PowerHouse Series

All of our speakers, coaches, trainers and facilitators at Women Veterans Speakers bring a potent set of skills developed from their unique experience having served and led in the United States military. Each and every one tells a powerful story and leads authentically from a place of strength and purpose. Today we would like to introduce you to one of our POWERHOUSE  and most requested speakers.

Eldonna Lewis Fernandez

Eldonna is a retired Air Force veteran with 23 years of honorable military service.  She is a negotiation and contracts expert with over 30 years of leadership, contracts management and negotiation experience.  She has negotiated contracts from $1 to over $100 million both stateside and internationally.  She was deployed to the Middle East after 911 and has years of experience in foreign acquisition.

When we asked Eldonna what leadership lessons from her years of military service she applies to everyday life, she provided a few of her favorite life & leadership nuggets:

“Integrity First, Service Before Self, Excellence in ALL I do” (Air Force Core Values)

“Done Right, First Time, On Time – strive for that and course correct along the way”

“Lead Yourself First”

Eldonna is the CEO of Dynamic Vision International Inc. a training and consulting firm. She specializes in training people how to think like a negotiator by creating win-win results and understanding the pitfalls to avoid.  She is an international award winning speaker and an award-winning author.

Eldonna says, “Good leaders whether male or female take all their experience and work to make their corner of the military a better place by leading by example.”

Eldonna specializes in the following keynotes and coaching topics: Author, Business Development, Growth, Productivity, Coaching & Mentoring, Contracting, Corporate Trainer, Empowerment, Entrepreneur, Facilitator, Faith, Inspirational, Leadership, Negotiation, Parenting, Patriotic, Personal Development, Presentation Skills, Team Building, Women in Business / Women Leaders, Women in Military / Veterans

Make your corner of the world better today by booking Eldonna for your next event! Find out more about Eldonna.

Linda Maloney, Founder/Owner of Women Veteran Speakers (WOMEN VETERAN SPEAKERS), and Dr. Mary Kelly, internationally renowned author and keynote speaker, take time from their busy schedules for a wide-ranging dialog about professional growth, the trust factor, and their mentoring relationship.

Let’s start at the beginning… How did you two meet?

LINDA MALONEY: Mary and I met through our professional military and social media connections. I was super impressed with Mary’s success after she left the military.  It was obvious from her speaking business and several award-winning books, that she was someone who I could learn a lot from.  We met in person a few years ago at a Women Veteran Entrepreneurship conference where Mary was speaking. I knew Mary would be at the conference and I made a point of connecting with her before the conference and let her know I would love to chat, specifically about a Women Veteran Speakers business that I was interested in starting. I loved her vibrant and personable style and appreciated that she took time out of her busy schedule at the conference to offer me her insights, expertise and encouragement about starting Women Veteran Speakers.   Two years later, Women Veteran Speakers is a growing business and Mary is one of our members.

What is your definition of a mentor?

LINDA MALONEY: President George W. Bush once said, “Older Americans help others to understand the past, and they teach timeless lessons of courage, endurance, and love. Through their legacy of patriotism, service, and responsibility,” our older generation serves as role models for our younger generations.  This statement is the foundation of mentorship. While not all mentors are older than their mentees, mentors have invaluable and timeless life and career lessons and experience to help others explore and grow their careers.

A mentor is a role model and someone who helps guide you along your path…coming alongside, speaking into your life, offering their perspective and counsel. I was on a social media site last year and there was a video from one of the Entertainment Industry Award Shows. It was 1997 and Mr. Rogers (Fred Rogers from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood) was receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award. He said this in his acceptance speech “All of us have special ones who have loved us into being”…and he continued with, “think of those who have helped you become who you are…those who have cared about you and wanted the best for you in life.”  And then he asked everyone to take 10 seconds to think about the people in their life who loved them into being the people they are and will become.

That really captures the essence of mentorship…walking along side people, lifting them up, encouraging and loving them into being the best they can be. Since leaving the military I have focused on doing the same for other young men and women.  I am blessed to have been mentored along my path and I try to look for the opportunities where I can use my own journey, my own experiences with the positives, the challenges, the successes and failures to mentor, come alongside, speak words of encouragement and hope, to dream big dreams (no matter what a person’s situation is or where they come from). I encourage younger professionals to look for mentors along the way, people who will care about them and encourage them to become as Fred Rogers says, the best they can be.

