Our guest today is Torie Fisher, a veteran of both the US Army and National Guard.

Torie is now the founder of Backward Flag Brewing, a craft brewery and taproom located in Forked River New Jersey. She started her business nearly 2 year ago with two other partners, and after they both quickly dropped out she carried on and moved forward on her own. Now she has a staff of about 8, made up almost entirely of veteran volunteers who she gives most of the credit to regarding the brewery’s continued success. On top of running the brewery, Torie is currently building a non-profit to run in parallel to her company, with the mission of teaching veterans brewing and business skills while building their professional network.

Discussed in this episode:

The Federal Technician Program, Helping other find purpose, Joining the National Guard after active duty service, the beers on tap, and much more.

http://backwardflagbrewing.com/

Outro Link:

http://www.veteranconference.com/

Our guest today is Justine Evirs. She is currently the Senior Director of Programs at Service to School. Since leaving the Navy, she’s become an intrapreneur and a subject matter expert on finding and closing the gaps of service found in campus programs and policies related to veteran education.

Before joining Service to School she was hired at the college of San Mateo to be their first veteran services program coordinator. Altogether, Justine has dedicated the last 6 and a half years to transforming academic advising and program development for the active duty, military spouse, and veteran communities.

On today’s episode Justine and I discuss the personal challenges that got her started on her current career path, the trends she sees in how veterans interact with and navigate their college experience, the statistics behind how many veterans are first generation college students, and much more.

You can reach out to Justine Evirs on LinkedIn.

Check out Service to School, non-profit that provides free application counseling to military veterans. Our goal is to help veterans win admission to the best universities possible and to help them maximize their education benefits.

Are you a vetrepreneur?  Looking for more information on VETCON? Find out more and register here!