Transition with a purpose

Military service members, their spouses, veterans and civilian workers gathered in Conmy Hall June 3 on the Fort Myer portion of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall to hear from entrepreneurs who encouraged attendees--especially those transitioning out of military service--to achieve their goals.

The one-day veterans transition conference, hosted by nonprofit American Dream U which helps service members to connect to resources--brought leaders and entrepreneurs to the joint base to speak with service members who are transitioning out of military service.

Phil Randazzo, founder of American Dream U, said he wanted "to bring world class entrepreneurs and business leaders to share with those in transition."

Randazzo said he wanted to use the conference as a platform to inform service members to start transition early and to learn to tell their stories. The conference was also intended to teach transitioning military personnel that failure in the civilian world is OK, and that self-education and life-long learning are musts for success, said Randazzo.

JBM-HH Commander Col. Henderson said this type of event is in keeping with the military's goal of helping to equip all branches of the military with the skills to obtain jobs once they transition out.

"American Dream U affords those in attendance the prospect of developing leadership skills, becoming better prepared to land that dream job to further their career or even to start their own business," said Henderson in his opening speech to audience [members]. "And what better way to do that than hearing it first hand from some of the nation's top business leaders."

Spc. Tommy Henderson, who will soon transition out of the Army, said the information given at the conference was helpful because it provided him with more opportunities than he previously thought were available to service members.

Henderson mentioned that he wants to be an entrepreneur and his goal is to do something with music.

"The military teaches us the basics, like how to finance your money, but nothing on how to promote yourself," he said. "This seminar helped me to feel more confident [about my situation] when I transition out."

Multiple successful entrepreneurs such as Army veteran Jas Boothe, Steve Sisler, Abbey Woodcock, Joey Coleman and keynote speaker Jim Koch, founder of Samuel Adams Beer, and others, shared their stories of failure and triumph and gave the audience tips on how to ready themselves for the civilian world.

Boothe told the audience about how she went from being broke to starting a nonprofit organization that serves homeless women veterans.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina wiped out her New Orleans home and, as Boothe recalled, the next month she was diagnosed with aggressive head, neck and throat cancer. Boothe had to undergo medical treatment, so she could not deploy to Iraq. Shortly after, she separated from the military. In short, she found herself out of a job. Her home was gone. She said she was told to go a Veterans Affairs hospital for help. She received none, she said.

"There were no services for women in 2005," she said. "And at that time it was just me and my oldest child, who is now in the Air Force, and I had nowhere to go. So I spent the next few months sleeping on [a relative's] couch. I went from being a Soldier making about $3,000 a month to being on welfare living off of $300 a month for me and my son."

Boothe said she started to feel sorry for herself, but it was her military training that helped her to get up and do something with her life.

"The military teaches us to never accept defeat," she said.

Eventually, she went on to start a nonprofit organization. Her simple message to the audience was don't let life beat you down.

But Koch didn't ground his advice in a rags to riches narrative. He talked about his dream to make America one of the best places on earth to buy beer and his journey to fulfilling that goal.

Koch told service members about how he started his beer company. Koch said his father, grandfather and great grandfather were all brew masters. Since the mid-19th century, Koch said, his family had run 13 breweries and all of them ended up in bankruptcy.

"We kind of have a track record of extreme repetitive failure," he said.

Koch's vision for his brewery extended beyond wanting to redeem the family name. During the 1980s, craft beer competition was slim, unlike today, he said.

"During those times you basically choose between mass produced/mass marketed beers, which was consistent, clean, cold, and you could crush the can on your forehead," he said. "That was American beer."

According to Koch, many Americans believed that the best beer wasn't made in the United States.

"Everybody believed that only [people outside the U.S.] could make good beer," he said. "I had this idea that maybe if I make really great beer here in the United States somebody would buy it."

Koch said that was the idea that led him to starting Samuel Adams Beer. He said he chose to name his beer after one of the founding fathers because "he was one of the first ones to believe in the idea of American independence.

"I love Samuel Adam's story and he was a brewer," he said. "He represented American values."

Koch went on to tell the audience that they should build their careers around what makes them happy instead of trying to get rich.

"People aren't happy who want to be rich," he said. "When you start a job or career, do something that you think will make you happy, which will lead to a great, satisfying life."

Pentagram Staff Writer Delonte Harrod can be reached