without her completed airplane, Rachel’s work as an aviation student ambassador will be diminished. The whole industry benefits when someone wins, and we know that teens today need inspiration from real people like Rachel. In this world of chaos, young people need inspiration from other young people like Rachel. We’re asking the aviation community and anyone who feels inspired by Rachels journey to help Rachel out with a donation. For sure you’ll be investing in her, but more importantly in the next generation of entrepreneurs, mechanics, and pilots, all reaching for their own stars. Rachel understands that the best way to achieve your goals is to help others achieve theirs. She’s doing that by inspiring other young women and men to aim high with their own. Rachel will continue to offer herself and her airplane for speaking engagements to promote aviation and entrepreneurship.

Will you join us in supporting Rachel on this final leg? Rachel is only twenty thousand dollars away from reaching the goal. You can follow Rachel’s journey on FB, Instagram etc. and visit her at one of her next shows in DeLand, Florida this November,  Sun N Fun next April, or EAA AirVenture Oshkosh next July 2021. You can also visit Rachels Jewelry Website and purchase product from her.