Veterans Day is a federal holiday in the U.S., meaning that schools and many businesses are closed for the day in recognition of all those who have served in the United States Armed Forces. We have the opportunity to thank our Veterans and attend local ceremonies to mark the occasion, but what does Veterans Day mean to Veterans?

In this special Veterans Day livestream episode of Veteran Voices, co-hosts Mary Kate Soliva and Scott Luton were joined by Zach Knight, U.S. Army Veteran and Marketing Chair with VETLANTA, and Marina Rabinek, U.S. Navy Veteran and Founder and President of the Military Women’s Collective.

Zach, Marina, Scott, and Mary Kate took this opportunity to discuss:
• What Veterans Day means to them personally and why
• Why their service didn’t stop just because they stopped wearing an active-duty uniform
• Veterans’ communities and causes that continue to need investment and support

Intro/Outro (00:02):

Welcome to Veteran Voices, a podcast dedicated to giving a voice to those that have served in the United States Armed Forces on this series, jointly presented by Supply Chain now and Vets to Industry, we sit down with a wide variety of veterans and veteran advocates to gain their insights, perspective, and stories from serving. We talk with many individuals about their challenging transition from active duty to the private sector, and we discuss some of the most vital issues facing veterans today. Join us for this episode of Veteran Voices.

Scott Luton (00:48):

Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, Scott Luton and Mary Kate Soliva here with you on Supply Chain. Now, welcome today’s live stream, Mary Kate. How you doing? Great,

Mary Kate Soliva (00:57):

Scott. Happy Veterans Day to you.

Scott Luton (00:59):

Happy Veterans Day to you as well. Appreciate all that you do and continue to do. And Mary Kay, we have got an outstanding Veteran’s Day live stream. Yes. Teed up here today, right?

Mary Kate Soliva (01:10):

I’m super pumped up. I, I mean, you asked me who we should have on the show. I’m just really excited who we have teed up today.

Scott Luton (01:17):

I’m with you. Uh, I think I’ve got, I wear Zach and Marina under Roof when I’m not wearing my Mary Kate under. So, uh,

Mary Kate Soliva (01:25):

Catch

Scott Luton (01:26):

<laugh> got a great discussion up here today. But hey, whether you’re viewing us on Veteran Voices programming, or if you’re viewing us on supply chain now, social channels, hey, we’re here to all celebrate what these special veterans are doing. These veteran leaders are doing, both serving the veteran community and what they’re doing from an entrepreneurial and a business standpoint, non-profit standpoint. You name it, Dynamo is here today. So, Mary Kate, any before we bring on our guests here today, again, I wanna celebrate all that you do. We’re gonna, we’re gonna learn more about that soon, but really love what you’re leading and doing with our Veteran Voices podcast. What’s your favorite part about those conversations? Kind of putting you on the spot a little bit, but, you know, folks can find that wherever they get their podcast. What’s your favorite part about all the shows that you’re, uh, discussions you’re leading?

Mary Kate Soliva (02:08):

You know, Scott, one of the things with Veteran Voices and the whole reason why when you, you asked me to take it on, it was the fact that I’m able to amplify the voices of veterans who are serving beyond the uniform. I mean, it’s, it’s, we, we talk about veterans who have served, but we have so many veterans who are continuing to serve. They hung up that uniform years ago and for some, even within a few months ago. And they are knocking it out of the park post-transition and just being able to amplify what they’re doing, whether that’s helping kids, focusing on veteran issues, you name it. We got vets out there doing incredible things, and I’m, I’m happy to be part of that.

Scott Luton (02:45):

Uh, so true so many different levels and, you know, our supply chain now family is, we’re honored to continue investing and supporting our veterans community. It’s really important to all of us here and on this big day, which is dedicated to celebrate and all that our veterans do for us. We’re, uh, really tickled to have our guests here and, and talk about some things you may know about and plenty of things you may not know about. Um, one last note. Mary Kay, I wanna say hello to a few folks here. We’ve got a lot of special people in the audience, such as, uh, Old Clay Phillips is tuned in. Appreciate what Diesel does all the time. We’ve got Jonathan Philippe, I think I said that right, Jonathan, Jonathan Hell’s from Louisiana doing some big things in supply chain down there. Look, look, Marina, she is a, she is a machine. She’s the chat. She’s, she’s be sharing her perspective with us.

Mary Kate Soliva (03:31):

I’m trying to keep up with this up. But thanks for joining us today, everybody.

Scott Luton (03:38):

That is right, Right. Happy Veteran’s Day. Raymond is with us here today. Great to see you, Omar. Great to see you as well. And one final note, Mary Kate, you know, given you know our love for all things supply chain veterans, if you’re tuned in, if you’re catching a portion of this here today, don’t sleep on all the career opportunities that Global Supply Chain offers. Right? And if you have any questions on those regards, drop ’em here. We may not be able to get to them today. We’ll try to follow up at a later time. And, uh, it just offers logistics, manufacturing, transportation, you name it. Offers so much. Procurement offers so much for, uh, our veterans. Okay. So, Mary Kate, we’ve said hello to a few folks, Are you ready? I’m, I’m gonna introduce our two guest speakers and we’re gonna swoosh ’em in. Are you ready for them to join?

Mary Kate Soliva (04:21):

I’m so ready, and please keep that feed coming with comments. We’d love to hear from you all where you’re tuning in from and, and what y’all are doing today to celebrate Veteran’s Day.

Scott Luton (04:30):

So true. That’s right. So Mary Kay is asking, Hey, where are you tuned in from and how are you celebrating, uh, Veteran’s Day, It’s a great call out there. Okay, so with no further ado, my dear friend Mary Kate, uh, I wanna welcome in Zach Knight, Marketing Chair with Vett Atlanta and US Army Veteran and Marina Raddick, founder and president of the Military Women’s Collective, and a US Navy veteran. Hey, hey, Zach, How you doing?

Marina Rabinek (04:56):

How’s it going? Everybody? Appreciate you having me.

Scott Luton (04:58):

You bet. And Marina, how are you doing?

Marina Rabinek (05:00):

I’m doing great. Thanks for having me as a guest today, y’all.

Scott Luton (05:04):

You’re well. Hey, you know what, Marina, we love our repeat guests and you and Mary Kay and Matt crushes so much. You’ve been with us I think three or four times, but y’all crush every time. Right? And Zach, uh, as you know, as a fellow digital content entrepreneur, someone that values that, great to have you for the first time here officially on Veteran Voices and Supply Chain now. So welcome. Appreciate it, man. All right. So Mary Kate, with these two dynamos here, uh, I think the first thing we wanna do is kind of go around the horn and get to know them a little better. I just get a quick shout out. Hey, Don Long, who’s doing some great work is also tuned in. Uh, Donna Fellow Atlanta. Really, really enjoy your mountain climbing each weekend, challenging folks to do more and more. And Mary Kay, you know, Dr. Dr. Luke mc McLeans, right?

Mary Kate Soliva (05:48):

Kay, Luke, Oh, that’s my brother right there.

Scott Luton (05:50):

That’s right. That’s right. And then Monica from Seattle. Great to have you here, Monica, via LinkedIn. Okay. So let’s go around the horn and we wanna pose two questions. And Mary, Kate, I’m gonna pose these to you as well. We wanna learn a little more about your military service first. And we’ll go around a horn first there, and then I’m gonna circle back with all the cool things y’all up to now, because as Mary Kate alluded to, man, a uniform might come off, but the service just doesn’t stop. And, and all three of y’all are great examples of that. So Marina, you’re gonna be our lead off hitter today. Give us a little bit of information about your military background.

