For many people, the military functions as a big “leadership school.” Service members have contact with different types of leaders and learn to become leaders in their own right. From finding the right mentor to building a tribe of supportive people around you, who each person surrounds themselves with will often determine the path that they follow.

In this interview, Mary Kate Soliva welcomes Shirley Baez. Shirley started thinking about joining the Army as a way of paying for college, and then the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. In that moment, perspective changed and she went from “just being a girl that wanted to go into the military for college money” to someone who genuinely wanted to serve her country. She is now a veteran of the U.S. Army special operations community, but her service is not over.

Shirley shares her honest reflections with Mary Kate about:

• What it means to know you have the trust of leaders that you respect

• The role she played as a part of civil affairs, reestablishing essential services in parts of the world where the population is not connected to its government

• Why it was so important to have a ‘tribe’ when the time came to end her military service and enter private industry

Additional Links & Resources:

Learn more about Veteran Voices here: https://supplychainnow.com/program/veteran-voices

Subscribe to Veteran Voices and other Supply Chain Now programs here: https://supplychainnow.com/subscribe

Learn more about Vets2Industry: https://vets2industry.org/

This episode was hosted by Mary Kate Soliva. For additional information, please visit our dedicated show page at: https://supplychainnow.com/taking-road-less-traveled-army-special-operations-veteran-VV59