Rena:

Hello and welcome to the arena. I’m Rena Lewis, founder and chief strategy advisor at Signature Intentions and host of the Arena Podcast. And today’s episode. I am super pleased to welcome as my guest active duty Navy commander and public affairs. Officer Theresa Carpenter, Theresa began her Navy career serving for 10 years as an enlisted aviation electrician on the S three B Viking aircraft upon her commissioning in 2006, she became a surface warfare officer and was subsequently accepted into the public affairs community. In 2008. She has deployed three times to combat zones and was assigned with the Navy seals and army special forces in the Philippines. Also in 2008. After that tour, she served as a media and plans officer for the us Indo-Pacific command from 2010 to 2013. What a three tours, joint military environment. She was a public affairs officer and department head on USS Nimitz and public affairs officer for and Fabius squadron one which deployed on USS boxer.

Rena:

During these tours, she has advised Admiral’s leadership and staff on the Navy and Marine Corps, communications policies and strategies for more than 7,500 sailors and Marines. Theresa also brings extensive experience working in humanitarian missions across Asia Pacific, including the first land based iteration of the Navy’s Pacific partnership mission coordinating with multiple embassies nongovernmental organizations and us agency for international development. Her award winning programs across numerous commands have resulted in 18 I’ll repeat 18 Navy awards and public affairs excellence. She holds two graduate degrees, one in mass communications and media studies from San Diego State University and the other and national security and strategic studies from the U S Naval war college. She earned her APR plus M and it’s given to individuals who meet all those qualifications of the accreditation in public relations and as demonstrated additional skills in and nuances of military public affairs. And we first met after a great interview that she conducted hosted by the PRS with rear Admiral Joe on ethics in the military, and September is ethics month for for the PRS since then we’ve spent some delightful time getting know each other and talking shop that I thought here is someone that my podcast audience might want to get to know as well.

Rena:

So here she is. Hello, and welcome to the arena, Theresa.

Theresa:

Thank you, Rena. It’s a pleasure to be here. I’m honored that you asked me and I’m really looking forward to this conversation, so thank you very much.

Rena:
Oh, thank you as am I, and I’m delighted to have you, so let’s dive right in. And as I mentioned in your intro, you’ve spent an entire, your entire impressive professional career in the Navy. Is there anything more that you’d like to add about your journey in particular, Theresa, I’m curious about why you chose to enlist in the Navy along with why and how you navigated pun intended your path from fixing military aircraft to the world of Naval communications as your area of expertise.

Theresa:

Well, thank you, Rena. I joined the Navy out of Columbus, Ohio, and it’s not like Columbus is known for being a military town. I was very fortunate that I had some friends upon high school that I was spending a lot of time with and one of them was in the Marine Corps. He was a reservist and also the person I was dating at the time thought that the military might be a good idea for me. And I really didn’t know anything about it. I just decided one day to visit her a recruiter’s office. I hadn’t not completed college. I didn’t know truly what I wanted to do with my life. And it just seemed like an amazing opportunity to develop some life skills travel the world and just quite frankly, get, get a new change of pace. I wasn’t happy working the jobs that I was working at the time.

Theresa:

So I thought, well, I’m going to enlist and see, see where this journey takes me. So that, that, that’s why I joined. And then as far as the, the pivot from fixing aircraft to public relations, I had always been told I was a great writer and I sort of straight off that path from grade school through high school started going down, probably not the best path in life as as many young people do when they’re discovering themselves. And it was just one of those things where it spoke to me. When I found out that we had communicators for the Navy and storytellers, I had remembered that in eighth grade I wanted to be a journalist and had, you know, when we had experts visit the school, I met with a writer for the Columbus dispatch, and I thought, wow, this might be a way to do something that really interests me and still continue on with my military career.

