From Mali to UND, she’s flying toward history
Noumousso Diane, a UND aviation senior, is on course to becoming her country’s first female commercial pilot
As a young girl in Bamako, Mali, the wheels — err, propellers — were turning in Noumousso Diane’s head while on the car ride home from school.
“One day, I’m going to be a pilot,” she announced to her father.
He smiled and laughed — not unkindly, but because he had never seen it done.
“It’s just not common here. You don’t see that at all — women being pilots,” he told her from the driver’s seat.
Eight years later, Diane is the one in the driver’s seat — only now, that seat is inside the cockpit of a twin-engine Piper Seminole airplane flying high in the clouds above Grand Forks, North Dakota. The dream that once seemed so big and so distant that she just as well could have said she’d one day fly from here to Timbuktu soon could become a reality in more ways than one.
That’s because the UND Commercial Aviation senior is on course to graduate next fall and likely become the first female pilot from her homeland of Mali, the very same African country that’s home to the real city of Timbuktu. (BTW, that’s the same destination of her very first plane ride. More on that later.)
“I always kept that conversation with my dad in my mind,” Diane said. “I told myself, ‘One day, I’m going to fly a plane. There’s no way I’m not going to fly. That’s my goal.’”
A career cleared for takeoff
So far, so good. Diane already has piloted at least 100 flights and clocked more than 200 hours in flight time at UND.
“When I was behind the controls for the first time, I definitely was nervous, but having my instructor with me helped me feel more comfortable,” Diane said. “The whole time I kept thinking, ‘Am I really flying? This is unbelievable.’
“After the flight, I couldn’t wait to call my dad and tell him everything. He was so proud of me. He’s my biggest supporter, and knowing that made me even happier. That moment made me 100% sure that I wanted to become a pilot.”
Diane has kept not only her personal promise to learn how to fly, but she’s also leading in all sorts of other ways at UND.
She recently received the prestigious Western Union Global Scholarship, and she serves as the vice president of the University’s student chapter of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals — a leadership role that reflects the same courage and confidence it took for the self-proclaimed naturally shy woman to move to a strange city 7,500 miles away from her family.
Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, associate professor and graduate comprehensive examination coordinator in Aviation, is one of many who can attest to her inspirational nature. As faculty advisor for OBAP, he had this to say:
“Diane exemplifies resilience, calmness and leadership in all her endeavors. As vice president of OBAP, she has been instrumental in mobilizing underrepresented voices in aerospace to engage in activities that enhance the academic, social and mental well-being of members.
“She is goal-driven, thoughtful and passionate about the well-being of her peers. She is an inspiration to other students, especially those from Africa, through her academic excellence, and I believe she will utilize her leadership skills to mentor students from developing countries such as Mali.”
Yee Han Chu, UND’s academic support and fellowship opportunities coordinator, is another singing her praises.
“There are so many layers of exceptionality to Diane,” Chu said. “She takes great pride in everything she does, and then you add the social responsibility of being an ambassador for your country, and she’s extraordinary. It’s like whatever she can do, she will take that role and elevate it.”
In addition to OBAP, Diane is a member of Women in Aviation and the African Students Union on campus. And when she’s not juggling those responsibilities, along with her academic studies and demanding flight schedule, you might find her whipping up Pumpkin Spice lattes at the Memorial Union Starbucks, where she works part time to help pay for her living expenses.
Finding her wings far from home
Diane admits the journey from Mali schoolgirl to pilot and UND campus leader has had its share of challenges.
For starters, her severely impoverished homeland is marked by political instability and conflict, and it’s still uncommon there for girls to attend school past the eighth grade. In fact, Diane said many girls are encouraged to marry by age 17 or 18 — and sometimes, as young as 15.
Though she believes marriage and motherhood certainly are a noble life choice, Diane said she didn’t see that as her immediate destiny.
“I didn’t want marriage to be my only option. I wanted to do something for my country and for my people,” she said. “I wanted to show other young girls that they also could dream big and accomplish great things.”
Diane was the first of five children born to professional working parents who believed strongly in the power of education.
