Jessica Quezada's World After Military Service: Art, Adventure, and Entrepreneurial Spirit -21
Join us on "Dog Tag Diaries" as we feature Jessica Quezada, a Marine Corps veteran and the dynamic founder of Libo-risk, a for-profit military retreat company. This episode takes you through Jessica's unique journey from a tumultuous childhood to her role as a Marine combat correspondent.
Hear her candid discussions about the chronic injuries faced by women in the military due to improper equipment and inadequate support. Discover how solo travel and backpacking in Thailand became pivotal in her self-discovery and personal growth. If you're fascinated by stories of resilience, military life, and entrepreneurial spirit, you won't want to miss this compelling episode. Tune in for an inspiring look at overcoming challenges and building a community focused on connection and personal development.
Connect with Jess:
Follow her journey at Libo-Risk.com
Instagram: @LiboRisk
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Transcript
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Captain Kim [:From growing up in a chaotic household to carving out an adventurous life in the Marine Corps, Jesse's story is packed with grit, humor, and hard earned wisdom. She shares the highs and lows of military service, the struggle of finding her place as a woman in the marines, and why risk taking is at the heart of her personal transformation. Whether it's building a tiny home from a school bus, braving months in the wilderness, or challenging the status quo, Jess proves that growth comes from stepping outside your comfort zone. Don't miss this inspiring episode full of raw insights, bold moves, and wilderness survival. Welcome to Dog Tag Diaries, where military women share true stories.
Captain Dakota [:We are your hosts, captain Kim. And captain Dakota. The stories you are about to hear are powerful. We appreciate that you have joined us and are eager to learn more about these experiences and connect with the military women who are willing to share their stories in order to foster community and understanding.
Captain Kim [:Military women are providing valuable insight into their experiences, struggles, and triumphs. By speaking their truth, they contribute to a deeper understanding of the challenges they face and the resilience they demonstrate.
Captain Kim [:We appreciate your decision to join us today to gain insights and knowledge from the experiences of these courageous military women. Thank you for being here.
Captain Kim [:In this episode of Dog Tag Diaries, we dive deep into the life and military experience of Jessica Quezada, a marine veteran, entrepreneur, and adventurer who's on a mission to challenge the status quo and embrace risk taking. From growing up in a turbulent household to navigating the complexities of being a woman in the Marine Corps, Jess shares how her resilience and drive has shaped her journey. Tune in for a candid conversation about personal growth, military service, and the power of connection. Welcome, Jess.
Jessica Quezada [:Hi.
Captain Kim [:Hi. Thank you for being on Dog Tag Diaries.
Jessica Quezada [:So good to be here. Thank you, Kim. I'm so excited to finally connect with you. It's been too long.
Captain Kim [:It's been too long. And because I know you personally, I know you had to be a spitfire as a child. So you have to tell me how you were as little Jess.
Jessica Quezada [:I'm actually totally in contrast with who I was as a kid. Yeah. A lot of people do not expect that. I was very quiet, very reserved. I did not speak unless spoken to, and I think that comes from just a lot of the difficulties around my childhood and growing up in a household that was very violent and harmful to my development and my family's development. So it took a lot to break me out into this shell that people know as Jessica Quezada, Marine Corps veteran, entrepreneur, risk taker. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:I did not expect that, but I'm so sorry to hear about your childhood.
Jessica Quezada [:That's okay. I mean, we all come from some rough edges. It just looks different.
Captain Kim [:I like that. And it shaped you for who you are now, which we will get into, but I wanna hear about how you decided to join the Marine Corps.
Jessica Quezada [:Yeah. So I grew up as an artist. I love painting and sculpting. I'm actually looking at a painting right now of mine that's recent, and it's always been a big part of my family. My dad did sculpture. My mom was a framer. And so when I went to high school, I went to a prestigious art school in Dallas where I pursued photography as my main field and wanted to go into photojournalism for my career. And I just didn't wanna sit in a chair for 4 more years.
Jessica Quezada [:I thought to myself, like, this was the type of field in which you go get experience from. You don't you can't, like, study it from a book. You have to go capture it. So I looked at the military as an option because I found out that they actually have photojournalism programs. So went through the entourage of different branches and interviewed each of them and then came to the decision where I wanted to be a marine. So that was the job that I demanded because of the school I was coming from, because I was a female, because I was in good shape, scored high in the ASVAB. It was a little bit easier to influence which job I was able to pick, which is very atypical of what most people get. So it was very painful.
