The aviation industry is at the precipice of a major pilot shortage globally. Some data analysts predict that there will be a shortfall of almost 80,000 by 2032, with the US Air Force currently offering bonuses of up to $600,000 to retain pilots and their service.

Middle Tennessee State University is doing much address that problem. In this new episode of Supply Chain Now, as a part of the NOW Generation series, we sit down with former UPS executive Tandreia Bellamy and her son, Anthony, the latter being a senior on MTSU’s highly regarded Aerospace Professional Pilot program.

Tapping into the school’s impressive fleet of 47 aircraft, Anthony shares incredible insight into the life of a trainee pilot. He recounts the details of a solo cross-country training flight, communicating with traffic control and assessing which runway to land on.

“The approach coming in, it was over the water and it was around sunset time, so it was beautiful,” he recalls.

Tune in to hear Anthony’s story – the influence of his parents, amazing insights into his training, his overwhelming passion for the field, and plans for the future.

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to Supply Chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues, the challenges and opportunities. Stay tuned to hear from Those Making Global Business happen right here on supply chain now.

Scott Luton (00:32):

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are, Scott Luten and special guest host, tantra Bellamy. Welcome to this episode of Supply Chain now Tantra, how you doing?

Tandreia Bellamy (00:40):

Great, Scott. So great to be here again. Great to see you again.

Scott Luton (00:43):

You too. We’ve done, I don’t know, a couple dozen episodes together. We’ve collaborated together and as you know, I am the co-chair of the Atlanta chapter of the Tantra Bellamy Fan Club. So it’s so great to have you back with us on this side of the table. Right on

Tandreia Bellamy (00:57):

This side of the table. Yes.

Scott Luton (00:58):

Big episode here. Today we’re continuing this series. We like to call the now generation, right? Not folks that are waiting to make their impact. They’re making it right now, right? Yes. So we talk with students, educators, folks that are really nurturing that this pipeline of talents coming into global supply chain, global business, you name it, work with interview folks from around some of the leading institutions around the world. But today’s special episode of this now generation series Tantra, we’ve talked about this for years,

Tandreia Bellamy (01:30):

Right? Absolutely. This has been a long time in the making.

Scott Luton (01:33):

It has. And we’re foreshadowing a little bit here because Tantra has finally brought her son, Anthony and Bellamy to the conversation, which we’re going to introduce in just a second. But Tantra, let’s level set a bit for a lot of our newer audience. May hadn’t caught your previous 17 appearances, I’ll call it. You had a very long successful career as an executive at UPS. Give us a couple of bullet points from that.

Tandreia Bellamy (01:59):

Yeah, 34 great years with UPS started in small package. So the brown trucks that do all of the pickup and deliveries had an opportunity to work with our advanced technology group for some of the next generations of technology and then also was in our supply chain. And I think as being a part of the supply chain group is where we got our initial introduction. So yeah, just had a great career and now I am very happily retired.

Scott Luton (02:28):

That’s right. But not stationary. Not stationary, right? Not stationary happen. Keep moving. And also I think when I think back on the first time we met, you had contributed a piece, I think it was to Forbes about engineering and about how important diversity is to bring in all kinds of talent into that world,

Tandreia Bellamy (02:47):

Right? Exactly. I think you read the piece called I’m Not a Hidden Figure and reached out and we had a great conversation and that visibility is extremely important. That’s how you attract that next generation of top talent. That’s

Scott Luton (03:02):

Right. Alright, so speaking of which, there’s so many different things we could talk about in today’s episode, but our rock and roll guest is sitting here across the table from us and I want to dive right into his perspective. Right. So I want to introduce Anthony Bellamy, a senior at Middle Tennessee State University home to one of the most respected aerospace programs in the world. Anthony, how you doing?

Anthony Bellamy (03:28):

I’m great, how are you?

Scott Luton (03:29):

Oh, doing wonderful. We finally, this all has come to fruition. We’ve talked about this for years. We had to go through your agent, I think to get you booked.

Anthony Bellamy (03:37):

Yeah, my agent, my mom, definitely.

Scott Luton (03:41):

Well, so we got a lot to get into with you here, Anthony. And of course one of the things we’re going to be talking about is you’re in that highly regarded aerospace professional pilot program at MTSU. Is that right? Yes sir. Okay. And we’re going to talk a lot more about your passion for all things flying. Not so much geology, but all things flying. Great to have you here. Alright, so before we dive into that impressive program, your passion for flying and as we’re walking over here, tan Andrea with Anthony, he was telling me about some of all these different things you got to take into account to fly these aircraft. I’ll tell you, I was getting a little nervous just hearing all that he’s got to manage, but if anyone can do it as we learn, Anthony can, before we get all that, let’s get to know you a little bit better, right On a human level. So I want to start with, I caught your presentation, I think RA sent it to me where you’re sharing some of what you do at a family reunion, right? Yes. And you were beaming, you could see your passion was just jumping out of my phone as I watched your present on flying and you said something like, I get to learn and fly every day. Yes sir. So you’re sharing something to all the different cities. What’s one of the coolest trips that you’ve made, places you’ve flown into? What was a cool one?

