Youngest female commander of a Boeing 777

Anny Divya, born in India, beat the odds to become the youngest female commander of a Boeing 777. She holds her position with Air India.

Becoming a pilot is far from easy, but challenging gender stereotypes and becoming a female aviator is even harder.

This didn’t stop Indian pilot Anny Divya from trailblazing her way to the top. Thirty-year-old Divya is now the youngest female commander of a Boeing 777 aircraft in the world.

Divya holds the high position with Air India — the culmination of a childhood dream of flying the skies.

“I always wanted to become a pilot, from my childhood,” Divya tells CNN Travel. “I didn’t have anybody around who knew about piloting at that time. I had no guidance […] I just wanted to fly.”

Divya was fueled by her passion and determined to succeed. She looked for people who might point her in the right direction. Eventually she was sent an advertisement for flying school by a friend and she applied at the age of 17.

“I got selected,” she recalls — but this marked the beginning of a steep learning curve.

Many of Divya’s new coursemates had flying experience — or family who worked in the aviation industry.

For Divya, it was all brand new.

“I had no clue about any aircraft, technology, nothing,” she says. “I’d never had any flying background or anybody to guide me, the whole subject was very new to me.”

More: Youngest female commander of a Boeing 777 beat the odds | CNN Travel