Armed with a master’s degree in engineering and a desire to be an astronaut, Elana Duffy’s first job was sitting in front of a ton of blueprints figuring out the cost of renovating a large building. A far cry from the space program, Elana went into her boss’ office and said she was going to call a military recruiter and possibly join the Reserves. After a huge laugh from her boss, that sealed it for Elana and she was ready to enlist. Since the Army was the only branch that allows you to choose your field if you enlist, it was Army all the way. Her boot camp experience was actually pretty fun compared to being frenetic and harassing. However, she did find that the women got rather cutthroat with other women, showing a “I’m tougher than you” attitude; it surprised her. And in fact, found working with other women in the military to be difficult especially if those women went into the military directly from high school. That seemed paradoxical to Elana, as it seemed obvious that as a minority in the military, women should naturally be supportive of each other. But she had to get on with her 10-year career in counterterrorism and counter-espionage. The combination of a vehicle accident and a roadside bomb that injured Elana sent her back to civilian life. She found she was not prepared at all to be tossed into that new theater and started networking all the veteran resources she could find. Realizing how byzantine the re-entry process was for all Vets, Elana made her new mission founding a company use AI to essentially make word-of-mouth referrals into a digital service to help guide Vets into a successful civilian career; Pathfinder.vet was born. Interestingly enough, the company is a “C” corp, not a non-profit organization. And that is to keep the mission pure, keep it accountable to itself and to keep from competing with other nonprofits. But the best explanation of the mission is from their website: The US Army began training military Pathfinders during WWII, building an elite force of airborne operators able to go behind enemy lines before missions in order to designate drop and landing zones Their motto -- "first in, last out" -- represents the dedication towards leading the way for the mission, and ensuring everyone who comes after them is taken care of. They are trailblazers and leaders, and above all they are helpers.
Veteran Founder Podcast with your hosts Josh Carter and Cynthia Kao
We record the Veteran Founder Podcast inside NedSpace in the Bigfoot Podcast Studio in beautiful downtown Portland.
Audio engineer, mixer and podcast editor is Allon Beausoleil
Show logo was designed by Carolyn Main
Website was designed by Cameron Grimes
Production assistant is Chelsea Lancaster
Theme music: Artist: Tipsy Track: Kadonka Album: Buzzz Courtesy of Ipecac Records
10% of gross revenue at Startup Radio Network goes to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries thru kiva.org/lender/markgrimes