Lydia Davey is a content marketing manager at a global technology company. She has more than a decade of experience in storytelling and strategic communications, and her insights have been employed by Fortune 500 companies, international non-profits, and tech startups alike. Most recently, Lydia was the CEO of Moriah Creatives PR, a San Francisco-based public relations firm that helped foreign startups launch in the United States. Prior to that, she served as a U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondent and Press Chief, working extensively throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. She’s here today to talk about her career and her experiences with Stanford Ignite. Their certificate program that teaches innovators to formulate, develop, and commercialize their ideas. For the third year in a row, Stanford has allocated one of these programs exclusively for post 9/11 veterans and I’m excited to hear about what they’re doing for veterans this year.

Douglas McCormick graduated from West Point and was a Captain in the United States Army. After leaving the military he got his MBA from Harvard Business School and today he is a co-founder and managing partner at HCI Equity, as well as a board member of Team Red White and Blue. In this interview we talk about the principles in his book, Family Inc., on how to use business principles to maximize your family’s wealth.

In this interview I get to talk with two leading figures on hiring veterans. Evan Guzman is a veteran advocate with two decades of experience in strategic talent acquisition and human resources who has dedicated his career to support veterans, transitioning service members, reservists, and military spouses across the country in finding meaningful careers. Brian Niswander is an Air Force veteran, a reservist, and the founder of Military-Transition.org which provides timely, unbiased, and interactive information or “Transition Intelligence” to help service members successfully navigate the transition process. 

Jeremy Paris is a US Army veteran who started the Veteran Resource Podcast which introduces veterans to Veteran Service Organizations. He is also a systems engineer, a producer at the Veterans Artist Program, and he’s about to launch another podcast network just for kids. He's done a lot of interesting things since leaving the military in 2000, and we talk about government contracting (including how he started his own government contracting business), creative careers for veterans, and what Jeremy is launching next in the podcast world.

Team Red, White, and Blue or Team RWB, for short, is a non-profit organization on a mission to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their communities through physical and social activity. Blayne Smith is the Executive Director of Team RWB and is a West Point graduate and former Special Forces officer with combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He joined me on the podcast to talk about how Team RWB can help veterans, his journey from a corporate to public service career, and figuring out what you want to do in your career and life after the military.

Robert Gowin is a retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant and current Fortune 50 executive who founded Mentors for Military and hosts the Mentors for Military Podcast. Within the private sector, Robert has worked over the last 14 years in management consulting and has consulted at international companies and Fortune 50 companies at the executive team leadership level and above. We chat about his career, veterans in other countries, and the key elements of mentorship.

Paul Dillon is a U.S. Army Reserve veteran who served in Vietnam. He is a Certified Management Consultant with more than 42 years of experience in the professional services industry and is the president and CEO of Dillon Consulting Services, which serves the veteran entrepreneur community. He is also on the leadership council of the Kennedy Forum, an organization looking to promote leadership action in mental health and behavior care in this country. We talk about the difficulties of transitioning from the military during the Vietnam era and the state of mental health care today. 

Charlie Linville is a Marine veteran and recently became the first wounded warrior to climb Mt. Everest. In this interview, we talk about the challenges he overcame as an amputee, how his military training helped him prepare, and what his journey can teach others about goal setting and transitioning from the military.

Larry is a CEO, Author, speaker, and former Army Green Beret. As the CEO of Broughton Hotels and Broughton Advisory, Larry has been awarded Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award. He’s been featured on CNBC, CNN and MSNBC and is a regular contributor to US Veterans magazine. In this episode, we chat about his lessons learned from his first job after the military and how he turned a job to support his education into his first business venture.

Jim Estes is a former PGA Tour Player. He saw first-hand the positive force the game of golf could play in the recovery process for our nation’s wounded veterans. In 2006, Jim and a childhood friend founded the Salute Military Golf Association. SMGA eventually evolved into a non-profit aimed at supporting post-9/11 wounded veterans.

In this interview, Nicholas Bradfield and I chat about budgeting, retirement savings, and investment advice for veterans and military service members. Nick is a Marine veteran, financial advisor, and founder of Divvy Investments, which is simplifying retirement investing for the do-it-yourself investor. While working at a big box brokerage firm one day, his boss told him to, "care less about his customers." Nick quit the next day and decided to figure out a better way to help investors on his own. Hoorah!

Amanda Veinott is a military talent programs expert who has helped over 30 companies across the United States develop programs to attract, recruit, hire, and retain top military candidates. She is now the founder of Miligistix, a full-service consulting firm specializing in designing, deploying, and optimizing all aspects of military and veteran recruiting, hiring, engagement, and retention. In this episode, we talk about the hiring process from both the employer's and employee's perspective.