Anthony Bellamy (05:04):

Probably the coolest trip I’ve made was during my commercial training and I made a flight. It was a solo cross country, it was visual conditions and I made it from our airport in Murfreesboro to an airport in Indiana. It was about a three hour flight and I was doing everything by myself. I was the only person in the cockpit and it was very fun talking to a TC, figuring out which runway I was going to land at and coming into the airport, parking the plane, I had to refuel it myself. So doing all that by myself was really fun. While I was stopped in Indiana, I was able to go and get some Mexican food and it’s pretty good. It was

Scott Luton (05:38):

Delicious Mexican food,

Anthony Bellamy (05:39):

I hear it was all right, but it was good to me because I flew there and did everything myself. That’s what made it really good. And then I flew back and on the way back I stopped in airport in Music City and that airport was really nice. The approach coming in, it was over the water and it was around sunset time, so it was beautiful and I got to refuel there too and then make my way back into the MTSU airport.

Scott Luton (06:07):

Man, that makes me nervous. Just hearing about all that stuff, right? Flying over the water and stuff. I got to ask, where does that take your brain? All that he shared about one of those coolest flights. Where does that take your mind?

Tandreia Bellamy (06:20):

I’m just super excited that he’s super excited. I’m also very overjoyed that the investment that he’s making in his education that it’s going to pay off tremendously and he loves what he’s doing. He really beams every time he talks about flying, about school, about his classes. So had a great investment and a great future.

Scott Luton (06:45):

I love that. I got to ask you, I didn’t think about this question. I want to throw it in here. Did you see any I grew up in Top Gun in 1986 was a big movie. I thought I was going to be a naval aviator. No, I’m not smart enough to do that. Is there any kind of aircraft or flying related program or movie that you can recall that you’re like, man, that’s really cool.

Anthony Bellamy (07:10):

Not really. Where I got my flying from is all the trips that my mom was able to take me on and going in the different planes and it was so cool. Every time we would take off, I’d always want to sit by the window and watch us go down the runway and take off and land. I’d always want to look in the cockpit and see what the captain and the first officer were doing. That’s so cool. All of that stuff is what influenced me to become a pilot

Scott Luton (07:33):

Tan. I think we’ve talked about this as a father of three. Amanda and I have really tried as tough as is to get our three kids out and experience travel and experience some of those things that Anthony was just sharing. That’s got to be so fulfilling, rewarding to hear what you enabled, how that helped him uncover one of his passions in life.

Tandreia Bellamy (07:54):

That is great to hear. It really is great to hear. And a lot of the trips were because I moved around so much with work. So to have something very positive come from that, it’s great to hear. It is absolutely great to hear.

Scott Luton (08:09):

It is. All right. So now since most of our conversation here today is going to focus on flying and all the cool things you’re up to, what is one thing that you love to do when you’re not flying or training or in the cockpit?

Anthony Bellamy (08:23):

What I love to do is anything car related. I am a huge car nerd. I’m a huge car guy. I love going on different drives with my dad up in the North Georgia Mountains or up in Tennessee. I always have fun. It’s so much fun. And like me and my dad, we share the same passion. So we watch different YouTube videos about car guys and talk about them. Or he’ll call me and tell me a car that he saw in traffic or send me a picture of it. So that’s one thing that I really love.

Tandreia Bellamy (08:50):

On one of those trips that we took, we went out to California, so we’re out in California, la, San Diego, all kinds of stuff to do. What did we do? We

Anthony Bellamy (09:00):

Went and we drove the rental car on Angeles Crest Highway, one of the highways that it’s beautiful and it’s so much fun and I loved it so much. It was my favorite part of the trip.

Scott Luton (09:10):

Wow, man. Was it a convertible? No,

Tandreia Bellamy (09:12):

It was not.

Anthony Bellamy (09:13):

It was Ultima,

(09:16):

But it was the road that

(09:17):

Really

Scott Luton (09:17):

Mattered. I’m just picturing that. I’m picturing that. What a gorgeous trip. And you obeyed the speed limit, right?

Anthony Bellamy (09:23):

Always. Always.

