About Me — Kit Campoy
Gen X, grit, and pragmatism.
Massive helicopter blades swung around overhead. The Huey had been fired up, and the blades were picking up speed.
The engine whined, and the blades thwacked through the air. Three other men jumped in, and the pilot lifted them off the ground carrying them off base to their intended destination — Hue City, Vietnam.
The men asked for a Jeep to explore the city and were denied. They Huey, it turned out, would do.
Stationed at Camp Evans in 1970, they jumped into a helicopter, radioed the tower, and flown there after they were told they would not be given a Jeep to drive off base.
My dad was the pilot. He belonged to A company of the 158th Aviation Battalion 101st Airborne Division. Call sign, Ghost Rider 36. Nickname, Coyote.
After returning home, my dad got his fixed-wing license. He still flies to this day.
I get the feeling that my dad mostly thought, I see your rules, and they don’t make sense. I will now skate your rules. I don’t care if you notice.
I have to admit, I am similar. I study rules closely so that I can generally comply but avoid the other ones I don’t think make any sense or are a waste of time. I am a pragmatist.
My parents are fighters and rule breakers, and justice seekers. They let us swear but limited our sugar intake. They instilled grit in us, intentionally or not.
We rode bikes throughout the neighborhood without supervision for hours. My dad would whistle so we could hear it for a mile — and we knew it was time to come home. You could earn a C in school but never a D or F in our household.
The bright blue desert sky watched over us as we trudged through alleys and avoided local vegetation.
My mom was a high school English teacher turned drama teacher. She was fired in the ’90s for putting on a play with a character who was gay. The play was The Shadow Box.
My mom thought everyone was on the same page about accepting gay people in the ’90s. She was wrong, but her firing got national attention.
She partnered with People for the American Way and even won a first amendment award. She retired as a fine arts resource teacher for a school district in Tucson.
My mom is always ready for a political justice protest.
My parents divorced when I was seven. I had many friends whose parents divorced, so I thought this was what everyone’s parents did at seven. It was hard on all of us.
When my mom was moving out, we sat in the car in the driveway — just the two of us. She paused, turned to me, and said, “This is really hard.” I stared down at the floor mats, “Start the car,” I replied.
Again, I was seven. I guess I’ve never been one for dramatic antics. Practicality rules again.
Joint custody made a nomad of me but the ability to see both parents made it worth it.
In second grade, a classmate began teasing me about my name on the way out of the classroom. I slid my backpack off the one shoulder it was hanging on and slugged him with it. I threw it back over my shoulder and cruised out of the room without a word. My mom witnessed that, making her worry about me slightly less.
I am lucky to have an older brother, Ryan, that watched out for me and introduced me to cool music. Our record collections were vast, and we spent days looking at album covers. He taught me how to ride motorcycles and shoot guns.
He would scold me whenever I jammed his handguns because my wrists were too weak to hold them steady. He never treated me differently because I was a girl. His only goal was to “toughen me up.” He helped me with my economics homework until I dropped the class.
He is steady, intelligent, and reliable.
I graduated college in 1998 from NAU with a BS in Fashion Merchandising and a minor in Public Relations. I graduated with 125 credits. You need 120 to graduate. No sense in doing more than what will get you out. Linear practicality at all costs.
I have lived in Southern California for twenty years with my husband. We have a scruffy white terrier named Jackson. We travel somewhere new every year.
I am loyal, honest, and no bullshit. If I tell you I will do something, I will do it. I have very few close friends and would do anything for them.
I run a large retail store with teenagers and young people filling the sales associate role. The roster climbs to about fifty during peak times.
In my free time, I write about leadership, travel, work, and Gen X. I write because I can no longer not write.
I aim to inspire people to lead with kindness and an infinite mindset. To encourage people to travel and learn about other people.
You can lead with empathy and humanity, and humor. It is possible to work hard and have fun doing it. You can be a good leader and be true to who you are.
I live near the beach, but the Sonoran desert, the Arizona pines, and the red dirt are close at heart every day.
Kit Campoy is a freelance writer based in Southern California. She covers Web3, travel, leadership, retail, writing, and more. Connect with Kit on LinkedIn, DeSo, and Twitter. Give yourself a break, and join her weekly newsletter.