Mike Penney served 8 years in the Marine Corps infantry, deploying three times — twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. After leaving the Corps in 2012, Mike set out as an entrepreneur. Now he is one of the hosts of Cigars & Sea Stories and the chief-contributor to bloodstripes.com. He’s also building tools and resources to help veteran entrepreneurs, including the 5 paragraph business, yes, modeled after O-SMEAC, the Marine Corps mission planning tool.

Bethany Coates is the Assistant Dean of Global Innovation Programs at Stanford. She runs a suite of global education and social mission programs that primarily focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership. In this interview, I get to talk with Bethany about Stanford Ignite, their certificate program that teaches innovators to formulate, develop, and commercialize their ideas. For two years now, they’ve allocated one of these programs exclusively for post 9/11 veterans.

Jason Ladd left the Marine Corps after a 14-year career as an F/18 Hornet aviator. After transitioning, he wrote and published One Of The Few, which quickly became a bestseller on Amazon. It is a book about discovering faith, handling life's most difficult circumstances, and preparing yourself for your life's purpose. He is also the founder of Boone Shepherd Publishing and continues to train others as an F-22 pilot instructor.

Sam Meek left the Marine Corps as a Sergeant and went on to become the VP of marketing for a billion dollar hedge fund. He is now the founder and CEO of Sandboxx, a mobile app company that is disrupting snail mail. In this interview we talk about his career path, lessons learned, and how you can maximize your military skills.

Justin Sloan is a Marine veteran who is now a professional writer. He’s currently a screenwriter for a video game company working on projects like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. He’s done film screenwriting, published books, acted, and has even been a stunt coordinator. In this interview, we talk about his interesting career path after the military that highlights the options that service members have when they get out that’s not often talked about. 

Adam Rivette is a US Army veteran who used his GI Bill to get an MBA while studying internationally. He went into high level consulting but soon found that he wanted to build his own businesses. Today, he's one of the founders of Barrel Backers, a company looking to disrupt the way you buy beer. In this interview we talk about using the GI Bill, consulting careers for veterans, entrepreneurship, and of course, how to order beer through his site. 

Doug Pfeffer entered military service 1990 when he enlisted in the United States Navy. In 1994, he transferred to the United States Army. After a 24-year career, he left the military but still felt that he had so much to give back to both his community. Doug is now the Executive Director of Rainier Therapeutic Riding, an organization that uses horses to facilitate physical and mental healing for service members, veterans, and their families. In this interview, Doug an I talk about how this type of therapy works, his own career transition, and where service members can get help.

Dan Evans is an active duty Marine and the Social Marketing Director for the United States Marine Corps. He is responsible for developing and rolling out a comprehensive social media strategy for over 1,000 recruiters across the Western U.S. In addition to being a Marine, Dan is a fellow podcaster, husband, and father of three. In this episode, we talk about managing your social media as a professional, personal branding, and using it to tell your story to employers.

Jason Vranes is retired Army Lieutenant Colonel. Since retiring, he’s been working on getting his PhD while heading up the sales team for a very interesting business. In this interview, we talk about where he got the confidence to start this venture, how his peers wish they could do what he is doing (and what's holding them back), and many more tips on job searching, building a solid financial base, and adjusting to the transition.

Matt Butler is an active duty Air Force officer who invented the game, Rollors. He dreamed up the idea while on a deployment to Afghanistan. His invention is now in thousands of stores across the country, has been featured as "Best Gear for 2014" by Men's Journal, and has won several product and toy awards. In this interview, we talk about all the struggles he faced, from patenting the idea to getting it on the shelves.

Michael Betancourt is a USMC veteran who is now the Regional Director, San Diego, of Vet-Tech, a startup accelerator for veteran entrepreneurs. Vet-Tech finds, develops, and funds veteran owned companies through its accelerator and training programs. In this interview we talk about the GI Bill, exploring different interests while at school, and how he got involved with social startups.

In this interview, I have two of the authors from Bold: Get Noticed, Get Hired, talking about the tools and techniques from their book that showed how people used creative strategies to get their resumes out from the middle of the pack to the top. Melanie Feldman is a Digital Media and start-up enthusiast from Honolulu, Hawaii (aloha!). She is a Sr. Supply Operations Manager at Undertone in NYC. Joshua Siva is a Procurement and start-up professional from Buffalo, NY. He is a Regional Category Manager at GlaxoSmithKline in Toronto. These co-authors joined me for an awesome episode diving into why they wrote the book, their favorite case studies, and how it can help YOU get noticed and hired in today's competitive hiring market. 

