Stephanie Adams, model, author and CEO, yearns to take flight

Above: Stephanie Adams with NYPD helicopter and pilot.

[Photo courtesy of Stephanie Adams.]

20 November 2017 (Updated 19 May 2018 in memory of Stephanie Adams) | In 1970 the song Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In won both the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group at the Grammy Awards. Stephanie Adams (Born: 24 July 1970; Died: 17 or 18 May 2018) was born on July 24 of that same year, exactly 73 years after the birth of legendary aviatrix Amelia Mary Earhart.

Above: Amelia Earhart in standing under nose of her Lockheed Model 10-E Electra.

[Gelatin silver print 1937. National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian Institution. Public Domain.]

While many people are aware of Stephanie’s modeling for Playboy and her multifaceted and highly successful forays into the fields of business, investing, writing and marksmanship a lesser known fact is that Stephanie loves to fly and desires to become a pilot.

Above: A phoenix depicted in a book by FJ Bertuch.

[Image: Wikipedia.]

The exotic Stephanie Adams descends in part from Godgifu (the moniker in Old English usage essentially meant “gift of God”) Countess of Mercia or “Lady Godiva” of Coventry, England.

Above: Painting titled Lady Godiva by John Collier, c. 1897.

[Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, England. Public Domain image via Wikipedia.]

Above: Stephanie Adams.

[Photo courtesy of Stephanie Adams.]

Both women are known for demonstrating a propensity toward philanthropy, and applicable to both is one of many of Stephanie’s profound insights: ‘Natural beauty is a gift, but intelligence is true power’. As Stephanie states on her website, ‘God gave us both and we should be confident enough to recognize them’. Whether it is physical attractiveness or an infectious inner splendor one possesses, Stephanie Adams believes the following: ‘Enlightenment is a marriage of wisdom and spirit’.

Above: PROUDLY OVER 40: Playboy Centerfold Stephanie Adams 20 Years Later.

Many aviators contend that flying is certainly an avenue of personal illumination and can be a literal expansion of one’s horizons. Stephanie Adams would agree. For instance, she was once a passenger on a British Airways Concorde supersonic commercial airliner. (Concorde regularly transported passengers from North America to the United Kingdom within only a few hours.) Stephanie is still able to recall the extreme altitude (approaching 60,000 feet), where the curvature of the Earth was discernible and the sky was a very dark blue.

Concorde - British-French Supersonic Transport Public Domain NARA photo 17426586 via Wikimedia

Concorde – Preparing to take off.

[Public Domain NARA photo 17426586 via Wikimedia.]

Stephanie stated in reference to the experience that flying ‘can indeed be a spiritual experience, as one might sense they have ‘touched the face of God’ (a reference to Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., and his immortal 1941 sonnet High Flight – the wording of which was “received” during a training flight in a Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire fighter plane) while soaring high into and above the clouds’.

'High Flight' text graphic via Wikipedia

Above: High Flight text.

[Unattributed graphic via Wikiepdia.]

Stephanie Adams also said, ‘Not only do you get a sense of embracing the celestial sphere and heavens, you are reaching above all that you know, venturing into a realm of peace, sanctity and freedom’. Although generally impressed by Concorde, she confessed the following about her excursion: ‘I felt it fell short of a more impressive flight which was courtesy of NASA’. Even though Concorde no longer plies the air corridor between New York City and England, Stephanie candidly remarked that she would ‘never decline an opportunity of flying First Class on a British Airways one-way, nonstop flight to London’.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb similar to the aeroplane piloted by John G. Magee, Jr Public Domain Royal Air Force Photo via Wikipedia

Above: A Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb.

[Public Domain Royal Air Force Photo via Wikipedia.]

The interviewee also revealed a preference for smaller planes ‘because they feel so intimate and personal’. Without doubt her expressed penchant for more diminutive flying machines was shared by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., who was one of the thousands of American men and women who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. He, it is recorded, ‘topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace’ while ensconced within the tight confines of his Supermarine Spitfire.

Above: Interior view of NYPD helicopter.

[Image courtesy of Stephanie Adams.]

