Melanie Curtis turns fear into fuel and inspires others to take the leap
When Melanie Curtis was 18, she jumped out of an airplane with a parachute for the very first time. She was changed forever. Curtis standing on the skid of a helicopter right before she exits for a jump over New York City on August 26, 2020, the exact centennial anniversary of when the 19th Amendment was signed into law. is doing now is “a dream come true,” she says.
Curtis grew up in Dexter, New York. Her parents divorced when she was 3. She visited her dad and stepmom frequently. Her father, who is a pilot, had an actual airport in their backyard. His best friend, a skydiver, convinced him to add a drop zone, which is a designated area where paraNow with more than 12,000 jumps under her belt, this extraordinary Maplewood resident is not only a world-record breaking professional skydiver, she is a keynote speaker, peak performance coach, co-host of TrustTheJourney.Today podcast, author of three books, co-founder of Highlight Pro Skydiving Team (an all-female professional skydiving demonstration jump team, comprised of 13 of the best skydivers in the world), and the executive director of the Women’s Skydiving Network. Curtis is fueled by fear and embraces it head on. She says that even though she instinctively knows how to fly a parachute and calm herself with one big breath, every time she prepares for a jump, she cannot sleep and is anxiety-stricken for days.
This past August, to celebrate the retirement of Megan Rapinoe’s No. 15 jersey, Curtis and her Highlights skydiving team made a visually stunning grand entrance as they landed in Seattle’s Lumen Field. This marked the 20th demonstration jump that Highlights completed as a team. When she took her first jump, it was the late ‘90s, during the rise of the internet and the explosion of the grunge aesthetic. Curtis was that age when you think you know everything but truly know nothing. She unapologetically admits that she didn’t have a clue as to who she was. “After reflecting on how I operate, the struggles I’ve faced and the anxieties I’ve felt, it became very clear to me that [my first jump] was the beginning of an intimate and masterful relationship with working with fear,” Curtis says.
Curtis is one of those adventure-seeking people who moves toward fear instead of running away from it. She thrives on Type 2 Fun, which are experiences that may not feel fun in the moment but leave you with a sense of pride and accomplishment in retrospect. “Fear is not fun,” she says. “If I didn’t get good at working with it, I would have lived a very small life, because it’s very present.”
One would not describe Curtis’s life as small. Her career in skydiving spans 30 years. What she is doing now is “a dream come true,” she says. Curtis grew up in Dexter, New York. Her parents divorced when she was 3. She visited her dad and stepmom frequently. Her father, who is a pilot, had an actual airport in their backyard. His best friend, a skydiver, convinced him to add a drop zone, which is a designated area where parachutes or skydivers land after jumping from an aircraft, on his property. The two spent many hours flying and jumping.
Curtis studied economics and the arts at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt. After graduation, she took a job in New York at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, an investment bank that was acquired by Credit Suisse Group AG. She transferred to Los Angeles (a strategic move so she could pursue skydiving) and worked for the bank for another three years. She did very well financially and spent most of her paycheck on competing, coaching, flying in the wind tunnel and purchasing gear. “I never questioned for a second spending all that money on skydiving. I was singularly focused and unstoppably driven,” Curtis says.
Once her competitive team won the amateur class at the United States Parachute Association National Championships, she had two choices. She could obtain her Master’s in Business Administration and stay in banking or she could go pro in skydiving. Curtis knew in her heart of hearts that investment banking was not the road she was meant to travel, yet it felt like the sensible thing to do.
On her journey to discover what would spark the same amount of passion and adrenaline rush that skydiving did, Curtis picked up a copy of What Color Is Your Parachute (how ironic) by Richard Nelson Bolles. A widely popular self-help book, she answered the life-changing, somewhat cliché question, “What would you do if money were no object?” Her answer was immediate, almost as if the universe had been waiting for her to see what everyone else saw. It was skydiving. It had always been skydiving.
With her unstoppable spirit and proven success in the sport, Curtis put an action plan in place and never looked back. She left the investment banking world and accepted a job as the events and marketing director at Skydive Elsinore in Lake Elsinore, Calif. As the face and energy behind the drop zone, Curtis also had the opportunity to coach experienced skydivers on how to fly their bodies better and how to compete.
According to the United States Parachute Association 2023 survey results, only 14 percent of skydivers identify as female. Curtis became a highly accomplished skydiver and has since been a part of several significant world record-breaking achievements. One of her most notable accomplishments was in November 2022. Project 19 involved 100 skydivers who created the largest all-female vertical formation skydive. This initiative not only celebrated women in skydiving, it honored the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and the women’s suffrage movement.
With her skydiving career at its peak, Curtis realized that as much as she loved the sport and being an extreme athlete, perhaps there was something more. She dusted off her proverbial copy of What Color Is Your Parachute and asked herself the same question that her 20-something-self had answered so many years ago. The answer surprised her. What if she could turn her life-changing experiences into an opportunity to be courageously vulnerable, to be seen and heard, and to do it from a place of service to help others? With that vision in mind, she expanded her coaching practice and became an advocate for the psychedelic healing movement.
By using skydiving as a metaphor, her keynote speeches focus on overcoming fear, building emotional resilience, and fostering deep human connections. Curtis’s likability is off the charts. She leads without judgment. She doesn’t take herself too seriously. Her charm is undeniable. Yet, her approach is not for the faint of heart. She will guide you through a 75 Hard challenge (join her WhatsApp Accountability Group) and no topic or goal is off limits.
Amy Lynn-Cramer is a freelance writer, former publicist, and founder of Cramer Connect. A culture changer at heart, she is a career coach, but most importantly, she’s the head of Team Cramer, based out of Maplewood.
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