Captain Kim [:It's very atypical. Yeah. Well, I have a question for you. Do you feel like the art and the sculpting, was that a form of therapy that maybe you didn't know at the time because you came from such a troubled upbringing?
Jessica Quezada [:That's a great question. I've actually never been asked that. I can imagine. I mean, it was a place in which I can just the aspect of art therapy is the self expression of words or thoughts that maybe we don't share in real life. And so putting that down on a piece of paper or through a canvas or a sculpture in clay, I can imagine that for me, it actually really probably was therapeutic, and that's why I did well in school. I was able to centralize my traumas into an activity, something of productive nature, vice destructive.
Captain Kim [:Yeah. How did you feel when you were sitting in those moments of painting and sculpting?
Jessica Quezada [:It's a sense of flow, and we all try to search for that and things that we get decent at. The total loss of time and self-absorption into an activity is something we actually talk about in LiboRisk is our ability to just be absorbed in something that we do well, but yet we're a bit challenged at, and that's where the threshold is for being in a flow state. And looking back at it, I got really good at some point. I'm trying to actually get back into it again because it's just like, I finally am in the stable position. I'm not living in my bus anymore right now. And so that's a whole other story, but it's really nice to, like, come into a home and have a place to paint and set up my studio where I can just express myself. And perhaps it's something that I'm using even now as an adult, like, actually having a conceptual idea of what art therapy is. Maybe I'm doing that.
Jessica Quezada [:I don't know. That's like, oh, we should too.
Captain Kim [:Yeah. We'll have conversations when we're face to face with that. So Yeah. How did that transfer into the marines then?
Jessica Quezada [:So they have combat correspondents, and they are essentially photojournalists. So it's a pretty rad job that where you got to document and tell the marine corps story for the United States and the public. And we would always say that America doesn't need a Marine Corps. America wants a Marine Corps, and that's based off the propaganda and the storytelling that we're able to display to the American public to persuade them and convince them that we are a necessity for our nation. So that was kind of what drew me to it. It was like, wow. I don't need to go to college for this. I can join the military.
Captain Kim [:And so before we talk about your job in the military, let's talk about basic training in the marines as a woman. In what year?
Jessica Quezada [:This is 2013.
Captain Kim [:Yeah. What was that like?
Jessica Quezada [:I can say it's probably not probably. I know it's very different now. I joined at a time where they had complete segregation of men and women. So the only time that we saw males was during the range week, and we were barely within our arms reach of those guys. So we I definitely look back, and I feel like there were some pretty destructive things that happened at recruit training that were very unnecessary with drill instructors and just their mindset around, like, how they shaped young women. And I've had this conversation with friends of mine who were drill instructors, and we're like, why did they do that? Like, degrading women to a point of feeling as if they are nothing but a bitch, a slut, or a dyke. Those are the kind of categories that you get assigned. It's like, woah.
Jessica Quezada [:Woah. Woah. We are babies. Like, we're 17, 18, 19-year-olds. We have no idea what that means. And you're ingraining that at a very young age. So there's definitely been a withdrawal of that type of attitude and behavior, but there's still, hopefully, the hardships that are required to really take off the identity, the personal sense of identity to create more of a team and unit cohesion. That is still essential.
Jessica Quezada [:I mean, it wasn't too bad. I went from a really rough household to boot camp. I was like, oh, I have a roof, like, a ceiling and a bed and food. Like, woah. Rough life, guys. Oh my god. And so I was pretty grateful for that. But I ended up graduating as honor graduate and went straight into marine combat training.
Jessica Quezada [:I ended up having a really badly hurt hip, so I was pulled from my unit, my platoon.
Captain Kim [:How did you do that?
Jessica Quezada [:Just chronic misuse. Like, the unfortunate series of events is what's happening is we have young girls who join the United States military. A lot of them don't go through formal athletic training in how to run, how to carry weight on their hips, all these different things. So they're joining the marine corps, the military in general, without having an understanding of kinesiology and how their body works. They're loading weight in proper manners, and then they're not stretching or recovering correctly. So you do that really harshly within 3, 4 months, and you could have a broken young human being. So it wasn't uncommon to see myself or others, especially women, come out with hip or back injuries. That ridiculous.
Jessica Quezada [:Like, it didn't make any sense, but it was from chronic misuse. And so was sent back a platoon, somewhat recovered, and then went back into training. And within, like, the first two weeks, I was limping every single day, was getting x rays, CT scans, MRIs, and they didn't know it was wrong. So over, like, pretty much my entire career, I dealt with severe chronic pain in my back and my hip. I I had to do intense physical therapy, very invasive physical therapy with, like, dry needling, which is super painful. Pretty much my entire career, getting, like, steroid shots and stuff too.
