Carolyn Renee Rodriguez has been a flight attendant for nearly six years. In her time at American Airlines, she never imagined she would be in the thick of a global pandemic.
Rodriguez said this is the time bravery kicks in.
“I just make sure I take care of myself and the passengers. I make sure that everything is clean,” Rodriguez said. “Things are difficult now, but I am very optimistic about the future.”
There are flight attendants around the world dealing with the crisis head-on, too. Rodriguez said she wanted to do something to support them and recognize them for risking their health to do their jobs.
“I decided to do it because I didn’t see anyone recognizing the flight attendants. I wanted to say thank you for being a frontline worker and continuously doing our jobs and doing it in the beginning without masks or any protection,” Rodriguez said.
So, how did she produce a video in 12 languages with several flight attendants from around the world? You use the World Wide Web, of course!
“I just started asking people on social media from all over. These were just strangers that said they would help me! I pulled up all types of airlines and started direct messaging them and asked would they like to be part of this. It all was word of mouth and I gave them a line and asked them to sing this part," she said.
Rodriguez received submissions of Michael Jackson's “We Are the World” and put them all together in a video she posted to YouTube.
She has been directly impacted by the coronavirus as her mom was just released from an Irving hospital after a 15 day stay as she battled the virus. She said her mom is out of the hospital and bouncing back.
As for Rodriguez’s health?
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“I am doing great! I am a fighter. We are getting more traffic on the planes and I just know we all have to help keep each other safe. I am very optimistic. That’s just my personality,” said Rodriguez.