MARY KELLY: My idea of a mentor is someone who can help you along on your journey.  I think in years past we used to view mentors as senior executives who were more senior to us or in a position that we wanted to move into, and we hoped they would give us a few hours of their time. That is certainly still viable.  But I think mentorship can happen at all kinds of levels – age and position are no longer the prerequisite for being a mentor.  A mentor is knowledgeable and willing to share that knowledge.  I love that in my mastermind [group] I have people both older and younger than I am.

Why is it so important for professionals today to have mentors?

LINDA MALONEY: I believe mentorship is a pillar of one’s personal and professional success and is key to professional growth. Mentorship is the opportunity to receive nuggets of wisdom from those who may have walked a similar path and who can offer insights and offer inputs that can help with making smart choices and informed decisions.  I also encourage younger professionals to not only get a mentor but to be a mentor … to take the experiences of their journey to give back and mentor others.

MARY KELLY: Because so many of us never had mentors, and that made it tougher to be successful.  A good mentorship program is a partnership – each side gives and each side gains, even if those gains are not the intent.

Are there any situations that don’t lend themselves to a mentoring situation, and if so, what ​ do you do?

MARY KELLY: That is where my mastermind comes in.  I have a team of five other people and we gather two or three times a year to be honest with the successes and failures of our businesses.  Each of them have a different perspective, and they always have great advice.  We all agree ahead of time how we want to spend the time.  Sometimes we discuss themes/challenges we are all dealing with.  Other sessions we each get ninety minutes and we describe what we are doing or our next big idea and request feedback.  Sometimes the feedback is “That is a seriously dumb idea” and sometimes it is “Wow, that is a great idea and here is how you can make it bigger and better.”  The point is to have a brain trust you can count on to help you, make you better, and improve your business.

The other thing is – and I make this point in one of my leadership programs – anyone who really wants to improve in sports has a coach.  Why should it be different in business?  So, if your business doesn’t lend itself to mentoring, sometimes a great business coach can help you take that next step forward.

LINDA MALONEY: My business, Women Veteran Speakers, lends itself well to mentorship but my issue is one of having the time to mentor multiple people since I am growing the business and my time is limited.  I started a coaching business that aligns itself well with Women Veteran Speakers and I coach women veterans who are emerging up-and-coming speakers. I help them with starting their business, developing their keynotes and figuring how who and where there target market is.  It is very satisfying to help someone take their hopes and dreams and turn them into a business idea.

Why do so many successful people shy away from mentoring?

LINDA MALONEY: Mentoring involves trusting someone with your stuff! Even though the mentoring relationship may be professional, you most likely are sharing both personal and professional information about yourself…and that can be scary. Plus, mentorship takes time and that is one thing we all seem to have very little of these days. Building and developing a mentoring relationship takes time.

MARY KELLY: Because it means asking for help and advice.  That means being vulnerable, and many of us rose through the ranks successfully because we tried not to show weakness.

What do you value most from a mentoring relationship?

LINDA MALONEY: I am stealing this phrase that Mary recently coined…”Tribe of Trust” She is part of a group of mentors, people that I trust and rely on for professional and business advice. I love that I know if I have a question or I’m unsure about a certain business situation, I can call Mary up and she is ready with honest and trustworthy input…I trust her both from a business and character perspective.

MARY KELLY: The trust factor. It is wonderful to be able to share questions and issues with someone else who has a different perspective and know that there is total confidentiality and that you can trust someone else.

*****

Since this interview, Linda and Mary have launched a new venture, the “Women Veteran Speaker Showcase.” From idea to execution, this new program is a great “in the moment” example of how the principles of trust, growth, and mentoring can lead to powerful results.

The Women Veteran Speaker Showcase idea started as a conversation between Linda and Mary because some of the Women Veteran Speakers don’t have good quality speaking videos and/or sizzle reels. Sometimes, it is because they are up-and-coming speakers and haven’t had an opportunity to get video footage from a speaking event or the video quality may be subpar. Sizzle reels (also commonly referred to as demo reels, promo videos, promotional videos, pitch reels) are 3-to-5 minute videos that combine a speaker’s video(s), audio, and messaging to create a stylized overview of them speaking.  It is a unique and artful way to highlight their brand and message.

From a Speakers Bureau perspective, speakers, coaches, trainers, and facilitators with professionally-produced sizzle reels are overwhelmingly booked at a higher rate for events.  Speaker one-sheets are great, but a Sizzle Reel is typically the deciding factor when a client is offered a selection of potential speakers, coaches, trainers, and facilitators. A poor-quality video is almost worse than no video at all.  Linda was chatting with Mary during one of their “mentoring” phone calls because Linda was trying to figure out how to get better quality videos for some of the Women Veteran Speaker members and a cost-effective approach for developing a sizzle reel for the bureau.  Good, quality Sizzle reels are typically very expensive.