Captain Kim [:You know, I can totally compassionate with you on that because I have had the same thing in 1995. It was the same thing, ill fitted equipment, not knowing where to carry the weight. You were scared to even ask to go to sick call, and if you did, most of the time it was denied. So you had to deal with this pain and through all your training. And just like you, I am stuck for the rest of my life going and getting dry needling, acupuncture, physical therapy, and now I'm doing water aerobics with old people in the swimming pool.
Jessica Quezada [:No. Oh my gosh. It's harsh, but I think that our disabilities are also opportunities to be wiser and share our experiences. So that's something that I try to take on as not necessarily an excuse, but a reason to give myself the proper nutrition, sleep, recovery that I need to move forward because life doesn't stop. Gotta keep at it.
Captain Kim [:Yes. I follow you on your social media, and I see all the amazing things that you're doing, which we'll get into. But I just wanna continue on the military career and how you felt after so you got out of basic and you went on to your job. Did you feel accepted?
Jessica Quezada [:1, I already had a hard time, like, assimilating to the military culture because I was very quiet and shy, withdrawn emotionally, psychologically. I think I was very immature because I didn't have the development needed as a child to integrate myself into normal social settings. I was very awkward. And with that awkwardness came a severe degree of isolation that was self imposed. And you couple that with an a toxic environment, and it's just gonna be a tragic story. So I was stationed in Quantico for a year at Headquarters Marine Corps with the Marine Corps recruiting command, where I had covered a lot of the national recruiting events, diversity initiatives throughout the entire state. So I got to travel around and, like, stay in really cool cities and cover the things that we're doing on the strategic recruiting level. And then I was in Japan for 2 years in a pretty unhealthy relationship.
Jessica Quezada [:So being stationed there is like a fishbowl. And unfortunately, my relationship had really hindered my ability to make friends based on rumors that were spread or just things that were done. So that was difficult. And then I finished my term out at the recruiting station in Orange County, where as a marketing director, like, I don't have any peers or leadership subordinates. I literally report to the executive officer. That's the only marine relationship that I have. So I went from being solo dolo at Marine Corps recruiting command in Quantico, which is a lot of high brass, not a lot of youngsters like me, to being an official in Japan, working as the operations chief, and then going to an apartment nowhere near a base, having any idea of who my friends or any leadership whatsoever. So it was a very atypical career field, especially within a short period of time.
Jessica Quezada [:I'm grateful that I got to bounce around, though, like, in terms of the experiences, but personally on a individual level, I think that I got stunted from really developing as a person or, like, even becoming a good leader. I didn't have the chance to become, like, a really great leader because I didn't really work with people.
Captain Kim [:Yeah. And it sounds like you moved a lot. So even though that's exciting going, like, from place to place and seeing a lot of things and having a lot of experiences, it's so hard to make those, like, lifelong lasting connections with people.
Jessica Quezada [:Yeah. Well, I mean, most enlistments are 4 years, and I moved 3 times pretty much by my second enlistment. And so I just think about it, like, how many friends did I, like, not make by being in a place long enough to get to know people?
Captain Kim [:Yeah. So how do you feel that impacted your service, you?
Jessica Quezada [:I definitely struggled. I had really bad sleeping issues, and I still have them. Something that I'm trying to work through as a veteran and used alcohol as a coping mechanism to not only become more of a gregarious personality and bring myself out of my shell, but to sedate me because of the sleeping issues that I had. And this was a really difficult, coping mechanism, especially during my recruiting time, because I was working, I won't say recruiting hours, but I was working pretty much every single day and even super late nights into the weekends because when we had events, I was the one that was there the earliest to set up, and I was there the latest to break down. And then I have to do all these post event activities. So that was really difficult to manage because I was just working nonstop. And at the same time, I had no support system. I didn't really have a turnover, and I needed a lot of more emotional support than I give myself granted for.
Jessica Quezada [:That's why social relationships are just so imperative in the military, and we don't look at it as a nutritional value. You know, we tell service members that they need to eat well and hydrate and exercise, but we never include social connections and healthy friendships as a nutritional food group, which is like the most it's the most vital thing. So I was missing that quite a bit, and I suffered from it. Everything else was like, okay, but not that.
Captain Kim [:Yeah. And so because you suffered from that and it sounds like you realize this at an early stage. Is that correct?
