Resilience In Action
Welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Stories, the official UMGC podcast! Today, our host Nathan James sits down with the inspiring Ginger Miller—president and CEO of Women Veterans Interactive Foundation, a Navy Veteran and a proud UMGC alumna.
Ginger shares her incredible journey, from overcoming homelessness as a veteran to earning her master’s degree at UMGC and founding the impactful WVIF nonprofit. Her passion for empowering and supporting women veterans shines through in every word. You won’t want to miss this powerful conversation about resilience, service, and the incredible work happening at WVIF.
Episode Information
Nathan James:
What advice, what insight do you have for those who are going through hard times and are tempted to give up?
Ginger Miller:
Don't. Don't. There's always a way out. Don't give up. There's always a way out. You know, there's options. There's options. The minute you feel like you want to give up, keep pushing. So when you look at the grand scheme of things. You can't never give up as long as you have breath in your body. I don't care what you going through, what it feels like. I don't care if the odds are stacked against you. If you have breath in your body, I don't care if your bills are stacked up. If you on the street, reach out for help.
Intro:
Welcome to the UMGC podcast Unstoppable Stories with your host, Nathan James.
Nathan James:
All right. Well thank you everyone for joining us. Thank you to Ginger Miller, uh, for joining us today. Uh, ginger, uh, you are, uh, the CEO founder, um, and President of Women Veterans Interactive Found Foundation. Um, happy to introduce you to everyone, and thank you for being on, uh, with us today.
Ginger Miller:
Thank you so much for having me. It is really my absolute pleasure. You know, I love what I do. I love UMGC, so it's my honor and my absolute pleasure to be here with you today.
Nathan James:
That's great. We were talking a little bit even before the recording of how, uh, you had an adventure last week. I was telling you. Hey, and you have a great looking outfit today with your hat and women's veterans shirt. It looks great. But you said your hat had a special sort of role to play last week. You know what? Talk about that.
Ginger Miller:
One of the things I do, you, I, I love giving back, um, to the veteran community, and one of my roles I, I have is on the board of Governors of the USO. I'm a presidential appointee. Mm. And Tyler Perry was in town. He has this whole film coming out with the six triple eight, and they did care packages at Fort Meyer for active duty women. And Tyler Perry was there, Kerry Washington, as well as other actresses. And I had an opportunity to meet Tyler Perry. Took amazing selfie with him and talked about the film, talked about his support for women veterans. So this pink beret is now even more legendary 'cause I actually have pictures with the president also with this pink beret. And as you see it goes with. My branding for the Women Veterans Interactive Foundation. So, you know, I couldn't take this pic ray off now if I wanted to. It's actually legendary.
Nathan James:
How about that?
Ginger Miller:
Yeah, so I mean, it's just like, you know, it's one of those things where, you know, you serve your country and you continue to serve. You know, you have this whole branding and then you're doing great things in your brand, you know, and, and I think our brand at the Women Veterans Interactive Foundation is also a symbol of hope. For women veterans, so I love it.
Nathan James:
How about that? How about that? How about that? So let's, let's jump in right there. What led you, uh, to start, uh, women Veterans Foundation? Mm-hmm. Uh, interactive Foundation Police?
Ginger Miller:
Mm-hmm. Well, you know what, um, like a lot of folks who start nonprofits, for me, um, it was from a personal hardship.
You know, I went into the military specifically to get the GI bill because my parents were, my mother died last year, my last living parent. Were immigrants from Honduras and I went into the military specifically to get the GI Bill 'cause I wanted to be an accountant on Wall Street. And my husband. I thought that I would never, ever get married, like I wanted to be that rich aunt that never got married, just take care of my, my family and my nieces and nephews. But I met this Dashie Marine at my first duty station in Annapolis, Maryland with the Camp Lejeune, North Carolina with him. And then he unfortunately, um, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and got out of the Marine Corps. And then I tragically got a medical discharge from an accident that happened, and then I got out of the Navy.
We went back to stay with my family in Hempstead, New York. Don't come from a military town or a military family. We were very unskilled. We were young, um, still in our twenties. Our son was like maybe two, two years old at the time. At the time. And we became homeless. Right. And I worked three jobs and went to school full time to pull me and my family out of that homeless state. So when you talk about what led me to start the Women Betters Interactive Foundation, it was a series of events that happened in my life, right? And the first nonprofit I started was John 14, two Inc. So WVI wasn't even the first nonprofit, but doing work to support homeless veterans like myself and my husband, right?
