((PKG)) DOG TAG CAFÉ
((Banner: After Military Training))
((Reporter/Camera: Unshin Lee))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Popup Banner: Dog Tag Bakery helps veterans transition
to civilian life))
((NATS))
((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.))
I don't think we recognize that cultural shift that happens
when you are serving in the military and then transitioning
out. So, you go from a uniform that says, how many times
you’re promoted, to now walking out wearing a blazer and
now my name is Meghan.
((NATS))
((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.))
Dog Tag Bakery is our living business school where we
empower veterans that have service-connected disabilities,
military spouses and military caregivers to understand
entrepreneurship and small business. So, for five months,
four days a week, our fellows participate in six hours a week
of classroom time. During that time, they're going through
seven courses taught by Georgetown professors to
ultimately graduate with a certificate in Business
Administration from Georgetown. The need for our program
is to making sure that no one falls through the cracks, to
start understanding what does employment mean to you but
also how do you start taking care of yourself.
((NATS))
((Tiki Ntundi, Veteran, Army))
Well, I got medically retired from the Army in 2015. It took
me a lot of time to try to figure out what I wanted to do
because depression kicked in. I was excited for the program
and the opportunity one - to just get out of bed, and two -
having a plan for the day, something to go do, to use my
mind again to accomplish something, made me very excited
for what was yet to come.
((NATS))
((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.))
During a whole course called finding your voice, taking the
time and space to really develop who you are, what your
values are and what your purpose is today and what that
journey looks like going forward.
((NATS))
((Brandi Lambert, Military Spouse))
I was a stay-at-home mom for four years and then I was, I
became a caregiver. He was in for four years before he got
medically discharged. So, I was not only a caregiver to my
son. I became a caregiver to my husband as well.
((NATS))
((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.))
So, we have military spouses that come through here that
don't have the luxury of the resume that their service
member or their spouse does, because they've had to move
every other year and even raising a family and employment
is difficult if the employer knows they're going be moving.
((NATS))
((Brandi Lambert, Military Spouse))
The hardest part was noticing that I had to get out and do
something. The hardest part was leaving and, you know,
taking a step back from that and figuring out, you know,
where do I go from here? How do I balance, you know, what
I want to do to make an impact on the world, but also how do
I, you know, balance my family?
((NATS))
((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.))
When you come in here, you're, whether you're an officer or
enlisted, a spouse or caregiver, you're just Brandy or you're
just Teaky and there's value in moving today’s workforce in
the civilian world to know who you are today. And it really
becomes kind of an equalizer. We say thank you for your
service which is what we should be saying but I think we
actually really need be putting a hand out, pull each other
back up. It’s not the military community or the civilian
community. It's about community.
((NATS))
((Banner: After Military Training))
((Reporter/Camera: Unshin Lee))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Popup Banner: Dog Tag Bakery helps veterans transition
to civilian life))
((NATS))
((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.))
I don't think we recognize that cultural shift that happens
when you are serving in the military and then transitioning
out. So, you go from a uniform that says, how many times
you’re promoted, to now walking out wearing a blazer and
now my name is Meghan.
((NATS))
((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.))
Dog Tag Bakery is our living business school where we
empower veterans that have service-connected disabilities,
military spouses and military caregivers to understand
entrepreneurship and small business. So, for five months,
four days a week, our fellows participate in six hours a week
of classroom time. During that time, they're going through
seven courses taught by Georgetown professors to
ultimately graduate with a certificate in Business
Administration from Georgetown. The need for our program
is to making sure that no one falls through the cracks, to
start understanding what does employment mean to you but
also how do you start taking care of yourself.
((NATS))
((Tiki Ntundi, Veteran, Army))
Well, I got medically retired from the Army in 2015. It took
me a lot of time to try to figure out what I wanted to do
because depression kicked in. I was excited for the program
and the opportunity one - to just get out of bed, and two -
having a plan for the day, something to go do, to use my
mind again to accomplish something, made me very excited
for what was yet to come.
((NATS))
((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.))
During a whole course called finding your voice, taking the
time and space to really develop who you are, what your
values are and what your purpose is today and what that
journey looks like going forward.
((NATS))
((Brandi Lambert, Military Spouse))
I was a stay-at-home mom for four years and then I was, I
became a caregiver. He was in for four years before he got
medically discharged. So, I was not only a caregiver to my
son. I became a caregiver to my husband as well.
((NATS))
((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.))
So, we have military spouses that come through here that
don't have the luxury of the resume that their service
member or their spouse does, because they've had to move
every other year and even raising a family and employment
is difficult if the employer knows they're going be moving.
((NATS))
((Brandi Lambert, Military Spouse))
The hardest part was noticing that I had to get out and do
something. The hardest part was leaving and, you know,
taking a step back from that and figuring out, you know,
where do I go from here? How do I balance, you know, what
I want to do to make an impact on the world, but also how do
I, you know, balance my family?
((NATS))
((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.))
When you come in here, you're, whether you're an officer or
enlisted, a spouse or caregiver, you're just Brandy or you're
just Teaky and there's value in moving today’s workforce in
the civilian world to know who you are today. And it really
becomes kind of an equalizer. We say thank you for your
service which is what we should be saying but I think we
actually really need be putting a hand out, pull each other
back up. It’s not the military community or the civilian
community. It's about community.
((NATS))