Scott Luton (09:24):

I bet. All right, well thank you for sharing that. We got a lot to get into here today, Anthony. I can’t tell you how tickled we are to davi year with us. Okay. So I want to dive a little bit deeper into your upbringing because we’re all products of our upbringing, whether we like it or not. I like it, I like it a lot, but everyone comes from different walks of life for sure. So I want to talk about, as we mentioned on the front end, your mom did big things, move mountains, UPS. We were very fortunate to interview and get a lot of those stories and collaborated with tantra over the years. So how do all those things she did in that chapter of her journey, how did that impact what you want to do in life?

Anthony Bellamy (10:07):

It impacted what I wanted to do, just seeing her go out there and do things for so many people and help so many people in different ways. So when I saw her coming home every day and telling me all these amazing things she did, it motivated me to kind of pursue what she was doing and help other people as well

Scott Luton (10:23):

Make an impact what I’m hearing, right. You want to make an impact like your mom. How does that make you feel?

Tandreia Bellamy (10:29):

Oh, tremendously proud. I think we moved a lot with UPS and watching him go and quickly adjust, make good friendships, but also just do well, no matter where we were, I knew he was going to be just fine moving forward because he had that quality of not just adapting, but going in and being a leader with whoever he chose to befriend and that was great to see. I love

Scott Luton (10:57):

That. Do you feel so moving around a lot, having to make new friends and kind of finding your new niche in the new communities and stuff. Do you feel that made you more resilient to change in general?

Anthony Bellamy (11:09):

Yeah, definitely. I think it helped me a lot because it always came easy to me making new friends and being someone that people could look up to and come to for help and helping other people also. And I got that from my mom. She’s very, something that she does for me is she motivates me a lot to do well in whether it’s school, whether it’s just in life and all the things she does, helping all these other people. It really motivates me when we’re moving into different places and different locations to be generous like her and help other people as well.

Scott Luton (11:40):

Ooh, that’s music to my ears tantrum. Music to my ears. Mine too. I got to ask, hearing Anthony talk about these things, like in a formal setting, I guess, is any of this new to you or is this kind of

Tandreia Bellamy (11:59):

Is absolutely amazing. Heartwarming, uplifting. Yeah. Best Christmas present ever. So thank you.

Scott Luton (12:10):

I believe it.

Anthony Bellamy (12:11):

You’re welcome. All my friends, Mason, Josh, Avery, what do they call you? They call you your second mom?

Tandreia Bellamy (12:17):

Yes, they do. They

Scott Luton (12:18):

Do. I can see that. So shout out to Mason, Josh and Avery. Avery. Are they all pilots too? No,

Anthony Bellamy (12:26):

No, no. They’re friends from way back from when I lived in Chicago. Yeah. Okay.

Scott Luton (12:31):

So maybe you can fly into Chicago and pick ’em up, but not maybe right soon, man, those would be some neat trips. All right, so let me do a follow up question again. With the role model and the standard, your mom set through all that she did in industry. So what’s one leadership trait that really sticks out as a priority for you based on how you observed Tania approach work and leadership and everything else?

Anthony Bellamy (12:59):

I kind of got into this earlier, but I would say she’s very motivational. She helps me with getting the best out of myself. She always, when I was doing homework or doing whatever, if I got a B in a class, I shouldn’t she’d, come on, you can do better. You know, can do better. She would tell me that and I would always believe it, even if I was like, man, this is really hard. I don’t know if I can do it. She always brought the best out of me. So I thought that was really great leadership trait that she

Scott Luton (13:24):

Has. Hey, that college calculus, man, those are some tough days. He smoked that. Well, I’ll tell you what, I knew that engineering was not in my future after one semester of calculus. So the motivational component. So I bet as you talk about that, do you see yourself and how important it’s to motivate your future teammates and your future employees and all that kind of stuff?

Anthony Bellamy (13:50):

Yes, definitely. Because if they believe that they can do it, because a lot of people, they just don’t think that they can do it. There’s certain things that they don’t think they can do, whether it’s in the job or even on something like a basketball team. There’s people that are certain things that they don’t think that they can do when they really can, if they put their mind to it. And my mom taught me that you can accomplish a lot of things if you just stay focused and lock in and believe in yourself.

Scott Luton (14:17):

Yeah. Oh, okay. By the way, you mentioned basketball. I went to the Hawks game last night. I hope they continue to get extra motivated. We got a little catching up to do. We got a sub 500 record, but they beat the pistons last night. Everybody’s

Anthony Bellamy (14:32):

Beating the

Scott Luton (14:32):

Pistons. No comment. We just lost the Detroit demographic. All right. We’re all kidding. Kidding kid, kid. But you’re right. All right, so Anthony, I love that it’s so important that ability to not only motivate yourself but to motivate others. That’s like billion dollar abilities really. So tan along those lines for our students out there listening, young professionals out there listening, they want to have a really successful career, much like you had. What is one piece of advice you’d offer ’em?