Led me to wanna do something for women veterans because I moved from New York to um, Maryland and had all of these great appointments on the Maryland Commission for Women and all of these other things. So I said, you know what? I wanna do something for women veterans or Women's History month in 2012. And what I saw the amount of women, veterans, and the responses that I received for this event. I said, you know what? Having just a event or having just a division of John four T two Inc is not enough women. Veterans need their own nonprofit organization, so when they take off the uniform, they have a place to call home. And that's how, and that's why I started the Women Veterans Interactive Foundation.
Nathan James:
Thank you. You know. Talk to us about how important it is to advocate and look out for our women veterans.
Ginger Miller:
You know, uh, whew. Like you open up all can kinds of cans of wine.
Nathan James:
Yeah.
Ginger Miller:
Small, medium, large, and indifferent.
Nathan James:
I hear you. It's, it's important. It's, it's vital, man.
Ginger Miller:
Right. So we started, um, WVI in 2011. Now we're talk about 2024, the issues that women veterans had. Then they continue to have, we've made some progress, but not enough because as women veterans, we are part of the women's movement. So when you look at how hard it is, let's say, for women like your mother and your aunts and the women who have come before us, we are part of that. I consider women veterans to be just a little bit more special because we were, we raised our right hand to serve as sacrifice for this country. So we should be getting a little more support, a lot more support, because as women veterans, we have left our kids to go and fight for this country. Like I have members of the organization who have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan and left their kids when they were like six months old.
Then you come back and your kids don't even know who you are. Your, your children are afraid of you. Like put that into perspective, right? And then you come home and your husband is gone, he's gonna pack his bags and left and went on with somebody else. Put that into perspective. So when you talk about like your mental state, put that into perspective. And then you have some women who get out the military like myself, who become homeless with children. So we're talking the early nineties, and then we're talking 2024. My mailbox is full during the holiday season with women veterans who are dealing with food insecurities.
Nathan James:
Wow.
Ginger Miller:
So let's put that into perspective. And then I still have people that will say to me, unfortunately, like, oh, do you think women veterans need their own programs? Or is this something that you know, you are just passionate about? All of the above, because unfortunately, you know, sometimes it's hard to reach out for help. Then when you consider all of the things that I've just stated, it's even harder to reach out for help when you are a woman in a male dominated world.
So that's why A WVI is so important because when you see a symbol of hope, when you see somebody that looks like yourself, when you see a woman's organization like, you know what, I'm gonna reach out to that organization because they understand me. They have gone through what I've been through. There's no wrong door at WVI, you know? Um. I'm gonna reach out for help and, and one of the things we tell women when we are advocating, when we're out there, you know, boots on the ground, outreach and engagement, making this impact, you don't have to feel ashamed for what you're going through. And that's one of the reasons why I have stuck it out all these years in this nonprofit veteran community is because I understand, and I get it, the work that we do here is vital.
You know, I just had, um. And, and we, we had talked about this prior too, but in March of this year, we had an event called the State of Women Veterans Building an ecosystem for women veterans to thrive in the civilian sector. And that ecosystem is so important. 'cause it's gonna take everybody, everybody has something to offer. This podcast is important, it's a part of our ecosystem, right? Mm-hmm. Because if somebody's gonna listen to this and understand how they can help, how they can be a part Right. To support women veterans. That's right. We wanted to talk about, well, we had one portion of it to talk about healthcare and early detection and cancers and how it can save lives, which is great.
So we had the VA there. We had the assistant to the president, Terry Tenian, she's the assistant to the President for Veterans. We had the deputy secretary from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. It was sponsored by, you know, I don't know if I could mention on this podcast, it was sponsored by people. Who are in the cancer field and we stress mammograms, early detection, save lives. That was in March, women's Hering month. April, I go to my doctor and I say, I'm having this pain in my right breast. I've been having it off and on for maybe like a year now prior, after my last mammogram. It just doesn't feel right. Oh, Ginger, well, you know, um, pain in your, in your breast is not a sign of breast cancer. I said, okay, Dr. Bette, it just doesn't feel right to me. Like, and she said, okay, I'm gonna send you out for the proper test. That was April, May 2nd. Ginger Miller gets diagnosed with early stage breast cancer.