Rena:

I think

Theresa:

That’s fabulous. It reminds me of what I tell my students all the time. It’s really about. Don’t think that you have to figure, have everything planned or mapped out at this point in your life. It really is about the journey and exploring, you know, and finding out what it is that you are that you’re passionate about. So I think it’s a wonderful example and, and, and kudos to you for that experience hula or what has inspired you most during your career Theresa? So I would say that I’ve had two mentors that really impacted me in, in, in different ways. So one of them is Rosie goes in ski and she is a surface warfare officer, a Navy commander, and she’s also been a commanding officer on a worship and she is just an excellent leader. She has an amazing attitude. She knows how to get the job done.

Theresa:

She’s never mean about it. She’s never short with anyone. And she just showed me how to assert myself in a way that wouldn’t be perceived negatively and, and wouldn’t ruffle any feathers, let’s say because sometimes it’s really difficult to assert certain issues. And this kind of goes into advocacy because I definitely consider myself an advocate and doing it the right way and working within the system to, to, to garner positive change. And so my second mentor was Inca Gibson, and she is an animal protection policy advocate and policy maker. She is a lobbyist for several animal nonprofits lives in Hawaii. And when I was stationed there, we became very good friends. And so I started shadowing her and I go and testify on bills with her. And she taught me a lot about working with legislators and just being so persistent, but doing it in such a way that, yeah, you might be annoying and they might get tired of seeing you all the time, but you just do it in a way that just exudes passion and positivity.

Theresa:

And she got a lot done. And she was also a consummate researcher, always trying to seek out the facts and both sides of the issue. And just in the ways in which her organization would write the bills. I learned a lot about compromise and how to craft a bill the proper way and work with the front office staff and a legislator’s office. So it was just an amazing experience. So both of them, I think, are what, who has inspired me now as is what inspires me is, is, is, as I said before, advocacy, I like to go into an organization and see what needs fixed. What, what are the problems within the organization, or what are the opportunities, what are, what are some of the resources or the ways we could be capitalizing on the organization that we’re not tapping into? And so that’s where I really derive my inspiration is by seeing where we can press, you know, push the ball a little further down the road is, is what really makes me happy.

Rena:
That makes perfectly good sense to me, seems like you had two great sources of inspiration, and I love the, the idea of really being inspired by challenges and and problem solving. So what about the the best advice that you’ve that you’ve received?

Theresa:

I think the best advice I’ve I’ve received is, you know, just being your own advocate, being able to advance the causes of your organization and the people around you and yourself at the same time. I don’t think those things have to be mutually exclusive. As you know, as a leader, I think that the only way that you become a leader is by stepping up to the plate and making decisions. And then once you’re in that position, then I think your job is to shepherd the other people along and to empower them to be in the exact same position that you are, because I always look at it like I’m always on, in a S in a position where I’m trying to work out of my job and move on to the next job. And so there’s somebody that’s coming behind me that I’ve got to be advocating for and hoping to bring up through the ranks along with me. So, so that’s just been, one of the things that have stuck with me is that you always should be looking for what’s the next thing that I can do to further, further myself, further, further the goals of my people are further the mission and the strategic objectives of the organization.

Rena:

Good point. And to that point what is the sort of overarching us Navy’s mission or purpose, and how are you and your role as Navy commander and public affairs officer helping them to achieve it?

Theresa:

So I went on the navy.mil website, and we do have a mission statement. It says the United States is a maritime nation, and the us Navy protects America at sea alongside our allies and partners. We defend freedom, preserve economic prosperity, and keep the seas open and free. Our nation is engaged in longterm competition to defend American interests around the globe. The us Navy must remain prepared to execute our timeless role as derived by Congress and the president. So what this really means, and what really sticks out to me is keeping the seas open and free so much of, of our commerce and our, our way of life, not just for the United States, but for the international community, depends on being able to move goods and services. So one of the ways that the Navy does that, and, and exercises that I’ve been a part of are what’s called freedom of navigation operations, which is where we will fly sales, see in any part of the world and international waters.