“My mother’s family was different from most families in Mali because both her mother and father were educated and working,” she said. “My father’s parents didn’t have a higher education, but my grandfather was a businessman, and they really pushed my father hard to take the path to higher education.”
Her father did go on to high school and was awarded a scholarship to a Russian university, where he earned his degree in electrical engineering. Diane’s mother worked as a judge until recently retiring.
“They knew right away when they married what they wanted for their children. The idea for higher education already was deeply implanted,” she said. “They were always telling us, ‘We want you to do that. This is how we survive.’ There was not really another choice.”
Navigating turbulence along the way
As a junior in high school, Diane had her first taste of America when she was selected for the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study Program, which grants high school students from countries of strategic importance around the world a chance to live and study in the United States for a full academic year.
The academic exchange landed her in Whitefish, Mont., where she loved the mountains, the community, the experience and her host family so much that she thought she would return to the state to pursue a petroleum engineering degree.
“Montana was my first option, but it was quite expensive compared to UND,” she said. “After more research, I learned UND also has a Petroleum Engineering program — and since they’re right next to each other, I thought, ‘Yeah, cool. I’ll go to North Dakota.’”
But after one semester, she “just wasn’t feeling it anymore” — so she decided to pivot and follow her heart and childhood dream to fly. It was just a happy coincidence, she said, that she already was at one of the world’s premier training grounds for pilots.
Then shortly after she switched her major, a political coup in Mali threatened to derail her plans altogether. The government scholarship that helped make her education abroad possible disappeared “just like that.”
“Of course, I was not expecting that. My parents had this whole plan for me — they had saved since I was a baby — and out of nowhere, I lost the government help,” Diane said. “It was just too much burden to put on only my parents. My father’s work also was affected, and at one point, it seemed there was no hope. I had doubts it was going to work out, and I thought maybe I should just go back home.”
As dire as it looked, her family in Mali and her second “family” in Montana encouraged her to stick it out.
“My dad was always saying, ‘It’s OK. We’ll find a solution.’ And my host family, honestly, they did so much for me as well. They were always calling and checking up on me. They have supported me in countless ways: financially, emotionally and with invaluable life advice. I affectionately call them Mom and Dad, and I proudly consider their two wonderful children my siblings as well.”
A supportive network at UND
Diane said she also discovered a very supportive network of professors, flight instructors and job supervisors on campus.
“They make you feel like you truly belong here. They will do whatever they can to help you, and they’re always available,” she said. “Even when they don’t have answers to your questions, they will find a way to direct you to someone who can help. They don’t hesitate, and that’s something you don’t see everywhere. I really appreciate that about UND.”
And if she had to give advice to other international students?
Diane would tell them to get involved in the community.
“Don’t just stay in your bubble. Get out of your comfort zone,” she said. “Try to meet new people and try new things. There’s so much you can learn. There’s people who will say, ‘Oh, Grand Forks is boring. There’s nothing to do.’ That’s just not true. You have so many opportunities — and especially at UND.
“Don’t be reserved. Get out there and get involved.”
What’s next?
After graduation, Diane says she would like to work as a UND flight instructor before returning to Mali, where she hopes to inspire other young women to dream big.
“When I changed my major, that’s when I learned that we still had no female pilots back home. That was crazy to me,” Diane said. “That’s why doing this is not only a personal accomplishment for me. I wanted to do it for my country and my people. I wanted to show all those other girls that they can dream big, too.”
Recalling her very first airplane ride as a 5-year-old traveling with her mother to visit her father on a job site in Timbuktu, she said, “Even then, I felt such a great sense of belonging and peace. Then, the pilot came out to say hello, and I was just amazed. ‘Oh, you flew this plane all that way?’
“I want to be that person for other young girls. They will be able to see a pilot who looks like them. They will be represented. They will be able to say, ‘OK, she did it, so we also can do it.’”
And Diane’s ambitions don’t end there. She also hopes she can help her country build a partnership with UND so other girls can study abroad and take what they learn back home.
“And I’m not going to be only a name where they can say, ‘Oh, look at her.’ No, I also want them to be able to say, ‘We can reach her. We can talk to her. She’ll be helping us.’ That’s what I want to do for my country.”
