on stage and donated several thousands of dollars to women veterans from our event earnings. And we have impacted thousands of women nationally with our message. We are changing the narrative. Our motto is “We are not your biggest competitor, we are your biggest supporter. What is Combat Boots to Heels and how are you Empowering Veterans? About 10 years ago I started a technical/vocational college called Synergy Learning Institute. It focused on creating educational programs for Veterans transitioning out of the military. My very good friend and colleague Dr. Karen Walker retired from the military, and she talked to me about how she was so skilled with a Ph.D. and still struggled to
transition after 20 years in the military. She mentioned there were not a lot of programs that helped focus just on women transitioning. She pointed out that the stats show women vets have the highest suicide rate and highest homeless rate. I was shocked, I had no idea. We worked together to create a transition course to help women focus on the mentality to transition from military service to civilian life. We also helped with resumes, interview training and even interview clothing if needed, and over the years we have partnered with several other organizations to support in other areas. One in particular is I Support the Girls. They provide bras and menstrual products to women. Sounds trivial but you would be shocked by the need for this. Last year alone they gave out 90,000 bras to women who were homeless, victims of
That can't be right. I thought of people like Mother Teresa and Gandhi and how their insight would be invaluable, yet they lived in poverty most of their life. I thought, well if you won't give me a platform, I'll build one myself. And that is how She Talks happened. We created a speaking platform and tour where any woman could apply to tell their story and you didn't have to be famous, or a multi-millionaire to qualify. We offered training to women who had never spoken, provided them with a professional video from the event, and we took ticket sales and gave those to our nonprofit, Synergy Learning Institute, specifically for the Combat Boots to Heels Program for our women Veterans. We want to empower, train, and give back. Now 5 years later we have been in 8 different states, trained over 40 women on how to publicly speak
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