Stephanie said, ‘I later had an opportunity to be chauffeured through the clouds by former military men who joined the New York Police Department Aviation Unit’. She vividly remembers the flight: ‘For over an hour we flew in a police helicopter throughout New York City in ways only law enforcement pilots are sanctioned to fly and in areas usually off limits, such as in close proximity to the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building’. She exclaimed, ‘We even ventured through airspace around the George Washington Bridge as if we were in pursuit of a suspect or answering an emergency call’!

Above: NYPD helicopter.

[Image courtesy of Stephanie Adams.]

Stephanie Adams frankly remarked, ‘The journey had nothing to do with modeling or my business, but it was a lot of fun so I thanked the aircrew with photos and autographed calendars. Talk about a bargain’!

Above: Stephanie Adams.

[Image courtesy of Stephanie Adams.]

Stephanie happily provided her unique spiritual insights relating to this narrative and aviation: ‘Having a sense of flight and freedom can truly give one a heightened sense of magical omnipotence. However, one must always be wise enough to never go beyond the realm of common sense and safety’. One clue to Stephanie Adams’ subconscious fascination with flight is that in some of her writings she references the mythological phoenix.

Another classic story from Greek mythology is the tale of Icarus and Daedalus. Stephanie provided her unique spiritual insights relating to this narrative and aviation: ‘Having a sense of flight and freedom can truly give one a heightened sense of magical omnipotence. However, one must always be wise enough to never go beyond the realm of common sense and safety’.

Above: Stephanie Adams

[Image courtesy of Stephanie Adams.]

Several firms are now taking reservations for seats aboard spaceplanes that will be capable of suborbital service. Would Stephanie Adams appreciate an excursion beyond the atmosphere? She provided this reply: ‘My business is named Goddessy for a very distinct reason. Goddessy is a portmanteau of “goddess” and “odyssey”, which when combined, is properly defined as a spiritual journey. You may alternatively call it an inner belief, an outer space, or a combination of both, but either way it can certainly relate to aviation and spiritual flight’.

To supplement her previous statement Stephanie added, ‘I have my own personal beliefs about religion, spirituality, space, and overall energy. Being in space would not enhance or deepen those beliefs any more than they are already believed, but the locale would make me feel closer to what I will always believe to be “God” or “Goddessy”‘. Short of air or space travel, Stephanie Admas pointed out that ‘meditation is a form of “flight” that enables one’s mind to spiritually and astrally travel beyond their body and be in tune with the heavens by way of inner spirit. Through the guided, peaceful, and effective practice of meditation, one can always learn to “fly away” and be at rest [by employing this word Stephanie was referring to the biblical psalmist’s expression recorded in Psalm 55:6] without the use of actual wings or even possessing a pilot’s license’.

Does Stephanie Adams plan to learn to fly? ‘Yes’, she replied before adding a caveat, ‘but I am a romantic so hopefully I will do so with someone equally as captivating as the actual flying experience’. Stephanie then noted that, ‘I’ve taken the controls of both air and sea vehicles, but you’d think I’d get my driver’s license first before doing those sorts of things. Someday, that will come as well’.

Determination is one of Stephanie’s admirable traits, as evidenced by being founder and chief executive of Illuminati, Inc., the parent company of GODDESSY and GODDESSY Organics, and leader of the nonprofit organization Illuminatius.

Thus, achieving the goal of earning pilot wings will undoubtedly be accomplished at some point in the foreseeable future, and for the intrepid Stephanie Adams this endeavor represents no flight of fancy. While it is true that learning to fly will be a new adventure for Stephanie, to this supremely confident entrepreneur conquering the sky is not the limit. After all, in the past she has stated the following: ‘The magic of who we are and what we will become is an evolving possibility’.

Meanwhile doors are opening wide for women in the aviation and aerospace fields, a development Amelia Earhart would likely have welcomed. Stephanie Adams, commenting on this trend, provided the following advice to females interested in pursuing such jobs: ‘Never limit yourself because of other people’s stereotypes and perceptions. Dare to take flight with your dreams and remember that belief is only the beginning’.

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The author (John T. Stemple) was grateful for the late Stephanie Adams’ gracious cooperation during the preparation of this article. He believes she is now flying in the afterlife, reportedly having died in New York City at her own hand on 17 or 18 May 2018, and is unfettered by the travails of earthly existence. Stephanie has flown away and her soul is now, we at Military Aviation Chronicles pray, at rest.

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