Stephanie Richmond – Standing Beside The Veterans
Monday, April 13th, 2015
by Barbara Kurka on Woman Around Town
Stephanie Richmond loves a man in uniform. And a woman in uniform. And their spouses, partners and caregivers.
Stephanie demonstrates her love for our veterans and their families in a very concrete way: she provides professional coaching and mentoring—for free. Her nonprofit organization, Stand Beside Them (SBT), stands out for the breadth of coaching offered, for its reach across the country, and for the professionalism of its cadre of coaches, mentors, and advisors.
Stephanie did not start out thinking she would ever found and run a non-profit. Like many of us, Stephanie was not quite sure what she wanted to do after a liberal arts education at Boston University. Her father and uncle were lawyers and law school naturally won out; she obtained a law degree from American University. Upon graduation, Stephanie combined her degree with her love for politics and went into lobbying. She worked for the National Association of Manufacturers, lobbying Congress on the environment and anti-trust, among other things. She put her legal background to work by writing an “Amicus Curiae” brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. Stephanie later became a lobbyist for the music industry.
Stephanie’s background includes work as an Assistant Producer for Dan Rather and CBS News, an entertainment news reporter, real estate broker and an antiques dealer. Stephanie also served as Assistant General Counsel for The Peace Corps, traveling to Africa to introduce projects to congressional delegations. As is often the way, the contacts she made in these roles eventually paved the way for her to start Stand Beside Them.
Stephanie’s interest in all things military started with her son, now 22, a military history buff. They spent many an hour, as Stephanie has remarked, shivering in the cold and sweltering in the heat for reenactments of famous Civil War battles. These visits, along with reading about historic conflicts, watching the History and the Military Channels, and dinner table discussions, prompted a deep gratitude and admiration of our military veterans and their families.
Serendipity led to Stephanie attending NYU’s coaching program and becoming a life coach, specializing in people in transition. And quite by chance, she came across a study about the needs of New York State veterans, the IAVA (Iraq Afghanistan Veterans of America)/Rand Corporation report entitled: “A Needs Assessment of NY State Veterans.” It was an eye-opener. The study documented, as did other research, what is now an all-too-familiar complaint: long wait times for VA healthcare, high unemployment and homelessness rates, and a shockingly high suicide rate.
It was then Stephanie had her “light bulb” moment: many of the needs of transitioning veterans could be met by coaching. She reached out to the friend and mentor she met through the Peace Corps, Everett Alvarez, Jr., Naval Commander (ret), former Deputy Administrator of the Veterans Administration, and a former prisoner of war in Vietnam for nine and a half years. Commander Alvarez saw the value of Stephanie’s idea and became a strong supporter of her efforts. Stephanie used her legal skills, her extensive network, considerable enthusiasm and determination to pull Stand Beside Them together. SBT launched officially in June 2013.
The organization is unique in that it offers coaches and mentors to veterans and their families and caregivers. All the mentors and many of the coaches (all of whom are certified) are themselves veterans. They are also all volunteers. Veterans apply for the program and once accepted are assigned a coach. Depending on their needs, they may receive life or career coaching—for free. (The coaching sessions can take place in person, over the phone, or Skype).
Too often, companies stereotype veterans, especially those who are not officers, as being qualified only for security guard, mechanic, or low-level administrative work. In turn, veterans have difficulty translating their experience and their rank to the corporate world. SBT helps them bridge that gap. Coaches help the veterans redefine their skills and abilities in a way that allows civilian organizations to understand their achievements. And they help veterans speak up about their own achievements, also difficult since they were trained to downplay individual roles and reinforce team accomplishments.
Stand Beside Them has more than 90 coaches across the country, and more are volunteering to join every day. Stephanie’s goal is to publicize SBT to as many veterans and military family groups as possible. As she says at every opportunity, “Our veterans are our greatest national treasure. We help them realize that they have been trained to lead and that they are indeed leaders. With restored self-confidence from coaching, they are getting those jobs that are out there.”
For more information about go to the Stand Beside Them website.