Covid might have trimmed her wings and ruined her wedding plans, but Lina is not one to give up, so she opened a business.
“We planned to get married in May 2020, but the Covid pandemic not only ruined our plans but also trimmed our wings”, started her real-life story Lina. The young Lithuanian previously worked as a flight attendant in an airline based in her home country. Her life was supposed to be a fairy tale above the skies, but soon everything collapsed.
Lina’s journey in aviation began in early 2019, after her fiancé, who had already been working as a cabin crew member for a few years, proposed. The joyful couple decided to start flying together to earn money for their future savings and the wedding, which should have taken place in May 2020.
“I’ve started my career as a flight attendant after I got engaged to my fiancé. He had been working in aviation for a few years at the time. I was joking that we needed to save money for our wedding. I never thought that I would someday have a job like this as I had no experience in the industry before. But as soon as we both joined the same company and started flying together, I just fell in love with aviation,” smiled the 25-year-old former flight attendant.
Inspiring memories
It seemed it was going to be a wonderful life experience for Lina, who was traveling the world and working together with her love. Despite having no previous experience in aviation, the young flight attendant quickly fell in love with her new duties. The most exciting part of the job for Lina was preparation for the flight as it was “the moment when the action starts”.
“During each flight, I felt like I was attending a little unique theatrical performance. When a flight attendant enters the aircraft and starts the preparation work, she must forget all the worries and she had before and get ready to welcome her passengers on the best note, showing the best version of herself. Each crewmember is a participant in a short, unique movie. After landing, the story of the flight stays behind you. The crew meets new people and a new, different movie begins,” Lina said.
Landings were the most inspiring moments when working as a crewmember. Spectacular landscapes and views of new, never-seen-before horizons, which opened up each time after Captain’s permission to open doors, were always touching Lina’s soul.
“At such moments, I was always impatiently looking forward to what kind of views outside the plane I would see. It was always the most heartwarming and unexpected moment of the whole flight as I never knew what I would see on the horizon after the landing. New places and new people – that was what I adored about my job the most,” told the former flight attendant.
The lovely fairy tale ends
However, when the Covid pandemic began wreaking havoc in the aviation industry in early 2020, everything changed at the speed of light. According to Lina, there were no warning signs that the virus could have such a strong impact on both her life and the airline.
In order to save costs, the airline was forced to lay off the majority of its employees. The couple lost their jobs at the same time and it seemed that their wedding plans were doomed to collapse. Lina was made redundant only a day before the first-year anniversary of working as a flight attendant.
“I didn’t understand what was going on at first. We started losing flight hours, but it was not surprising for me. It was the winter season for aviation and that meant that we would fly less than before. I thought that it would be a short, one-month break and we all would fly again soon. I was wrong. After a month, I realized that my career might end soon,” remembered Lina.
The bright side of the pandemic darkness
Despite feeling stressed and confused after losing the job, Lina did not lose her persistence and soon started building her plan B.
“I understood that everything had a reason and if aviation stopped, that meant I needed to move on and find something else to do for a living. The pandemic made me realize that a person always has to have a strong professional base. You have to find something else that makes you passionate.”
The upheaval in aviation encouraged Lina to glance back to her hobby. Inspired by her mother, a professional designer, Lina has been sewing various products including bow ties for men and lingerie for women, for a few years. After losing the job, the former flight attendant decided to turn her hobby into a business.
“Since childhood, I saw my mum sewing and creating new products. She taught me how to sew. At first, I didn’t think that sewing could become my passion, it was just a leisure time activity. However, I followed my mother’s steps and started designing and sewing my own products. That is how my little business, my own brand of woman lingerie ‘MAJA desire’, was born. Thanks to my mother, I understood that I can sew and this can bring money,” explained the story of her brand Lina.
While at first, sewing did not bring enough financial resources to make a living, Lina did not give up and even decided to expand the activity. She does everything herself, starting from ‘MAJA desire’ brand and design creation to selecting materials and sewing. The hand-made lingerie has already attracted some attention from women from several European countries. However, the former flight attendant says that the little business currently is in its growth stage.
“When I lost my job, I started to spend more time with my family. The pandemic made me realize how important and valuable my family is. I was not able to give enough attention to the family while being on board of a plane for the majority of the time. The support of my family was the key factor that helped me to look at life positively and encouraged me to focus on my brand.”
“Despite the Covid ruining our plans, I feel happy inside. Instead of the wedding party, which we had postponed, we are lucky that we have bought our own home. Also, I’ve started to spend more time with my family. So, I have to say that the pandemic taught us that in each unpleasant situation you can always find a bright side”, Lina shared.