Theresa:

And we do that to make sure that we can move all these goods and all this commerce all over the world and get it to the places where it needs to go. So that’s just one example. I I’ve served on many, many of these operations and seeing them in action and they’re, they can be very dicey. We we’ve, we definitely have competitors, strategic competitors at sea who, who may not like what we’re doing, but what we feel we are doing is keeping those maritime lanes free and being able to protect that not only for ourselves, but for our allies and partners around the world. And then another way that we do that is, but with assurance. So we assure our allies and partners. So we do what we call theater security, cooperation exercises with other countries. So we might do an exercise with India and Japan.

Theresa:

We did that. It was called exercise Malabar. I’ve been, I was a great experience where we did a lot of different operational maneuvers at sea. And then even in port, we did a lot of community relations events with those countries. It can be anywhere from something like that in the Navy to just the things that we do with boarding, boarding a vessel in the, in the Persian Gulf. We’ve done things like that. So really it just runs a gamut of different exercises, different operations in different ways that basically we are preserving economic prosperity, keeping our seas open and free, and basically defending the American interests that are outlined in what we call the national security strategy and the national defense strategy by law every year we put those out and everything that we do is derive from those two policy documents.

Rena:

Well, wow. It sounds very interesting. And we certainly we certainly appreciate the service and and the, and the great work that you all are doing to protect all of us. So thank you for that. How are you all leaning into that purpose during this prolonged pandemic that we are all enduring and I would be remiss if I didn’t implore those who have not yet done. So to please get vaccinated. And thank you. So I’m sorry, Theresa for interrupting my own question, but please tell us about how you all are leading into your purpose during this time of COVID.

Theresa:

Well, I can tell you that the department of defense, although the, the vaccine is, is not yet mandated for the American people. It is now going to be mandated for every member of the department of defense. And so we’re rolling out those procedures as I speak and,

Rena:

And his address and his address about the, the new mandates. And I yeah, so I’m, I’m I’m delighted to hear that you guys are already on that.

Theresa:

Oh yeah. We were very forward-leaning in getting vaccinated early on. Many of our senior leaders took, took that on and would prominently not only talk about being vaccinated, they would show them getting vaccinated in pictures and videos, or they would share stories of their experiences with COVID or, or being vaccinated. So it was very much emphasized how important it was to not only keep yourself safe, but to make sure that you weren’t infecting somebody else. So we’ve been very, very forwardleaning with our, our vaccinations and, and quite frankly, you know, as soon as the vaccine was available I took the opportunity to get it because I didn’t want to put myself in a position where I was possibly infecting anybody. And, and I wanted to be able to travel internationally with the military and, and, and not be encumbered by the idea that I wouldn’t be in a position to be safe. So it’s certainly something that we take very seriously, and that we’re very committed to ensuring that our people have this vaccine.

Rena:

That’s terrific. And I applaud that. Any other trends or examples happening today that you think will stick with with you all beyond the pandemic?

Theresa:

Well, one trend that I would personally like to see us stick with beyond the pandemic is, is adopting some policies that facilitate remote work. And now I don’t think that that’s something that can be adopted broadly over every designator or every functionality within the military, especially those who work in classified spaces or who do shift work, let’s say at a hospital. But I think for those who can, I would love to see more emphasis on remote work. The Pentagon did a study in IgG report that found that there was zero loss of productivity among Pentagon employees who did tele-work and they very much responded in their qualitative comments about how much flexibility they were given using a telework model. So I think as time goes by DOD will adopt this model. I don’t think we’re ready yet, but I look forward to being able to take the lessons learned from COVID when so much of our force was on telework and the work still got done to being able to Institute that more broadly within DOD and, and Rena. I, I think that one of the things that one of the things Rena I’d like to know is what have you seen on your end regarding the trends?

Rena:

Oh, yeah. So interestingly I’ve I’ve chatted about that question with all of my guests, since I launched this podcast during the pandemic and their answers have been similar in terms of in terms of remote working and and, you know, having a hybrid working environment that, or some sort of flexibility working from home that I think that will probably stick in some form or another there’s lots of research. In addition to the one you said that, which indicates that COVID has re is reduced, the stigma that comes from working from home for those who can or have been forced to particularly for larger companies and industries that could more easily pivot doing. So I’m also seeing lots of great Excel and accelerated pace of digital transformations or use of digital technology organizations leaning more into their purpose and their mission, or even redefining it for this current and post pandemic state, lots around agility and flexibility.

