吉尔·辛顿·沃尔夫：从服兵役到赋予女企业家权力

20 世纪 90 年代中期，19 岁的吉尔·欣顿·沃尔夫 (Jill Hinton Wolfe) 站在兰辛的军事入口处理站，抛硬币决定是参军还是继续在大谷州立大学攻读学位。

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.

1993 年高中毕业后，吉尔·欣顿·沃尔夫 (Jill Hinton Wolfe) 开始在大谷州立大学攻读广告和公共关系学位。但三年后，她站在兰辛的军事入口处理站，思考着一枚硬币的投掷，这将决定她未来的道路。

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.

一方面是继续接受教育的前景。另一方面是加入美国陆军的机会。

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

沉思片刻后，辛顿·沃尔夫抛掷硬币，看着它落在了军事选项上。

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

“我当时想，‘好吧，我想这就是我正在做的事情，’”她说。

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.

辛顿·沃尔夫 (Hinton Wolfe) 在法律上是盲人，她在军队服役了三年，其中包括在韩国服役了 14 个月，在那里她逐渐晋升为公共事务官员，然后返回美国完成学业。程度。

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.

在过去 25 年里，Hinton Wolfe 积累了一份简历，其中包括在西密歇根州十多年的公共关系工作。她的职业生涯使她在西密歇根州多家著名公司工作过，包括 Lambert & Co.、ADAC Automotive、Haworth Inc. 和 Priority Health，之后她开始拓展业务并创办了自己的商业咨询和辅导企业家。她还在大谷州立大学工作了七年，其中六年担任广告和公共关系副教授，两年半担任塞基亚军事和退伍军人资源中心主任。

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.

现在，作为一名职业转型教练和资深顾问，辛顿·沃尔夫 (Hinton Wolfe) 凭借自己的经验，帮助其他女性走出舒适区，进入创业之路。她还于 2014 年创立了户外读书俱乐部，让女性一起用书探索户外活动，今年又推出了 Combat Canines，这是一家回馈退伍军人的纯天然狗粮企业。最重要的是，辛顿·沃尔夫（Hinton Wolfe）正处于根据退伍军人经验写书的“最后阵痛”。

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.

Hinton Wolfe 最近接受了 Crain's Grand Rapids Business 采访，谈论了她的工作灵感、她的军事背景以及她在 2024 年要处理的几个项目。

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

十年前是什么促使您创办户外读书俱乐部？

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.

我想有一天我只是在网上寻找退伍军人创业补助金。雪城大学有一个名为 V-Wise（点燃创业精神的退伍军人女性）的项目，他们会举办这些长周末创业训练营。那可能是 2008 年，所以我可能已经有 10 年没有接触过军事方面的东西了。但我有机会参加这个新兵训练营，这真是令人难以置信。这是围绕女性退伍军人（并且）我才意识到我是多么怀念那种友情和共同的经历。

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.

他们宣布将为所有从该项目毕业的人举办商业计划竞赛。我当时想，我加入了。我不知道我要做什么，但我要这么做。

What did you take away from the competition?

你从比赛中得到了什么？

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.

我知道我要带着钱回家，但我完全哽咽了。我完全被我的演讲噎住了。我获得了第三名，奖金仍然是 10,000 美元，但那是我第一次真正了解自己的力量，我必须控制自己的未来，做出选择，表现出自信，赢得一些东西并改变我的生活。

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.

当我回来时，我只是遇到了这个问题。这就是户外读书俱乐部的开始方式，也是我离开企业界的方式。那是在2014年。

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

当您希望发展户外读书俱乐部时，您的目标是什么？

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.

我最疯狂的梦想是让它成为一个全国性品牌，成为一个由热爱书籍和户外活动的女性组成的社区，在那里分享这些经历和热情，帮助建立女性的自信。

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.

我正在重新评估我的目标以及这些天我想如何度过我的时间，我真的很想写作。我想写关于书籍和户外活动的文章，以及这些事物交叉并赋予女性权力的地方。这就是我们现在的处境。我希望有一个非常大的邮件列表和一个非常大的女性互相支持的社区。

What made Outdoor Book Club click for you?

是什么让户外读书俱乐部吸引了您？

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.

有趣的是我不是一个喜欢户外活动的人。我不是在外面长大的。最终，经过多年之后，我意识到我真的很喜欢给人们带来很酷的体验。我只是喜欢能够（提供）机会在某个时刻找到意义和目的。

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

我喜欢人们与陌生人建立联系。我们在这个世界上是如此的脱节。

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

户外读书俱乐部如何进一步实现赋予女性权力的目标？

The books (are) really

这些书确实