'I'm a pilot, I’m a sub-lieutenant ... and I'm a queen.'

Pilot by day, pageant queen by night, Leanni Tibbetts ’19 is living her dream every day.

Originally from the Cayman Islands, Tibbetts has had a connection to Florida Tech since she was young.

“Florida Tech was one of the only universities that would visit the Cayman Islands who offered a flight program,” Tibbetts says. “Due to this, a lot of alumni would come back and work for Cayman Airways after graduation, so I was very familiar with the university.”

One of her favorite memories from her time at Florida Tech was being a member of the Caribbean Student Association.

“Moving away from home was very difficult, but when you had a community to go to that you could share your same culture, your food, your dialect, everything, it made the journey away from home a lot easier,” Tibbetts says.

After graduating, Tibbetts faced the challenge of entering a post-pandemic workforce.

While Cayman Airways was on a hiring freeze, Tibbetts began working for the Civil Aviation Authority and then transitioned into disaster management working for Hazard Management.

After a few years of working full time and starting her own business, Tibbetts entered the Cayman Islands Coast Guard, where she served for a year.

In May 2022, Cayman Airways began operation once again and hired Tibbetts as a first officer.

“Flying is fun, but the views while doing so are breathtaking,” Tibbetts says. “The Cayman Islands have the largest contiguous mangrove system in the entire region and the most epic sunsets.”

When she’s not flying four times a week, Tibbetts trains to compete in Miss World pageants.

“I have always been a tomboy. While in the Coast Guard, I wore boots every day. So, pageants were never something I thought I would fit into,” Tibbetts says.

But after volunteering with the Girl Power organization and meeting a member of the Miss World team at a charity event, Tibbetts realized the pageants were so much more than high heels and dresses.

“I’m very, very passionate about caring for my community, caring for my people and helping others,” Tibbetts says.

After working hard and winning local pageants in the Cayman Islands, Tibbetts represented her home country in the 71st Miss World competition March 9 in Mumbai, India.

At this pageant, Tibbetts advocated for two causes that represent her platform and speak to her passions: women’s empowerment and sustainability.

“I’m a pilot, I’m a sub-lieutenant with the Cayman Islands Cadet Court and I’m a queen,” Tibbetts says. “These different things don’t make sense, but here I am. It doesn’t matter what box people put you in; you can be anything you want.”