Rena:

And one of the things I really hope that, that, that lingers, or that we lean more into a greater crossfunctional smart collaboration and alignment among the communications function and our other colleagues. I like HR and marketing product sales functions, et cetera, that I think makes for a greater message, a greater authenticity about who we are, what we do and why we do it. I’m hoping that there will be more integration of the way we tell our stories. We, we, we, the way we curate them, the way we put them out in the marketplace. So I’m excited about that trend and hope that I can continue on it in most, in some, not all, but in some most organizations in some way, or form really are I think leaning into that a little bit more. Would you agree?

Theresa:

Yes, I would. And I think that that’s just as important for, for the department of defense as well. We have just defined most recently information as what we call a joint function and information encompasses all those departments that you talked about in the corporate world. And we have equivalent kinds of departments in, in the, in the military world. And we talk all the time about how all the different people who have a stake in the information game need to be working together and need to be aligned towards a common strategy.

Rena:

Love it. How about the events around the social and racial injustices affected as any of that affected the Navy’s D and I diversity equity and inclusion related activities or imperatives. It has huge organization with lots of diversity and particularly with, you know, the, the the young millennials and the gen Z years and and their renewed sort of focus and in, in, in, and weighted importance levels on being parts of organizations that take that very seriously. How are you seeing that?

Theresa:

So I have definitely seen an uptick in emphasis on diversity and inclusion initiatives. Especially after the George Floyd riots the Navy took a very serious turn in addressing racism and, and really trying to root it out within our ranks, as well as initiatives that would bring more minorities into the service, or would retain more minorities and not just minorities, but women just diversity as a whole. And, and, and it has been really amazing to see some of the ways in which we’ve done that now, sometimes it is in response to an event, but I’d also like to think it’s just part of the evolution of an organization. So we have instituted extremism training earlier this year. We all we’re required to go through it. I taught the training for my unit, and it was an incredible experience. We brought in subject matter experts from the Norfolk police department hates crime unit.

Theresa:

We brought in a speaker from the Naval criminal investigative service, and I think it really shed a light on the idea that there are certain groups within the public who do tend to target military members and they will feed off of racism and hate. And so I think it was enlightening for the people who may have been skeptical of the training. And I was glad to be a part of that and, and to do my part to help educate on that. And then not only that the Navy just earlier this year convened a task force. They called it Navy task force one. And from that, they came up with 60 recommendations for improving DNI initiatives. And so a lot of different initiatives were in this, but some of the key findings were to expand an avenue for qualified, enlisted sailors, already serving to pursue a commission as a Navy officer adopt a means to provide a more detailed evaluation of a perspective sailor’s potential to succeed in the Navy.

Theresa:

And lastly, I’ll just touch upon one more developed bias awareness training for all board members prior to promotion boards commencing. So there’s really a lot of initiatives that are going on not only within Navy, but within DOD. They had a very similar report with different findings that they had a working group that did some did a similar project. And so I’m really happy to see the way organizations evolve. We’ve done that in the area of mental health as well to use another example, but it’s really wonderful to be a part of an organization for as many years as I have, and then to see how it slowly changes and gets better over time.

Rena:

It is definitely an iterative process. And I’m delighted to hear that the Navy is taking on so many initiatives and really putting their words into meaningful measurable action. And thank you for sharing what tried and true strategies have you counted on to help your Admiral’s leadership and colleagues understand the value of communications. In addition to what I just mentioned?

