Producer Pick: From Chief to "Just" Jaimee

Welcome to this special producer pick edition of Exit Buddy: Veteran Stories to Guide You.

We’re thrilled to bring back one of our standout episodes with Air Force veteran Jaimee Freeman. In this powerful conversation, Jaimee opens up about her transition after 28 years of service — stepping out of the “Chief” identity, finding the courage to turn down the wrong opportunity, and landing her dream SkillBridge role at National Geographic.

If you missed it the first time, you’re in for a treat.

You can find the original show notes and transcript here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2535619/episodes/18077605-from-chief-to-just-jaimee-soul-searching-taking-your-shot

Follow us for more inspiring veteran stories, and don’t forget to text this episode to a service member who’s preparing for their own transition.

Visit us at https://exitbuddy.buzzsprout.com to learn more about the show.

Have feedback or questions for us? Email us at ashleyjones.creative@gmail.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone, it's Ashley here, producer of Exit Buddy, and today I'm bringing you back one of my all-time favorite episodes. This conversation with Air Force veteran Jamie Freeman is still one of the most honest and insightful transition stories that I think we've had the chance to share on the podcast. She opens up about shedding that strong military identity, the courage it took to turn down a lucrative job offer, and how she landed her dream Skillbridge internship at National Geographic. So without further ado, here's my producer pick, Jamie Freeman on Exit Buddy.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

This is Kathleen, and today I'm flying solo, and I'm thrilled to introduce you to someone that I actually met on LinkedIn because we were both networking, networking, networking on LinkedIn. And then I thought she would be a really great volunteer at B-Side Charm, and she was game. So we have Jamie Freeman. She is an Air Force veteran of 28 years of service and now exploring a new chapter with National Geographic. Jamie, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Thank you, Kathleen. Yes, and I, of course, I it I would I loved that opportunity and networking, networking, networking. I I couldn't, I couldn't say no to helping. It was great. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Yes, and it was it was great to see your shiny face in a sea of black t-shirts. So that's what it was. So take me back to your days growing up on a farm in Arizona that eventually led to your military journey. I understand that you didn't have a TV, but you did have a National Geographic subscription and a desire to learn a new language. I did, yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

So I was born in Wilcox, Arizona, a small town of 4,000 people. Um and I have six siblings, and my dad had a farm, dad and mom had a farm. And this was a UPIC farm. We worked on the farm. We had no TV, mainly to keep us on track with farm production. Um but we did have a subscription to National Geographic. And so we'll talk about how that comes full circle. But um I I during my childhood I had a lot of interaction with customers that would come to the farm. Um just a lot of people from different parts of the world. You know, most of these people lived in Tucson and Phoenix that would come to Wilcox, but you know, I remember a Lebanese family who always came, some Indian families who came. I just, so I got this exposure from different people coming in. And I remember thinking about the Air Force and hearing that I could learn a language. And I was like, yes, I'd love to do that because I was just curious. I was young, um, didn't know a lot about the world and was curious. So that was actually the motivation for joining the Air Force to learn a language.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Learn a language. I haven't heard that. I heard, you know, see the world, but I haven't heard learn a language. So talk about your linguistic career. Were there any defining moments and actually which languages did you learn?

SPEAKER_03 2:55

So I first learned Vietnamese. I fell in love with it. I started doing some amazing work. I actually was had an opportunity to go to Vietnam and look for MIAs with a team. So that was really cool. And then I got out of active duty and I went into the Air Force Reserve, which I have totally loved. And they gave me the opportunity to learn Arabic. So in my and in my Arabic work, um, you know, I was able um to do a lot of counterterrorism work, a lot of fulfilling work to keep our uh military members safe around the world. So that was really fulfilling. And then I ended up going to graduate school in Cairo, Egypt, which was also really um, it it was just really eye-opening and I learned a lot, and and I was grateful for that opportunity because I was a reservist. So I went over there during, you know, during my off time of not drilling.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Wow, sounds like just really great opportunities. So in our pre-call, you sort of talked about making this conscious effort to pivot. So tell me about filling in these sort of gaps in your skill set that led to you having an event planning role at the Pentagon.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