Marina Rabinek (06:22):

Oh, okay. Um, 24 year Navy veteran, uh, retired last year. Yeah, that’s me in a nutshell. I served in all over. I, she knew I was gonna do No, go, go Army, Zach. How dare you. You know what you say, go army. But have you ever seen that hilarious picture where it says bean taby?

Scott Luton (06:50):

No.

Marina Rabinek (06:51):

Yes. It’s not beat navy. It says bean taby. Um, I, you know, in different places in California, I served in Florida, Japan’s where my daughter was born, and I met my husband. So yeah, been all over the world. And

Scott Luton (07:07):

Marina, one quick follow up question. Uh, cause I saw your, um, you had a great meme where you were celebrating the Marines birthday party, and it said, I signed your favorite Uber service and a picture of the aircraft carrier. Yes. I love that.

Marina Rabinek (07:20):

It’s Happy Birthday Marines from your favorite Uber driver. <laugh>. Yes.

Scott Luton (07:24):

Thank you. So what’s one, one of your favorite vessels you served on?

Marina Rabinek (07:28):

Oh, definitely that one. So the one in the picture is the same class as the one that, that I served on, which is in amphibious ship. Um, it’s a WASP class, l h d it was called the USS Essex, which we finally like to call the steaming Dee <laugh>, I thought was hilarious. Um, cause it’s a, it’s one of the, like very last steam Howard, like, it has boilers, believe it or not. So, yeah,

Scott Luton (07:56):

Man. Okay. All right. So Zach, that’s gonna be tough to top, but tell us about your, your military background. Totally.

Zack Knight  (08:03):

Sorry, I’m over here, like typing comments about this terrible navy that we’re highlighting right now, man. The Uber xxl. I love it. Now, <laugh>. Um, obviously I’m an Army guy, so go army. I got in a little bit late. I joined at 28, went through basic training, ocs infantry School, did a that whole piece of things a little bit non traditionally. And then I deployed with Green Bras in 2019, but actually just getting medically discharged, got injured over there, um, and going through a medical discharge process. So not too long, about six years of service total so

Scott Luton (08:31):

Far. Oh man. So much. So what was, um, of all the places, it sounds like you, you deployed, obviously went to Afghanistan. What’s one thing about deploying that maybe a lot of folks that haven’t ever served, or maybe maybe folks that served that didn’t deploy very often. They may not know Zach

Zack Knight  (08:47):

Food is way better over there than what they did with over here. <laugh>, man, lemme tell you, the Army feds really well over there, man. But you go to like Fort Ben or Fort Polk Food’s terrible.

Scott Luton (08:58):

Oh man,

Zack Knight  (08:59):

Y’all, sorry,

Scott Luton (09:00):

<laugh>, I’m, I’m about to get some texts for some from some cafeteria managers and supply chain leaders. We’ll see. Well,

Zack Knight  (09:06):

To be fair, where I was, we didn’t get surf and turf like on the Air Force base.

Scott Luton (09:10):

Oh, man,

Zack Knight  (09:11):

That’s so great.

Marina Rabinek (09:13):

Course. It’s so spoiled. That’s why we call y’all Chair Force

Scott Luton (09:17):

<laugh>. I deserve that. I deserve, ok. Right. So, and, and, and they really close the loop here with some of our listeners that may not know. So, Marina Navy, Zach and Marie, uh, Mary Kate both served in the Army and I served in the Air Force one as a date analyst, just about a three and a half year stint. Okay, So couple quick comments. Mary Kay, I’m gonna ask you about yours. James is tuned in from Jacksonville, Florida. He says hello to everybody. Sorry. Hi, Navy. I love Zach. Zach and Marina’s, uh, uh, uh, battle, uh, and rivalry battle. It continues in the comments. Y’all check that out. All right. So Mary Kate, tell us about your military service.

Mary Kate Soliva (09:59):

Yeah, so gosh, I should just be like, that’s it. Like Rena did. I was waiting for her to throw out some French out there. She’s flut y’all. But no, I, I have, uh, 12 years active service. And I was, I was an arm medic and now a psychological operation soldier, still serving now in the Army Reserves. Uh, but I spent time, so I was Southeast Asia focused. So time in the Philippines, do a little time in South Korea. Just really incredible. And that’s why, you know, I, I tell people like, you always have a couch to, to bu off of because we have brothers and sisters that are just living all over the place that I can just hop on a flight, just go to random city stones, throw away, I could run into another veteran. And it’s just incredible how that instant camaraderie and that trust is, is just built so quickly with others who have served.

Scott Luton (10:46):

Oh, I could, man, that is, that’s like Shakespeare and it’s so true. Mary Kay. Thank you for sharing, really. And I’ll tell y’all, for folks that may be tuned in from the supply chain now side, maybe, maybe you’re new to the, um, you know, kind the veteran experience. If you can’t tell, there’s a ton of rivalry and good nature ribbing between the services, right? For, for example, Don, my fellow Air Force veteran says, Hey, Scott, we should acknowledge that the Air Force took that trophy from Army. No one cares about that.

Mary Kate Soliva (11:15):

S

Scott Luton (11:16):

<laugh>, y’all keep it coming. Okay. I wanna circle back through to, uh, Marina, let’s talk about, there’s so much y’all doing, and I’ll tell you, you’re three, the three of y’all are such a great epitome for that. You know, the uniform may come off, man, the service and leadership just doesn’t stop. So, Marina, for the time we’ve got, tell us a little bit about what you’re up to now.

Marina Rabinek (11:35):

Oh, okay. So not only do I work for a nonprofit, but I also started my own. So I work for the nonprofit four block. Uh, we do an 11 week program that is a career readiness program for active duty military veterans. And then there’s also a military spouse, a separate military spouse program. And that’s gonna be starting up again here in February of next year for the spring. And then my passion, you know, hence my teal light here is Military Women’s Collective. I focus on the women’s side of getting out of the military. I have two different things that I do, which is help with homelessness and food insecurity here in Southern California. And then I also do networking events with active duty and veteran women.

Scott Luton (12:26):

Man, incredible. Uh, I’ll tell you what, And we drop the, uh, the URL for the military women’s collective.org there in the chat. I’ll check that out. All right. So Zach, tell us some of the things you’re up to.

Zack Knight  (12:36):

Yeah, so overall, um, I just opened my seventh business in October. It’s actually a 5 0 1 C for better business owners. Uh, that’s my primary focus. I’m also the chair, uh, marketing chair as mentioned for Atlanta. I’ve doing a lot of great things in collaborative pieces there, but honestly, my main focus is, uh, business ownership, uh, for myself, but as a business coach consultant in the bucket arena of Atlanta, but also, uh, now moving more into the veteran business owner space. Um, and then just released my first book. It launched today this morning, and it is a number one new release on Amazon. So, pretty exciting day. And super side note, just for the selfish plug, I’m on the cover of the AJC this morning. I got a nice feature on the ajc man. So lots of very cool things happening in the vet space here in Atlanta.

Scott Luton (13:18):

Now, a handful of folks may not be local to one of the coolest cities in all of the world. Atlanta, that’s the Atlanta Journal constitution, which is one of the, the country’s biggest newspapers. And you’ll find Zach a knight on the front page. That is incredible. And we also dropped, uh, I’m imagining, uh, Zach, that if folks go to zach a.com, which we do out in the comments, they can find a lot of those things you’ve already mentioned. Is that right?

