The stage lights flashed as “Danger Zone” from “Top Gun” echoed through McCrary Theatre in Elon University’s Center for the Arts. Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour ran down the aisle, high-fiving attendees as she headed to the stage.
Armour gave an high-energy, interactive lecture March 13 as part of Elon’s 2024-25 Speaker Series — this year themed around the foundations of leadership and innovation.
Throughout most of her presentation, Armour had the words “You HAVE permission to engage” projected onto the screen behind her. It was a phrase Armour heard from ground controllers when she served in the United States Marine Corps, and it is a sentiment she has embraced ever since.
“You have the permission to engage,” Armour said. “If, when, how you engage is absolutely a choice because, folks, there are no ground controllers in life.”
Serving in the Marine Corps was not Armour’s initial goal. Since she was a child, Armour said she wanted to be a police officer, one that rode a horse downtown. She showed the audience a photo of her 4-year-old self sitting on a pony.
“Do you think I knew everything it took to become a police officer that rode a horse downtown?” Armour said, with the presentation behind her showing her 4-year-old self sitting on a pony. “Did I know every step? No. But do you think you could have talked me out of it? No.”
Even when she did not know how to go about achieving her goals, Armour could not be talked out of them. She was committed to pursuing her dreams. For Armour, not knowing how wasn’t a dealbreaker, it was an incentive to challenge herself.
Armour did become a police officer at the Nashville Police Department, where she rode horses downtown — a steel horse, Armour said, referring to a Harley Davidson Road King. She was the department’s first Black woman on the motorcycle squad, one of several “firsts” throughout her career. But even as a first, “the legacy is long and large,” Armour said as she acknowledged some of the firsts that came before her, including the Tuskegee Airmen and Bessie Coleman.
Armour, who was also the United States’ first African American female combat pilot, said people often asked her if she faced sexism, racism or other prejudice. As a gay Black woman, Armour said it is obvious she has faced discrimination.
But it’s not about what the obstacles were, she said, it was about how she navigated them. For Armour, she said she would remember why she was there, and she would flex and adapt to the situation in front of her.
“The moment I took my focus off of why I was there, lives were at stake,” Armour said.
Armour suggested audience members define their own “why” that they can focus on when navigating their own obstacles. She said it is important to show up and be counted.
“You never know who is counting on you.” Armour said.
Throughout the lecture, Armour shared anecdotes from throughout her career and personal life. In all of the stories she told the audience, Armour followed her gut, held her beliefs with conviction and pursued her goals.
“How you show up, how you have the guts to go for it, that’s everything,” Armour said. “Don’t let people talk you out of a vision they can’t see.”