Tandreia Bellamy (15:06):

Anthony spoke to focus and doing your best. We have too many people that are looking for something that’s easy. We would go out and do presentations as a staff and one of my good friends had a presentation that was called Easy Jobs don’t pay much. It’s really important that you find something that you’re going to enjoy doing because it’s also very difficult to be successful if you’re miserable. But then you have to work at it and there’s really nothing that replaces hard work. Yes, it’s important to network and yes, it’s important to have a mentor, but you have to put the work in. That’s right.

Scott Luton (15:50):

That’s

Tandreia Bellamy (15:50):

Right. And also, if you’re still in college, having internships is extremely, extremely important. Go and see if you enjoy the work. Go and understand what the different career paths are within a major. Don’t take the easiest major to graduate from. Go out and find what you really have a passion for and pursue it.

Scott Luton (16:15):

Where were you in 1996 as I was figuring out what I was going to major in? That is such great advice and practical advice because the easy path, that’s a magnet for a lot of folks out there. Absolutely. And I like this. Easy jobs don’t pay much. It’s so true. Alright. And the internship can’t be overstated. Put your hands on and do the job that you may do after you graduate. That’s really important as well. Anthony, weigh in on that advice from Tan Andrea.

Anthony Bellamy (16:48):

One thing that she said that I really like is find something that you’re passionate about. Because I’m so passionate about flying and about my school. When I go to school, my mom knows I’m itching always to go back to school. I love flying. I love learning about flying. And even though it’s really hard, it never seems like school or it never seems like work. It just seems like I’m having fun.

Scott Luton (17:10):

Wow. Okay. Everyone should listen to that. You got to say it louder for the folks in the back. Find something you love to do. It won’t feel like work. Right, exactly. Okay, great advice over the last couple minutes there. So let’s talk more about this program, more about this passion that this program is helping you gain the credential so you can spend your career doing what you love to do. So tell us first about the core classes and the training involved. You started to in the pre-show. Tell us more about what’s involved with the aerospace professional pilot program. Is that right? Yes, sir. What all do you do?

Anthony Bellamy (17:45):

So coming in as a freshman, you learn a lot of stuff on the ground, right? You first start before you get up in the air, you learn about the different aerospace rules, the different laws and regulations of aviation. You learn about aviation, weather and how to navigate the world, how to, without relying on GPS. You learn a lot of, they call it pilotage and dead reckoning, which is using sectional charts and being able to navigate based on landmarks that are already there, like power lines, rivers and stuff like that.

Scott Luton (18:18):

Train tracks maybe as we’ve got this train going past us

Anthony Bellamy (18:22):

Here, maybe they have little train tracks on the sectional. So if you fly over a trench, I can be, oh, there it is. It helps you along the way.

Scott Luton (18:29):

It’s important to recognize all the terrain features so you can be where you are. Is that right?

Anthony Bellamy (18:35):

Yeah, definitely. Because it is way different. Once you get up there, you’ll look around and you’ll be like, where am I? A lot of the times when I was going on cross country flights with my flight instructor, he’ll be like, do you have the airport in sight that we’re going to, we’re 15 miles away? And I’d be like, no, I don’t see it. It’s hard to, when you’re so high up in the air, look and see where you’re going. But the different classes, like my mom talked about this earlier, is they correspond with the flight training that you’re doing. So when I was a freshman, I took a class called Professional pilot one, and what it does is it teaches you all of the stuff that you’re learning while you’re doing your flight lab. So you learn about the airport environment, you learn about different traffic patterns, you learn about the different airspace, and then once you learn about it in the classroom, you go apply it in real life.

(19:19):

When you’re flying with your flight instructor, you go and you practice a traffic pattern, you go and while you’re taxing through the airport, you look at the different signs, he’ll be like, what does that sign mean? What does that sign mean? And I really like how the classes correspond with the flight labs. And as you keep going on and on, you go to pro pilot two, pro pilot three, and you learn about different stuff. You get different ratings. So you learn about instrument flying, you learn about commercial flying, you learn about multi-engine flying. And I just finished professional pilot five. And what’s really interesting about that class is it teaches you how to fly a jet. It teaches you how to fly the CRJ 700 jet. That’s a jet that American Uses Endeavor uses Air Canada uses. And what it does is it really gives you a headstart on what you’re going to do after you’re finished at MTSU, after you finish getting your a thousand hours and you can become a first officer at one of those airlines. So it’s a lot and I love it,

Scott Luton (20:17):

Man. It sounds just, and then there’s a lot more than what the last three or four minutes that Anthony put out there, but it sounds so holistic and so practical. Absolutely.