Jessica Quezada [:I did, but I didn't know what to do with it. And so when I was stationed in Japan and dealing with difficulties with my relationship and the people I was stationed with, I started traveling on my own and going on trips on my own. I would sign up for the single marine program programs and, like, just start doing things by myself, which gave me a bit of authority and independence that I felt was really empowering. So from then on, I backpacked my first country by myself in Thailand and had the most transformative 10 days of my life. I was, like, arriving to a mountainside cabin and then bungee jumping the next day and then on a party boat. And the next day, it was just incredible. I was like, woah, this whole freaking life is out there, and I'm over here crying about some dude in the barracks. Like, when I put it like that, it makes me, like, really think about it.
Jessica Quezada [:But, yeah, so I just started traveling and doing stuff more. And then when I was station and recruiting at the recruiting station, I unfortunately suffered from alcoholism, and it was so bad that I ended up crashing my car into a tree and blew a 0.19, almost 2 and a half times over the legal limit of alcohol, and I didn't even know I was drunk. So I was like a full-blown functioning alcoholic, and nobody even knew I didn't know that it would have gotten that bad. So it was a huge turning point in my life and my career where I had failed miserably for the first time. The accolades that I had produced and built over years of hard work were nonexistent at that point. So I had some real soul searching to do, and I felt like, wow, this entire identity that I've built up and this rank in this person is doesn't really fucking matter at the end of the day. It's what experiences you've lived. So I realized that I just needed to do more that had a life outside of the military that produced more of a life outside of the military.
Jessica Quezada [:And so I went to Colombia for a month, backpacked around there and did some incredible jungle treks, mountain biking, went to the Caribbean and just some awesome experiences and felt like this was something that had transformed what mattered to me. And then when I came back, a bunch of people were asking me questions like, how are you going to Colombia while on active duty? And what are you doing to figure out all these trips? I realized that there wasn't a single military travel community that existed for us beforehand. So I created 1, and that was where I really started to drive my sense of value and purpose was the essence of creating these trips for myself and then recognizing that people were looking for the same thing as well.
Captain Kim [:Yes. You were the trailblazer.
Jessica Quezada [:So yeah. Somewhat. Yeah.
Captain Kim [:I do. I feel like everybody's put on this earth for a reason, and you found yours. And now you're making such an impact. So let's talk about LiboRisk. How did you come up with the name?
Jessica Quezada [:So the Department of Defense utilizes the term liberty or leave as your, like, official vacation or free time. So the term, LiboRisk, which is prevalently used in the marine corps, was a colloquialism that described marines who had a kind of a knack for getting into risky or precarious situations. They were the ones that, yeah, it's always watch out for. They were the reasons why we had a liberty brief before the weekend. They were the ones that were getting people recalled in the middle of the night. So it was a sign of endearment towards those jerks who got people in trouble or even just, for example, a good friend of mine, she almost got ran over by a bison while she was hiking in Catalina. And so people are calling her a LiboRisk . So it doesn't have to be you doing something stupid.
Jessica Quezada [:It could just be like something that, you know, an unfortunate event.
Captain Kim [:The title fits.
Jessica Quezada [:Yeah. It totally fits. It totally fits. And when you know, you know. So that's a fun thing with building this community is it's been a term used for generations. And I'll have old timers come up to me and hear the name, and they'll be like, that's brilliant. Like that is bull. And then when you tell people about it, they're like, Oh, okay, that actually makes a lot of sense.
Jessica Quezada [:So liberal risk is the shortened version of Liberty risk, which was coined to those, risky marines and sailors and airmen and everybody else too.
Captain Kim [:I love that. So now I'm very excited to hear about the adventures that you create. Are they a little risky?
Jessica Quezada [:They are, but we look at risk in a different facet. So riskiness is often misconstrued with recklessness, and they're not within the same boat whatsoever. There is an art to being a risk taker. In my opinion, in order for something to be deemed a risk, there has to be some sort of reward, subjectively or objectively. Otherwise, it's frivolous. So the art of risk taking is being able to identify your comfort zone, look at your stretch zone, and see where the potential risk factors are. Is it worth shooting for that stretch zone? So this could be in terms of skydiving, swimming with sharks, having a conversation with a stranger, or opening up to somebody for the first time and being vulnerable. Like, the definition of vulnerability is putting yourself in a situation where you may be harmed.
Jessica Quezada [:That there is risk involved, or there is a reward in being able to connect with another human being on a deeper facet. So that's where the trade in is, is being able to identify what that reward is for you. And that looks different to everybody. It's on a spectrum. So when we talk about risk in LiboRisk, we talk about healthy, positive risk taking that involves some sort of reward, external or intrinsic, and allows us to grow. That's the vice. That's the beauty of it.
