Jill Hinton Wolfe: From Military Service to Empowering Women Entrepreneurs

Standing in the Military Entrance Processing Station in Lansing in the mid-1990s at the age of 19, Jill Hinton Wolfe flipped a coin to determine whether to join the military or continue with her degree at Grand Valley State University.

After graduating from high school in 1993, Jill Hinton Wolfe began working toward a degree in advertising and public relations at Grand Valley State University. But three years later, she was standing in the Military Entrance Processing Station in Lansing, contemplating a coin flip that would determine her future path.

On one side of the coin was the prospect of continuing her education. On the other was the opportunity to join the U.S. Army.

After a moment of contemplation, Hinton Wolfe flipped the coin and watched as it landed on the military option.

“I was like, ‘OK, I guess this is what I’m doing,’” she said.

Hinton Wolfe, who is legally blind, went on to spend three years in the Army, including a 14-month stint in South Korea, where she worked her way up to a role as a public affairs officer before returning to the U.S. to finish her degree.

Over the past 25 years, Hinton Wolfe has built a resume that includes more than a decade of public relations work in West Michigan. Her career led her to several prominent West Michigan companies, including Lambert & Co., ADAC Automotive, Haworth Inc. and Priority Health, before she branched out and launched her own business consulting and coaching entrepreneurs. She also spent seven years working at Grand Valley State University, including six years as an adjunct professor in advertising and public relations and two and a half years as director of the Secchia Military and Veterans Resource Center.

Now, as a career transition coach and veteran counselor pulling from her own experience, Hinton Wolfe helps other women step out of their comfort zones and into entrepreneurship. She also founded Outdoor Book Club in 2014 to bring women together to explore the outdoors with a book, and this year is launching Combat Canines, an all-natural dog treat business that gives back to veterans. On top of that, Hinton Wolfe is in the “final throes” of writing a book based on the veteran experience.

Hinton Wolfe recently spoke with Crain’s Grand Rapids Business about what inspires her work, her military background, and the several projects she’s juggling in 2024.

What inspired you to start the Outdoor Book Club a decade ago?

I think I was just surfing the internet one day looking for grants for veterans to start businesses. There’s a program out of Syracuse University called V-Wise (Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship) and they would do these long weekend entrepreneurship boot camps. That was probably 2008, so it had probably been 10 years since I had anything to do with military stuff. But I got this opportunity to go to this boot camp (and) it was incredible. It was around women vets (and) I just realized how much I missed that camaraderie and that shared experience.

They announced that they were going to have a business plan competition for anyone who had graduated from that program. And I was like, I am in. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m going to do this.

What did you take away from the competition?

I knew I was going home with money, but I totally choked. I totally choked on my presentation. I got third place, which was still $10,000, but that was kind of the first time I really understood my own power, that I had to control my future and make choices and just show up as confident and win something and change my life.

When I came back, I just had the bug on that. So that’s how Outdoor Book Club started, and that’s kind of how I left the corporate world. That was in 2014.

What are your goals as you look to grow Outdoor Book Club?

I would love in my wildest dreams for it to become a national brand, for it to become a community of women who love books and the outdoors and are there to share those experiences and passion and help build women’s confidence.

I’m sort of reevaluating my goals and how I want to spend my time these days, and I just really want to write. I want to write about books and the outdoors and where those things intersect and empower women. So that’s where we are now. I would love to have a really big mailing list and a really big community of women supporting each other.

What made Outdoor Book Club click for you?

The funny part is I was not an outdoorsy person. I didn’t grow up outside. I eventually, after years and years, came to this realization that I just really love giving people cool experiences. I just love being able to (offer the) opportunity to find meaning and purpose in a moment in time.

I love it when people connect with strangers. We are so disconnected in this world.

How does Outdoor Book Club further your purpose of empowering women?

The books (are) really