Zack Knight  (13:41):

Yeah, I tried to make it easy. Instead of dropping a bunch of links, I was trying to play with the team in the background and hey, here’s 13 links to share, but now everything’s on zach a.com, it links over to all the other pieces.

Scott Luton (13:52):

Wonderful. Okay. So Mary Kate, I want get you to, uh, share some of the cool things you’re up to as well. But, you know, we, we didn’t mention know, we conduct our Veteran Voices programming in partnership with our great friends@vetstwoindustry.org, I believe, right? Is that right? Mary kate.org.

Mary Kate Soliva (14:09):

You, you’re right. That’s, that’s how we got connected, Scott. And that’s how I, I met Marina and many of the folks that are on this call, and yeah, James, we did meet at Four Block, so I love that. You know, Marina, Zach, we’re all connected through, uh, four block in some way or another. So you just know it’s a great plug there for the great things they’re doing. But yeah, that’s industry. Check them out.

Scott Luton (14:30):

Uh, and we have got their url, uh, vets numeral to industry.org, non-profit, say a clearinghouse for resources and opportunities and, and support. You name it, for not just veterans, but also military families. And we’ll touch on that probably on the second half of today’s show. But Mary Kate, uh, so tell us, man, you, I think you’ve got some cl I think all three of of y’all have some clones, Uh, but Mary Kay, you’ve got a, I don’t know, a project or 17 going on here lately here. Tell us.

Mary Kate Soliva (14:57):

Oh, yeah. So, and, and I will note that, you know, when Marina, I met through Vets Industry a couple years ago now, it was in the middle of a pandemic. She was getting ready to retire. I was getting ready to transition off of active duty. And there was just, um, it, it just, that struggle of like, what’s next, Which I think a lot of service members veterans can reflect on that time of the transition. And, but I think there was something innately that Maureen and I instantly connected on was connectedness. We, we took our gout strengths test, found that our top one was connectedness. Were very much people that want to go out and give back, continue to serve beyond the uniform. So we knew that there was something out there that we wanted to do. And, uh, earlier this year, I co-founded the org with one of my closest dearest friends from, uh, graduate school, Erica Anderson, soon to be PhD, Dr. Erica Anderson, uh, the Guam Human Rights Initiative. So looking to, uh, bring together, uh, brilliant minds, people much smarter than me to focus on, uh, research on human rights issues in Guam and the region. So looking at my focus, passion of mine is, uh, encountering human trafficking. Uh, but I have a lot of other folks in my network that are focused on other incredible issues. So really bringing them to the forefront.

Scott Luton (16:08):

Love that. Uh, okay. So folks, as we’ve talked about, Initiative Driven leadership, Mary Kate, Zach, and Marina Haven Spades, they’ve got so many different projects. I wanna make sure I hit all these. So, circling back to Marina, we talked about Four Block, we talked about the Military Women’s Collective, and dropped that link. What is the San Diego Women’s Week strategy work that you’re doing? Marina?

Marina Rabinek (16:29):

Oh, wow. That’s a, that’s a, a, a left field question. <laugh>. So, <laugh>, the <laugh>, I, I’ve o oddly enough. So here, hold on.

Scott Luton (16:39):

We’re <laugh>

Mary Kate Soliva (16:41):

<crosstalk>. Its, you’re the office kit. Love

Marina Rabinek (16:44):

It. Yeah, no, I just got this. So if you see up here at the top, it says the North San Diego Business Chamber. They are the ones that run not only the San Diego Women’s Week, but also the San Diego Military Summit. And so I joined them this year because I loved all the work that Business Chamber does for the San Diego. And I’m up in Riverside County, which is the next county up. But they do such amazing work that I wanted to join one that wasn’t even in my county

Scott Luton (17:16):

<laugh>. There’s not gonna be a geography quiz later about California counties. Cause I’m as Amanda, Amanda Catherine behind the scenes as they’ll tell you I am, uh, horrible at geography. So, uh,

Marina Rabinek (17:27):

I can help.

Scott Luton (17:30):

So you telling us about, uh, the Chamber out there and looks like they recognize your non-profit, right?

Marina Rabinek (17:35):

Yes, they do. Yeah. I mean, I only became a non-profit, well, not, I became a non, but my non-profit only got its 5 0 1 c three status last October. So we, it’s only been about a year since I actually got that. And I, I just wanted to continue, like you said, to be of service to others. And women’s issues are different, you know, coming out of the military than the way than men’s are. Right? And so that’s why I started Military Women’s Collective.

Scott Luton (18:06):

All right. So we’re gonna dive into some of the issues, uh, in just a moment. Zach, I wanna circle back to you as well. Talked about several businesses you began, including, you got Battle, be a tactical leader. You got nightly productions. Atlanta, one of our, we’re big fans of Atlanta. What they’re doing here. In fact, there should be a aland organization in every city, every, especially all the NFL cities, coast to coast. And this new book, I’m not sure if you mentioned this, uh, all You Are Too Humble, The Legacy, Love, a Journey of Self Mastery. It’s number one on Amazon that is released today. Amazing. Uh, so Zach, that is really cool. Before I, uh, circle back to Mary Kate, what is one, So what inspired you to write that book, Zach?

Zack Knight  (18:45):

And I’m gonna make the, the plug here cuz you’re not gonna say it’s Scott. It’s amazing because the book, and a lot of what I’m doing on the Atlanta side, the veteran’s side here in Atlanta is really about community. And the transition piece, when about a year and a half ago, I went through a really dark spot. Um, I was about to become a statistic pistol in my mouth of a doc. And had, I thought that was rock bottom and it really wasn’t. And at the end of it, about a week later, there was a whole piece that I went through that’s in the book about how I recognized I couldn’t love myself anymore. Cause I was losing the uniform. I didn’t wanna lose uniform, losing the community. And it was a different piece where I realized I had to build a different community. And obviously I go into a lot of depth, uh, Veteran’s Voices chain.

Zack Knight  (19:22):

Now, y’all just this past Saturday sponsored a great event at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that was able to host a workout at the stadium here in Atlanta. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, had 60 people show up to it. And for me, the book, the community events, it’s all about trying to find what we have beyond the uniform, finding things that we love about ourselves. Again, it’s difficult because I had prior to military as a cop, so I had a uniform for 15 years. I know a lot of us transition really difficult. Uh, it’s really difficult for a lot of us. So the fact that y’all are supporting in so many amazing ways and, and the book is one of those that is really trying to drive that forward. That there’s hope for all of us to love ourselves outside

Scott Luton (19:55):

Of, Okay, man, uh, Catherine and Amanda, first all thank y’all for what you do help make production happen here. If we can find the link, the direct link to that book, and let’s drop that in the comments if we could as well. Yes. Okay. And yes, pseudo scientists, I say circle back way too much. So I, that’s all I feel like I go back throughout the hour, laugh,

Mary Kate Soliva (20:13):

Went laugh with Scott, the force to look busy.

