Embracing Your Identity as a Woman Veteran

Are you identifying as a woman veteran?

In today's episode, we talk about the unique value that women veterans bring to the civilian workforce. I share insights on the importance of confidently identifying as a woman veteran and making this identity visible on platforms like LinkedIn and in professional settings.

Connect with Wendi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendiwray/ 

If you’d like to start networking and would like to be ready to communicate your value, I want to invite you to join me on Wednesday, Aug 28th at 1PM ET, where you'll learn how to effectively communicate your military experience. Click here to register >>> https://www.linkedin.com/events/howtoeffectivelycommunicateyour7227720319594090496/theater/


Full Show notes: https://wendiwray.com/233

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Transcript

Wendi: [00:00:00] Hey sis, welcome to Beyond the Military Podcast, where faith led military women overcome burnout and create more balance. Just imagine having enough time to focus on your faith, family, and have more fun while still serving as a woman leader. In this podcast, you will walk away with the tools to help you navigate the busy life of a military woman, organize your mind, overcome overwhelm, create a prioritization playbook, and a balanced blueprint for integrating faith, family, and career.

Yeses in that order. Hi, I'm Wendi Wray, woman of God, wife, mama of two, army veteran, and certified life coach. And I'm here to help you create a life of meaning outside of the military, a life of laughter, joy, and intentional free time. If you are ready to overcome burnout and create balance as a faith led military woman, sis, this podcast is for you.

So loosen up your laces and grab your coffee because it's time to step into freedom and peace.

Hello and welcome. So 233 today's [00:01:00] episode is all about the value that you bring as a woman veteran. But before we go into today's topic, I want to invite you to come join me over on LinkedIn on Wednesday, August 28th at 1:00 PM. Eastern standard time, where. How be sharing with you, how to effectively communicate. Your military experience to civilian employers. 

And I get it. If you are still six months, a year out, you may be thinking this isn't for me, but I want to encourage you that this is for you. The more, you know, earlier on the better, the more you can repeat, the more that you can learn ahead of time, the more equipped you're going to be for successful transition and listen, this is one of the reasons why I am so passionate about a newsletter, monthly LinkedIn live events. Because I want you to come and network and ask questions. I want to be a resource for you to come on over, learn as much as you can, even if you're a year out, six months out. To [00:02:00] learn as much as possible so that you're ready and that you are ready with confidence and certainty. 

When you do get that phone call or that email for a phone call interview for an interview or even for an offer. So this is for you. So I want you to come on over to LinkedIn, LinkedIn connect with me. If you haven't already and register for the event. The link is also in the show notes. And with that. I want to talk about you identifying as a woman veteran. Meaning, are you truly exposing yourself as a woman veteran? 

Meaning. Are you being visible on LinkedIn? Is it on your headline, a woman veteran? Is it on your summary, your about section. Are you providing this information on your resume? How are you communicating with others when you are in networking events? Are you easily identifying as a woman veteran, or is it hard for you? And for some of you may be difficult, right? 

[00:03:00] Depending on your experience in the military. I get it. And I understand that not everyone had a great military experience. I get it because I went through it too. I went through a season where I felt like I was not only respected as a leader but also I was not. , treated to the same. In, a way where I was provided opportunities. And so yes, there was some resentment there at the very beginning. But when I tell you that if you could separate those two and encourage yourself to look at the value that you brought while you were still in the service, but also the value that you bring to the civilian sector, because listen One of the things that has helped me the most. Is to continue to see the value of my service. 

And I know for most of you, that's sometimes what we need. It's just a little bit of fire that needs to be ignited within us to continue [00:04:00] to keep going. Meaning who are we going to continue to serve? Right. What mission is next for us?

For some of you that may drive you, that drives me, this podcast, helping other women veterans helps me. The work that I do on my nine to five, it drives me. The value, the service that I get to do is everything. And so I want to encourage you in this moment, if you possibly feel alone or isolated, or just don't want to be visible to others as a woman veteran, I want to encourage you to take a moment and ask yourself why. And the reason being it may be because you might have some resentment and that's okay. And this is why I love the work that I do with other women. Some women don't want to go into leadership roles in the civilian sector, even though they were in oh three, a captain, a major, although they were in company command senior noncommissioned officers don't want to go into leadership roles because they don't want to continue to be ignored or they are scared [00:05:00] that they are not going to be welcomed. And my hopes for you is to not that go through that because listen, Civilian employers are ready and eager to learn from you. And so I encourage you today. To take a moment and ask yourself that question. 

Am I identifying as a woman veteran as I should have be. And I know I get it. Listen, we've all gone through moments in the military, that one we don't ever want to talk about our experiences. I get it. But at the same time, I want you to also see it in a way where, how can you continue to serve? How can you continue to provide the value that you bring? Because listen, you have so much value. 

You have so much value, not only through your experience through your education. Your certifications that you have, but also as a woman leader and listen. We need you in the civilian sector. We need you. I know it's going to be hard sometimes. But this is why I want to share as much as I [00:06:00] can with you to prepare you and equip you. Because, yes, it will feel sometimes like we're alone. 

It does feel that way. Especially if you work remotely, it does. It's completely normal. And I want us to normalize this and I want us to normalize. That it's not something that won't happen. It will, but I want to encourage you to use it. As a way for you to realize that you have value to offer. How can you now continue to serve in the civilian sector? Either through a civilian role and leadership role, maybe you are going to join a nonprofit organization. Whatever it may be. I want you to use the resources that are available. The more that we can use the resources, the more resources we're going to have, the more communities we're going to have as women. And this is going to propel us to the next career adventure, but it's also going to help the women behind us, the women after us. [00:07:00] And so today I just want to encourage you. To be able to identify as a woman veteran, either on your LinkedIn headline on your summary, when you are talking to other veterans employers. Other civilian professionals that you, come into play with because, or you come into a conversation. Because it's so important that we continue to practice to say practice who we are. 

Yes. I'm a woman veteran. I'm an army woman veteran and now this is my profession and this is what my career goal is for the next three years. The more we can do that, the better it's going to be. And the more people we will be exposed to. Especially if you come over on LinkedIn. You'd be surprised at the power of that platform. I mean, if you're not posting on LinkedIn, that should be a sign. 

I'm connecting with my women and I see that more are posting, which is great. [00:08:00] And it's also helpful for employers to find you, which I'll be talking about in my next episode, using LinkedIn, posting to your full advantage as a woman veteran, how it's going to help you. To find more opportunities to find other people that will connect you with other people that will connect you with other people to help you find the job opportunity that you possibly couldn't even think about, or couldn't even imagine. So today I want to encourage you. To go out there and let everybody know that you're a woman, a. Veteran that you're a military woman. And the value that you bring, and this is why it's so important for you to come join me. 

If you haven't registered already. On Wednesday, August 28th at 1:00 PM. Eastern standard time. Where you will learn how to effectively communicate your military experience to civilian employers. All right, hope to see you there. I hope you can join me. Come connect with me. Everything is in the show notes. 

Have a beautiful rest of your day. Bye.

Hey lady, if this podcast helped you, [00:09:00] challenged you or inspired you in some way, please leave me a written review for the show on Apple Podcasts and share it with another military sister. Helping you integrate balance, prioritization and growth in your relationship with God is my ultimate calling. I'm so blessed that you are here and please join us in the faith led military women community on Facebook at bit.

ly forward slash beyond the military GRP. Again, it is. Bitly beyond the military GRP. All right. Talk to you soon. Bye