Courtney Gallagher

According to the US Navy, the number of female aviators in the Navy is somewhere between 7%-12% in any given year. You are a former F/A-18 pilot in the United States Navy and the first female F/A-18 pilot to deploy directly from training to a forward-deployed squadron at sea. Were there any hardships or adversities you experienced during your service and how do you think that influenced your entrepreneurial journey?  

Female naval aviators are a small group, and that number gets even smaller when you get into the fighter pilot world.  However, since it is performance-based, the only noticeable difference most of the time was a ponytail sticking out the back of my helmet. Being female, in a career path that was not historically designed for females, sometimes did bring a unique problem set.  

Once, in flight school, there was an instructor with whom I could not be scheduled. He was adamant that females should not be pilots in the military.  

Another time, I came upon my classmates discussing whether physical standards should be different for women, and if women should even be on the front lines.  

No one was as critical of me as me. I was so averse to anyone thinking I was incapable because I was female that I would rarely ask for help.  Though my concerns were validated in one instance, the lessons I learned from not asking for help taught me lessons to take to life and entrepreneurial endeavors: You must work hard, but you don’t have to do it alone.  It helps to know what game you’re playing and know who the players are.  

Tell us a little about your background and first entrepreneurial endeavor.   

I’m an Air Force brat.  I moved around a lot growing up.   

My first endeavor was a lawn service business in high school with my brother. We really grew this thing from the ground up. It wasn’t just us mowing lawns on the weekends for extra cash. We had dozens of clients and managed employees. We made enough money in the summertime to not have to work during the school year.   

Eventually, my brother and I sold the business to one of our employees. It was incredibly fulfilling to be able to pass on our business and give that opportunity to someone who had worked with us.  

Having that first business gave me a taste for entrepreneurship. I loved the hard work and the hustle and questioned if I should let go of my scholarship and do it full-time.  I didn’t because my dream was to fly airplanes for the military. That spark stayed, though, and kept pulling me back after my military career.    

You co-founded EarthViews, a conservation-minded internet technology company that creates virtual 360° imagery maps and surveys of aquatic environments and terrestrial habitats. What problem are you solving?  

The problem we are solving with our 360° maps and surveys is efficient access. We work primarily with conservation organizations and environmental engineering firms. Our clients can take their audience on a virtual or curated trip to whatever area they care about and customize the information on that area for their clients or stakeholders. We give them a pre-painted canvas upon which to tell your story—a make-your-own Google Street View.   

One of the projects we are most proud of is working with the National Geographic 2019 Explorers of the Year in the Okavango Delta in Central Africa–one of the most remote places on the planet. Their task was to get the data they needed to share with governments and make a recommendation on the best way to protect this watershed. They had the data through 360 pictures from their journey but needed our help in turning that data into virtual tours. It’s no longer just photos, a report, or a graph – it became an immersive experience.   

What personal trait or characteristic do you think has benefitted you the most in your entrepreneurial journey?  

Besides stubbornness? I can see positive even when there’s a lot of negative around it. If anyone looked at the books, the hours, and the numbers involved in entrepreneurship, particularly at the beginning, I don’t know how many people would do it. But I see an opportunity to help save the world one habitat at a time and I want to be a part of it.   

How do you define “excellence” in business? Where do you see excellence in your customer base?   

There is a model called PERMA, which stands for positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement. It was developed by a psychologist named Martin Seligman. This model is about personal happiness and success, but I have adopted this model for how I operate as a business owner and how our company operates – the five elements could individually be defined as excellence, but you need all of them together to have a truly cohesive mission-oriented company. 

Since receiving the Future Texas Legend Veteran Award in 2022, how has your company grown and your vision for it evolved?   

We’ve had a couple of huge leaps since receiving the award. One of our founders spun off Earthviews into a non-profit. We landed our biggest contract ever with the Department of Ecology for Washington State to map the entire Puget Sound. I have learned to leverage automation to handle exponential capacity.   

The financial impact of receiving the grant enabled me to switch my focus from working in the business to working on the business. I could take a step back from the daily grind to focus on the big picture and think about where we wanted to go next.   

The mentorship and network in TBHF have been invaluable. Every part of this organization seems to start with “How can I help?” Legends, Directors, fellow alumni, and staff – every single person I connect with at TBHF – all try to figure out what they can do to help each other do better. It’s more than inspiring, it’s life-altering.