Theresa:

Well, I think first and foremost, a, you need to understand your commands mission. So we call that the ends or the, there, we need to know, like the why, like, why are we here? What is the, what is the purpose of this unit? And I think that that mission, or, and we call it in, in state that needs to be clear up and down the chain of command, because when people don’t know why they’re doing something it just leads to just so many fractured operations and people just going everywhere. So understanding that mission is, is the first step. And then the second step in my mind. And as I mentioned before, the advocacies, understand what problems, what opportunities and what gaps exist. So I think everybody can do that. I don’t care if you’re the most junior person in an organization all the way up to the CEO or the Admiral.

Theresa:

There’s, there’s a, there’s a level that you can play on to make your organization better. And I think that it’s incumbent upon every employee in an organization to figure out where those gaps are, where those opportunities are, and then work towards making that change. And I would definitely also say, though, as you do this be prepared to take three steps forward, one step back, be prepared to fail, be prepared for not all your initiatives to gain traction. So you’ve got to be patient, and you’ve got to just celebrate those small wins. So when you get just a video produced that you’ve been waiting for for three years, was this truly happened. You gotta just, just celebrate that, that they decided finally to do the, who we are video that you’ve been pushing for, but the target of opportunity came up and you seized it. So you’ve got to just take those, those opportunities because they, they carry you through when things are not so great is you got to look back on those moments where you were able to make a difference and an impact, and then just be proud of those successes.

Rena:

I love that. And I think, you know, certainly making, taking those small incremental steps and I, and, and you know, not trying to boil the ocean, but really seeing where you can make a meaningful difference and internalizing the mission to a point where it means something to you and it drives your actions and your behaviors, your decisions, et cetera, I think is, is is so key. And I, and I love your point about, you know, failing, not being afraid to fail, you know, knowing that you’re, you may fail as well. And the point there is really when you do fail, just make sure that you learn from it. And and and you take that lesson and apply it to the next action that you take. Speaking of which what’s, what have been some of the key lessons that you’ve earned and learned along the way.

Theresa:

I think the key lesson is, is to be be patient with yourself and give yourself grace. I think sometimes as per perfectionist or people who want to do a really good job or what it was, some people would say a types is that you just tend to make everything so monumental. And, and I think it’s important to understand that, you know, it’s okay to, like you said, it’s okay to, to fail. Another lesson learned is to find people in your circle who can fill in the gaps that you have. So for me, I’m not very detail oriented, so I make sure to surround myself with somebody that thinks about all the details, but I’m also always thinking a lot of steps ahead. I have a very strategic and big picture outlook. So that’s where, that’s where I think I can, I can provide value and I just have nonstop motivation.

Theresa:

So, you know, it’s understanding, yeah, I’m pretty relentless when I want to go. So I’ll, I’ll, I’ll chase it and beat it to death, but I will accomplish it. And so I think that’s the thing is that you need to know what your, your weaknesses are and what your strengths are and be comfortable about your weaknesses. I think in the past, I was ashamed of that issue and I was just, and now I know it’s something I definitely need to work on, but it’s not something I’m going to beat myself up over and know your strengths, know that the things you do really well and celebrate those things, and then bring that out with your people. Don’t just keep beating down somebody on something that they’re weak at, and that, you know, that’s just not their strong suit find what their strength is, capitalize on it, praise it, you know, incentivize it and really draw upon people who, who, who can bring to the table.

Theresa:

The things that you lack. Another piece of advice that I think is really important when you work in an organization is to have an ally. So what does having an ally mean? It means that you are building and maintaining credible and trustworthy relationships, not only with your first line supervisor, but with people that work across the staff who basically can talk you up in a room when you’re not around. Not that that’s necessarily something that you’re always going to need, but it makes a huge difference if you’re faced with a toxic boss and I’ve had it happen. And I think my failure to garner allies and to build relationships with people across the staff definitely did not work in my favor. And when I executed this powerful tool in future jobs not so much having a bad relationship with a future boss, but just in general, having people across the staff that I can go to, who I can align with, it just makes sense.