Mary’s idea was to put together a “Speaker Showcase” for the bureau, which offers speakers the opportunity to get stage and interview video during a weekend event.  Mary and Linda teamed with Matt Bauer of Motivational Media to set up a Speaker Showcase. Matt has over 15 years of experience in digital multimedia production, motion graphics, voiceover work, graphic design, and audio production and he is a master at sizzle reel production.

There were 15 speakers from all over the country who met in Dallas the second weekend of August 2017 for the first Women Veteran Speaker hosted Speaker Showcase.

The entire weekend was conducted at a major Dallas hotel with a professional stage and hair and makeup artists onsite. The Speaker Showcase team coordinated an entire weekend focusing onvideotaping showcase attendees.

Saturday’s schedule included on-stage video-taping and headshots, and Sunday included interview style videotaping. It was an amazing success and Women Veteran Speakers hope to host another Speaker Showcase in 2018.

Below are just a handful of testimonials from the weekend attendees following the “Speaker Showcase” weekend:

• This past weekend proved to be one of the most rewarding of all my adult years. It was an unbelievable and uplifting experience. I’m excited for future possibilities to reach & teach families like never before. Thank you to the Women’s Veteran Speaker Bureau (brainchild of one spectacular Linda Maloney, former Navy flight officer) for recognizing, hosting, and promoting and furthering us women vets. Many thanks to Dr. Mary Kelly (CEO Productive Leaders former navy commander) and to the planet’s best videographer/ musician Matt Bauer (Motivational Media).
• WOW! What a busy but fruitful weekend. Traveled to Dallas, TX and met fellow Women Veterans Speakers Association members. Thank you Linda Maloney, Mary Kelly and Matt Bauer for coordinating an extraordinary event to help women succeed in the public speaking industry. The networking was priceless in itself.
• What an enriching weekend. To think that I wasn’t going to come because I was “too busy”. Now I can’t wait for the next one!! I’m honored to have met all of you.
• Linda – you are amazing for creating Women Veterans Speakers Bureau which showcase military women and our contributions to the past as service members and now to the future as speakers. You are so smart, kind and giving.  Thank you for continuing to be a servant leader and for allowing me to part of the tribe. This weekend gave me great hope.
• Mary – You are a rock star coach!  Generous, fun, beautiful and uber talented. Thank you for helping make this weekend happen. I wish I could just hang around you and  take in all the energy, excitement and knowledge you so willing share. The red jacket is hanging in my closet and I will wear it with great confidence on my next speaking gig. Thank you so very much for everything.
• Matt – You made one of the scariest, most nerve wrecking things ever into a  most enjoyable experience. Your playful yet professional  manner is an excellence combination to capture the best in us on still and video. Thank you.  I look forward to seeing what you have recorded this weekend and to working with you in the future. 

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ABOUT MARY & LINDA

Mary Kelly: Mary Kelly is an internationally renowned author and keynote speaker on leadership, productivity, and business growth. In 21 years as a Navy intelligence and logistics officer, Mary trained more than 40,000 military and civilian personnel.

After over 20 of years of leading diverse teams all over the world, Dr. Kelly’s approach to leadership is immediately practical and applicable. Mary discovered the need to make the principles of leadership, communication, and business growth available to leaders at all levels of organizations.  Mary has dedicated her career to core business tenets that engage employees and develop better leaders.

She has real world leadership experience and she shares it with her groups. Her Leadership Lessons from the Dog discussion is an enjoyable, interactive approach to getting the behaviors you want from the people who surround you. The communication session focuses on solving and resolving common misunderstandings in the workplace. Finally, Dr. Kelly helps her audiences stay mindful of what is important for success.  CDR Kelly’s program suggestions can be applied as soon as the audience leaves the room with immediate results.

Dr. Kelly is a popular speaker for both the U.S. Naval Academy and Hawaii Pacific University’s Speakers’ Bureaus on topics of finance, leadership, communication, and management. As an Emcee, Mary facilitates panels for economic, leadership, and business conferences. She has conducted over 3,000 seminars on financial, business, human resources, management and leadership topics to all levels of private and government corporations.