I interviewed for a position. So I was at the unit level for 20 years of my career. So I interviewed for a unit position or a Pentagon position with the chief master sergeant of the Air Force. So it was Khalith Wright at the time. And I interviewed with his exec, and then they brought me into the Pentagon and I interviewed with him. And he was like, Jamie, you're hired. And he he he goes and he said, You know what? So you are going to be the the one of the execs. And they started talking about the job, and I just kind of piped up and I said, You know what? Project management is really my strength. And they said, Oh, well, then I think you should be the the special events planner. Um, because and and I was so thankful that one, I spoke up, and two, that that chief right was he was just knowledgeable enough to know, like, this girl has talents and that I'm gonna utilize, and I'm not gonna stick her into this exec role, I'm gonna stick her into something that I think she can excel at. Um, and so for the next two years, I planned events and uh really that's a lot of project management. And I started thinking about it, especially after COVID. I thought, I do not want to be, I I I loved Intel, but I think I don't want to be working in the future in a skiff. So how can I pivot my career and use some of my skills and market myself in another way? So that's what I and started doing. I started marketing more of my project management, event planning, which led me to another job, which led me to another job. Um then finally my last role. Um, and up along the way I got better at event planning. I got better at project management. Um, so it was a conscious effort in my mind of like, I want to pivot, but then I also need to make sure that my resume is now focused on this new pivot. And that was hard because I was a linguist, right, in Intel. Um I I had to just mention that in a in a resume. I couldn't really create a resume that was linguist focused. I had to create a resume that was events focused, that was project management focused. Through those years, I was able to pivot and say, I'm going to do this because this is what I enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Yeah, career pivots are very interesting. And I've done several in my in my career, and it's fascinating that you really do have to rebrand yourself. You really do have to repackage yourself. And kudos to you for doing that during your military career because a lot of people talk about having to do it after their career or after their military career and pull things out. And so give us an example. It sounds like during COVID, you had to not only do an event, you had to do a virtual event, like many of us had to do. Yeah, I remember pivoting all of our events to virtual during COVID, and that was very interesting. So there's event planning, and then there's event planning for the first time during a pandemic virtually for the military. I'm sure there's a variety of your skill sets that you had to draw from.

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Well, the the event that you speak of, the a virtual event was a virtual dinner that we had to plan. And the reason it was, it is it was the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year awards for for the Air Force. And I I don't know how many years they had done the actual dinner, but that had been going on. The award had been going on with the sponsorship and or collaboration of AFA, Air Force Association, since 1968, I believe. So it was, it was an event every year that was so important to the Air Force because they were recognizing their 12 airmen who had done exceptional things that year. Um and so I just remember during COVID, one of the team members on the Chief Master Sergeant and the Air Force staff said, Well, what if, I mean, we're gonna have to cancel it? And in my mind, I was like, I I don't, we can't cancel this. Like, this is a this is something we've done every year. And so I had seen another exec done something small scale on a as a virtual event, and I thought, you know what, we're gonna have to do this virtual dinner over Zoom. And that's what we did. So I had a great team. We shipped meals over to the airmen all around the world. We got the secretary of the Air Force on, the chief of staff of the Air Force on. Um, we got the Chief Master Sergeant Joe Bass, who was who was hosting it. We got everybody on and we celebrated these airmen's. We even had an intermission with uh Max Impact. They had recorded. So it was like entertainment. Now, it wasn't the most ideal. I know, you know, 100% in an in-person dinner would have been so much more fulfilling, but it was what we had to do, and I I was proud of our team for being so creative and actually making that happen. And I think the 12 airmen were were thrilled that they got that, you know, recognition.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

So let's talk about your military transition because it was rather recent, it was very fresh in your mind. Um, you had your retirement ceremony in May, and then what you've been sharing all over LinkedIn lately, it was a 31-day RV trip with your family. So, first, some highlights from your trip, but also I would assume that this quality family time really sort of impacted the decisions that you were going to make as far as your transition. It did.

SPEAKER_03 9:11

Thanks for asking. It's something I love to chat about because we had so much fun. Um, so yeah, we my husband suggested a 31 or a uh he suggested a RV trip around the US. Now, mind you, we we don't own, we didn't own an RV. We didn't know really anything about it. So we started our journey and we we grabbed the kids. It was perfect. It was summer, I was on leave, and we um headed up to Connecticut, then Maine, then we went over to um New York, then um uh Niagara Falls, then we headed to South Dakota. We dropped the rig because it was so big, and then we headed over to Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and then we went back and picked up the rig in South Dakota and came home. And it was, we just saw we saw six national parks, um, and it was just such a great time uh with the family. And you know, I I'd known that I value family and time. Um, but while I was on that trip, I I read a book called The Five Types of Wealth by Sahel Bloom, and it really talks about how you divide your time and your values. And I think during being on the RV trip, reading this book, realizing like that is my value, my my family. So, how am I gonna live authentically to my values of spending more time with my family? You know, family and time with my family is definitely a value that I'm going to make sure in retirement I do more of.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Awesome. So kudos to you on that too. So I understand in your transition timeline that you may have turned down a job offer that would have changed the way that you did your transition. And I wanted you to share a little bit about that because I I know that it is sort of that gut check for a lot of veterans when they're transitioning to take that first offer, to jump at the first thing because they think it's a great thing. But you know, a statistic I throw out all the time, which has been tried and true, is from the Department of Labor, over 80% of veterans leave their first job out of the military because it was the wrong decision. Tell us a little bit more about the courage to make that call.