Tandreia Bellamy (20:27):

Absolutely. It was funny, you had geology. Okay, so he was just complaining and complaining, why do I need to know about rocks, blah blah. I was like, you do understand the only reason you’re so aggravated with this class is because everything else that you’ve taken actually applied to what you’re doing. You are so unaccustomed to having garbage classes that this one really, really just frustrated him. He did well, but he was like, what’s the point? And that’s because so many of his classes had absolute firsthand practical application that he immediately sought to benefit from. And like I said, tremendous blessing.

Scott Luton (21:20):

There’s a greater analogy what you’re sharing there, tantra, because I think if more folks out there working in organizations know what’s the point and what’s in it for me? And if they can connect the dots, they’ll lean into it oftentimes, right? Absolutely, absolutely. So geology was not one of your favorite classes. You had to do it to get add to the degree I’m assuming, huh? I mean

Anthony Bellamy (21:41):

It was kind of cool, but it was just them tests about igneous and metamorphic rocks. I was like, I wasn’t really going for that.

Scott Luton (21:50):

It took me back away, man. Igneous and took geology too. Sedimentary rock. Okay. All right. Alright, so I want to ask you this question. So back to flying. Back to flying, right believe geology and back the flight. Tell us about the first time you stepped into a cockpit.

Anthony Bellamy (22:08):

So my first flight was, what was very interesting about it is I didn’t know how hands-on you’re going to be from the beginning. So this is my first time being in a small plane ever. And we taxi out to the runway, my flight instructors, he’s taxing for me. We’re about to hold short of the runway. And he goes, all right, so do you want to take off? And I’m like, I’ve never touched these controls. I’ve never done anything of this like this before. And he was like, it’s okay. You got this. You’re going to be flying. We’re going to start right now. We’re going to start today. And this was the second semester of my freshman year. So it’s very cool how quickly you get into it. And at first I was a little bit scared, but after I took off and my flight instructor would always tell me, we’re not just going to fall out of the sky. If we lose an engine or something, we could still glide. We’re not going to instantly just fall out of the sky. You’re going to be all right. So yeah, I took controls and it was okay. When I say I took controls, you don’t really take controls. He’s there helping you on the rudders. I took control of the throttle. He’s helping you on the yolk. When you first start flying, you don’t really take controls,

Scott Luton (23:14):

But you’re not sitting there as an observer either, which is really cool.

Anthony Bellamy (23:17):

Exactly. That’s what I meant,

Scott Luton (23:19):

Man, from day one, they throw you in there. And that’s what

Anthony Bellamy (23:23):

I said. You did what?

Scott Luton (23:25):

Right. Gosh. Well that is so cool to hear you describe it and how you don’t have to wait for years and years to start doing some of what you’re learning. Okay. So I want to ask you, you were laying out a moment ago about all the aspects of the program, but going a little bit broader than that, than the world renowned aerospace program at Middle Tennessee State University. What else do you think is really cool and an advantage for going to school in TSU?

Anthony Bellamy (23:58):

I really like all the teachers, all the people there. They’re really kind. And also, like I said before, is I like how much the school does for you and how good the program is, how they keep all the planes maintained, how they make sure everything’s safe, make sure everything’s extra safe. You have to fill out these pre-flight sheets and you have to get a score based on the win, the visibility, the conditions. They always make sure everything’s very safe. So I really like that about the score.

Scott Luton (24:26):

When you say all the planes tan, I think they’ve got a fleet of 47 planes. Did I read that right? Yes. Yes. I guess you can’t have a world renowned program if you don’t have planes.

Tandreia Bellamy (24:35):

Absolutely. And even with all of those planes, because the program is so well known and so many people are fighting to get in, it’s still not enough. As a matter of fact, the program has grown so much. They’ve outgrown the airport that they’re at, and they’re going to be moving to a different airport that unfortunately is farther away from the campus, but they have to accommodate the program because pilots are so desperately needed, they’re so desperately needed. So I found out as he was entering his senior year that he wanted to be a pilot. And we met with a family friend at lunch who told us about MTSU, and we had this lunch in August. So the Tuesday after Labor Day, we went and visited MTSU. So less than a month later, we did the campus tour. And he said, this is where I’m going to school.