Dr. Kelly is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, earned an M.A. in economics from the University of Oklahoma, and M.A. in history from the University of Hawaii, and a PhD in economics from Greenwich University. Find out more at: https://productiveleaders.com

  

Linda Maloney: Linda Maloney is an award-winning author, business owner, leadership development professional, speaker and former military aviator and officer. She spent 20 years in the Navy, first as an enlisted air traffic controller and then as a Naval Flight Officer, flying both the A-6 “Intruder” and EA-6B “Prowler.” She was one of the first women in U.S. history to join a combat military flying squadron and received numerous military awards, including the distinguished air medal for combat, awarded for flights flown over Southern Iraq in support of the no-fly zone during her deployment to the Arabian Gulf. She also was the first woman to eject from a Martin Baker ejection seat from her A-6 aircraft in 1991 over the Atlantic Ocean.

Since retiring from the Navy, Linda started her second career working as a defense contractor supporting aviation and submarine programs. She is also an author, event speaker, and the founder of the Women Veterans Speakers Bureau. Her award-winning book—Military Fly Moms ~ Sharing Memories, Building Legacies, Inspiring Hope – was published in 2012, and is a biographical collection of the inspiring true stories and photographs of seventy women who shared the same two dreams—becoming aviators in the military and being moms.

Linda speaks throughout the country on topics such as Passing Down a Legacy, Leadership & Women, Women & Non-traditional Careers, Margin & Life Balance, Transitioning from Military Leadership to Business Leadership, and Aviation for K-12 Groups. Linda is also a small business owner and CEO of Women Veteran Speakers, the first speaker’s bureau and booking agency of its kind offering exclusively exceptional women military veterans as event speakers, trainers, coaches and facilitators. Linda and her husband, Dan, live in New Jersey and have a grown daughter and two sons, ages 11 and 13.

 

“I expect high levels of excellence of both my team and myself and only look down on people when I’m offering them a hand to lift them up.”  – Dianna Flett, CEO of Girl Smarts and Speaker with Women Vets Speak

Entrepreneurs, community activists, business leaders, and inspirational role-models, our speakers are the living breathing explanation of a growing number of successful women veterans making a difference in the private sector.

But why is an explanation needed at all? Here’s why: While fewer than ten percent of Americans can claim the title “military veteran,” they are forty-five percent more likely than non–veterans to start their own businesses. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly one in ten small businesses nationwide are veteran-owned.  Of those, 383,302 were veteran women-owned in 2012.

As a stand-alone number, that 383,302 is vaguely interesting. But as a 300% increase from just five years earlier compared to the 26.8% increase of all women-owned businesses for the same time period, one must stop and take notice. Furthermore, considering that women who have gone straight from school into the workforce without military service have the advantage of time to get their businesses started, it truly is a big deal.

What is going on here?

Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families recently conducted a study “The Business Case for Hiring a Veteran.” The study identified several characteristics that are highly sought after in the work force today and commonly exhibited by veterans, such as resilience, discipline, teamwork, motivation, flexibility, trustworthiness, and accountability.  In short, skills that are lifesaving on the battlefield are also winners in the business world. The study concluded that the leadership and strong sense of mission developed in military service are two of the highest valued business skills today.

But looking at the statistics cited above, women veterans appear to be making even greater strides than their male veteran counterparts. To shed light on the nature of the female veteran, we surveyed our own speakers, all women veterans and many business owners themselves. Our survey revealed a couple additional insights for understanding the context of female veterans flourishing:

They’ve got grit.

Everyone’s talking about “grit” these days, especially when it comes to raising resilient children. But one need look no further than females who have served in the U.S. Military to get a picture of true grit:

“…we serve/served as bravely as our male counterparts, often in jobs held exclusively by men until we arrived on site… we are not broken, we are battle tested. … we are still often ‘non-traditional’ in our approach to life as women and as former military members and we are still climbing to be the best that we can be, changing the landscape and expectations for women everywhere.”

“… we hold/ held the same jobs as the men, and we are leaders. We excel in male dominated fields and are flexible, mission-oriented, and outcomes-driven.”

“The military was a laboratory where I was forced to try every day to do things a bit better, a bit more effectively, a bit faster or cheaper or with fewer people, or with greater mission success. It was also a place where we launched before we were ready, made many mistakes and were expected to learn every day. When I see a civilian leadership expert ‘discover’ a new idea, example ‘Leaders Eat Last,’ I am amused. There are very very few new ideas, just old ones that need better execution.”

They are making a unique and powerful impact post-service.

Our speakers are touching lives in positive and memorable ways in communities all across the country. This story from one of our speakers captures so well the bigger narrative of strong women veterans making a powerful difference:

“I spoke to more than 200 inner-city school children in Inglewood, CA. The hugs and tears from the students made me realize that I would be a motivational speaker. I found out that three young men enlisted in the Navy shortly after my visit because of my presentation.”