Can you imagine? So here I am advocating for all and, and at WBI we are very proactive.
Nathan James:
Hmm.
Ginger Miller:
Very proactive. And I know that the VA. The Department of Veterans Affairs is a part of our ecosystem. So everything we do, we include them. I believe in the healthcare. I got diagnosed with early stage breast cancer on May 2nd. Right. And they was like, okay, you, you get diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. And the first thing I say to the people was like, okay, am I, I'm dead. Like I know I'm gonna die. Like I spent the last 14 years of my better life trying to build this nonprofit, you know, that has basically. Put me in financial roaring.
The, the, the nonprofit has not, the vision has not come to pass as, as what I know it can be because we are climbing this mountain and we haven't reached the top. I'm done. And then they say, no, it's early stage. It's stage zero. And then I'm just like, whoof, well, what I, where do I go from here? And so fast forward. Because, you know, I could dominate a whole blog, like a podcast. I could just go and, and prove the whole show. 'cause I, I, I have to the gap, it's a blessing. But nevertheless, I ended up, 'cause I get all my care from the DCV Medical Center, like I believe in healthcare, uh, because it's all I have. Right? And so my thing was this, okay, I have early stage breast cancer.
Long story short, I had a double mastectomy on July 29th. And you know, I'm fine. You know, I have to take a pill for five years to make sure the cancer doesn't come back. So for me it was one of those things where, okay, so Miss Veterans Advocate, you know, miss advocating for early detection. What are you gonna do when the rubber meets the road? But what I could tell you what I did was when I got my diagnosis, I had so many other events planned, and as soon as I got to every microphone, I talked about it, I walked about it. And there were over 100 now 25 women, veterans, or women that came up to me and said, I'm so glad you shared your story because I haven't had a mammogram and I'm scared. And I said, you should be mortified because you should not be afraid of a test. The test is gonna get you to your results, and the results can save your life.
Nathan James:
Yeah, that's powerful. That's powerful. And Ginger, thank you for sharing that. And um, you know, my heart, I know our team's heart goes out, you know, to you, you know, on that, on that journey. And, um, it's already clear that you're inspiring folks, um, on that recovery journey. And also making sure that they can avoid and, and take early precautionary steps as well. Um. Ginger, thank you so much for that.
Ginger Miller:
We have a range of programs that are specifically for women veterans, and it meets all the needs that they have. So we have Operation Safety Net, which is our Homeless Women Veteran Prevention Program, which could pay first month rent, security deposit, stop evictions, utility, shut off, deal with food in insecurities, like anything that is like medication, car payments, like if you gotta get to work, things of that nature. So that's something that is near and dear to my heart. It was the first program we had. Then we also have our signature program, which is an annual conference, gala and bow crew. That's the Veterans Day Weekend. Women veterans come from around the country for that event. And that event is really important because that's our empowerment event and we partner with the VA, um, Department of Labor, a whole bunch of different folks.
But more important, we have a claims clinic with that event. That's open to the public, and last year we hit a milestone with 1000 veterans served. That's a big deal. So we are helping veterans in so many different ways with their conference. We have a pink and white women veterans tour where we go around the country and have a brunch of women veterans and talk about a lot of different topics that are near and dear to their heart. You know, talk about employment, things of that nature. That pink and white tour has turned into an addition to a pink and white summit. Health in Atlanta, Georgia. They're both almost, and sometimes over 200 women veterans. That's sponsored by, by Fiserv. Oh. So Fiserv saw what we're doing and said, look, we love that.
Can you bring that to Atlanta and make it into a summit?
Nathan James:
Yeah. That's powerful. That's, is that annual, that summit? It's annual.
Ginger Miller:
Okay. So it's coming out, um, in 2025 or March 29th. So everything that we've done has kind of grown organically, and then we also have our workforce development programs. We have beyond the Transition, which is a cohort program that takes women veterans who are transitioning out the military through a series of virtual and in-person events to help them get ready for the transition. Right? And it exposes them to different sectors. Um, corporate, nonprofit, um, federal government, you know, you get to talk to different employers. It just exposes them to the things that. They could be facing when they get ready to transition out. But it also lets them explore who they are, you know, learn what you like and what you don't like so that you don't have to scramble when you take off the uniform because that's who you run into trouble.