(25:30):

And it was the only school he applied to. Now he had the unfortunate privilege of being a covid senior. So no prom, no real graduation, and then so many colleges just shut down and everything was virtual. Well, he got to be on campus and they did a very good job or working around all of the covid issues. And then if someone unfortunately got covid, the school did a phenomenal job of taking care of them. They had an isolated apartment, they brought ’em three meals a day. So when he says the school cares about you, they really do. And I felt very confident having him there.

Scott Luton (26:17):

Wow, that’s important, whether you’re the student or the parent, certainly. Right? Yes. Folks are going to listen to what Tandra just shared there 20 years from now, and they’re not going to have any clue what the last couple of years That’s true. What we’ve been through together. I mean, whether you’re learning or you’re into a career, you’re trying to find a job, whatever you are, I mean, gosh, I’m so glad that we’re, whatever you call now, we’re not back normal in any means by any means, but at least we’ve made strides. So this might be one of my favorite questions we’re going to ask you here today. We got a lot of them here. So we know that you love to fly, right? Love to fly. But when you think of career-wise, what’s your dream? What do you want to do while you fly? What do you want to do?

Anthony Bellamy (27:10):

I’m not exactly sure to be honest. Okay. So my plan right now is I’m going to get my certified flight instructor license next semester. I’m going to learn how to teach people how to fly. I’m going to try and get hired by the school at MTSU and give back and help people there and teach them how to fly, build up my hours, and then go to a regional endeavor or a regional, like a regional airline and try and build time there. So I’m not sure where my end goal I’m going to end up at, whether it could be flying cargo, like you said, for UPS or flying, being a captain at a Delta or Southwest, I’m not sure. But as long as I’m flying and working for someone who treats me fairly, then I’m going to be happy.

Scott Luton (27:54):

Oh, that’s awesome. And being happy and loving what you do, that’s at least half the battle tan. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. So speaking of what you want to do professionally, when you think about your potential employer, one of the things we get feedback around this all the time, is we meet top talent and parts of the now generation that are out there doing interviews and trying to figure out exactly where they want to be. When it comes to your potential employer, what’s really important about what they might offer you or what kind of organization do you want to be part of?

Anthony Bellamy (28:31):

I want to be a part of an organization that prioritizes fairness and transparency. I want to know what’s going on. If something happens, I would like to know about it. I also would like to where I’m working, not have to commute. That would be pretty nice for me, not have to go out of my way and travel to the certain airports. I know some pilots that they’re based in a different state than what they live in, and they have to catch flights to their state to go and fly.

Scott Luton (29:03):

So lemme see if I follow you here. So let’s just pick some states here. So you’re describing a situation where someone may be living, a pilot may be living in Georgia, but they may fly in and out of Arkansas. Is that right? So

Anthony Bellamy (29:16):

Let’s say they live in Georgia, but they’re based in Nashville and they have to, even though that’s close, they have to catch that flight from Georgia to Nashville and then clock into work and go fly from Nashville to somewhere

Scott Luton (29:29):

Else. You just blew my mind in terms of I’m going to stop complaining about my hour or so commute here in Atlanta. Ria, where does that take your mind?

Tandreia Bellamy (29:40):

That absolutely happens, and it happens unfortunately a lot with the regionals because they move the pilots to wherever they need them. And that might not be where you live and working, having a employer as he says that understands the importance of that because that’s a part of that employee’s work-life balance. Right?

Scott Luton (30:03):

Oh, big part. That’s right. Great point. I want to go back to something you said earlier, Tania, the pilot shortage. Yes. I think I was in Air Force, got out in oh two. I think they were struggling, retaining and attracting pilots like military wise. And I think the commercial industry with a few blips, I think they’ve always, especially recently been struggling to Keaton attract pilots,

Tandreia Bellamy (30:25):

Right? There was an article recently where a passenger airline was poaching pilots from the Cargo airlines. So it is a tremendous shortage and I don’t know that we can build them fast enough because there’s a lot that the pilots have to go through in order to be qualified to fly those jets. And as a traveler, I desperately need them to be fully qualified before they get up in the air.