SPEAKER_03 11:22

So this was probably early spring. I got um a call and and of, you know, from a from a wonderful uh friend I know and for a wonderful company, and she said, Hey Jamie, I think there's an opportunity for you to um do event planning for this company. And the pay was great. Um, I even met and it sounded so exciting. Um and she's like, I, you know, we really need you, so so you're gonna have to kind of, if if you can, maybe accelerate your transition.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

And for a moment, Kathleen, I thought about it and I came home and I was like, wow, Joel, like maybe this opportunity is it.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

And just like, you know, my husband's great. He just asked me questions, like, you know, is this really what you want? Are you, are you, how how do you feel about accelerating your transition? And actually, Kathleen, the reason I was considering this was because of fear. It was because of fear of of saying, I need to take the first thing I get. It's enough money. I'm not gonna have enough money, so I need to make sure I get this. And I need to make sure I line everything up perfectly. Um, and maybe even if that means quickly running through things to do it. And and I realized that I was actually considering it and kind of thinking that it would be good, a good idea because of that. So I pulled myself back and said, you know what, stick with your plan, Jamie. Your plan was to to, you know, you have it all mapped out. You gotta, you know, your VA, your time with your family this summer, your your skill bridge, which at that time I hadn't really nailed one down. Um, stick with your plan and do not let fear of the unknown dictate what job opportunities you're gonna take. Because, you know, I don't I didn't know that statistic, Kathleen, actually. But I have heard a lot of my friends um, you know, come from their first first job and they're like, no, no, I mean it it paid a lot, but I did not like it. I wasn't happy and I couldn't do it. Like I've heard that over and over. So for me, it was like, okay, that's a that I've learned that. Let me let me just rewind and think about that a little more.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

So you're currently in Skillbridge, but I had never heard that you could do Skillbridge with National Geographic. So tell us a little bit about uh Skillbridge with National Geographic and a little bit more about advice to people pursuing their dream opportunity with Skillbridge.

SPEAKER_03 13:31

So I well, I'm the first for for Nat Geo. I don't think people knew they could do it. Um, and I think that after now that I I'm in it, I think that they're gonna be more open to, you know, other opportunities for other Skillbridge members. But yeah, so I am on the photo book department. So it's an incredible opportunity. I'm learning so much. I love the organization. I love the people that I work with. And so essentially I'm on the photo design portion of the photo books. So, you know, the books that are like 100 places you need to you need to visit or Adventures of a Lifetime. The coffee table books, that's the department I'm in. Um it's just been wonderful. I'm soaking it all in. I grab my coffee, my Nat Geo coffee every morning, and I walk around and it's it's fantastic. I really feel like there's three things that got me to the point where I could that that I mean, other than the amaziness of Nat Gio and just um them taking me on, right? The first one, and there's three things, and I always say it's uh building the skill. And the second one is networking, networking, networking. And the third one is taking your shot, really. Um and that first one, building your skills. So a while ago when I was in the Pentagon, I read a book called Designing Your Life, and it talked about different career paths that you can take, and that there are a lot of fulfilling aspects of life, but you can't land your dream job if you don't develop the skills. So at that time I was working on event planning, so that was one of my skills. I I had just picked up photography by buying a professional or used professional camera, taking a manual class. So building those skills for that opportunity, right? Um, if I wasn't a photographer and if I didn't have some of that project management experience, I don't think I would have been a good fit. During my LinkedIn journey, probably about three or four years, I met a girl named Martha McPhee, and she is an event planner. She's amazing, she's a wonderful human being, very generous with her time. And she actually was like, Jamie, hey, when about four four years ago, maybe three, she said, Jamie, you want to get on a Zoom and we can chat? And I was like, Yes, that would be amazing. So we we chatted um and we kept in touch and we over the years we kind of just touched touch base. And she asked me, Jamie, where are you gonna do Scalebridge? And I said, Martha, I really, really want to do it with National Geographic. And she's like, Wow, like that's great, Jamie. She said, I have a contact. Why don't you send me an email and I will reach out to this contact? Um, so networking, like I wouldn't have been able to even have that contact or known Martha without link networking on LinkedIn, right? So I go back and I thought, and that comes to the third thing that I say, is taking your shot. Like I could have gone back and wrote written Martha an email and said, Hey Martha, I I love this opportunity. Um, but I thought, what can I create that can articulate to Nat National Geographic some of my skills and what the program is? So I ended up working over two weeks on a proposal that explained what Skillbridge is, showing my pictures, telling my story. Um, and that was my shot, right? You know, like that elevator pitch that people say to get ready with your elevator pitch. That was that was it, right? So I needed to make sure that I was ready and I could articulate and show that that I I could fit in. I was part of this. Because, you know, a military linguist, that was if if that was it, they probably would have said no. So I sent it to her and she sent it to Walt Disney, who who owned, you know, Walt Disney um Skillbridge program. I talked with them, they connected me with National Geographic contacts, and um I here I am. So yeah, so thank you. Thank you for preaching the the networking.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