Scott Luton (20:17):

That’s right. So Anne, we also mentioned coming back to Mary Kate here, that gu hri.org, that’s the nonprofit that she found. Y’all check that out. It can definitely use your support as well. So, Mary Kate, one last thing I wanna touch on with you before we move into some other, um, some other topics is you’re also, uh, spend some time with the Project Management Institute. And, you know, project management is, is huge as folks are trying to digest change in this era, regardless of supply chain business, it doesn’t matter matter. And I love a lot of the great work y’all are doing to support veterans and, and helping them gain some credentials to get better employment. So, Mary Kay, if you could touch on that really quick. And then the baton is yours to move us forward with where we’re going next with Marina and Zach.

Mary Kate Soliva (21:02):

Yeah, thank you. So yes, I, part of my transition, you know, shout out to the incredible woman, uh, Corey Burton, but she scooped me up from LinkedIn and that was the power of network and connecting with other veterans and volunteer work and everything because it wasn’t my resume that was handed over to pmi Project Management Institute. It was literally Corey snatching me up, taking me under a wing. She didn’t know me from Adam, but she saw me, my LinkedIn, my content, and she reached out two days later after I took off the uniform. I started with PMI and I’m spearheading the military veteran program, uh, for PMI for North America. So Canada and the us. Uh, today’s also Remembrance Day up in Canada. So, uh, a big thank you to our brothers and sisters and Alice to the north. And, uh, just incredible opportunity to work with our, uh, chapters across the United States. We have like over 60 chapters that have military programs and they are helping folks enter the project management profession. So you can check us out more at at pmi.org/military and you can learn more about resources that are available to spouses as well on how to upskill

Scott Luton (22:12):

Very

Mary Kate Soliva (22:12):

Well.

Scott Luton (22:13):

Love that. Uh, okay, really quick, I wanna share a couple quick things here. Either Amanda or Catherine pulled this out. This is great, Zach. Hope for us to love ourselves outside the uniform. So good there. Thank you. Yes. Doing some Dunking Donuts in that back parking lot. Uh, pseudo says he just bug and appreciates the stream. Yeah, I appreciate that too. Uh, we dropped the link to that best seller already in day one, so y’all check that out. I bet. It’s a fascinating story We can all learn from regardless if you’re ever worn a uniform or not.

Mary Kate Soliva (22:42):

Congratulations. That’s incredible, honestly. So, yeah,

Marina Rabinek (22:46):

Congrats man,

Mary Kate Soliva (22:47):

For being vulnerable and sharing your story.

Scott Luton (22:48):

So, so many others will be able to avoid some of the, uh, the faith you implied that so many of our brothers and sisters are, um, have, have been, have fallen to. So, all right. So Mary Kay, moving right along. Where are we going next with Marina and Zach? Yeah,

Mary Kate Soliva (23:02):

This is where I wanna, and you know, now I get to do that plug to, to you, Scott, and turn now on. You as, as a veteran, but wanna start with you Marina sister over there. Uh, what does Veterans Day mean to you? Yeah, I know we’ve had many Veterans days, but, uh,

Marina Rabinek (23:18):

Yeah. What does Veterans Day mean to me? You know, it’s about honoring all those who serve, um, whether they’re so with, so whether they’re, they’re not, Cause I think some people get Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, Confused Memorial Day is to of course, honor and remember those that we’ve lost. But Veteran’s Day to really just say thank you to everyone that has served their country, whether it was for a day or, you know, 35, 36 years, you know, some of these generals and admirals got some serious time in right. So yeah, that’s, that’s what it means to me. It just means to, to be incredibly thankful and to honor them.

Mary Kate Soliva (23:59):

I thank you sis. Thank you so much. And, and Zach, same question for you. What is, what does Veterans Day mean for you?

Zack Knight  (24:06):

Yeah, it’s a big one. My dad. Um, I make fun of the Navy. My dad was a Navy vet in Vietnam. What’s funny is he told me that the Navy never taught him how to swim. And the goal was to stay on the boat so you didn’t have to swim, right? That’s the goal. So, you know, it’s funny, my dad being a vet last Friday, I hosted a, a Vietnam Day, sorry, a Veteran’s Day celebration. I was able to feature another veteran, Jim Bacom, he’s on the board of the Shepherd Center here in Atlanta. Um, does amazing things. But he went from West Point directly into Vietnam, left Vietnam two months later, went into Harvard, graduated Harvard, and then took a company from three to multi nine figures and then sold it in the 90. And talk about like cherishing what veterans are capable of. Holy cow. My dad taught me what it is to be a man. Gem showed that we can do so much more beyond from the lessons learned in the military. Um, so be able to, same as Marina, cherish that community, cherish those that have come before us, that have done some amazing things and serve on top of that, and then continue to keep serving after.

Mary Kate Soliva (25:04):

Oh, I love that. Thank you so much. And, and you really hit the nail on the head. I see you as a veteran too. You talk about the seven businesses, but I think that it’s just innately in us right? To continue that service in some capacity. But Scott, look at you doing a million things too. Talk about, I’m trying to get as many hats as you mean to you, Scott.

Scott Luton (25:25):

Oh, you know, I love this question cause I think there’s some common threads amongst all of us, right? And what, in terms of what it means. But then we have some very unique things. And for me it’s always a day of reflection, right? I think back, it’s been 30 years since 20 years since I exit Air Force, 30 years since I first entered. And I think of all the people I that I serve with that helped me out and picked me up on those really tough days when I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. You know, or had, you know, the curve balls that life throws at you. So I think of all of that, I think of as being a non-com vet, I think of how different of a journey that all of our fellow brothers and sisters have, including the trials and tribulations that stem from their combat.

Scott Luton (26:02):

You know, Zach touched on that. Yeah. You know, they had it so much tougher than I ever could dream of, right? And so I think of, you know, what does that mean? What can we do now? Right? What’s, what’s that debt of gratitude look like, both personally and as a, as a government or as a country? And then of course, I think a couple of y’all mentioned the family ties. You know, my dad served over 30 years and between the Army and the Army National Guard and my grandfather served course, their family served cuz they support, you know, all the military families and sacrifices they make always come to mind on Veterans Day. I think that’s kind of unfortunately kind of under the radar. So it can really, I don’t know about y’all, but it can be overwhelming, just immense sacrifice that, that not just the veterans but their families make so that we can all sit around and say what we want to, you know, in front of a camera or in a, in a microphone and, uh, do what we wanna do. So Mary Kay, that’s what it means, uh, for me. Well,

Mary Kate Soliva (26:52):

I I love that Scott, and especially the family ties that y’all have shared, but Scott, you know, with this comment on your hair, I just have to say, you said 30 years, I can’t believe that you still have all your hair. You talk about

Zack Knight  (27:02):

That. Oh man. I’m like,

Mary Kate Soliva (27:04):

You’re doing, you’re

Zack Knight  (27:05):

The ball’s the new beautiful.

Mary Kate Soliva (27:06):

I didn’t know you were

Marina Rabinek (27:09):

That comment or not. I’m glad you

Zack Knight  (27:11):

God, I wanted the new beautiful, but that man, hes force right there. I love that

Marina Rabinek (27:16):

Be’s

Mary Kate Soliva (27:17):

Years. And I’m like, incredible of hair. Incredible. Some of us, you know, this is, I’m just kidding. But it was just, so this is just great, great infor um, your backstory, sharing what is important to you. And I think it, it, its those stories, those personal stories, those ties to our families, those close to us, our brother and sisters that serve, that make us highlight the issues that are happening to veterans today. And I really love to, to touch on that sys Marina, I know you mentioned some of the, the things that are happening in California, but just even across the country, uh, it’s for women veterans. But what, there are some issues that you see that are topic that needs more visibility in the veterans space?