Clay Clark is the founder of Thrive15 and former "U.S. SBA Entrepreneur of the Year" who has been described by Yahoo Finance as the "Jim Carey of Entrepreneurship." He was "Metro Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year" at the age of 20 and the "U.S. Chamber National Blue Ribbon Quality Award Winner" at the age of 27. As an entertainer, educator, and business growth consultant his past and current clients include: Boeing, Maytag University, Farmers Insurance, O'Reilly's Auto Parts, Hewlett Packard, Valspar Paint, UPS, etc. As the result of his tireless tenacity and honey badger work ethic, he's been able to found or co-found several successful companies including: DJ Connection, Elephant in the Room Men's Grooming Lounge, and Thrive15.com.

Lee Cockerell is a US Army Veteran and the Former Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World Resort. One of Lee's major and lasting legacies was the creation of Disney Great Leader Strategies which was used to train and develop the 7000 leaders at Walt Disney World. He is a bestselling author of three books, his most recent being, Time Management Magic: How To Get More Done Every Day And Move From Surviving To Thriving. Lee now runs his own consulting and seminar business in leadership and management development and he's a a mentor at Thrive15.com an online education platform that helps entrepreneurs learn how to start or grow a successful business. And, he is a superstar grandfather and husband.

Scott Fussell created the Command Your Business Podcast to focus on Military Veterans who have become or want to become Entrepreneurs. Prior to this venture, he spent 4 years in the Army ROTC program at the University of Tennessee, graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. Scott spent the next four and a half years serving as a Tank Platoon Leader, Tank Company Executive Officer, Battalion Maintenance Officer, and Assistant Operations Officer. Since leaving the Army in 1999 as a Captain, he has worked with Global and Fortune 500 companies in a variety of roles to include Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Plant Manager, and Marketing Manager.

I get the tables turned on me. This episode is a radio segment that I was on with a fellow veteran out in San Diego, California. John Reeves hosts a show called Military Mondays on KCBQ 1170 AM and he invited me to talk about SuccessVets and what advice I'd give after interviewing so many successful veterans. My thanks goes out to veterans like John promoting veteran causes...now check out what I said!

Doug Pfeffer entered military service 1990 when he enlisted in the United States Navy. In 1994, he transferred to the United States Army. After a 24-year career, he left the military but still felt that he had so much to give back to both his community, as well as the veterans who came before him, and those to follow. In 2013, he accepted a position as the Chief Operating Officer for RallyPoint/6, a non-profit focused on helping Veterans in the South Puget Sound Region of Washington state. In this capacity, he is able to continue serving veterans through employment assistance, career counseling, as well as several other vital areas of focus.

Jonny Coreson is an active duty Navy sailor, husband, father, and entrepreneur at heart. He is the owner and game designer of Pillar Games. They design and publish educational games for kids and young adults. In this interview we talk about how he stays focused, balances work and family life, and leads this startup.

In this episode, I break out top veterans benefits that you should take advantage of right now. I highlight programs and services, give my insight on how effective they are, how to get the most out of them, and where to find out more. You can get the full list of resources by visiting the SuccessVets Veterans Benefits page.

 Melissa Washington is a Navy Veteran, small business owner, speaker, author, and LinkedIn workshop trainer who is passionate about connecting with people to engage, educate and inspire others across the nation. Melissa was laid off from her job in 2009, marking the beginning of a nearly two-year journey and career reinvention that allowed her to use her passion for helping others. She wrote, Get Back to Work: Smart & Savvy Real-World Strategies to Make Your Next Career Move, to help people find and get jobs in today's market.

Molly (Harris) Laufer is a former Navy Surface Warfare officer, having served on the USS Samuel B. Roberts and Destroyer Squadron 23 as a Divison Officer, Public Affairs officer and Training and Readiness Officer. After leaving the military she networked her way to becoming hired as employee number 1 at Naturebox, a Bay-area startup that delivers carefully sourced and nutritionist-approved foods like sriracha rice crackers and watermelon fruit chews. Today she is the Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at Naturebox. In this interview, find out why Molly says it's important not to rule yourself out of positions because of job require-ments, how networking influenced her transition, how she approached working in a new industry, and how her military skills translated to her civilian career.

Tom Wolfe is an author, columnist, career coach, veteran, and an expert in the field of military-to-civilian career transition. During his career he assisted thousands of service members in their searches for employment, placing more than 3000 in their new jobs. In this interview, I get to ask him directly what veterans should be thinking about when they prepare to answer interview questions when trying to snag a job. We talk about preparing for the interview, developing empathy with the interviewer, asking the right and wrong questions, and hitting all the key items on the interviewer's checklist.