Nathan James:
That's huge. Thank you. Thank you for summarizing that. And um, look. I love a keyword that you said there was. We listen, we listen, we do, uh, to veterans as they come through the door. Mm-hmm. Um, we hear what their needs are and then you react intelligently mm-hmm. And responsibly mm-hmm. To those. And I, I think that sets such a powerful example for all of us. Right. Even here as a university and for everyone listening here, we wanna frontline, we wanna platform the needs mm-hmm. That women veterans bring, um, and make sure we're doing all we can to help them in those spaces. So, thank you Ginger, for leaving. Absolutely. The way in that. And, um, from there, talk to us about the importance of really utilizing your education, uh, in being able to start, okay? Mm-hmm. Uh, your foundation, um, obviously you graduated from UMGC, uh, with your master's degree. Mm-hmm. Um, how did having that degree in your education help you?
Ginger Miller:
Okay. And there's one more thing I, I'm gonna say because I, I'll be chop meat if I don't. We also have membership. Yo, we have over 1500 members and we have four chapters. So, you know, I love our members at WVI because when you listen, women veterans wanted to join the organization. So we created a membership because that gives them the peer-to-peer support, and our members give back by serving their community and their local chapters. UMGC is very important to me. UMGC, um, holds a special place in my heart because, you know, I, I have my, um, bachelor's degree in accounting. And I got that at a time in my life when I wanted to go work at Wall Street. That never happened for me dream deferred. When I started this nonprofit work, nobody took me seriously. Right? And until the till this day, I'm still one of the few, probably one of the only black founders, African American founders in the veteran space.
One of the only women founders in this space. I didn't know anything about, um, running a nonprofit organization like I, I knew I wanted to do. Right. I knew I had a heart of service, right? I knew I wanted to help veterans, but I didn't, didn't know anything about doing it. You know, I sorted out giving. Like turkeys and you know, socks and you know the heart stuff, but how do you get up and run a business every day? And then I had the GI bill, but I had utilized my GI bill, um, voc rehab with that accounting degree, that bachelor's degree, and then I went online. I'm just like, okay, this school, you know, they have a master's degree in nonprofit and association management. So I wanted that. And I, I know I needed that for people to take me a little bit serious and it looks good, right?
A credible university. Um, I had two kids at the time, you know, dealing with my own. Um, and I, I don't always talk about like my PTSD because, you know, I just don't, you know, I, I, I always worried about my husband's stuff. So I had two kids at the time in school here in Maryland dealing with my husband's PTSD. I could not afford to go, like in the classroom. I just didn't have time, you know, trying to get this nonprofit off the ground. I had to convince the VA to give me more time, invo rehab to get this degree. I had to convi, like I had to knock on doors. I had to go all the way to DC to knock on doors. And I, and I did that and, and I just did a speaking engagement with the VA.
Um, I think it was Seattle and they actually met the, the, the lady said, I remember you because you wanted to get that nonprofit degree from UMGC, and I remember you battling for that. So this school means a lot to me because I don't think I would be where I am right now, if not for that degree, because it's in my bio. It, it is more than a degree for me. It's like family. It's like family. They call, they check on me. You know, I go to different events, you know, they welcome my husband, the members of my organization. Like, we have a great time. You know, so it, it's like when they say they care for veterans, they do, you know, and, and I'm, I'm, I'm a proud alumni, you know, of this university. They have helped me not just, you know, uh, with my education, but. It's kind of like they. Help me to believe in myself even more.
Nathan James:
Obviously anyone listening can tell how much you value education, right? Mm-hmm. I do. How much you emphasize, uh, even the credibility, right? Mm-hmm. That it provides the nonprofit space. Mm-hmm. Um, and. As you mentioned earlier, you had to fight through a lot to get your bachelor's degree to fight, to get to your master's degree. Mm-hmm. Um, even, uh, dealing with the challenge of homelessness earlier, talk to us about that. How do you work your way from the challenge of homelessness? Your caregiving as well? Okay. Um, into. Getting your degree and achieving what you have today.