My pleasure, because it's definitely something that is not uh taught or shown in the military. So definitely, definitely doing the networking. So let's talk a little bit more back to the Jamie rebranding. And you you had to shed your chief mentality or your chief identity, the the persona, the the uniform, the way you speak, and you became Jamie. So how did you navigate that? Was it, you know, you sort of like whippity-doo-daw, and a fairy godmother came along and hit you on the head, or was it a sort of step-by-step process that you did?

SPEAKER_03 18:04

It was definitely a process. And I think I started it about five years ago of who I am. Yes, I am a military member. Yes, I'm in the U.S. Air Force, yes, I'm a chief. But what else is part of my identity? And you know, part of that was photography, part of that was my family, part of that was the activities and hobbies I do outside of the military. Um, and I started kind of thinking through that. I think this is really important for for all military members, but specifically um enlisted E9s, because you can get up to a point where you are a chief or you're a command chief. But if if you're not developing those skills or even kind of identifying those skills that you have, it's gonna be very hard to translate that on the outside, right? Um, so hey, if you if you're I'm a command chief, like you go, you tell National Geographic or you tell any company, I'm a command chief, like I take care of people. That is not a skill, and that is that is what your identity was in the military. Um, and that's what you did in the military really well, but that doesn't translate to the civilian world. So I feel like, you know, to transition and to kind of find those opportunities, you have to figure out who you are outside of being chief freeman. Um and I think that took me a while, but I've always I've always practiced it by, you know, people. I signed my name, my email Jamie on emails, like even in the military. I thought I had to think outside of that because I knew that one day I would be out of the service and just Jamie. So just Jamie.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

That's great. So what would be it sounds like you have a lot of really great advice, and it's been great that you've shared so much of it here. But what is one last piece of advice you haven't shared that you would really love to impart on the transitioning service member who may be listening?

SPEAKER_03 20:03

Well, I'm it's probably a little bit more of the same. Finding your identity, finding your skills, those two, as you transition and start early, right? Find out what you do some serious soul searching. What makes you happy? What do you really want to do? And start that early, right? Start that three, three years, four years out. What do I really want to do? What do I need to get those to get there? And when you can do that, your I feel like your transition is gonna be a lot easier. Um, also, I I really relied on the people who I saw that transitioned how I wanted to transition. So I have a friend, her name is Shimika. She got out and started a uh master's and now is on to her PhD. She took time and she'd always just say, you know, I'm taking this year, I'm taking this year to figure out. She was in school, so you know, um, it it was, she was, she had that time. But I felt like that was the way that I want to transition is giving myself time. Not everybody's in that situation of that or can financially. Um, but if you can, don't let fear or like make you rush into something. Take your time, figure it out. Um, and then those when when when things start coming to you, it'll it'll it'll become much clearer why you did that.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

Jamie, this has been great, and it's always great to see you. So thanks so much for sharing your story, and thanks so much for joining me today.

SPEAKER_03 21:37

Thank you, Kathleen. I really appreciate you and all you do for our veterans.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Always great to talk to an inspiration and an inspirational person who talks about their passion. And I love Jamie's story talking about her passion of seeing the world, meeting new people, realizing that she had a passion for photography, and then being able to take her shot and put together a proposal to get her dream job as a Skill Bridge intern at National Geographic. What a story. So that's it for today. Be sure to share our episode with your fellow service members. Hit follow for more stories and keep carving out your own path. See you next time.