Tom Wolfe is an author, columnist, career coach, veteran, and an expert in the field of military-to-civilian career transition. During his career he assisted thousands of service members in their searches for employment, placing more than 3000 in their new jobs. Prior to civilian life, he graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy and served as a surface warfare officer. He teaches transition courses, gives seminars on career and job change, writes about the career transition process, and continues to counsel current and former military personnel. In this interview, I get to ask him directly what veterans should be doing when it comes to salary negotiation.

Rick Yost is a former Army Ranger and Armor Officer. Since leaving the military in 2001, he has gone on to various roles in consulting and program management for various software and cybersecurity companies and was the Chief Operating Officer for two different consulting firms. He has an MBA and Law degree and was an online faculty for the University of Maryland. He is currently Government Business Lead at Durabante, a process improvement and operational excellence firm comprised of successful business professionals and military veterans. He is also working on starting VeteransList, which will help people find and connect with veteran owned businesses.

Tom Morkes is a graduate of West Point, a former Army Officer, and an Iraq war veteran. Since leaving the military in 2013, he has been traveling the world and has gone on to write 3 books. He is currently the CEO of insurgent publishing, a boutique publishing company that makes books for the creative outliers of the world. He, along with two other veterans, just launched HighSpeedLowDrag.org, a transition resource for aspiring veteran entrepreneurs.

Greg Call served four years in the United States Marine Corps as a Ground Intelligence Officer and deployed to Afghanistan and Africa in support of Operation Enduring freedom. Prior to the Marine Corps, Greg worked in corporate management consulting and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Michigan. Since leaving the military, Greg has focused on creating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities within the post 9/11 veterans community. He is a Program Manager for Transition Edge, a veteran transition program focused on veterans seeking a career in accounting, finance, HR, or technology. And today, he is the founder and CEO of PatriotMove, an online military community and resource providing support and relocation services to the service members.

Matthew O'Dell is a Marine AND Army Veteran. He is the owner of Reveille Joe, an award winning coffee company in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Reveille Joe provides a “comfortable, tranquil, living room atmosphere” where veterans can find all of the information they need and speak openly about their issues. The coffee shop was inspired by Matthew's personal experiences after leaving the military. His vision includes building a successful business that incorporates his passion for supporting veterans.

Matt Helbig is a graduate of The American University in Washington DC and a former Army Infantry Officer. He’s currently working on Valid8: A Social Network for Startups. Prior to Valid8, Matt worked in sales, marketing and business development for both Startups and at least one Fortune 500 Company. He has also been a fundraising campaign manager at Project Welcome Home Troops; a non-profit dedicated to preventing veteran suicide.

John Davison is a former Navy Officer who has traveled to over 65 countries, learned 3 foreign languages, and raced on an Italian triathlon team. After the military he eventually fell in love with making web software. Today, he is the co-founder of CodeUnion.io where he teaches beginners to become professional software engineers.

What was the path from corporate to startup for this veteran?

John Davison is a former Navy Officer who has traveled to over 65 countries, learned 3 foreign languages, and raced on an Italian triathlon team. After the military he eventually fell in love with making web software. Today, he is the co-founder of CodeUnion.io where he teaches beginners to become professional software engineers.

I transitioned out of the Marine Corps 1 year ago. The time has flown by. In this podcast, I reflect on that time and pass along some of the things I've learned. Maybe it'll help you as you transition. Or maybe it will help you decide to stay in. Check out the 9 things that I found out from my experiences in the civilian world.

How are veterans helping other veterans?

Mike Ott is a former Navy Nuclear Power officer. After leaving the military in 2011, he transitioned into a career in consulting and is now a Strategy and Operations Consultant at Deloitte. He is also the founder of the Washington DC chapter of VetsInTech. VetsInTech is a non profit organization that supports our current and returning veterans with re-integration services, and by connecting them to the national technology ecosystem. VetsInTech is committed to bringing together a tech-specific network, resources, and programs for our veterans interested in Education, Entrepreneurship, and Employment.

What are veterans doing on the cutting edge of technology and entrepreneurship?