Ginger Miller:
You know, I just didn't, you know, I, and I know that everybody can't be a Ginger Miller, you know, nobody wants to be homeless like I had, I always had my sights set on the stars, moons, Jupiter, Mars, whatever. Like I've always been a winner in my heart. Right? And you know, society does a great job of teaching us how to fall apart. It doesn't do a good job of teaching us how to keep it together. I'm a keep it together type of person. I'm gonna always keep it together. I'm gonna fight to keep it together. So even the times when I was homeless, I was fighting to keep my family together. I remember going down to social service and, and looking for help. They was like, oh, well, you know, we could put you and your son in a shelter, but your husband has to go. I said, well then this is not to help for me. And I remember getting like.
Going through all this paperwork and I think they gave you like $135 in food stamps. And I said, there's nothing else. And I'm like, well this is not like, I'm like, girl, well you gotta get it together. So I worked three jobs, went to school. I worked at the school at Hofstra doing a work study program, and then I worked at a gas station at night running a lot machine, and then going to school. In between all that, I was hustling. Legally, you know, I'm so it's like, listen. And the thing is, I was utilizing my VA benefits, but I didn't have the strength or the courage to tell my VA counselor I was homeless because nobody was raising a red flag saying, oh, we have services for homeless veterans. 'Cause we're talking to early nineties. So that's why at WBI, we are big on outreach and engagement, like we live on social media. At the conference we just had, there was a lady who said that she was homeless and she wanted to come to the conference. I said, well, how do you, she said, oh, we can make it work.
You know, she getting her little benefits and stuff. So we gave her a scholarship and covered all her stuff, including, you know, um, room and void at the conference. And then we sent her to the claims clinic and she got her claims done, and she's gonna get all her benefits that she's earned. So you gotta outreach and engagement. You gotta listen, you gotta keep your ear to the ground. Mm-hmm. Because I don't want any other veteran woman or man to get to the point to where they're homeless and they're afraid to, you gotta reach out for the help before you get to that point. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. So even when I was homeless, like, I'm like, nothing is gonna stop me.
Nothing. And society is not gonna tell me to ball up and be like, oh my God. I, I just, no, because when you do that. Same society that tells you, oh, it's okay to fall apart. Who's gonna put me back together? Who's gonna put me back together? No, I'm not. I'm not doing it. You know what, and you feel, you will feel so much better when you fight for your sanity and win, because, because you, you don't have to fall you, you do not have to follow pieces.
Nathan James:
I heard a quote. That said that true strength is not found in, um, who you push down on your way up. Right. But true strength is found in. Lifting others up, right? Yeah. And, uh, the strength, uh, that your journey, uh, that your life has shown, um, it is immense. And if I could wrap things up with this question for you, you know, for everyone listening and watching, um, what advice, what insight do you have for. Those who are, uh, going through hard times and are tempted to give up,
Ginger Miller:
You know, um, there's always a way out. Don't give up. There's always a way out. You know, there's options. There's options. The minute you feel like you wanna give up, keep pushing. As long as you have breath in your body. I don't care what you're going through, what it feels like. I don't care if the odds are stacked against you, if you got breath in your body.
I mean, I, I, I've gone and I could only use myself for an example, diagnosed with early, my mother died last year of early stage breast cancer on August 1st. I had a double mastectomy July 29th of this year at the very hospital right across the street from where she was. So I've gone from having breast cancer this year. Double mastectomy. Reconstruction will be done in all of six months and still going there. There's never a reason to give up. I don't care if your bills are stacked up. If you on the street, reach out for help, reach out, raise your hand and reach out for help. There are way too many programs, way too many people that care about you. You are not alone. I don't care what it is. If you are hungry, somebody's gonna feed you.
If you lose your job, you'll get another one. If don't care what it is. That's my advice. Don't ever give up. I'm not, I'm not gonna ever give up. I told him, I did a speaking game where I said, look, I done took the hit of homelessness. I done took the hit of cancer. Only other hit I need now is the mega million. Now somebody gimme six, gimme six numbers, and go ahead and get this mega million. You know, my life is T. So not to live up and laugh.
Nathan James:
Don't give up. You're not alone. Ginger Miller, everyone. Ginger, thank you, thank you, thank you for your time with us today and for taking time. I wanna thank our listeners. I wanna thank our viewers, uh, for tuning in and for listening. Um, please remember to like and subscribe, um, if you want to hear more unstoppable stories and, uh, we're gonna see you next time. Thank you so much.
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