Marina Rabinek (27:55):

Oh, that’s a great question. Focusing on military women, like I do for, for military women’s collective, it’s really the housing and food insecurity that I’m worried about the most. I mean, Texas and California have the largest homeless population of all the states, California’s one, Texas is two and it’s getting cold. Like I, this morning I woke up and it was 38 degrees and I live, you know, in Temecula, which is about an hour north of, of San Diego and about an hour east of, of LA And I cannot imagine how anybody that’s homeless right now in anywhere in the US is feeling cuz it’s, it’s getting really cold, right? And, and it just, it pains me, you know, it hurts my heart to see anybody that’s suffering. And all I wanna do as a person and as a nonprofit is to be of assistance, you know, to support anyone that needs it.

Marina Rabinek (28:56):

And that’s really the main one that I’m trying to help with, is to make sure that we don’t have more people. You know, Zach, I mean, you said you were that close. I have somebody in my life that I lost during Covid and, and it broke my heart. You know, it, so what I, I do what I do because I don’t want that statistic to keep getting higher. And I do what I do because like you said, Scott, being of service is just something I’ve been doing now. I think I’ve been doing it all my life, but obviously in the military you, it’s more pronounced. And now that I’m out of the military, I just wanna continue to be of service and it’s my purpose, you know, It, it, it it’s my purpose.

Mary Kate Soliva (29:41):

Yeah. It shines through this. I I mean, you’re so, you’re so loved and I remember at that time when that happened, but you, if, if for those who haven’t listened to the episode, Veteran Voices with Marina, uh, she goes to talk about the story that helped her ended up launching Military women’s Collective and just an incredible, powerful story. And just thank you for being so vulnerable and sharing what’s happened and being able to amplify that the voices of those who aren’t able to speak for themselves or aren’t ready to. Yeah.

Scott Luton (30:12):

Mary Kate, if I can put in, that was a outstanding conversation and I’m hoping that our team can drop the direct link to that. So you can hear Mary Kate and Marina’s, uh, conversation around some of the things that Marina shared. The visibility and the awareness, the conversations like that create are so critical. Much like Zach’s book, There’s some things I think Mary Kate and Zach and Marina, I think there’s some things, not just veterans, you know, other segments of global population probably do it too, but, but we repress certain things, right? And we don’t want to, we don’t want to be vulnerable, right? We don’t wanna show weakness, you know, we wanna pack it up and keep going on. And really, we, we hurt ourselves time and time again by doing, not saying we’re trained to do that, but it’s just, it’s kind of part of the mentality. So, thank y’all. I wanna echo what Mary Kate said. Thank y’all both for being brave and courageous to share so that others can avoid and be more aware of what’s out there that could harm them. Mary Kate. So, uh, we wanna keep driving with Zach on the same question, you think?

Mary Kate Soliva (31:06):

Oh, absolutely Zach. And I wish we had more time too cause I, I could, I know we could go so much deeper in these topics, but Zach, what, what’s a topic you think that needs more visibility in, in the veterans space?

Zack Knight  (31:17):

Passing the book. I, I’m on month 19 of a medical discharge. I, I’m tired of seeing, um, and we all know the issues with certain organizations, I won’t name ’em, but you know, you get told to go talk to this person and this person and this person and this person. I see a lot of other organizations doing the same thing. Um, and outside of the government space, right? That are here to support veterans. And they get tied in and they tell you to go talk to this person, this person, this person, this person. And, and nothing ever happens. One of the biggest issues I have in this marina hit on the head with starting a non-profit, the reason I started my five, oh literally last month finally got the incorporation papers, um, it’s called ATL Vets Advancing the Line for Veterans. Our biggest piece is we are going to show granularly how we are moving the needle and eventually line for each veteran business owner and beyond that.

Zack Knight  (32:06):

But starting with veteran business owners, how are we actually moving the needle on a project based accomplishment for veterans? So me, the six businesses, five countries, and I hated myself through the whole process. I just buried myself into work. Veterans have a tendency to do that and ourselves into the next thing to ignore the skeletons in the closet, right? Eventually, a lot of what happens is similar to what happened with me, they, they caught up and when the door came open, it crashed open. So I want to help veterans, not only that are business owners that are doing that, but help with that mindset piece and help go beyond that, which is the reason behind the book, right? It’s all the mindset of the personal life fed into business and vice versa. And I wreck the marriage in the process, which a lot of us have done similar things, right? Personalized personal relationships were terrible. Um, and then it all got even worse and worse and worse, but it was like everybody wanted to pass the, and I’m tired of that. So I want to be that piece that actually accomplishes things for a lot of really awesome, amazing people here in

Mary Kate Soliva (33:04):

Atlanta. Wow. I love that, Zach. I think you took the, the first step in just being open about it cuz we are so good at containing and driving on, and like you said, advancing that, that line, but it’s taking that, taking that knee and that self care and self love and just reaching out to folks. I see folks even on LinkedIn that are sharing their stories and there’s some days where I’m like, I wish I was braver that I could, you know, share some of my demons. But it was one of those things where it does help to know that there’s other people out there who have been where you’re at and there’s resources available. What do you think, Scott? Wow. Right?

Scott Luton (33:38):

Twin Marina and Zach and, and what they’re, they’re sharing with us. It goes back to being overwhelming, right? Because there’s so many issues. There’s so many things we gotta get done, especially after 20 years of war, right? We’re gonna see we’re, we’re seeing just the tip of iceberg in terms of, of the work we must do as a country to serve our veteran community that went out and did what they had to do, what they were ordered to do. So I think a couple thoughts. I think, um, Marina shared some wonderful numbers that she alluded to on social earlier today, and I think they were from national today. And I’m not sure if our team can find that really quick, but I latched on to a couple of these. And by the way, if you’re not following Mary Kay, Zach and Marina across social, you’re missing out veterans, non veterans, good stuff, leadership, you name it.

Scott Luton (34:20):

So make sure y’all do that. Then we got their links, uh, in the, in the, um, episode notes. So 11% of veterans, the whole veterans community are experiencing or have experiencing have experienced homelessness. And then 50% of that 11%, I believe I had that right, also live with a mental illness, you know, and it’s additional challenges there. It’s the onus is on us to do something about that. And to Zach’s point, we can’t pass the buck. We can’t, they deserve to be treated with respect and to be taken care of. And then I think secondly, when I think of veterans topics that need more visibility, for me, it goes back to military families. In my first stint in the Air Force, uh, in the mid nineties as a, a single airman, what our eureka moments was seeing all the folks that were married, and then I’d see their kids when I’d go cut grass or something.

Scott Luton (35:08):

And all of them do what they do. They deploy, they leave kids at home or spouses or you name it. And that impact, right? That impact of, especially in this era where you’ve got a ton of deployments, right? We’ve got a, we’ve gotta be mindful of that and, and find better ways. Um, and if nothing else, recognize the service that these families are doing and talk more about it and figure out how we can better support amongst all the other, you know, support that, uh, that we should be delivering. So, Mary Kay, those are a few things I think that are too, too often below the radar.

Mary Kate Soliva (35:42):

Oh, I really, I, I definitely echo that with the family piece. Um, I mean, just even more in recent months, I had, uh, lost a dear uncle mine who served Navy veteran, uh, but what my aunt, his surviving widow has had to go through to get benefits turned back on and to get the resources and support needed, you know, and just having to navigate that process, just seeing her go through that, it’s one of those things that I don’t think is highlighted enough or very often. Uh, just the families that get left behind. And so just being, again, to sh to show support for them and to know there’s people out here that are, are ready to, that are standing by ready to help them.

