Danielle Silva Adornato
President at FBR Aviation Inc
“Flying towards the Goal”
For Danielle Silva Adornato, President at FBR Aviation, Inc., starting a company in the highly competitive aviation industry with a male predominance was not an easy task; however, it was certainly inspiring and exciting. FBR Aviation was initially created focused on the resale of aeronautical parts, a very competitive market. After approximately two years in the market, Danielle realized that her margins were getting smaller due to the clients' easy access to competitors and e-commerce. That's when she focused on three points:
• Adding value to her clients. Her goal was to provide excellent service, surprising the client from the first service contact to the after-sales.
• Find a way to work on the long-term success of the company while taking advantage of occasional opportunities.
• Build partnerships to add and create new services.
After some time and much dedication to those three points, Danielle saw the results of her efforts with the company's revenue grow by about 700% compared to the previous year. This happened during the period when 2013/2014 World Cup was happening. A couple of years later, Danielle saw an opportunity to sell Diamond Aircrafts in Brazil, and she grabbed it, even though this brand wasn’t well known in the Brazilian market. FBR Aviation is now the exclusive distributor of Diamond Aircrafts in Brazil, having sold more new aircraft than any other that attempted the market. Due to the recent pandemic and people are looking for less exposure and flying privately, the sales of private planes in executive aviation grew, which boosted the company’s sales. FBR Aviation maintains its growth with private aircraft sales, has contracts with the Brazilian Air Force, and provides all logistics and AOG services to their customers. Today, they operate in the aerial security market, integration, and supply special mission equipment for Air Imaging Systems.
Danielle enjoys sharing her story to inspire women in any market segment and the business world. "We are responsible for our future, and I am a person who is dedicated to learning and sharing what I learn. I love to inspire women to believe in themselves and to go make a difference in the world," she says. "I like to talk a lot about dreams and visualization, don't limit yourself...Believe in yourself and never give up on pursuing what you want. Have discipline and persistence, learn from challenges and the "NOs" you get. With every NO I hear in my business journey, I consider myself closer to a YES. This perspective changed my way of thinking; I don't get frustrated when I get turned down. I focus on how I will improve to get a YES next time." Today FBR Aviation is predominantly made up of women, whom Danielle says are fundamental to the company's success.
“The clearer you are visualizing your dreams, the brighter the spotlight will be to lead you on the right path.”
Danielle’s mother was her first role model who taught her, “when you do what you love and have passion for, you will find happiness and fulfillment. You live lighter this way and will always have the enthusiasm to perform your tasks while respecting others and the rules." She adds, "My father also contributed to my professional life in a very positive way. He showed me that work can be completely pleasurable if you think about the contributions you are making and have a purpose in what you do; this makes work not overwhelming or painful." Being ethical and loyal is also essential for Danielle, which helped shape her career when she started working. "I've always loved reading, and several books have driven me a lot towards knowledge, especially biographies. I learned many techniques and tools to improve my leadership and entrepreneurship. And finally, I invested heavily in personal development seminars that inspired me. We can be happy in all areas of life; I learned to balance my personal and professional life effectively. Today, I am more productive and have time for my family, which fuels my success."
Early in Danielle’s career, she had to make sacrifices to dedicate as much time to the company as possible for its growth and development. The most significant gift was her time and the moments she couldn't be present for family or friends, especially for her first daughter. "There were several moments that I questioned myself and was filled with doubts, but deep down, I felt the importance of being able to contribute more. The biggest leadership lesson I learned during my career was to be more empathetic and flexible; this has always contributed to my progress," she says. "I believe that women's ability to multitask and quickly act in different situations encourages participation and shares power and information with those she leads." IEWL
Company
Management
Danielle Silva Adornato
President at FBR Aviation, Inc
Description
Founded in 2007 and built on a long family history of four generations in the aviation industry, FBR Aviation has a respected and established role in the market. The company has grown to be internationally known, dealing with complex solutions of special mission programs and with complete logistical support in the supply of parts and components for fixed and rotating aircraft for the whole world market.