Welcome to It's All About EGO Website.

Reflections on Service, Leadership, and Advocacy for Equality

I served 36 years in the Army—three years on active duty and 33 years with my hometown National Guard. Throughout my career, I worked full-time at Camp Johnson as a federal technician, serving as an Equal Opportunity and Diversity Manager. Upon retiring, I was motivated to launch Empowering Gender Opportunities, LLC, a diversity consulting and education business dedicated to helping organizations recognize and address the harmful impacts of gender bias—whether it’s women's bias toward men, men's bias toward women, or any form of identity-based discrimination.

A lot has changed in the six years since my retirement. After dedicating four years to publishing my memoir, I felt disconnected from both the business community and the military. The COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult to secure speaking engagements and build a network that could help promote my mission of combating the persistent sexism that lingers in the workplace. I am aware that the working class of today still faces sexism, though it manifests differently from what I experienced, witnessed, and tried to eliminate during my tenure with the Vermont National Guard.

The current President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, along with the appointed Secretary of Defense, does not represent the military I joined and devoted 36 years of my life to. Both men, as well as many of those surrounding them, reflect the sexist attitudes that stifle the talents, skills, and abilities of individuals who identify as women. Everything I worked to advance during my tenure has been dismantled within the military.

I continue to maintain the website for Empowering Gender Opportunities, LLC, in the hope that my experiences—joining a new culture, acclimating to it, recognizing systemic barriers to equality, and working to improve the culture—may inspire others. I firmly believe that goodness and love will ultimately triumph over self-serving, egotistical, and greedy men, and that together, we can rebuild a military that truly represents what is right.