Julieta Duvall is a 42-year-old flight attendant, unschooling mom, and part-time poet who spent years chasing job security before realizing that freedom mattered more. (@the_unschooling_lifestyle)

Originally from Mexico, Julieta studied law, dropped out, and ended up taking the midnight shift as Spirit Airlines’ only Spanish-speaking reservations agent in Michigan. One year later, she joined the first class of flight attendants hired after 9/11. Today she works for Delta, earns top-of-scale pay, and chooses her monthly schedule based on her family’s needs, often dropping every assigned trip to rebuild the month from scratch.

She explains the hidden economics of flight attending—how pay is calculated, how to game the system, and why the swankiest layovers are hotly contested. Julieta also opens up about her family’s financial history: buying a $7,000 house, doing accidental landlording, weathering debt consolidation (twice), and how their motto became “spend less, don’t work more.”

We discuss how unschooling her kids changed everything—especially how she sees time, purpose, and money. She describes the shift from tiger mom to intentional parent, how her body reminds her when she’s over-pleasing, and why she’ll never again miss a family moment for the sake of someone else’s crisis at work.

We also get into her enduring love for bookstores, slow travel, and the trees of Michigan—and how she’s built a life that lets her say “no” to work, “yes” to crafting, and “maybe” to the chickens next door.

Full transcript: dirtbagrich.com/julieta