Even as a child she dreamed of the stars
Her name, her mind, and even her genetic profile would eventually appear in a cave under the Nazca Lines—etched into a future no one was supposed to know.
Elly was smarter than smart. She grew up in Jamaica Plain, attended Boston Latin... At Harvard, she also joined Navy ROTC via MIT, earning her commission while quietly dreaming of the stars.
she always wanted to fly
While at Harvard, she took an archaeology elective with Professor Peter Andori. She had a strange affinity for pre-Columbian history that no one could quite explain. The course—meant as a curiosity—turned into something more. Some part of her always felt tethered to the Nazca desert.
Elly’s dreams weren’t welcomed with open arms. Her parents hoped she’d use her mind in safer ways. Her instructors wanted her in medical school. But Elly knew her path. She wanted to build. She wanted to fly. And when she sat in an F/A-18 during a Navy ROTC training trip in Pensacola, she knew she'd found her calling. She later became one of the Navy’s most respected pilots—gritty, unshakable, exacting.