The Organization
The National Resource Society for Women Veterans, Inc. (NRSWV now transitioning to SHE Society for Women Veterans) is a national organized independent 501(c) (3) who provides membership based training and support. Our mission is to enhance and develop careers of women veterans and military spouses with transitional training, mentoring and tools to develop thier artistic skills and empower them to achieve in life.
Why do we exist?
Many of the military veterans (particularly women veterans), are struggling to make ends meet, and provide shelter for their children. This is not a new condition, and not unique in our nation regarding our citizens. However, the distinction arises when we identify that these are women who have served in the armed forces, protecting our nation, and are now facing unemployment due to trauma or hardship. Studies show more veterans are finding it difficult to return home and just fit in society with hopes of forgetting previous experiences of rape, violence, depression, injury, overcoming health issues or incarceration while serving abroad or stateside. The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) revealed that “although national homelessness has reduced 15% over the course of 5 years; homeless individuals are still unemployed, unable to work, or have such low incomes that they cannot afford housing.” Thus, it is important that as a nation, we who are familiar with the veteran lifestyle provide our support to assist our country’s heroes in need. In the January 2017 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimated that “just over 40,000 veterans were homeless on a single night in January of that year. Of those, about 9 percent were women, out of a population of more than 2 million female Veterans.” It was also noted that “veterans in poverty have the highest chance of experiencing homelessness of any group, with odds estimated to be 1 in 10” SHE Society feels this is unacceptable, and it can be avoidable if veterans were able use their creativity through the arts, find true expression, and use their voice through passion.
Mission
To empower women veterans and military spouses with the support, education, tools and opportunities they need to develop successful careers.
Vision
SHE Society for Women Veterans aims to provide therapeutic outings for women veterans, offer opportunities for development of thought provoking decisions, to lead women to positive transformative choices, to give a sense of freedom, to enable women in the military community to live with less stress, and help women veterans create balance in their lifestyle. Ultimately, through these processes her life visions change from undefined, defined, to destiny.
The Leadership Team
The Founder
Wanda “Sistah Soldier” Petty
BSOM, GCDF, CVDC
After sustaining injuries during her 21 years of service in the United States Army, Sergeant First Class Wanda M. Petty spent three years as a wounded warrior at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Along with many other veteran women, she was processed out of the military due to circumstances beyond her control.
Although, Wanda had a plan B. After many years of service, like many women in the military, her future was now uncertain, and the skills and training she gained seemed of no use outside of the military. In many cases, they actually are.
In fact, transitioning out of the military was anything but easy for Wanda; there was a lot more dark than light, including depression and thoughts of suicide stemming from a loss of control and independence, and financial stress from the loss of career and stable income. Many veteran women lose their homes – currently, it is estimated there are as many as 50,000 homeless female veterans.
Sistah knew there had to be another way, so she set out to make a change for women returning home from the military services by bridging the gap in advocacy and available resources for veteran women.
She’s an entrepreneur, founder, author, and a retired Sergeant First Class of the U.S. Army who has dedicated her life to serving women and veterans. During her 21 years of service she served as a human resources manager in various Personnel Service Centers. Her specialties were EEO, Drug & Alcohol NCO, Project Management, Personnel Records, and Recruiting.
Since retirement in 2008, she became an advocate for women veterans by founding The National Resource Society for Women Veterans, Inc. in 2011 (now known as SHE Society for Women Veterans, iNC.) to support, assist, and empower them with resources. As of today, she has assumed the role of producer and host of the SHE VET iNSPIRES television show, and president of SHE VET, Inc. Media Productions providing photography, film, coaching, staffing, and project management training for digital media. She’s currently a fulltime student attending The New School Master’s in Arts for Media Management and in her fourth semester.
Vice President
Victoria Buggs
MPH, BSN, BSHS, RN
Victoria Buggs has over 19 years of experience in teaching, training, customer service, and leading. She is a Certified CPR instructor and has been certified for over 17 years. Victoria received her license as registered nurse in 2009. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Health from Trident University, Bachelors in Nursing from Howard University, and a Bachelors of Health Science as a Health Educator from Tourou University International. Currently, Victoria is a Doctoral candidate at Grand Canyon University studying Organizational Leadership with an Emphasis in Behavior.
Director of Training
April Wennerberg
MBA, PMP
April Joy Wennerberg, PMP MBA – April is past president and founder of Project Masters Inc, Office Space Your Way LLC and is an accomplished Project Management Professional (PMP) with over 28 years of experience in the areas of project and program management. April is a talented speaker in the areas of project, program management, time management, communication, managing teams, starting/running a small business. She earned an MBA with concentrations in Finance and Management Information Systems, and a BS with a concentration in Computer Science, both from the Binghamton State University of New York.
April has developed processes and procedures to set-up project management offices (PMO). She has analyzed and recommended project management software tools, which work the best for the types of projects managed. She has trained and mentored project managers on how to use the processes, procedures and software tools, which Project Masters has helped implement. She has extensive consultative experience in project management consulting, training, organizational development, facilitation, and auditing. She consults with senior management professionals regarding the design, implementation, training, and reengineering of projects within organizations. She was on the founding team of the Baltimore Chapter of PMI and also served as president and vice president of Finance.
Director of Career Development
Vacant
CERTIFIED CAREER/LIFE COACH
Must have experience in Employment Relations, Training, Education and Human Resource Management.
Director of Marketing
Kelvin Otis
Kelvin Otis, an Air Force veteran, delivers a strong work ethic along with management and leadership skills that range from the USAF to his present role as an Independent Copywriter and Web Content Strategist. He specializes in blogging, article writing, digital marketing research, social media; and developing conversion-driven content for websites, microsites and landing page initiatives.
Advisory Board
John Petty
MBA, Master Fitness Trainer, Wellness Coach
John Petty has over 25 years of logistics, acquisitions, project management, sales and recruiting experience. John is the President and CEO of JP Fitness, and maintains his Health and Wellness Coach Certification. He is a retired SR. Logistics Engineer from the U.S. Army.