And from another speaker, a similar story of positive impact:

“I’ve had hundreds of opportunities to mentor and speak to young girls and young women…One young lady came back after our bullying workshop and said she’d used one of our techniques to foil a school bully attempt to disparage her. She spoke to us all about how she shut him down. I asked, ‘Well do you think he’ll leave you alone?’ ‘Oh no,’ she said, ‘but I know what to do now.’ Giving a girl a skill to meet a challenge that she is facing – that’s empowerment.”

Through their grit, character, determination, and talent, these warriors continue to serve with distinction. And with a distinctive flair that reflects the nature of the female veteran – “We can put on velvet gloves and wield a hammer to bring home a message that is strong, forceful and makes an impact without causing the listeners to feel like what we have accomplished is impossible for them to accomplish.”

383,302 veteran women-owned businesses… Look out. If our speakers are any indication, they are just getting started.

Author, Entrepreneur, Army Veteran, Cancer Survivor, Innovator, Philanthropist & Speaker

 

ABOUT JAS

Throughout her military career, Jas has been dedicated to working with and advocating for soldiers and their family members. In 2005, she was a single parent in the Army Reserves living in New Orleans. That spring, she learned she would soon be deploying to Iraqand then a few months later she lost everything she owned due to Hurricane Katrina. She tried to shift her focus to her platoon that was counting on her for leadership in a combat zone. The very next month she received a devastating diagnosis of an aggressive head, neck, and throat cancer, and was now unable to deploy. Her options were limited and posed some very hard choices. Because of her illness, she had to discharge from the military. She needed complex full-time medical care, employment, and a place to live with her young son. When searching for what assistance might be available, she was told there were no existing programs for women veterans with children. She found these options unacceptable for a woman who had honorably served her country.

This led to Jas establishing Final Salute in 2010—she was determined to ensure her fellow sister veterans had a resource in their time of need. She also wanted to ensure they were treated with the dignity and respect earned they had earned under extremely severe circumstances. Final Salute has raised over $1 million dollars to support homeless women veterans and their children and has assisted over 900 women veterans and children.

She also founded the Ms Veteran America competition, honoring the women beyond the uniform and highlighting the service and sacrifice of every women that has worn the U.S. military uniform.

In 2015 Jas was recognized with the Lillian K. Keil Award “for outstanding contributions to the military by and on behalf of American women” during a Veterans Awards conference Nov. 7, 2015 in Washington, D.C., organized by the American Veterans Center. The honor recognizes trailblazing women in the U.S. military and is named after the World War II-era flight nurse and Air Force captain.

SPEAKER INTERVIEW

Tell us about the organization you started—Final Salute

I started Final Salute Inc. in 2010 after battling cancer and becoming homeless after Hurricane Katrina. I found out there were a significantly large number of women veterans who were homeless. I saw this huge need and started Final Salute, which is designed to meet and understand the unique needs of homeless women Veterans and their children. There are no longer front lines in war, however, female Veterans feel they are put at the end of line when seeking housing and other supportive services. It is estimated that there are currently 55,000 homeless women Veterans in the United States on any given day.  For the sacrifices they and their families have made, this is an unacceptable state for any of them to be in. The mission of Final Salute is to support them during their time of need, and with the help of the American people, foundations and corporate supporters, we know our mission is achievable. We also work with the women veterans to help establish strategies and plans to achieve independence. We have assisted over 900 women veterans and children in over 30 states and territories. It only takes $25 daily through our program to provide housing, food, clothing, employment support, case management and other essential supportive services.

 People ask me, “Why are we doing this? Because as a soldier I took an oath to never leave a fallen comrade.”

You have received over 30 different honors for your work with Final Salute. Can you tell us about one?

I received the Oprah Winfrey Standing Ovation in 2015 for my work with Final Salute. The “Standing O-Vation” recognizes people who are making positive changes in their communities and inspiring others to do the same. This award was important to me for two reasons. The first reason is had I not watched the Oprah show on homeless women veterans, I would not be where I am today. Up until that time, I had always thought that my situation as a homeless woman veteran was an isolated one. To learn I wasn’t alone and women veterans were still being left behind helped me to find my purpose and calling in life. The second reason this award was so important is because Oprah told me “thank you”. The non-profit business and business of advocating is hard and often sometimes a thankless profession. Some days you don’t feel like you are making a difference or enough or a difference. But keep working hard because people are watching and rooting for you.

Jas’ Speaker Reel