My biggest accomplishments have come when the junior sailors that work for me ask me to re-enlist them, or officially pin the warfare device—something they work hard to earn—onto their uniform. These are both huge milestones in their career and they choose an officer that they admire and respect to take part in them. Being asked to do these things is an honor and has given me the greatest sense of accomplishment, because I know that I have positively impacted their lives. I don’t think there’s anything more important than taking care of my team; when I take care of them, the mission gets done properly. It’s a win-win situation.

Taking off my Army uniform for the first time in nine years was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. My uniform was my identity, and without it I feared I would lose sight of my path. The thought of entering a new career field, in a new environment, alongside individuals who might not be able to relate to what I’ve been through, was terrifying.

I think at some point you just get tired. Not tired of the institution, but you get exhausted—physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Just being an active service member in the last 10 years, you're just constantly deploying. If you're not deploying, you're training to deploy. In the Marine Corps, we were deploying so often that I found that it was difficult making meaningful relationships personally and professionally.

Your entire life you think the military is your life's work, and if you find out it's not, what do you do? For me Columbia Business School was the perfect vehicle for me to find inspiration and redefine who I am.

When a roadside bomb goes off you always see the flash and then you actually feel the impact because the light travels faster. I always thought I'd have profound moments in situations like this. In one instance, when that happened I just remember being very mad in that split second. I thought that I just didn't want to have a life where I was focused on anger. I enjoyed helping people, more so than the combat aspect of the deployments. I thought, what else could I do to impact lives? That’s why I chose to apply to CBS and focus on social enterprise.