Theresa:

And then being a powerful ally goes both ways. So somebody might seek you out as an ally, and it’s important for you to advocate on behalf of that person as well, paying it forward. If they do it for you, you, you should pay it forward and do it for somebody else. And then the other piece of advice I would say is you can’t hang on to resentments. There’s going to be people all throughout life there heard us and that do things a lot of times because of their own pain. And it has nothing to do with you. The only thing that I can control is how much I interact with that person. And it’s always a judgment call. And it depends on that person. But one thing I strive to do is to always go high, even when they go low and to let go of any resentment towards that person, because I understand that many people have traumas and struggles and sometimes unresolved issues that they haven’t worked through. And most, every time I’ve had somebody be cruel to me is not because of anything I did, it is because of something that they’re holding onto or something about me, that’s triggering them. And it’s important to have compassion and empathy for those people. And to let it go, because it’ll just tear you up inside.

Rena:

I totally agree with that. And I’ve been there as well, and yes. Who, who was it? St. Augustine, I think, I believe who said resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die, which I that’s

Theresa:

Great. Yeah.

Rena:

And I take that as, you know, certainly spend time to reflect and learn what you can from the experience and then move on to knowing and doing better. It’s like you get bitter or better or get better. Right. So that’s wonderful. Thank you. I think that’s really, that’s a really good point. And speaking of that, which specific skills or traits do you look for when, in, when you’re hiring or selecting new talent to bring on board? I mean, one of the things that you mentioned was, you know, you’re the gap in terms of the details, but you recognize as a leader, that excellence is in details as well. So as you are the big picture architect for the cathedral you know, you are understanding, you know, that the, you know, you need to know the details of how many stones need to be cut, but you can employ, or have someone around you who has that expertise and, and in, in the detailed cutting of those stones, so that those stones are perfectly placed to, to build the, the cathedral. But let’s talk about some of your favorite resources. How do you, what are your, what are, what, what do you keep in tune to, to, to make sure that you’re wellinformed and always battle ready to demine today?

Theresa:
 
So I’m very fortunate that the defense information school has a, a, what we call a pavilion, and this pavilion is a website. And on that website, they’ve got checklists, they’ve got templates, they have instructions. So that, that, that has been my go-to resource for anything communicator related, especially because I’m now in the joint military world and defense information school serves all the branches. So that’s sort of been my one-stop shop. I also as any good communicator, does I keep a very handy Google drive of any, any document, any, any policy type of thing, communication plan or strategy. So I would highly recommend that, you know, you come across something that you like from another communicator, you know, save it, and it can be something that you might be able to make your own one day. Another resource that I really like is from, from bottom a, she used to be she’s a fellow, or was a fellow with PRSI and she came up with a 10 step communication plan outline. And it’s a one pager. If you take the PRS online course for the APR, you’ll hear all about it, but it is just a really great framework for how one can see writing a communication plan. It’s got everything in there from the goal.

Rena:

Yes. I remember them in my APR journey. Yeah. And it is wonderful. I agree.

Theresa:

Yeah. So, so that’s been very helpful now beyond public affairs. I would say that there’s probably a couple of people within the, I guess we call them thought leaders, a thought leader space that I really appreciate. And I didn’t mention this person earlier to you, but I’m one person I really, really like is that Jordan Peterson. So he he wrote a book called the 12 rules for life. He has a podcast, his daughter McKayla also has a podcast. And I love the emphasis that they put on accountability on basically just being a good human. They’re just, they’re very straightforward type of people. And they’re informed by a lot of different points of view. They’ll have people on with you know, they’ll have one person whose feels this way about the subject, and then maybe a week later, you’ll hear it from someone who feels completely separate on the subject and they welcome diverse views. And I, and I just really appreciate what those two have brought to the,

Rena:

I believe that I believe that compassion and accountability are not mutually exclusive. No,

Theresa:

Absolutely not.

