What’s The Most Financial Insecurity You Have Endured?
For Jasmine Paul, it was her senior year at High Point University just outside Greensboro, North Carolina. She was going to school full time chasing her communications degree, working three jobs, one of which was an internship, and part of the ROTC program. She was about as busy as a person can be. So how did she end up living out of her car?
She could have asked family for help, but she was an adult now. She was supposed to be able to solve her own problems, right? Looking back, she wishes she could have gotten past her youthful pride and asked for the help her family would have given. She could have avoided anxiety over finding a safe place to park, taking tests still feeling half asleep, and using the iron at the ROTC detachment to ensure her cadet uniform was pressed and had sharp creases after hanging in her car.
It wasn’t long before Jasmine went to some friends for help, and at least had a couch and a hot shower under a roof every day to finish out her degree. But the experience drew a red line in the sand for Jasmine. She made a promise to herself to never put herself in that position ever again. Before she started drawing an Air Force salary next year, she was going to educate herself and ensure she always had financial security, not to mention a front door, a warm bed, and a hot shower.
Jasmine's Military Experience
Jasmine joined the Air Force through the ROTC program to pay for her college, and then served as an officer for just over 11 years. She had a number of duty stations during her tenure with the US Air Force, including deployments overseas to Korea and Afghanistan, as well as a stint at a Minuteman III Nuclear Missile Silo in Montana.
In Montana, she served as a training officer, responsible for designing test simulations and ensuring the crew was prepared to support their leg of our nation’s nuclear triad. While stationed in South Korea, she served as a financial management officer, supercharging her interest and education in the field. During her deployment to Afghanistan, she worked to train the new interim government to set up and manage their own finances.
66% of Americans can’t cover a $1,000 emergency expense.
27% of Americans would have to borrow money or sell something to cover a $400 emergency expense. And 40% of Americans are one missed paycheck away from poverty. Most Americans are barely hanging on, it would seem. And while there are a lot of reasons for that, a major contributor and exacerbating factor is that 57% of Americans are considered financially illiterate. As you can imagine, it’s not any better for veterans.
Jasmine might not be able to change the nation’s average housing costs and wages, but she can teach financial literacy. She created The Wealth Playground as a vehicle to educate those who want to learn to exercise good financial stewardship and plan and budget to meet their goals.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Jasmine learned about Bunker Labs shortly after moving to San Antonio, checking out an event in Austin, TX thanks to an invitation from some friends on the Bunker Labs staff. That quickly grew into an opportunity to serve as Bunker Labs Ambassador for San Antonio, TX throughout 2022 and into 2023. It was during this time she rebranded Create FinStew to The Wealth Playground, which offers award-winning children’s books, learning experiences, and curriculum development.
In the course of her duties as an Ambassador, Jasmine threw herself into learning the lay of the local business landscape. She learned who the big businesses were, decision makers at funding sources or partners, and important people representing other local business resources. While this was all done on behalf of Bunker Labs’ veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs, the experience taught Jasmine a lot about doing business in San Antonio, and opened her eyes to a ton of possibilities for her own business that she might not otherwise have noticed.
Jasmine also credits the position with “keeping her honest” about her own business. Every time she met with a Bunker Labs entrepreneur to find out what sort of support they needed, or met with a potential ecosystem partner or funding partner on behalf of them, it was an opportunity to also interrogate her own business. She could ensure she was living up to not just her own advice, but the advice of experienced decision makers in the local ecosystem.
When her tenure as Ambassador came to a close, she wanted to remain in the Bunker Labs community. She enrolled in our Breaking Barriers in Entrepreneurship program.
Connecting With Bunker Labs
Jasmine learned about Bunker Labs shortly after moving to San Antonio, checking out an event in Austin, TX thanks to an invitation from some friends on the Bunker Labs staff. That quickly grew into an opportunity to serve as Bunker Labs Ambassador for San Antonio, TX throughout 2022 and into 2023. It was during this time she rebranded Create FinStew to The Wealth Playground, which offers award-winning children’s books, learning experiences, and curriculum development.
In the course of her duties as an Ambassador, Jasmine threw herself into learning the lay of the local business landscape. She learned who the big businesses were, decision makers at funding sources or partners, and important people representing other local business resources. While this was all done on behalf of Bunker Labs’ veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs, the experience taught Jasmine a lot about doing business in San Antonio, and opened her eyes to a ton of possibilities for her own business that she might not otherwise have noticed.
Jasmine also credits the position with “keeping her honest” about her own business. Every time she met with a Bunker Labs entrepreneur to find out what sort of support they needed, or met with a potential ecosystem partner or funding partner on behalf of them, it was an opportunity to also interrogate her own business. She could ensure she was living up to not just her own advice, but the advice of experienced decision makers in the local ecosystem.
When her tenure as Ambassador came to a close, she wanted to remain in the Bunker Labs community. She enrolled in our Breaking Barriers in Entrepreneurship program.
“I came into entrepreneurship with this bootstrap mindset, where I just felt like I had to do everything myself. Bunker Labs got me comfortable with leveraging partnerships, so I can keep my focus on what only I can do for my business, and then I can find partners that are strong in areas where I’m weaker, and work to mutually elevate our brands. Just make it more of a team sport. That has been paradigm shifting for me.”
Open For Business
Since rebranding as The Wealth Playground, Jasmine has released 2 children’s books, A Boy, A Budget, and a Dream, and Granny’s Vintage Camera. Both have performed incredibly well as self-published books, moving thousands of copies each. She’s also released a workbook to help reinforce the lessons in a kid-friendly format. She’s also self-published a few e-books to share her thoughts on self-publishing, crowd-funding, and more. She’s busy working on a new book, and Jasmine is also exploring partnerships for digital content creation related to financial literacy.
Jasmine is also continuing her participation in various accelerators and programs for veteran entrepreneurship. She recently won a DAV Patriot’s Pitch Competition, part of per Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Patriot Bootcamp program experience. She’s also been getting recognized for her efforts by places like GreenPath, who featured her as an empowering voice in the financial wellness sector.
It's Your Time
Become a Bunker Labs Ambassador
If you have experience navigating your local entrepreneurial landscape and want to share what you’ve learned and serve others, you might be just the person we’re looking for to represent Bunker Labs as an Ambassador! As an Ambassador, you’re positioned at the center of your local entrepreneurial ecosystem, where you’ll meet up and coming veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs, and help them find solutions to a variety of challenges as they launch and grow their businesses.
Breaking Barriers in Entrepreneurship
Breaking Barriers in Entrepreneurship is a virtual workshop series that facilitates business growth and support within AAPI, Black, Latinx, and female veteran and military spouse communities. The eight-week workshop is designed to create an immediate impact for early to growth-stage businesses by providing access to business tools, resources, capital opportunities, mentorship, and a stronger peer network!
Bunker Labs is Now Part of IVMF
As of January 2024, Bunker Labs is now a part of Syracuse University’s D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF). In addition to ongoing Bunker Labs programming, we’d encourage you to browse IVMF’s deep wealth of entrepreneurship programming, much of it available virtually or at locations across the country. Find the program to help your business take the next step today!