Scott Luton (36:19):

So I’m so sorry for your loss and it’s a tra it really is not, not trying to be dramatic, but it’s a travesty that some of the red tape that, that folks have to get through to access the benefits that they deserve. So, uh, Mary Kay, hopefully your aunt is able to tap into that nexus set with much more ease in the weeks ahead. One last thing and, uh, look, Veterans Day is a day that we, we do celebrate, right? And we lift up our fellow veterans and the current military members and what they’re doing. But just like, you know, there’s two sides to every coin. It comes with all of these other issues and right, and, and the journeys that others are still having that are impacted cause of either having one or someone they’ve loved worn the uniform. I wanna share a couple quick things.

Scott Luton (37:02):

Our team shared the, um, so veterans out there, Hey, talk about your experiences as I bet Marina and Zach and Mary Kay, they’re all kind of speaking to, if you’re in pain, if you’re hurting call, it’s not a sign of weakness. You got 8 7 7 9 2 7 8 3 8 7. It’s 24. Um, a 24 7 hotline there. And then there’s also this other suicide and crisis Lifeline 9 88. Okay? I have no idea. So 9 88, kind of in a similar vein to 9 1 1, it, So suicide and Crisis Lifeline. All right, one last thing and I wanna take it, we’ll go kind of on a, on a lighter note here in a second. But, you know, the power of speaking someone’s name that may not be with us much, much longer or, or any longer, rather. Um, when I first arrived at, I’d like to go around the horn and maybe each of y’all share a name. But when I first arrived at McConnell Air Force Space in Wichita, Kansas, and you know, as any, when you arrive on, on a duty station, gotta kind of get your sea legs and all that stuff, even in the Air Force Marina. Even in the Air Force. And I’ll tell you, <laugh> uh, airmen

Marina Rabinek (38:06):

Is a thing. It’s a real thing. Trust goodness. Cause I never got mine. I have, yeah, I

Mary Kate Soliva (38:12):

Don’t think I’m an airman that had sea legs.

Scott Luton (38:14):

<laugh>. Well, maybe I,

Marina Rabinek (38:16):

Even after 24 years, uh, if you, you still look big guy. If like

Scott Luton (38:19):

It was crab legs, they got crab legs not go. You know what? At the time, Airman, Jeremy Cross helped me. I mean, he took me around, made me feel at home, answered questions. I mean, the guy was just remarkable. Such a great neighbor and friend and colleague. And he is no longer with us. Uh, Tech Sergeant Jeremy Aro, I believe is his middle name. So, uh, Jeremy, wherever you are, Mary Kay, let’s go to you. Let’s go around the horn and then we’ll move on to some resources. Mary Kay, who’s someone that you wanna mention?

Mary Kate Soliva (38:46):

Oh gosh. Um, well, I, I’d like to take this time just recognize all the brothers and sisters that serve out on Wal. I just realized even recent weeks that there’s just so much that people don’t know per capita. Guam actually recruits more in the US military than any of the other states. There’s no skill bridge resources like there, there’s things that they just don’t have out there that we have in the states. So just giving a shout out to all my brothers and sisters. My grandfather served it, just my dad served, family served. I mean, just shout out to them.

Scott Luton (39:15):

Love it. Much, much love Marina.

Marina Rabinek (39:18):

Oh gosh. I mean, for someone who is gone, I would like to shout out my friend Malcolm that I served with on the Essex. He’s the one that I lost, um, a couple years ago. Uh, for someone that is alive, I got a shout out my girl, Mary Kay cuz she is, she’s my sister from another mister. I don’t, honestly you and that’s the industry, you know, there’s just, like Zach was saying, there was dark times, right? And I really, I, I’m so thankful to you and to, you know, Brian and everybody that was at Vet Industry that helped me get started on my nonprofit journey. So yeah, that’s

Mary Kate Soliva (40:01):

Great. Lots of love for you,

Scott Luton (40:02):

Sis. Oh gosh,

Mary Kate Soliva (40:04):

I know all the tears are about to happen. Scott,

Scott Luton (40:08):

My Kleenex folks again, vets to industry.org. So many great people and resources over there. Check it out, Zach, when you think

Marina Rabinek (40:17):

Of networking event on my birthday, ah, or on my birthday, the 19th of November,

Scott Luton (40:21):

You beat me too.

Marina Rabinek (40:22):

That’s the next one.

Scott Luton (40:23):

We’ll see if we can’t drop that link. Our chat’s gonna be like full of resources. We’ll see if we can find that one. Um, Zach, when you think of someone you wanna mention, who would that be?

Zack Knight  (40:31):

Definitely my dad. He’s an amazing man, but I’d be doing a disservice. But I didn’t also mention, well, Lindsay and Joey Colette, um, they’re the two that I wear on my wrist every day. The first two I lost. But they’re truly the reason I support the veteran community, their memory and what they gave for us in Afghanistan. Those two, I know it’s not a moral day, but they are the, the highlight of a lot of what I’ve done and moved forward without them being there for us, none of what I’m doing involved with would’ve happened. So those three men are incredible men for

Scott Luton (40:59):

Sure. Thank you for sharing Zach, really appreciate that. Okay, so I wanna segue here, and it’s never gonna do with justice when we talk, we, we leave a subject like that. But y’all bear with me. Cause we wanna, we wanna move to a much lighter spot of the conversation and I think I know exactly how I’m gonna do it. So a lot of our listing audience, uh, especially those again that are, are listing them from the supply chain now side versus the veteran voices side. They may be new to a something that’s really important to military culture. And that is a challenge coin, and I’m gonna define the terms here, but, uh, uh, uh, Marina, So I’m going use my challenge and I’m gonna issue a challenge to Mary Kay, Zach, and Marina. And this was from the good old McConnell force space keeper, the planes. Let’s do this. I kinda brought

Marina Rabinek (41:53):

It up. I can’t even begin to

Scott Luton (41:55):

Tell you. Oh man, I

Scott Luton (41:57):

<laugh>, my gosh, this is why I bring it up. Marina Zach and Mary Kate, you know, so in a nutshell, and y’all, y’all check me, it’s been a while, but in a nutshell, like this coin here, right? Came from my days McConnell. We had an exercise. I, I jumped on it and the full board of our unit stopped by our office. That and, and extended this coin, as you know, to award, you know, my efforts, right? And so using these challenge coins, it’s just a great for de corps, great for recognition. And the cool thing I’ve seen here lately, Marina and Zach and Mary Kate, is I see businesses in the private sector rally around this challenge coin, you know, make their own and use it the same way. And so one last segment about that is, is as, and each service may do it differently every every unit, but basically you gotta carry this thing around wherever you go, at least one of them. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And if you’re at a bar or if you’re at a snack bar or something and someone does a a coin check, a coin challenge. If you don’t have one, you’re picking up on the table. Yeah, that’s right. It’s right. She marina just knocked it in Air Force, we threw it on the ground and had a very distinctive sound to it and whoever didn’t have a coin had to pick up a tab for everyone else. So it’s very <laugh>

Scott Luton (43:12):

Costly. Okay, we got a new guest, New guest in livestream

Marina Rabinek (43:15):

<laugh>. So sorry about that.

