About
Heather Chirtea: Entrepreneur, Aviation Pioneer, Motivational Speaker, Adventurer
Often introduced as “that flying car girl,” Heather Chirtea’s story began long before she ever took to the sky. A Syracuse University graduate with Dean’s List honors, Heather launched her career in broadcasting at FOX45 before stepping into the early dot-com boom as a video-game developer. Along the way, she raised identical twins while building a career at the intersection of media, technology, and storytelling—an uncommon foundation that now fuels her dynamic, future-focused keynote presentations. Known for her contagious humor and hard-won insight, Heather inspires audiences to reimagine what’s possible in both business and life.
Heather inspires audiences to reimagine what’s possible in both business and life.
A lifelong entrepreneur, Heather founded Tool Factory, an educational software company that spent a decade helping schools integrate classroom technology. She later launched Digital Wish with seed funding from Olympus, scaling the organization to $5.9 million in just two years and ultimately delivering more than $17 million in technology donations to schools nationwide. Through grants of cameras, computers, and internet access, Digital Wish impacted over 500,000 students across the U.S. Never content with ordinary growth, Heather went on to found So Fly, a national experiential marketing and event-touring company that produces high-profile activations for brands including Coca-Cola, Rick & Morty, State Farm, the U.S. Open, the Air National Guard, and Sport Fishing Championship. Between tour dates, she trained for and earned her VFR private pilot’s license, blending entrepreneurship with aviation.
Her message on stage: embrace uncertainty, move faster than fear, and build a life that feels exhilarating.
Adventure has always been Heather’s fuel. Between national tours, she chased challenges across Europe, Costa Rica, and South America—exploring pyramids, scaling via ferrata routes, rock climbing steep cliffs, and even running off to circus school to fly the trapeze. Her love of flight ultimately brought her to the Civil Air Patrol, where she trained under Air Force instructors and sharpened her skills as a pilot. These experiences shape her message on stage: embrace uncertainty, move faster than fear, and build a life that feels exhilarating—rather than predictable.
Heather’s most recognized chapter began with a six-year pursuit of a dream once found only in science fiction. Alongside her father, she followed the development of the Pivotal BlackFly eVTOL flying car, showing up year after year at the Oshkosh Airshow in “Future BlackFly Owner” shirts—until persistence paid off. Selected as one of only five early-access ownership teams, Heather became the first woman in the United States to both own and pilot a flying car. She went on to launch The Soar Tour, organizing flying car demonstrations across the country to introduce the public to personal electric aviation. Her current mission is to become the first woman to pilot a flying car coast-to-coast across America.
Her current mission: to become the first woman to pilot a flying car coast-to-coast across the U.S.
On stage, Heather delivers high-energy storytelling rooted in real-world experience—blending entrepreneurship, innovation, aviation, and adventure into a powerful call to action. Her core message is simple and unforgettable: