How Lindsey Schiro Scaled 51 Vets from 120 to 500+ Members Without Losing Intimacy

[0:00]  Well, if there's no money in the bank, you can't do anything. It's, you know, you have to run it like a business. You have the sales pipeline where you're asking for money. You have the programs that how you're helping, you know, donors want to see where their money's going. They want to see how they're directly impacting these veterans. And so, it's run very much like a business.

[0:22]  And you have to constantly be on your agame, you know, getting money in the bank, getting checks, things of that nature, because if it runs out, you're no longer a nonprofit and you can't support, you know, the very mission that you chose, you know, you set out to accomplish. Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart and Hustle podcast. Not many people actually pivot from pediatric nursing to leading a national movement for special opets, but Lindsay isn't most people. Today on the Heart and Hustle, we're sitting down with the powerhouse behind 51vets.org. Someone

[1:10]  who's walking the walk for those who served in silence. Let's welcome Lindsay. How you doing today, man? Good. How are you doing? Good. Listen, I always try to give a good intro. How is it? You like it? It's good. I like it. I like the powerhouse. It's giving me a little boost of confidence right now. We We need it. We just We're talking about just nonprofit spaces, man. These are challenging. You know, people think that it's easy and and people are just going to give money to you and that, you know, whether you're starting a nonprofit that is just going to fall in line or you're taking over a nonprofit. A lot of times we we come into those challenges. But, um, was there any challenges that that I mean, you kind of make that switch. We get kind right into it. you made a switch from pediatric and then you get into the nonprofit world. What does the mindset look like? What are some of the things that you found out about the nonprofit space that you're like, "Oh, I should have known this before I probably

[1:57]  got into it." I've learned. So, I've been in the nonprofit space for 11 years now. Uh, learned a lot. I was a pediatric nurse in Boston and then my husband at the time was shot and wounded in Afghanistan. and I saw the lack of support that he and my family got. And so I decided to set out and change that and started volunteering for a nonprofit and who eventually hired me. And that kind of started my trajectory. Learned a lot on the job training, um how nonprofits work, you know, how fundraising works, how board works, how the advisory board works, everything you could possibly imagine, programs. Um, and so I took that kind of knowledge and just moved on and moved up um, in the nonprofit world and landed where I'm at now as CEO of 51 Vets.

[2:43]  And and some fun times, I'm can only imagine. Right. Were um, were you nervous taking the head of the table at 51 Vets? Yeah, I was. I was. It was actually u my dream job to be a CEO of a nonprofit. And so when they offered it to me, I was like, is this real? Is my dream job coming true? You know, we all have dream jobs.

[3:03]  And I the fact that it was coming true was, you know, wild to me. And so I definitely had a little bit of imposttor syndrome where I was like, can I do this? Am I qualified? Um and then I just dove right in and been here for almost two and a half years. So look at that. And 11 years in the space and completely and the imposter syndrome hits at any time. Oh yeah. Like it doesn't happen just in the first couple of years. It can happen six, seven years down the line when things are just kind of a little shaky. You're asking yourself like, wait a minute, should I should I be doing something else? like why am I doing this? Sometimes even asking yourself why am I doing this? Um as as leaders in the nonprofit space, we can all get there. So I love that you kind of shared that. I want to kind of talk about um a little moment when you mentioned your husband was wounded. Um I can only imagine that uh the recovery from your husband and seeing him just

[3:49]  recover shaped just the way that you you showed up for others. Is that true? And and how do you now show up for others after seeing what's happened to your husband and his recovery? Yeah. So my husband at the time was injured and I saw kind of I rallied around you know uh the support of wives and everyone that supported me through that time and I wanted to give back and it was the special operations community. he was a Green Beret. And so that's the community I got involved with and that's the community I've been involved with for the last 11 years. Um because I've, you know, lived the life and know the lingo so to speak because there is a different lingo and um yeah, so I've just kind of stayed within those boundaries and have supported them. I moved from so I originally started supporting the

[4:35]  wounded ow and injured and then I moved to transition as they get out of the military and that's where I've been for the last 5 years or so is helping them transition from the military to the civilian world. And you do some amazing work in in just two years. You go from 120 members to over 500 members. What were you actually doing that others were not doing? I was developing partnerships. I was getting our name out there. Uh, you know, I was trying to offer a holistic approach. We focus on finance, banking, consulting, ETA. So, we're a very niche organization. And so, I my goal was to offer a holistic approach to transition.

[5:17]  We didn't want to be the next big thing. We didn't want to be the next big nonprofit because our members, as we call them, like that we're small and intimate and they can get that one-on-one feedback and attention. But I partnered with organizations such as the Commit Foundation, which offers one-on-one mentorship. Uh we partnered with an organization called Shift Group, which helps athletes and veterans go into sales and different jobs that we don't cover. And we partnered with an organization called Soft Network, which offers mental health counseling for those going through a difficult time in transition, etc. And so my whole goal coming into this role was to cover down on everything that we didn't do as an organization so that our members had outlets to go other places if they needed to.

[6:02]  That's the big thing um I always mention especially in the nonprofit world. You have to know how to communicate, right? You have to talk to these donors. You have to talk to the community members. But also network. Networking is so important. Those are the two key things that I say nonprofit leaders. Is there any other thing that you feel if you someone wants to get into the space of a nonprofit leader um other than network communication a skill that they definitely got to bring to the table?

[6:23]  Sales for sure. I I knew you were going to say that. I knew you going to say that. You got to be asking for money. Yeah. Yeah. You got to be comfortable asking for money. U that's the biggest thing. And it's, you know, it's easier than sales because you're not selling a product, you're selling a cause. And so, you know, I'm saying this is what your donor dollars directly support and help and this is what we do with the money that you give us. Um, but you have to be comfortable asking for thousands of dollars for people and working it into the conversation and networking with them and ask continuously asking for money. I mean, every meeting I have, I'm basically asking for a sum of money at some point or another. So, I find myself now at random banks. I'm like, "Hey, do you do any like matching grants or anything like that?" you know, like you

[7:10]  just I I just start finding myself asking these questions more and more. Um, one thing I heard years back, I wanted to get and I think I mentioned this on the last podcast with the last leader, but I wanted to get into real estate just because I see people making money, you know, like, oh, this this is great. I met this dude, you know, living a million dollar home and I was seeing his lifestyle and I'm like, man, how do I get into that? And he literally looked at me, he knew me from some years. He's like, no, man, you're in the asking business. You got to go keep asking for money. And I'm like, I guess I guess I am. I mean, that's really how nonprofits stay alive. We got to go either fundraisers or we got to ask, you know, people and I love what you mentioned, sell a story, you know, and that's what's so cool about you talk about the members and about the community and about that network is that you're going to find so many great stories that you've never heard before. And those are the stories that we go tell. I I'm such a person for stories. I love stories and

[7:58]  you don't know how many stories I share all the time. My wife probably hates it. I get on conversation probably with you today, Lindsay, and I'm going to tell her about your story, you know, because I think it's so important that people just understand what's going out there. Uh, and then that there's resources out there that want to help these people, but we need the backing of our community. Was there a moment where you really thought to yourself, this actually might be growing a little faster than I can handle? within 51 vets. Uh we did get to a point where we had to, you know, myself and the board and the members, you know, decide is this are we going to grow exponentially or are we going to keep this small? And we decided to keep it small. We sent out actually a survey to our members to ask them what they wanted. And so now we put a cap on how many members we admit every

[8:45]  month to keep it small because it was growing last year in the year. I mean it was growing rapidly and we wanted to be able to offer our members you know the opportunity to wave the white flag and say hey I need help and be able to actually help them and not just kind of say I'll help you when I have time. You know really dive in and help them. Um so yeah but now we just hired um someone to help me out. I was the only employee for two years. Um, and then we just hired someone to help with the members directly and so it's great to have someone focused solely on our members going through transition, making connections for them and helping them, you know, in their next steps. I love it. Was there a time that you were like um you were just thinking to yourself

[9:33]  like, damn, we're we're really doing it. Was there a moment in these last two years that just kind of gave you that? Yeah. So there's a conference in Vegas. It's a huge priv we're going again this year. It's a huge private equity conference and they have like thousands upon thousands of people that go. It's called Dealmax. And last year we were featured and it's a national conference and we were featured. It's called Veterans and Middle Market. And I got to speak at the conference and they had our logo everywhere and everything. And I stood there in Vegas at the Arya and saw our logo like on the big opening, you know, signage. And it was in that moment that I was like, we're a national brand.

[10:13]  Like we people know us and we made it. And it was a really cool moment to have that for sure. I can imagine that um you have a proud husband. What What was the words of encouragement that he's given you through uh this process? Yeah, I mean he had a career in special forces for 12 years and so when that ended um he was very much like you can do what you want to do. It's your time now. Um and I'll support you however you know you need to be supported. And so it was great that I was able to, you know, accomplish my dreams because it's very difficult to be a military spouse when they deploy all the time and you know you have I have three kids. you know, who's gonna watch my kids when I travel for work. I travel a lot. Uh things of

[11:00]  that nature. So, so the roles of reverse and now you're out there doing the thing. Dad can stay home with the kids, right? That's a good life. I would say, you know, my wife always tells me that. I'm like, "Babe, I got this." But my wife is a stay at home mom and you know I do I always I can't wait to that day where the kids are kind of in the school um and she can go and do something because I always feel ladies are so phenomenal and sometimes don't get to really show it. But I love that in a space of nonprofit that we get to see so many leaders at the head of the table. However, I still feel that a organization that is led by a woman is still less funded than organization that is um run by a man. Are you seeing that?

[11:43]  Did you hear these things? Are you What are your thoughts on this? Yeah. So, it it's great. Well, first, I've been both a stay-at-home mom and a working mom and I can say that they are both equally as difficult. Um, and so they Well, I'd say stay at home mom is even more difficult to be quite honest. Oh, yeah. I get to leave my kids sometimes and I'm like, "Bye-bye. Have a great time. See you later." Um, and so, yeah, they're both equally challenging. They have their own challenges. And so, but there's a woman that I've a couple women that I've become friends with that lead nonprofits, and we all get together and talk about, you know, what it's like being a woman, specifically in a nonprofit, specifically in a male-dominated field like the military, like special operations. Um, and so it's interesting to kind of, you know, we

[12:31]  come together, we talk about the hardships and the difficulties and the frustrations we have. Um, but it is it's great. It's very empowering to be a woman leading a female dominated nonprofit. Absolutely. I mean, a male dominated. Did you have did you have a moment where you really had to put your foot down as a woman in a you mentioned um you're talking about vets, probably mostly men that you're working with. Um, was there a time that you remember you had to really stand strong and firm and and put your foot down on some things?

[13:03]  Oh, yeah. I stick up for myself all the time. I'm from Boston, so I have no problems sticking up for myself. I call it the Boston in me. It comes out sometimes. Um, but I've stuck up for myself a lot of the times. The funny thing is is that I'm 5'3 and 100 pounds. Like, I'm a little human. And a lot of the guys in the nonprofit, our members are like, "You're very intimidating."

[13:27]  And I'm like, "I am a tiny human. How can I be intimidating?" And they're like, "You scare me." And so it's kind of funny that you know they find me to be that way when I'm so little. And so but I mean it's it's very rewarding. It's great. But no, I've definitely had to stand up for myself quite a few times. That's funny you say um you're from Boston and that's just probably where you had to stand up for yourself.

[13:48]  I left Boston years ago, but I still stand up for myself. Maybe it's the Boston in me that just kind of, you know, it's the energy in Boston. Um were you so you were born and raised in Boston? I know you said you used to travel. Yeah. So, my dad was Navy, so we traveled a little bit when I was younger. Uh, but I was born outside of Boston. Spent most of my life outside of Boston. My parents still live in Boston.

[14:09]  Uh, so that's what I consider home base for me. Love it. Um, I was uh born in Lawrence. Not that I was there for for some time, but um I was in Lawrence for about seven years and that's when I moved to Orlando. But then I go back to Boston. Beautiful place. I think it's probably a very underrated place actually. And I remember taking my wife there and she thought to myself, she thought to herself, "What the hell are we going to do in Boston?" But to this day, she says that's her best vacation ever was in Boston. And we got to stay downtown Boston. So it's actually really beautiful down there. We got to eat some some fresh lobster rolls. The best I still Yeah, it was really good. Um, so anyway, we could keep talking about Boston. For those that are probably from New York, stop hating. Um, you said it before. There's no money in the bank.

[14:52]  The mission stalls. Mhm. How do you actually balance the the hard and hustle in nonprofit work? Well, if there's no money in the bank, you can't do anything. It's, you know, you have to run it like a business. You have the sales pipeline where you're asking for money. You have the programs that how you're helping, you know, donors want to see where their money's going. They want to see how they're directly impacting these veterans. And so, it's run very much like a business. and you have to constantly be on your agame, you know, getting money in the bank, getting checks, things of that nature, because if it runs out, you're no longer a nonprofit and you can't support, you know, the very mission that you chose, you know, you set out to accomplish. So, hey, real quick, have you enjoying the

[15:40]  podcast? We first want to say thank you and we also just want to give you a little insight of what we're up to at Francis. Some don't even realize that we're working with organizations to help them use AI to create that real human communication experiences where that's actually supporting your your families, those patients or the entire community.

[15:59]  We're actually creating tech that connects. Check it out. Francis.ai. Love it. And when you last time we spoke, you were talking about treating fundraising like it's sales. Mhm. What's that one mindset shift that you think more nonprofits should actually make to kind of get wrapped around fundraising sales? Yeah. So, I actually worked in sales for a year. Um, hated it. Was not for me. So, the the the thing that's comical to me is that I now do it every day of my life. Um, but I think it's just realizing that you're selling a cause. sales. A lot of sales, you know, is a product or a service, but in the nonprofit world, you're selling a cause and people can say, you can say, "Give me $10,000," and I will show you

[16:49]  exactly where that $10,000 is going. Um, and so it's great to be able to provide that to our donors and our corporate sponsors and our partners and things of that nature that they have tangible results that they can see from their where their money is going. And so that's been really rewarding and really helpful to be able to provide that to them. So that's what I would say would probably be my number one piece of advice is show other donors and partners, you know, whatever you call them, where their money is going and what their money is being spent on.

[17:20]  They're not just writing a blank check. They're writing a check to a cause and you need to be able to provide what your um where that money is going. I love that. And I think people don't realize that running a nonprofit is so much sometimes harder than even a startup at times. Um do you feel like actually I'll ask you what's been the biggest business lesson so far that you've um had to either hear from someone else or learn on your own? I would say, you know, I worked in program. I was never the CEO and so up until this point. And so when I came on board on 51 vets and became the CEO, just realizing that the entire organization was on my shoulders. It was kind of a startup. We only had 120 members. Um, it was just, you know, it

[18:09]  was an all volunteer staff. I was the first paid hired staff member. And so it was very much in its startup phase. and it was on my shoulders to make it into something and to grow it. And so that was kind of, you know, looking back and sitting in that seat my first day on the job and saying, "Okay." And now looking back two years later and seeing how much we've grown is very rewarding for me that, you know, it has turned into something.

[18:37]  I want to go back. You said that you never had a CEO role. You come from the executive director role. um getting into a CEO that's not just a title switch that's totally a whole identity shift for some. Um what changed for you internally as you were getting into the role of CEO? So for me it was learning.

[18:55]  Uh I wanted to keep learning about the nonprofit sector as a CEO. Uh because people do look at you differently when you have that CEO name versus an executive director name. And so when I became CEO, I enrolled at a course at Duke University, nonprofit executive leadership specifically for executive directors and CEOs of nonprofits and you know really immersed myself in that program and learned a ton and it was very very very valuable to me as a CEO to bring our organization to the next level. So going going going to school was that something you just said hey I need some more um assistance with this some more knowledge behind this or was somebody give you the idea hey you should go and do this so my board was very supportive

[19:43]  and they you know kind of gave me the idea of if there's anything you want to do or anything you want to learn go out and do it and I found the program um and presented it to them and they were 100% on board and so it worked out really well and they were very supportive of me attending I want to talk about this board because it's full of veterans. It is right and who didn't really know nonprofit leadership. So you come in um how do you lead with respect and results in that kind of room. So I think just knowing the veteran and soft special operation community um and just having you know that command and commanding respect uh was very big.

[20:26]  But they, you know, from the get-go were very open to change and very open to supporting me and, you know, what I needed from them and supporting the organization. They were very cuz it was all volunteer-led. And so they were all involved since the inception of the organization. And so the organization was almost like their baby because they were there when it started. But they were very open to change and open to my ideas and open to growing it and partnerships and everything that I brought to the table and they were understanding of my knowledge of the nonprofit sector and what needed to be done to make it a well-run organization.

[21:09]  And so um very thankful for how they welcomed me into the organization. seemed like you you you got into a nice space where you know maybe you didn't see the respect but looks like they they definitely were excited to have you on board. I'm pretty sure probably not at that moment but now two years later that they're like man what a great choice that we've had and and I would actually ask you has there been a mentor in your life that told you something um whether it was very early on in your life or within the last couple years that still sticks with you today? Yeah. Um, being in the nonprofit world, I've been told numerous times, and anybody in the nonprofit sector can vouch for this. Um, never do a job you love for the money. And it meant a lot to me because in the nonprofit sector, everybody knows you don't get paid a lot. There's not a

[21:57]  lot of money here. Uh, it's not like the corporate world. And so, I've always chosen passion over money. and making sure that I'm happy in my role that I'm serving something or someone or some community and um haven't been money hungry in the sense that you know I need this I need to make x amount of money I've just been I've chosen my path based on who I'm supporting and that it's giving my life purpose and so that I can wake up every morning and feel good about the work I'm doing and want to go to work and like what I and things of that nature. And you love what you do so much that you're handwriting speeches still. I am. Which respect, right? But we have AI that is creeping into everything. I know. I know. What's

[22:44]  What's been what's your what's your real take on AI in the nonprofit? Like AI scares me. It's just like my friend is in a startup, one of my best friends, and I was writing a speech for we have a benefit dinner every year, and I was like joking about it that I haven't even started it. I started it on the plane and she's like, "Lindsay, put this into Chad GPT." And I was like, "What?" And she was like, "Give me five minutes.

[23:09]  What do you want it to be about?" And I told her and she sent me like a two-page speech in five minutes. And I was like, "What is this?" And it was a great speech. And I was like, "Wow, this is fascinating that they can do all this now." And so it's hilarious to me. You know, I'm very old school. I still write on my old speeches. You know, resume. We help our members with résumés. I look over them. I don't send them to resume GPT or any of that. I hand read all of them and offer them edits. Um, so yeah.

[23:42]  So I'm very old school in that sense. I haven't adapted to the to the change. Oh man, you're missing out. I would definitely say from one leader to another, you're definitely missing out. I told you all the things I was doing with tattoo and how it just gave me all these different things or um the framework that we created for the podcast, right? that was really just a a noteaker which was very AI um we didn't put that and and created that framework for you or I see nonprofits that are using it for grant writing. Um, that's one of the biggest that was actually one of the shocking moments for me when someone said that. I was talking to a leader. I was like, "Yeah, I use it for grant writing." I'm like, "Wow, I never thought that." As much as I chat GPT, I never thought about using it like that.

[24:18]  So, there's definitely so so many ways. It could definitely be scary, right, for something new. It's like anything that we um encountered when we had the internet, how scary of a time it was for our parents. What the internet? We're doing that. Um, the smartphone, we go from snake, playing snake on the phone to now we have all types of things on these phones. So, I hear you. I hear you. But if you could automate maybe that one part of nonprofit leadership without guilt, um, is there anything that you would actually like to automate and maybe why? I got to look into that grant writing because grant writing is tough. Uh, and takes a lot of time and you know, you sit in front of a grant and you're like, we need this money.

[24:54]  Please help us. Um, and you know, you have to say the right things and describe things the right way. And so I think that's where I'd automate it and you know, introduce it to my life would definitely be grand writing. So, you don't use TEDP at all? No. Oh my god. Listen, I I'm starting to laugh actually. Um I use it probably for the last year. I've been using it so much.

[25:16]  Um sometimes when I'm on a conversation, I will feel like, "Oh my god, there's some good nuggets." Um and I will say, "Hey, write me a blog on this conversation." And it'll give me so many different blogs that I can write on the conversation. Um so that's pretty neat. But then you also start to see when it's talking back to you that it's starting to like be so cool. like a friend. My wife laughs at it. She's like, "Wait a minute. Did he Did the Chhatty P just say damn." And I'm like, "Yeah, you know, or say bro because I use that word often, right?" So, it's starting to use a lot of the words that I use and I just think it's so funny cuz I truly feel like I have an assistant. I don't like I feel like I have an assistant. Yeah, there's something about it. But no, I got to like even in email now, Gmail, we use Gmail and even in Gmail it has an option to like professionalize your

[26:02]  email and I look at it and I'm like I'm professional like you don't need to professionalize this but it's like rewrite it with AI and it's like every email I send now is asking me to rewrite it with AI and I I won't do it. I mean I was doing my my my taxes yesterday and they have an AI tool. So I'm doing Turboax and literally it's a AI tool at the end of it and kind of saying hey do you want to know more? Hey do you want to put this against last year's and I was like yeah I just wanted to see it and literally gave me side by side on everything last year what that looked like last year and what everything looks like this year. I mean in seconds and I'm thinking to myself like man where I matter of fact I was just talking to a mayor just now and he tells me that using AI technology and cameras. He says, "I can go and say, "Hey, um, we we we're looking for a suspect, gray shirt,

[26:50]  black glasses." He said that every single camera in the city will go to someone with a gray shirt and black glasses. That's wild. That is I mean, Wendy's also is now using AI. Have you been to a Wendy's where you order with a AI yet? No, not yet. Yeah. It's It's uh I remember going up and thinking to myself like, "Oh, okay." But even when you make mistakes and you say, "Hey, I didn't want the medium fry. I wanted the large fry that it will make these changes. And I think at one point we we might just have to pull up at a drive-thru and it just recognizes our face and knows our orders. Like it is some scary things for sure. It creeps me out sometimes.

[27:26]  You've got this fire for systematic uh change. What's fueling that vision to run for office one day? Yeah, so my long-term goal is to run for office. Um, and my platforms would be the military obviously and supporting military families, uh, public education and special education. My daughter has ADHD and is on the autism spectrum and so, you know, getting support from public education and things of that nature and supporting public schools and then sexual assault and domestic violence as I am a survivor of both and, you know, supporting survivors of those. um would be my three platforms. And that's kind of been the trajectory of my life that has led me to say, you know, there's not

[28:14]  enough going on in office right now. I got to make some systematic changes here. Um and just being like, I could probably do it. You know, why not? And uh deciding that eventually I will run for office someday. Cool. Listen, don't forget little people like me. Okay, I'll come back on. I'll come back on. I'm about to say hope we have this conversation at that moment.

[28:35]  What do you hope people say about you 10 years from now? Like you have all these ideas. You're doing so much now. You've done already a lot in the past, but let's look 10 years from now. What would you want people to say about Lindsay? Um, I would say I have a sign actually right above my head. You can't see it, but it says, "Work hard and be nice to people." And that has always been my mantra and what I teach my kids. Um, that you treat the CEO the same as you treat the custodian. that you treat everyone with kindness and respect and you work hard and your dreams are not going to come to fruition unless you want them to and you work towards them and you work hard for them. And so I think it's been very beneficial. They're 11 9 and seven now and they've seen how much hard work I've put in. They see me work long hours. They see me travel uh

[29:23]  and things of that nature. So instilling that into them, work hard and be nice to people is probably what I hope someone would say about me 10 years from now. I uh I couldn't tell you're just an amazing parent. Um one that you just care that they even see that, right? And and as I become a father and I have a a one and a fouryear-old, that's all I want them to see is that both mom and dad work very hard. When when my daughter says mom or dad bought this, no, no, me and your mom bought this because we both sacrificing together.

[29:53]  Just because you don't see her go to work, she's actually working, right? Maybe you don't see it now, but your mom's probably doing way more harder work. I'm having these conversations while she's changing diapers and feeding and trying to keep them entertained, you know, and teaching them at the same time, like through schooling. So, I I definitely love that you said, I just want people to know that I I worked hard and I was kind to people because if you could just do those two things in life, you're so further ahead than everybody else. Be kind at any level. I don't care who which what drives me crazy is when I go to places and people are not you know we went to a restaurant the other day and I'm calling on the phone hey do you guys you know trying to take my wife out to eat and already off the phone call I'm like oh my god like I hope this is not how it is right it's already turned you off I get there and I knew exactly who it was because she happened to be

[30:40]  the person sitting us down too and was just so dry like why are you just not kind like it truly makes not a difference just for the person that you're doing it to but for yourself when you're just kind and nice to people and then you get it back. You know, I think I think we're in a place now, Lindsay, correct me if I'm wrong, that people are in shock probably when you're kind. Are you experiencing that at times? Yeah, people meet me and they're like, I didn't expect you to be so nice and I'm like, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Like, I don't know. Um, and so yeah, no, I definitely see it. Um, but no, I mean, it's just that's what I learned from my parents. You know, my mom modeled that really well to me. She was nice to everybody and so that's what I grew up with and so that's what I try to instill to my children. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Can you give us a little

[31:29]  bit more information before we get the listeners to just um start bombarding 51 Vets? But what are some of the resources that 51 Vets is offering for the community? Sure. So we use our donor dollars to support our five plus 500 plus members from the special oper operations community in finance, banking, ETA, consulting, etc. Uh we offer one-on-one mentorship with seuite level executives and then we do what we call city summits and so we use our donor dollars to do an all expense paid trip for a number of members to a major metropolitan city. We're going to Los Angeles at the end of April, Boston, New York City in November. And we offer two-day workshops on everything that we cover on private equity, on investment banking, etc. And so that our members can gain

[32:16]  connections, make, you know, meaningful if they're looking for a job or an internship, they can learn about the sector. Uh we have happy hours, things of that nature. And so that's kind of how we support them. And then they have the community of all the members around them to rally around them if they need support or help through their transition as well. I love it. And and how can people um how can our listeners actually back 51 Vets right now? Is it donations?

[32:44]  Is it other resources and and connections that you may need? What are some of the things that you're looking for? Yeah, absolutely. So donations always, you know, like I said in sales, always asking for money. Um, donations always, but connections to, you know, the finance and banking world are always greatly appreciated. Getting our name out there is also greatly appreciated.

[33:04]  Just supporting us, following us on LinkedIn, uh, supporting our members, mentors, anything of that nature is always um, a plus for our organization. I love it. And this is this is we're getting into the fun part of it all, that blind question. Oh, yeah. I'm going to You got your blind question ready? because this one's a really good one.

[33:25]  Um, let's say I hand you a microphone and on the other end is every transitioning special ops veteran in the country. You you can't write it. There's no chatbt, no filter. What do you say to them? Find your purpose and then find your job. That was too easy. Oh my god. You just had like you just had the answer and this is this is why you're going to be um amazing when you run for office. Thank you. Um, by the way, when you run for office, I know you know you're not writing your own speeches.

[33:52]  Someone's doing that for you. I know. I got to I got to delegate somewhere along the lines. Yeah. What What is your blind question to the next leader? Um my blind question would be name the number one turning number one turning point in your life that changed your trajectory. I love that. I love that. The number one turning point that turned your that changed your trajectory. That's actually a really good question and I think it's definitely one of those we're going to get a story out of there because every time someone you ask that they they go deep. um into that story on what got them. To me, I actually sometimes be honest, there's sometimes that I'm having conversations with other leaders and it just strikes something I didn't even think of or it strikes an emotion. You're like, "Wait a minute.

[34:34]  Was was that something that I didn't think about?" Um so I love these blind questions for those reasons because I get off and I start to really think even the question you asked like what what was that? Right. So I definitely do appreciate it. Um you mentioned that you're on on all these different platforms. We talked about the uh the website. Is there anything else that you would like the leader the the the listeners or the viewers that are watching this or listening to this that um any I would say motivating words for that next inspiring female leader? Yeah. No, that's a great question. Um the female leader is always stick up for yourself.

[35:09]  Never back down. Know your worth. Um I've had to definitely prove my worth many times over the last 11 years. Um, and so that would be my thing is know your worth and once you know it, never back down from it. Love it. No matter how tall you are. Exactly. I love it. Well, thank you so much, Lindsay, for this great conversation this morning. And um, for those that are still watching, if you guys want to really make a difference, 51vets.org. All right. There's changes are being happening. And you can also continue to just help by sometimes just sharing, you know, by letting people know this even exists because somebody may want to help in this space and doesn't even know 51 bets exists. And I think that's what's so cool that we get to highlight these organizations here today and we get to highlight amazing leaders like Lindsay and hope that we

[35:55]  can support her on this journey of not just being a nonprofit eel, but one day actually running for office and holding that seat where she's making a bigger difference than what she's doing today. Lindsay, we thank you so much for having that heart and that hustle. Guys, this has been our hard hustle podcast. We'll catch you on the next one. Thank you.