Scott Luton (43:17):

No, no, no. It’s our favorite parts. It’s our favorite parts, right? Um,

Marina Rabinek (43:22):

<laugh>, she brought me Veterans Day. Uh, Cinnamons

Zack Knight  (43:27):

Hang. Where’s my, tell her

Scott Luton (43:29):

I right over here if she, if she wants to come through there. But hey, so challenge coins. Uh, y’all checked it out. Am I missing anything there? Marina, Zach or Mary Kay? Is there anything that folks should know if they wanna kind of start their own tradition with the challenge coin?

Marina Rabinek (43:43):

No, that was, you had it. I mean, and any time, like you said, if you’re gonna be around veterans and active duty people, make sure you got one of these somewhere stashed. Because if they bust it out and they start knocking, you don’t have it. Just like Zach was saying, you buy the entire round or whatever it is that, you know, they’re, you’re alibi.

Zack Knight  (44:07):

Hang on, hang on. There’s an alibi. There are other traditions. <laugh>. It’s actually funny to go further into the challenge point. The police department I was with, we had a coin SWAT team had a coin Army green bes, we all had a coin. Uh, my grandmother found out about this. My grandmother, not military at all, um, but she got me St. Michael coins. So everybody ever trained the police department got a St. Michael coin. All my guys in Afghanistan got a St. Michael coin. Um, so I kinda adopted that as the painted saint of protectors. Um, one time she, uh, St. Michael’s prayer was wrapped around a stack of coins. I have that tattooed, but then she got me. It’s not a coin. I still wear a medallion of St. Michael everywhere I go. So I have my guys have the St. Michael coin always with me. So it might not be a coin, but, and I’ll still buy the first round. But it’s my choice of what the first round is. Sorry, go

Scott Luton (44:56):

<laugh>. I love that. Zach Morning

Mary Kate Soliva (44:58):

People we’re morning people about like the things to do, not to do. I’ve been seeing a lot lately from my sisters out there, sister veterans who when especially typically coming from men, when they go to shake hands and thank veterans, they’ll skip right over the, they’ll even. Or like you parking at

Marina Rabinek (45:16):

Veterans. I’m waiting, waiting. I’m about do it Zach. I’m waiting for the day when someone at Home Depot or Lowe’s or whatever and I’m that spot, I am waiting. Like I just want like come at me bro.

Mary Kate Soliva (45:31):

You’re welcome. I’m just giving you all a warning out there, you know, just don’t me coming at

Marina Rabinek (45:36):

These women were taking down with hands. No. Yes.

Mary Kate Soliva (45:40):

Coming at you. So yeah, just know, you know, that whole, you know, us women, our sisters out there that have served, thank you. Um, but just know, you know, they’re toughen it out there. They’re ton their boots, their boots up everyone too. So just, uh, shout out to them and you’ve been warn <laugh>,

Marina Rabinek (45:56):

I’m the veteran, not the veteran’s wife, right?

Scott Luton (46:00):

That, that that is, you know, we’re laughing and having a little fun with it. But that’s such a great, not even a reminder but just something to call out. Uh, cause

Mary Kate Soliva (46:07):

A serious note

Scott Luton (46:08):

Too, right? All the sacrifice that that all, I mean everyone makes. So I really appreciate that Mary Kate and Marina by the way, we did drop a marina man, I dunno how y’all do it. Marina shared the vets who industry.org, the events page. Um, as we’re moving into one of our final topics, which is great resources that any of our veterans, veteran supporters, veteran advocates, uh, may should check out. This is one this networking circuit they’ve done. I wanna say they’re like 30, 40 events.

Marina Rabinek (46:35):

36 I think is the, is the one that’s coming up. All right,

Scott Luton (46:39):

So this is, you know, one of the challenges for any of our non veterans out there, one of the great challenges that military members that are ex uh, that are exiting service has is a lack of a network, right? Yes. They don’t have all those connections, especially the enlisted side, right? So what groups like vets to industry do is they provide these forums where not only veterans can connect with each other, but even better folks that are hiring talent. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, the recruiters jump on there and they plug in. And man, if, if you are a hiring manager and your listings conversation and you don’t have a real deliberate actionable, effective strategy of hiring veteran talent, you are missing out and you’re acting like it’s 1981. You gotta get with the times you’re missing out on big talent. So thank you for sharing that link, Marina. And that’s open and it’s free for I think anyone? Yep.

Marina Rabinek (47:27):

It’s free for anybody. And like you said, like we want recruiters, I say we cuz Mary Kate and I both were are volunteers and uh, it’s recruiters, veteran service organizations, active duty that are transitioning out soon. Veterans, military, spouses, I mean, like you said, anybody can join. Yep.

Scott Luton (47:47):

So let’s stick with you Marina. Uh, when we think about other resources out there that either veterans, veteran advocates, military families, you know, you name it, what, what’s one that maybe doesn’t get enough attention?

Marina Rabinek (47:58):

Ooh, I gotta say four block. And my second favorite after that is probably the Commit foundation. Both of them are phenomenal. One is to help you, you know, get ready to get out with that career readiness program. And the other one helps you to figure out what your purpose is.

Scott Luton (48:16):

Mm. Man, that’s some serious figuring out. I love that. Uh, Marina, Mary, Kate, how about you resource that, uh, you wanna highlight here today? That May doesn’t get enough attention. Maybe.

Mary Kate Soliva (48:26):

Oh, you’re gonna get me in trouble Cause this is just a, Well, I think the two, Maureen and I, we’ve probably been through 30 different organizations. Um, but you know, just specifically for me, like the leader, uh, the leader transitions to with Andy Brock and then going through like the honor Foundation elite meet, uh, American corporate partners. I mean these were all like federal. These were all that really took their hand, reached down when I was in a, a tough spot where I didn’t know what my purpose was post-transition. I was even afraid to just put my name, put myself out there, put my story out there and they really helped me, uh, grow my confidence in that to where I’m at today. So just really, really thanked them a lot. Find a mentor. I mean in all those different, all those VSOs, it wasn’t just, I showed up to an orientation and I said, here I am. It was like, I scheduled a call, I reached out and I was like, Hey, can we, can we talk? Can we have a virtual cup of coffee? And, and go from there. Learn, hear are their stories and, and learn grow from that. Love

Marina Rabinek (49:22):

That. I mean, you said two didn’t you Scott? Sure. Y’all

Scott Luton (49:26):

Make new rules.

Marina Rabinek (49:27):

A couple more than two. Mary Kate. So I’m gonna have to add a couple more myself. <laugh>, I think. I mean, you didn’t mention one that you went through, did you, Did you mention the Hoover Veteran Fellowship Program Program? Um,

Mary Kate Soliva (49:41):

Yeah.

Marina Rabinek (49:41):

I mean, if you wanna talk fellowships,

Mary Kate Soliva (49:44):

You’ve

Marina Rabinek (49:44):

Got, of course, Hoover, right? You’ve got the Pat Tillman Foundation, <affirmative> that does the, the Tillman Scholars. You’ve got the, uh, Purdue has their a women, So I’ve gone to this one. It’s a woman focused one called Focus Forward Fellowship and their applications and the Tillman Foundation, you know, Tillman Scholar, they’re all open for applications. And there’s one, yeah, there’s one that I’m applying to the, um, the Stan two veteran leadership at the Bush. Yeah, the Bush Institute. Oh, that one’s gonna be amazing. All

Scott Luton (50:19):

Right,

Mary Kate Soliva (50:19):

So we don’t, so sucked.

