We were there: Mindful memorial Day 2019
Compassion Walk -- Ribbons, Dance, and All
First, our sincere thanks to our host organization, Mindful Memorial Day, and its founder, Ben King. We were honored to join Ben, Armor Down and our new friends from Exit12 Dance Company at America's Women Veterans Memorial (WIMSA), from Saturday, May 25th through Monday May 27th, 2019. This amazing collaboration of veteran-serving veteran-honoring organizations made our visit to Arlington National Cemetery an occasion we will never forget.
Ben and the amazing Mindful Memorial Day volunteer squad handed out yellow commemorative ribbons and coached more than 7,000 mindful moments celebrating the lives of American military personnel killed since 9/11. YourNexStage joined in on Monday handing out purple ribbons and the names of the nearly 200 servicewomen who have been killed since 9/11. Walk participants visited the memorials or grave sites honoring seven women who served in the U.S. military during our Compassion Walk. To learn more about these amazing women warrior, view our Compassion Walth 2019 Guide by clicking on the READ MORE button.
Our inaugural Compassion Walk was serendipitously interrupted by Vice-President Pence's motorcade; our first of seven mindful moments enhanced by the strains of America the Beautiful drifting from the ceremonies near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; and a cool breeze and light clouds broke the heat. It was indeed a Mindful venture.
Exit12 premiered its "For My Father", featuring Gold Star sister Taylor Gordon. For more about the piece, click here: CNN - For My Father. Taylor's work, as well as spellbinding performances by the Exit12 Dance Company, brought tears and cheers to audience members on Monday afternoon.
We look forward to joining our team again next year. We will be looking for you, our women in uniform and our women veterans, to play a more significant role in showcasing the lives of those who have left before us, and in talking about how together we can serve all who remain with us.
Our Mission
... is to build a holistic world-class support service and network where U.S. servicewomen and women veterans are fully empowered to achieve their dreams and goals.
Our Goal
... is to ensure that every U.S. servicewoman has a female-friendly space and community forum in which to effectively move from the structure, unique culture, and personal impact of their time in service to the
differently structured, nonmilitary culture of the civilian world.
Our Plan
... is to create a nationwide network of near-base and community-anchored women-centric service centers affording holistic hands-on support to frame, or reframe, and advance the civilian lives of our returning U.S. servicewomen and women veterans.
plan components - our what
Women-Centric Facilities
Adjacent to installations, these will be spaces for mingling, talking, studying, learning, childcare, and relaxing. Space in which to coach, teach, construct, and polish. Spaces for finding and sharing friendship and support.
Community Building Events
Hosting community building events including career and personal growth workshops: Where Yes and No Don't Mean It, Networking (When You Hate It), Family Dynamics Now, Cooking for Those Who Can't, and sharing simple pleasures like movie nights, and cookouts.
Coaching
Individual one-to-one relationships, and small groups coaching where coaches listen deeply, empower and inspire, and are judgement-free confidential resources focused on helping Sheroes to discover their personal choices and their next stage.
Education & Training
Career and skills training workshops including Writing a Real Resume, Interview Planning and Rehearsals, Employer Presentations, Jobs Skills Training, Education Enrollment Support.
Partnerships
Partnering with other Veteran Service Providers, YNS will work in partnership with every available organization, service and company committed to supporting our returning military personnel.
Referral Network
YNS will be a part of a technologically-integrated service network where each provider meets specific needs. Sheroes will never walk alone, but will be guided to and through the right network to meet her needs.
our when and where
The need is now ... right now as approximately 20,000 women transition annually from the US military into civilian life.
YNS is working in partnership with a major academic institution to ensure that our initial launch of a three-year pilot is a record-breaking institution-creating success. Our partnership involves
- the identification of the ideal location (and we do have one in mind),
- the creation of quantifiable metrics with which to measure our impact at that location, and
- the codification and authorship of every policy and procedure required to sustain and expand.
We fully anticipate that during the pilot, YNS and its partners will undergo academic and clinically valid assessments of the entire YNS program. While we are intellectually certain of the need for and value of our approach, we are humble enough to learn and hopefully will be gracious with what we learn.
We are fully aware that funding comes with proof of concept and understand that the planned scope of YNS is unique. YNS believes that our proposed approach -- holistic, community-based and integrated with other partners -- will be substantially greater than the sum of its parts. We invite all who are interested in investing in a system designed to support our women who serve and who have served this great country to be in touch with us; to contribute to YourNexStage so that we can move our Sheroes to Success.
Board of Directors
Althea Green, PhD, CSM USA (Ret.)
Chair
Director, Recruitment and Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program (EMDP2)
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD
After 35 years of active duty and retiring as a CSM, Dr. Green (formerly Dixon) continues to serve at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. In addition to overseeing recruitment operations at the School of Medicine, she is director of the Enlisted to Medical Degree Preparatory Program (EMDP2). The EMDP2 provides enlisted service members with science coursework, clinical experience, and mentoring so they can be competitive applicants to medical school. The EMDP2 is the first program of its type within the Department of Defense, and to date, over 90% of its graduates have been accepted to medical school.
Tamarra Causley Robinson
Vice-Chair
Founder and CEO of Causley Robinson & Associates, Tamarra is a Life Coach, Executive Coach, Motivational Speaker, Mentor and Facilitator.
A veteran of Price Waterhouse Cooper and the New York City commute, Tamarra transitioned internally from the world of IT to the role of Senior Manager of Diversity. Then, taking a leap of faith and following her passion, Tamarra left PWC to build her multi-faceted coaching practice, always encouraging women to re-discover their voice, make courageous choices, and to boldly take charge of their lives and careers one DARE at a Time! Learn more about Tamarra and her coaching at http://dare2doitnow.com/.
Alisha Willis, NASA, USAF Veteran
Secretary
Founder and CEO of Igniting Fire Coaching and NASA in Human Resource Development
Alisha, a former staff sergeant in the US Air Force brings life experience and "been there, done that" passion to her role as a board member and coach for YourNexStage, Inc. A certified professional coach, Alisha serves private clients through Igniting Fire Coaching based on the eastern shore in Maryland. When she's not at NASA or Ignite, she's raising two nearly adult teenagers and two dogs. If you're a female veteran and would like to reach out to Alisha, go to Igniting Fire Coaching and sign up at Your Next Stage Partnership Coaching Session
John S. Pavlovsky, C.P.A.
Treasurer
Owner of John S. Pavlovsky, Jr., CPA in Bordentown, N.J.
John brings a wealth of experience -- most importantly as a highly sought-after board member and nonprofit accountant. John's practice provides accounting, consult and tax services. An active community volunteer, John is on the board and Treasurer for Mercer County Community College, a Rotarian, and music officiando.
Tundra Gatewood, CMSgt., USAF (Ret.)
Consultant
From the Memphis Metropolitan Area, Tundra brings experience at the functional, operational, and strategic levels of the Department of Defense Military Health System. An independent consultant, community advocate and PhD student in Human Capital Development, Tundra is focusing her research on women veterans as well as integration and engagement of veterans into the national workforce.
John Jorgensen
Educator & Consultant
A Chicago Metro Area HR consultant with over 30 years experience in Human Resources, John has been certified at the highest and most senior levels in the HR profession. John serves as a volunteer leader with the Society of Human Resource Management at the local, state and national levels. He has also been a mentor and consultant to many HR professionals as well as job seekers at all levels
Kelly Kaplan
Founder and CEO
Revive Personal Products Company
A self-described serial entrepreneur, Kelly moved from marketing others’ products to building her own company, Revive Personal Products Company. Started by buying “lost winners” in the Oral Care and female sexual health and wellness market, rebranding them, and taking them back out to market, Revive products include Natural Dentist oral health products, Stim-u-Dent and Fresh n’ Brite, as well as the “Options” line of gynecological products and Wealthy Woman Soy.
Kate Watson
Founder
Consultant
A dreamer, builder, fixer and consummate generalist, Kate brings more than 30 years experience in public policy and program design, development, and implementation in the private, public and non-profit sectors. Her passion for meeting the unmet needs of U.S. Servicewomen and women veterans comes as a result of her introduction to these very special soldiers, sailors, airwomen and Marines -- by her own Marine.
Advisory Board
Kiersten Downs, PhD. USAF Veteran
Kiersten's passion for research, veterans and their families has found new roots as Research Director for ScoutComms, an Alexandria-based Certified B Corporation committed to to providing communication and marketing services that support veterans and military families. Formerly a health services researcher at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Florida, Kiersten bring her skills in research and evaluation of veterans’ experiences with reintegration to both ScoutComms and YourNexStage. Dr. Downs' current world or work is legions away from her service as a bomb loader for four years in the U.S. Air Force and her four more years as an administrative assistant in a fighter jet squadron in the New York Air National Guard. She was deployed overseas three times, including once to Iraq.
Rebecca Lorraine, Col.
USAF (Ret.)
Becky is a retired Colonel, retired Family Nurse Practitioner, and a never-to-be-retired military wife and mother. Subsequent to retiring from the Air Force, rather than pursuing the next degree in a series which includes a BSN and a MS, Becky sought a second Bachelors studying anthropology, sociology and gender studies to understand the transition experiences of post-9/11 women veterans. She is also investigating how the women-into-combat roles and non-traditional career fields has created a evolution in the socio-cultural aspects of women veterans.
Kate Hendricks Thomas, PhD. USMC Veteran
Kate Hendricks Thomas, PhD is a behavioral health researcher focused on the reintegration experience of military women. A prolific writer, blogger, and researcher, Kate is also the author of "Brave, Strong, True: The Modern Warrior's Battle for Balance", "Just Roll With It: Wellness Journal", and most recently, "Bulletproofing the Psyche: Preventing Mental Health Problems in Our Military and Veterans." The YNS community anxiously awaits the August/September 2019 arrival of "Invisible Veterans: What Happens When Military Women Become Civilians Again." "Dr. Kate" is a nationally recognized woman veteran and occasional spokesperson who resides in DC with her husband, son, and Great Dane. You can find her at www.DocKate.com.