P
lease give a brief background on yourself and your career.
I graduated from Wellesley in 2008 as an English major with a concentration in creative writing. While at Wellesley, I did ROTC and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers. I served for 6.5 years, deployed to Afghanistan and then got out due to an injury. After I got out, I moved to Madrid, Spain and used that as a home base to travel around the world for six months. When I came back to America, I got certified as a personal trainer and started my own fitness company, Bronze Star Fitness. I put that on hiatus when I started my MBA at Babson this August and created an app called DropZone, that connects veterans with relevant civilian resources in their area, all of which have been rated and reviewed by fellow veterans. We’re in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign and have raised over $3000 in less than one week.
How has your career changed since you originally envisioned it at Wellesley?
I actually didn’t ever really envision a career at Wellesley. I did ROTC beginning the spring semester of my first-year so I knew pretty early on that’s what I was going to be doing for at least four years post-graduation. I wasn’t thinking beyond just getting through a deployment and keeping my soldiers safe.
How has Wellesley contributed to your career?
Wellesley didn’t help my military career per se, although the community was absolutely integral for love and support. For Bronze Star Fitness, I used two Wellesley alumnae, Carlota Zimmerman and Kerri Yates, as business and life coaches, respectively, to help guide me through it, and I crowdsourced what my logo should be on the Community group on Facebook. With DropZone, it’s been insane the number of women who have thrown connections and resources at me. It’s been awesome.
What is a typical work day or work week like for you?
This is different for each career! In the military, I was up at 5:30, I’d exercise for an hour, do whatever the day’s work entailed and was home by probably 6 or 7. I was always on call though. As a personal trainer, my schedule was a lot more flexible. Every day was different: I would block off 2 hours to do admin stuff, 1 hour for follow up stuff, meet with clients as scheduled, and then do whatever I wanted for the rest of the day–work out, be with friends or family, etc. This was by far my favorite schedule. In grad school, we have class from 8:30-12:30 and then meetings, tutoring sessions, and group projects all afternoon into the evening. It’s insanely busy.
What piece of advice would you offer students looking to get into your area of interest and expertise?
Do no harm, but take no shit.
What do you wish you had known as a student?
I wish I had gotten involved with Wellesley more. I spent most of my time at MIT doing ROTC and focusing on being as prepared as possible for when I was going to lead troops. I think it was the right thing to do, but I definitely wish I had gotten more involved with Wellesley clubs and formed more lasting relationships.
If you could come back and take one class at Wellesley what would it be?
I would take anything that was taught by Professor Cheek or Professor Norem.