Brian Jaffe graduated from Princeton University in 2006, majoring in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. In the fall of that year, he commissioned as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy and over the next five years, he served on the USS Fitzgerald, completed Naval Nuclear Power training, and operated nuclear power plants onboard the USS Dwight D Eisenhower. Brian left the Navy in 2011, taking some time off to travel and shifting his focus to entrepreneurship. In 2012 he began an MBA program at the MIT Sloan School of Management but decided to leave after completing one year to work full time at his startup. Today, Brian is the co-founder and CEO of Mission St. Manufacturing, a 3D printing startup located in Santa Barbara, CA. The company is launching it's newest product, called Printeer, in mid-2014, which will be a low-cost, easy to use 3D printer for kids, families, and K-12 education.

 Dan Greene is currently a Director of U.S. sales and operations at Twitter.  He and his teams are responsible for helping Twitter grow its emerging advertising business as the company continues to expand in all major markets across the globe. Prior to joining Twitter, Dan spent 6 years at Google leading a variety of teams in Google’s established and emerging advertising businesses. Before joining Google, Dan was the VP of Business Operations for an aviation startup company, and before that the Director of Deal Development and Special Programs for Rubloff Development Group.  Dan spent the first 11 years of his career in the U.S. Navy, serving as a team lead, operations manager, and carrier-based F/A-18 fighter pilot for several different Navy units.

Dan is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and has an MBA from the University of California Los Angeles.

Dr. Kent Bradley is a graduate of West Point and served in the Army for over 20 years as a medical officer which included a tour in Iraq as Deputy Commander of the 30th Medical Brigade and a tour as Executive Director and Chief Medical Officer of TriCare Europe. Following his military career, Kent went on to earn his MBA and was a Senior Partner at Martin-Blanck and Associates, a healthcare consulting firm. Today, he is the Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Safeway and the President of Safeway Health. In these roles, he works extensively across Safeway's health initiatives directed at both employees and consumers.

Jim Lose is an Executive Senior Partner in Lucas Group's Military Transition division. He served in the Marine Corps for eight years as an intelligence officer and deployed to the Middle East and the Asian-Pacific rim. He joined Lucas Group, one of North America's premier executive recruiters, after his transition from the military and in the past 10+ years, he has successfully assisted more than 1500 military officers with their civilian careers into Fortune 1000 companies across the country. He has also been an invited speaker at the United States Naval Academy, Virginia Military Institute, and various Army and Marine base officer transition programs.

Answering interview questions is one of the most important abilities to pick up for your transition. Get tips and strategies that you can use RIGHT NOW to improve on this critical skill. In this session, I give a buddy of mine feedback as we work through several interview questions. This is the first segment in the series and it is a fantastic one! Listen as we work through one of the most common interview questions -- "Can you walk me through your resume?" 

Tom Wolfe is an author, columnist, career coach, veteran, and an expert in the field of military-to-civilian career transition. During his career he assisted thousands of service members in their searches for employment, placing more than 3000 in their new jobs. Prior to civilian life, he graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy and served as a surface warfare officer. He teaches transition courses, gives seminars on career and job change, writes about the career transition process, and continues to counsel current and former military personnel. In this interview, we talk about making the decision to get out, interviewing tips, and steps you can take right now to set yourself up for success in your transition.

Jake got out of the Navy as a Lieutenant submarine officer. He served on the USS Pennsylvania as an Electrical Assistant, Chemical/Radiological Controls Assistant, and Main Propulsion Assistant. He parlayed his experience into a career in the energy industry. He is now a Coordinator in Pipeline Risk and Integrity at Access Midstream. Jake found a lot of value out of using Alliance, a top recruiting firm for military officers. Find out about his journey!

Is one of your priorities to land a job near your ideal location? Are you having trouble dealing with your command as you transition from the military? These are just a couple of the things that Dan Rader talks about in this interview. Dan went from nuclear energy in the Navy as a surface warfare officer to the civilian energy industry and is now a Reliability Engineering Superviosr. And by the way, his company is hiring and Dan would love to talk to you if you're interested in a career in the energy industry! Find out more in the interview!

Brittany was a Navy Surface Warfare officer who successfully made her transition out of the military by going to business school. Find out how she made it into the USC's Marshall School of Business and, while there, how she discovered the consulting industry to be a great match for her skills and passions from her time in service. Even if you're not thinking about going to graduate school, Brittany provides some great tips on networking, interviewing, and negotiating. Trust me when I tell you, she is one sharp vet! Her story is an inspiring example of what it takes to find and seize opportunities.

Dan Misch is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and was a Submarine Officer. His transition is a great example of how networking and leveraging your skills can lead to finding your dream job, even if you don't know it yet. He went from military service to federal service and is now a Project Director at Argonne National Laboratory. In this interview, he also talks about how he works with a mentor to keep his career focused. Find out what he's learned on his journey!