Scott Luton (30:55):

Hey, absolutely. Tantra coming over here. As we were kind of walking and getting into the studio, Anthony was telling us all these things that you got to double check and you’re so right. There are certainly, as travelers, non-pilot travelers, we have no idea of how capable and trained and smart you got to be to safely operate and carry these hundreds of passengers on any one plane here and there and everywhere. So I’m glad we’ve got more capable and passionate pilots like Anthony here coming in the industry. Alright, so let’s see. I was just asking Anthony about what he wants in a future employer, and one of the words he used was transparent. So what would be your advice if you were to speak to hiring managers out there all vying for top talent? What’s one piece of advice you’d offer them up? Tantra,

Tandreia Bellamy (31:51):

Things have changed a lot. When I started, I’ll say maybe my first job as a manager, people were motivated by money. How can I make the most money? What can I do to make more money? And then you moved into maybe the next generation or two, and it was more about status. They wanted to see upward mobility. So a lot of the questions were, what does it take to get promoted? How do I get to your job? What’s the next level look like? That’s not the case right now. You have people who are more intrinsically motivated by either what’s going to make them happy, what’s going to make them feel appreciated, what’s going to make them feel valued? So hiring managers, managers who have teams, they’ve got to work hard to really understand what their team is looking for, what those new employees are looking for. They’ve got to work to make their organization look viable. Again, I had 34 years with UPS. We were absolutely a cradle to grave type company that just doesn’t exist anymore. And with so much just being publicly known, so much transparency. It is very, very, very easy for top talent to just job hop. So finding out what that top talent wants and meeting them at the point of their need, it takes work to keep good

Scott Luton (33:34):

People. That’s right. There’s a phrase as you were describing that that comes my mind that I heard say to me once leadership doesn’t blink. And what I’m hearing about as you laid that out there, it’s not just like a easy button, you flip these two switches and we got what we need. It’s a constant, consistent, exhausting, but steady, steady, steady approach to protect the environment, to protect the culture, and to create the organization that not only attracts folks like Anthony, but keeps ’em but keeps ’em. Yeah.

Tandreia Bellamy (34:11):

Keeps ’em. Absolutely.

Scott Luton (34:12):

Good stuff there. Anthony, respond to any part of that? What’d you hear your mom say that really you’re like, that’s right.

Anthony Bellamy (34:22):

That’s right. What she really said about the money is, that’s something that relates to me too, is even though it would be nice to be all about the money, there’s certain things that it’s not all about the money. For example, for me, there’s certain captains that are out there making so much money, $700,000 a year. Wow. Right? But they’re always flying. They’re never at home. They’re, they’re missing their son’s birthday, they’re missing Christmas. And even though it’s nice to be making that much money and doing what you love, I also want to have a home life too, and not always be at work and always doing my job. So even though it would be nice to always, oh, go to the highest bidder and all that stuff, there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to do that. Also that wants to be happy with my job and happy with my life and my family as well. So I think that’s very relatable.

Scott Luton (35:09):

Well said, man. Mature beyond his years. Well beyond his years. Wow.

Tandreia Bellamy (35:14):

Somebody did something right.

Anthony Bellamy (35:15):

That’s what I’m saying.

Scott Luton (35:18):

All right, so now this is going to be a tough question. As I was writing this question out, I was like, what would I say? I’m not sure if I’d come up with a good answer. So I’m still going to ask you though. So we like to get folks kind of break out their crystal ball from time to time and kind of talk about the future. And here I want to fast forward from this conversation here to kind of the end of when you were ready to retire, right? Like seven years or 70 years from now. What is one thing that you hope that the folks you’ve worked with and the organizations you’ve worked with will remember about how Anthony Bellamy, how he worked, how he led the results he got? What would you want folks to remember?

Anthony Bellamy (36:03):

I would want folks to remember positivity, definitely. And my mom can vouch for this. I’m always smiling, I’m always happy and I want people to be more happy with their lives and more happy just in general. Because life is too short to be coming into work every day, sad to be doing a whole bunch of different things, just being mad and I’m always smiling, I’m always happy, and I want those people to know that it’s real. I’m always feeling good about everything. It’s a blessing that we’re all here. It’s a blessing that we’re healthy and all that stuff. So when I retire, I want them to know that man Anthony came to work every day with a smile on his face, A positive attitude no matter what was going on, if he had something going on at home or something else, he left that at the door. He left that when he was coming into his job, he left that at the door. So I just think I want everyone to remember me as being a positive and a happy person.

Scott Luton (36:52):

Okay. I love your answer, tantra. I’m going to ask you kind an extension of what I’m hearing Anthony say is that’s the kind of person that you want to work with. You want to have bad days with. You want to have great days with, you want to solve problems, you want to win, you want to innovate with, I mean, you want to work with someone that Anthony’s describing react to that

Tandreia Bellamy (37:12):

You do. I mean, you want to work with them, you want to play golf with ’em, you want to go to church with ’em. Think about how much better everything would be if more people had that attitude. You relate this morning that you went to one of your favorite establishments and they weren’t open and we were talking about the huge shortage of workers. If environments were like that, people would wake up like, yeah, let’s go, let’s go. So let, that makes me smile. Me too. Yep,

Scott Luton (37:47):

Me too. Me and Tanger. I love hanging out with you just because just how you described it. You’ve got a presence about you, Anthony. You really do. That’s very palpable. Okay, I know there’s a thousand questions that I did not ask you. It’s tough to get a full journey in an hour or so conversation. So I’m going to throw one more question at before we make sure folks know how to connect with you both. What’s one important thing that we didn’t tackle here today or didn’t ask you that you really feel that global folks out there, they’re working in the trenches or whether they want to fly or they want to go to school, or they want to be in supply chain, or they just want to lead and be in executive roles like Ria. What’s one thing we didn’t touch on that you think is really important?

