Her Story
About Tawanda
I served years in the Marine Corps as a combat Marine and deployed to several places, including Iraq. While stationed in Quantico around 2011-2012, I founded Operation Heroes Connect. After retiring from the military, I transitioned to television and starred on American Grit with John Cena, which led to a book deal where I could tell my story in print. I've continued doing television work and got involved with the Women's March around 2016 or 2017. I'm also the veteran behind the Vets for Kaepernick Movement that started a few years ago. Currently, I continue speaking engagements, have another book coming out, and am still working the nonprofit piece. I earned my master's in Medical Cannabis Science and advocate in that space as well. Over the last two years, I've been expanding Operation Heroes Connect into three different states and we're now operating legally in Virginia, Maryland, DC, and Illinois. I serve on the Department of Family Social Services board in Chicago under the mayor's office, where they control the budget for the whole city. I'm a former foster kid who was adopted, and my advocacy work really focuses on youth, veterans, and foster care systems. I've been on a quest for three years to find where I come from, and as of last August, I found more siblings. We recently got a reach out from the Jennifer Hudson show to tell our story. I'm contemplating a congressional run in the next five years.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Tawanda
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would definitely say my foster mom who became my adopted mom, Minnie Hudson. She was a foster mom to over 43 kids in her lifetime, and that example really showed me how to give back and care for others. She was like the neighborhood mom - if you needed a dollar, she was there. If you needed a cup of sugar, that lady got you. She touched so many lives on the south side of Chicago. The other thing I attribute my success to is resilience. I think with all that I grew up with in Chicago before joining the military, that resilience helped me because I didn't get stuck. I didn't just think, okay, this is gonna be it. So I learned to think of my next move and how to make it bigger, and how to reinvent and be a fighter. I got shot when I was 16, but guess what? We gonna do this now. Definitely resilience, and definitely Minnie Hudson.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say do it with your heart. I had plenty of people that wanted to be a part of Operation Heroes Connect, but you could tell their heart really wasn't in it, and it showed up in the lack of work. So I would say to anyone in whatever space, whether it's the military, the nonprofit, the CEO, or even writing a book, you really need to know your passion and your why behind it just so you can be successful, because I do believe without that why, that's what comes from it. Not that it's gonna fail, but I think it's so important to know your why and to have the passion behind what you're doing. I can tell from Operation Heroes Connect, we're now 12 years old, and to be honest, I have yet to collect a check because I see the purpose in what we're doing. So you really gotta know why. Know your why.
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