Rena:

I mean,

Theresa:

Yeah, Jordan Peterson, he he kind of got mislabeled by the political left, unfortunately, due to a view that he took in Canada on, on pronouns. And that’s how he kind of got big, but he was a professor at a Canadian university for years and years and put these videos out on YouTube of him instructing his students and the videos just blew up. And you know, now his daughter is a podcaster as well, and I’ve just been following him for quite a number of years. And I really admire his work and can see sort of pass the media spin of, of what his core messages, which I think is really being accountable and, and, and, you know, getting up every morning and getting stuff done and just doing, doing the work you got to put in the work. And he, he is compassionate, compassionate, compassionate, but also kind of holds people to task and he’s become sort of a hero among young men. But I think the world of him and his work and, and same with his daughter, but the last one I want to talk about is somebody that I know you love, which is Bernay brown.

Theresa:

I love her work well, and I love that she brings in the research and the data because of her, her work in social work, but then she, doesn’t in a way that you’re just so captivated by the story that she’s telling you that you’re not even like bored by the data. And that is a gift. That’s a skill. So I really love what she’s doing about even your podcast name, getting in the arena and just doing it. Like

Rena:

She named her book daring greatly after a theater Roosevelt’s man in the arena speech. And that’s what I named my podcast after a passage from the, a man in the arena speech. So yes we have that affinity and and yes, I do love her and I great. And I agree with you just prep great insights from her research and just pragmatic, actionable tips, advice, learnings, wisdom, just just a huge fan. So, and, and so I agree with you, and also, you know, you mentioned PRS, a P RSA has lots of great live and on demand webcast online events and communities and publications that are extremely helpful in keeping us abreast of modern communications strategies and best practices. I would also add to the list or I list here. Are you familiar with Jenny Dietrich, spin sucks. Daily blog for PR and marketing pros

Theresa:

Now I’m not well

Rena:

Good, insightful and helpful. I would also recommend that folks check her, that folks check her out. And one of the things that you and I talked about was we were talking about the other day Malcolm Gladwell.

Theresa:

Yes, yes,

Rena:

Yes, yes. The tipping point blank talking to strangers, all LA love, love them all just for, I just think they have great insights. And now I think he has a new one now, the bomber mafia or something like that. It’s about you know, world war two and the bombing of the bombing of Tokyo during that, I thought that I haven’t read it, but I’ve heard about it. And it’s on my it’s on my list of books to get,

Theresa:

Yeah, he, he, I like how he takes commonly held beliefs and he turns them on their head. So I think that’s what people might really grab onto is that he’ll take something that you just think, oh, it’s this way. And then he’ll show through a story again, he has a very similar model of communicating as Bernay Brown. Cause he’ll turn it into a story and then we’ll bring in the data or I’ll do it both ways. And I think that’s a gift in the, in the best writers or thought leaders I think are able to do that.

Rena:

Absolutely agree. So now in that spirit of Renee brown tell us about a time when you chose courage over comfort when you risk failure, but you showed up anyway.

Theresa:

So just recently when I found out that my name was on the commander list and I am undecided about making Navy captain or not, or, or competing for it, but decided that even if I was undecided, I wasn’t going to hide the struggles that I had or have with mental health any longer. I also credit the department of defense with how much more of a welcoming environment mental health challenges are. But to this day, we still don’t see a lot of people in leadership positions talking about their own personal struggles with mental health and how they went about getting care. It’s emphasized to do it, but it’s mostly go do it. There won’t be any stigma, just get it done. If you need to get it done, we’ll give you time off there. And even when somebody has talked about their own struggles, they just say, oh, I went and saw a shrink and now I feel better.

Theresa:

Or I’ve had my own struggles with mental health and I’ve seen a counselor sometimes that’s wonderful and that’s enough for people to feel like they’re not alone and that they can do it too. But I wanted to go a little deeper than that and I wanted to get real and I wanted to talk about what my mental health struggle was. And for me, I have struggled with focusing, organizing my thoughts again. That’s why details are very hard for me. I’ve been diagnosed when I was very, very young with attention deficit disorder. I definitely feel that I have some form of anxiety. I get very anxious about things overly, I feel, but I never sought care for any of these things, my entire career because of a mental health incident that happened when I was 19. And I hung onto that for years and years and years, and just said, oh, I’m fine.