Anthony Bellamy (38:32):

What I think is really important is no matter what you want to do, whether it’s you want to be a famous TikTok or you want to go out and be a construction worker, no matter what it is, whatever you want to do, you can do it. Just go out there and do it. Go out there and get started. Don’t get started tomorrow. Get started today. No matter what you want to do with your life, in your life, you can do it and get started now. That’s what I would say.

Scott Luton (38:56):

Oh, I love it. Me too. Tantra, this has been great. We need a whole Anthony Bellamy series. Really. It’s like we can hook you up to the power grid and power cities for days based on the energy you bring to the table. Alright, so tan, before we wrap out of everything Anthony shared here today, what was your favorite thing he shared that more folks should take away if they forget everything else, what’s the one thing that folks got to take away from the conversation?

Tandreia Bellamy (39:27):

His smile. That is just have a joy for life and make somebody else smile. He makes me smile.

Scott Luton (39:39):

Well said. And don’t start till tomorrow.

Tandreia Bellamy (39:41):

Start today. Start

Anthony Bellamy (39:42):

Today.

Scott Luton (39:43):

Alright. So Anthony, how can folks, so with all that you’ve got going on this incredible journey, you’re following your passion, not the paycheck. What we were saying earlier, you’re going to make a big impact out in industry. You’re going to be kicking a dent in the universe. You’re already starting. So how can folks connect with you if they want to pick your brain or have you come in and motivate their teams or maybe even hire you, who knows? How can folks connect with you? Anthony?

Anthony Bellamy (40:08):

They could connect with me by email. And my email is anthony bellamy a hs@gmail.com.

Scott Luton (40:14):

Okay. It’s just that easy, man. It’s a delight to have you here finally meet you after years and years of hearing about you, me and Greg and Tandra, we’ve had some great conversations and it’s so nice to finally meet you here today. Alright, Tania, thank you. On a variety of levels. This was a pleasure. This has been a lot of fun, man. And I really have enjoyed all the different ways that we’ve collaborated, all the different conversations we’ve had. This is different than all of that. This is just a great addition to our journey. So how can folks, you’re still, as you mentioned on the front end, just because you’re retired from UPS, you’re not staying still. Absolutely. How’d you put it? You’re not. You used a word I said, I’m not stationary. Yes. Got to keep moving. Stationary. That that’s right. Moving like that train background. It’s a great backdrop for us. Supply chain now episode. So how can folks,

Tandreia Bellamy (41:06):

LinkedIn see me on LinkedIn, RIA Bellamy Connect, I’m active and I’ll definitely accept and we can communicate.

Scott Luton (41:15):

That’s right. That is right. And really encourage all of our listeners to connect with both. But in particular in my time with Tania, I know you talk a lot of folks, you talk shop, you come in and speak, you do keynotes, you’re serving on boards, you’re doing important charitable work with driving outcomes, man, you’re just like a dynamo. Do you sleep at night? Of course.

Tandreia Bellamy (41:40):

For two hours.

Scott Luton (41:42):

Only Go. Only go. Well, RA Bellamy, always a pleasure and great to have you here. All right. So folks, hopefully you enjoyed this episode as much as I have. This has been a long time in the works. I’ll tell you, you don’t always get a chance to do that conversation or that show that you talk about for so long. And I am so I’m delighted over the moon that we’re able to do that. Very grateful. Folks, here’s a challenge though. Here’s a challenge. Take something that Anthony or Ria shared here today. Put it in action. Deeds, not words. Just take one thing. At least your team will appreciate it. So with all that said, on behalf of our entire team here at Supply Chain now, Scott Luton challenge you to do good, to give forward and to be the change. Be like Ria, Bellamy, and the world will be a much better place, I promise you. We’ll see you next time, right back here at Supply Chain now. Thanks everybody.

Intro/Outro (42:32):

Thanks for being a part of our supply chain now, community. Check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to Supply Chain now, anywhere you listen to podcasts. And follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on Supply Chain. Now.