Editor’s Note: The transcript of this live Q&A has been edited for brevity and clarity.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas is home to more women veterans than any other state in the United States. The Texas Veterans Commission in a 2024 report estimated that more than 207,000 women who served in the military now live in Texas.
The report also stated that those numbers are expected to climb by about 7% over the next five years.
KXAN’s Will Dupree and Avery Travis spoke to officials from the TVC on its effort to help the growing population of women veterans in Texas.
Avery Travis: The Veterans Commission is focusing its efforts on helping this growing population. And because it is such a growing population, we have got an incredible crew of folks here joining us to talk about it today. So Sharon Stewart is the women veteran coordinator with the Texas Veterans Commission, and then Nina Guilford, is the program [manager] for Dress for Success Austin.. And then lastly, Najah Clay, an Army veteran who’s going to talk about her experience as well. So thank you all for being here. Each of you have an incredibly different role to play in reaching this population. But Sharon, we want to start with you. So give us a sense about what kind of assistance you hear from women veterans. What do they need? And then how do you all step into that space and offer that assistance?
Sharon Stewart: Our role at the Texas Veterans Commission with the women veterans program was to assist women veterans to connect to benefits and services. And right now, seems like some of the highest needs, and biggest needs they have, are networking, employment, filing for VA disability, and entrepreneurship.
Travis: Lots of systems to navigate there. So what does that look like when you’re having those conversations with those women?
Stewart: Well, if somebody wants to contact TVC, they [can] go to our website, we’ll assess their needs, then we’ll do a warm handoff, we’ll direct them to the right program or department.
Will Dupree: The Veterans Commission also works with organizations outside of its own walls, and that includes the Dress for Success program, which Nina works for. And I just want you to give us a chance and maybe some more information about how you all work, in particular with female veterans.
Nina Guilford: So Dress for Success, [the] overall mission is to empower women to achieve economic independence, and we do that through various programs. We have about eight or nine programs running right now, and one of them happens to be our veteran support program. And through that, we have several opportunities for women veterans to come in and connect with us. Some days, like in November, we have a full head-to-toe makeover, if you will. In between that time, we host workshops virtually and in person, where we have panelists like we have coming up in March.
Travis: Okay. So Naja, I want to get to you because you are working with Dress for Success right now, but that’s after serving in the military. So give us a bit of your personal story, and then how is that helping you now give back in your work with Dress for Success?
Najah Clay: So I got introduced to Dress for Success through Future Business Leaders of America, where I served as the area VP of the state of Texas, and that was back when I was in high school, and unbeknownst to my teachers and maybe even some of my peers, I was actually suffering from homelessness. And just to be very clear, I was kind of living in transients, and I didn’t have a lot of opportunities to get resources to better myself. And so working with Future Business Leaders of America, and with Dress for Success, I was able to get opportunities and learn about resumes, get networking opportunities, learn about transitional stuff for college, which I didn’t know, Dress for Success, assisted with. And then, when I went into the military, got out and moved to Austin, I went right back to Dress for Success, and they helped me with refining my resume, refining my cover letter, helped me with a full makeover, and also assist me with just navigating a new city I’d never lived in Austin before. I was born and raised in San Antonio. I was moving from Fort Lewis up in Washington state, so it was really nice to have a community of other women, especially women veterans, that were in this kind of transitional phase, looking and seeking to kind of better themselves. I honestly wouldn’t be the woman I am today if it wasn’t for Dress for Success.
Dupree: Such a great place to end that. But Sharon, Nina, Najah, thank you all so much for joining us, and I wish we could talk a little bit more. Unfortunately, time is tight, but we appreciate y’alls work, and thanks for joining us today.