Theresa:

I’m fine. Because I never wanted to go back to military men, mental health physicians or the medical system and, and, and try to prove myself again. And I was afraid that I’d lose my ability to deploy. There would be the stigma and then everybody would know that I have this issue and I’m struggling. So I decided recently that I would share it. And I will tell you Rena, what an amazing decision that was because I’ve had admirals reach out to me and congratulate me for being so brave. I’ve had younger sailors and people in some of the most junior pay grades reach out and say, thank you so much. I don’t feel so bad about going to my doctor. Oh, and I learned that all the ways in which you can do it, like you don’t have to go to mental health, your, your physician, your general care physician can prescribe you medication, which is what I’m on now for add and anxiety.

Theresa:

And it’s a game changer. I feel better. I’m calmer. And I was always so anti meds and I thought there was something wrong with people who took meds. And now I I’m, I’m having to readjust how I see that issue tremendously. And I’m so thankful that I was open to not only sharing it, but to adopting a new way of looking at it. And so I would say that it was a little nerve wracking to put that post out there, but at the same time, I felt like it was time. And I felt like I had the environment around me in terms of welcoming and my, my social media presence. I think I have a very good audience and kind people who are following my posts and the reception was tremendous. Wow.

Rena:

Wow. Thank you, Theresa. For sharing your inspiring experience here with me today, clearly you are indeed a mental health hero and advocate for which I believe starts with advocating for and honoring yourself and, and then being courageously vulnerable enough to tell your truth in a way that fosters better understanding and supports and encourages others which I’m sure you’ve done here today. And I encourage everyone to, to go to Theresa’s website, her social media posts to learn, to learn more. So thank you again for that. And also in that spirit of helping others, which actually will lead to my final question today. And it’s about mentorship, which I know you especially enjoy doing, particularly mentoring young women in the military. So tell us a little bit please about what mentorship looks like in the Navy your own activities and the general mentorship opportunities there that are available there.

Theresa:

So I think that mentorship programs need to just be informal in the sense that I don’t think you can force people to find a mentor or have a mentor, but what I think organizations can do is create a mentorship framework. And what that really means is to create a mentorship policy, maybe create discussion topics, create worksheets that a mentor and a mentee can go over create mechanisms by which a mentorship group, which is what we have through the Navy public affairs community, where we bring in subject matter experts for webinars, and we record the webinars and they can access them later or participate and ask questions. So I think those are the mechanisms by which mentorship will flow naturally, because I think that a mentor mentee relationship has to have a sense of authenticity and it has to be organic. We’re not going to always choose the mentor that you know, is our first line supervisor or the person that’s sitting, you know, three doors down.

Theresa:

It might be somebody from another department, or it might be somebody from even another industry. W you know, we, I try to seek out people that are where I want to be one day or have something going for them that I admire. And I would hope that people do the same for me is that they see in me something that they would like to have for themselves one day. And if I can be that person that gives them some feedback and gives them some advice that to me is so important. And that’s just why we’re here in life to help other people and give them a leg up. Or when you need a leg up to know that there’s somebody out there that can help you. And there should be a good balance of both of those things in life. I feel

Rena:

Well, maybe commander and public affairs, officer carpenter, I am proud of and salute you on so many on so many levels. Thank you for your service, your courage, to tell your story, sharing your experiences and the gift of your friendship and time with me today. It has certainly been a pleasure learning more about you, and thanks so very much, Theresa,

Theresa:

Thank you, Rena. It was a pleasure to be on here. I really enjoyed our conversation and it was, it was an honor to be interviewed.

Rena:

Thank you and to our audience. Thank you for listening. I hope you found this episode worthy of your time. If so, please share it with someone who might also benefit from our discussion. Feel free to comment like, and, or follow us on our signature intention, social media channels, and remember that you are never alone and the professional challenges and opportunities we’re all facing today, because you’re always welcome to join me and my guests warriors like Theresa right here in the arena.