Marina Rabinek (50:22):

Please go. You’re

Scott Luton (50:23):

<laugh>. Zach, what? Say

Zack Knight  (50:27):

I’ll keep it super simple and, uh, they’ve named every other one possible except for the one that matters here in Atlanta. Marina Atlanta

Mary Kate Soliva (50:34):

It

Zack Knight  (50:34):

For you. The fourth new marina? Um, no, uh, Atlanta. Huge. Yes. You know, we’re doing a big thing thanks to support with y’all. Um, but also we have some amazing things happening in Atlanta. Uh, we always have free attendances all over our events. Um, now pushed us a little bit more. We have couple virtual events every month. We have, um, at least three or four in person events here in Atlanta, Really trying to grow that piece of it. Mercedes-Benz Stadium this Saturday, thanks to y’all’s support there, of course. And December 7th, we’re having our next summit here in Atlanta at the Atlanta History Center. Where’re, we’re focused. I’m actually running the agenda for, this one’s focused on a lot of what we’re talking about, the Veteran’s Voice, and we’re focusing on getting veteran’s voices out there. Usually we have four or veterans show up to those, but I’d love to see a lot, uh, the capacity to show and show out. So, yeah, we’re a lot of things here in Atlanta. I absolutely love it.

Mary Kate Soliva (51:26):

And that energy on another level, right? Scott? You just Oh yeah. Pumped up when you’re in a room full <laugh>.

Scott Luton (51:31):

Definitely. And, you know, Atlanta’s been around quite some time, uh, and, and really inspiring others of how, uh, veterans and veteran advocates can, can organize with impact. There is,

Zack Knight  (51:43):

There is, vets to industry is every one of our things. We always have a, uh, every one of our summits, we always have Brian out there. So huge collaboration across. That’s what we really focus on, is the collaborative piece. So That’s right. If you wanna check out that’s industry, they’ll be there. And hopefully Mary Kate, you know, working the table and like, and wave and smiling something.

Scott Luton (52:01):

Well, so probably

Marina Rabinek (52:02):

Our girl, Martha too is gonna be there. Martha Foss, she,

Zack Knight  (52:05):

She’s a part of Atlanta now. We her, she’s ours now. Exactly. Sorry. Yeah. Smart she’ll be

Scott Luton (52:10):

There. So we’ve shared the vet, so vets to industry.org. And then, is it Vet Atlanta? I always get this wrong com. Okay. Atlanta org.org. And again, folks, if you’re, um, not calling you cities out, but if I think of NFL Cities, you know, from Cleveland to Seattle, to Houston, to la, Cincinnati, whatever, you don’t have a group, you know, something like a vet industry or a Atlanta and or missing out, I bet they’ll benchmark with you. Reach out, have that conversation and figure out how you can organize and really support your local veterans community. Okay. So one last point I wanna mention, and then we’re gonna go around and make sure folks know how to connect with each of y’all. This hour has, has flown past as I know it would, I meant to mention this earlier, but, you know, according to military times an article from September, and it’s tough to, uh, triangulate, but unemployment for military spouses hovers around 22%, is what I’m reading.

Scott Luton (53:04):

And, you know, if you think about these, those issues that stay below the surface, you think about a lot of the moving around that military families have, and then how tough it has when you’re not in uniform and you’re there trying to make your roots in that new city or the new base or whatever. It’s really tough to find, you know, a good job. So employers that are listening, uh, that may be new, that topic may be new to you. Find a creative way of, you know, embracing those folks in your community cause they could use your help. So check out can Google military spouse unemployment and see all the facts and figures and challenges associated with it.

Mary Kate Soliva (53:38):

And that same plug, Scott, to just, you know, as far as helping upscale, you know, I’m, I’m happy to have a call with any, anybody, our listeners talking about, if you’re trying to get stuff into the project management profession, get earning certifications there. A lot of our, in a lot of our employers, they got open job openings and they’re looking for those certifications. So happy to have a conversation about that.

Scott Luton (54:01):

Love that. Thank you Mary Kate. So, right, so back where we started, Marina, how can folks, uh, connect with you? What’s the best way?

Marina Rabinek (54:10):

Ooh, best way. Um, probably LinkedIn. I would say. Would you like me to drop my chat? My or my, I’m, I’m quick like that.

Scott Luton (54:24):

I could barely, uh, walk and chew gum at the same time. And, and, and you got 17 things going on, by the way. I think we’ve got it in episode notes. And if you’re listening to this on the replay, it’ll definitely be on the episode notes. But thank you for dropping that. And by the way, James says, military spouses are always in transition, so very, very true. Zach, what’s the easiest way to folks connect with you? Same

Zack Knight  (54:42):

Thing. LinkedIn. I’m there all the time. Um, the other social media, I have a team that handles a lot of that, but LinkedIn, ’em on there quite a bit. Um, Zach a Knight, make sure just like it’s on the screen, make sure that a’s in there and, uh, the, and the, and you

Scott Luton (54:58):

That. Thank you Zach. Thank you, Marina Home run both, uh, Dynamos, the two of you are. And then Mary Kate a triumphant, if I said that right of Donna Mos here today. Mary Kate, how can folks connect with you?

Mary Kate Soliva (55:09):

Yeah, to connect with me on, on LinkedIn. I’m happy and I’m, you know, new mentor on AmeriCorps Partners now was better mentor as well. But, uh, you know, I just don’t sell yourself short. You have, you have enough experience now whether you’re two days out of the military to be able to turn around and help the ones coming behind you. So, um, just know to continue to send that information back. But you can connect with me on mk saliva sol iva guri.org or on LinkedIn, and tune into Veteran Voices, right, Scott?

Scott Luton (55:40):

That’s right. Wherever you get your podcast from. Veteran Voices, wherever you get your podcast from. Okay, Big thanks. All three of y’all really. I know we’ve, we’ve heaped a bunch of praise on you, but it comes from a very genuine spot. You know, I, I track three of y’all very regularly and admire all that you give, give, give and help others avoid, you know, pot holes in their journey and, and then some. So thank you for what you do. Marina Ra, thank you very much. Hope you have a great weekend.

Marina Rabinek (56:07):

Thank you, Scott. You too.

Scott Luton (56:08):

And Zach a Knight. Thank you so much. Congrats on the new book.

Zack Knight  (56:13):

Yes, Thanks brother. Appreciate y’all.

Scott Luton (56:14):

You bet. And of course, my, uh, partner in crime, Mary Kate Saliva, who hosts our Veteran Voices programming in conjunction with our friends at Bets to Industry. Mary Kay, thanks for all you do.

Mary Kate Soliva (56:24):

Thank you, Scott. Thank you everybody that tuned in today. Happy Veterans

Scott Luton (56:28):

Day, dude. That’s right. Take action. Hey, deeds, not words. Uh, thanks for the great conversation to our listeners, hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as we have here. They’ve had a bla a lot of fun and also tackle some, uh, some not so fun issues that are facing our veteran community. But hey, take action. Lean in, uh, find a practical, outcome driven way of supporting our veteran community. They can, they need your help, right? They need mentorship, they need good jobs, They need a network. Find a way. Uh, you give big, give small as Greg White likes to say, but just give. And on that note, on behalf our entire team here at Supply Chain now and Veteran Voices, Scott Luden challenged you, Be like these three, do good, give forward and be the change.