Captain Kim [:I hear that you bring your artistry into that. As you're talking, I see you, like, creating just like you have a blank canvas before you start painting or sculpting.
Jessica Quezada [:Well, we have, like, a really cool methodology that I've built out through over the years. And in terms of, like, the adventures and the things that we do, it took me years, like, 3 years to figure out from the first event that we hosted in 2020 to pretty much end of 2023. Like, okay. This has been fun, but, like, what are we gonna do? What are we actually gonna create with this? So by the end of 2023, I boiled it down to the concept of creating the first for profit military retreat company. And this was very imperative because what I've seen throughout the nonprofit space and is is a bit of oversaturation, and there's no point in me adding to that. There's already great organizations that exist that have their niche. What am I doing at that point? I'm detracting from the opportunity for them to move forward in their mission. So for me as a for profit retreat company, I'm taking it from a different approach that requires a little bit more foundation and grounding in the science of facilitation, which facilitation and the retreat industry has existed for decades.
Jessica Quezada [:I went through an Outward Bound course, and they're the oldest outdoor educator school in the world. They train companies. They train businesses. They train CEOs and leaders in this world to even students and high school kids on how to use the outdoors as their school, to teach them to be better leaders and citizens in society. Having come from that curriculum totally opened my eyes to this concept of facilitation and what it means to bring that to US service members and veterans in a very formal educated manner. I mean, Outward Bound, their curriculum has been studied and implemented across many companies. So I think that's the difference in being able to use that and codify it for Libri Risk with our purpose and saying, here's our ethos. Here's our values.
Jessica Quezada [:Here's our practices. How do we utilize travel recreation in the outdoors as this medicinal outlet for our people to learn and grow and become better service members and veterans. Does that make sense?
Captain Kim [:Oh, absolutely. And I love the way that the words that you use, the medicinal. Oh my gosh. That's beautiful. And I do wanna give I wanna let the viewers know because I have watched you, Jess, from when you started to being in a bus unsure of what these activities really were going to be. But you knew you had a passion, and you knew deep down that this is what you needed to do. And you on your own created this and you are such a hard worker. I see your dedication and perseverance, like you going away for a month outward bound to further your education on the outdoors and be a better leader.
Captain Kim [:And at that same time, you are still trying to run this company and you wanna stay tuned in with all your fellow veterans is just, it has been beautiful to watch and now watching you evolve it even more. I cannot wait to go on one of your retreats and really be saturated by the beautifulness that you have really created with this.
Jessica Quezada [:Oh, thank you.
Captain Kim [:Yes, you have. I'm
Jessica Quezada [:the worst to take it. Taking compliments.
Captain Kim [:You just did. You said thank you. So thank you. Well, here, let's do this. Let's talk. Let's talk about the first retreat 2020 and then watch the evolution or listen to the evolution to now.
Jessica Quezada [:Yeah. So I hosted events and put official gatherings together on for the marine corps from my recruiting side. So I just took a lot of that information and experience and applied it to this. In 2020, October of 2020, we did a scuba diving and sea kayaking event, which was done through just like some mutual connections that we had and a bit of planning on my own. And it was so under the table. I was like, alright, guys. I'm gonna pay for everything. Just, like, Venmo me back when you get a chance.
Jessica Quezada [:And that's kind of what happened was people just came out. They had a great time. I didn't really know how to, like, launch conversations or get people connected. At first, that was a bit of an awkward scenario, and it's a part of the art of gathering, I feel like, as well. So from there, we did, like, a bunch of little single day meetups. We went to, like, a museum at one point. We went bar hopping at one point. We went, gosh, we went to a horseback equine therapy program at one point.
Jessica Quezada [:And then I got really gutsy. It was like, alright, let's start making these a little bit longer. So it went from half days to full day events to a weekend long event in Joshua Tree, where I found a large enough campsite for a group of, like, 10 people. They paid for themselves to go rock climbing out there with a really great company, and we can't hang out by the fire pit and really just have these connections through the fireside chats that were very, like, wholesome and real. Like, people took off this mask or this facade that they have been carrying with them throughout their entire week or even their whole lives. So it was really rad. That was so rad. And then and to walk away from that experience and just be like, Oh, my God, this is, like, the coolest thing ever to have fun with people and to be the one in charge of it.
Jessica Quezada [:Then it also did come to some points where I planned some things that did not go well. I had a few failures. One event in particular after it, I was, like, taking shots and getting drunk and fucking passing out. So upset my bus just crying. Like, I'm such a fat person. I don't know why I'm doing this.
Captain Kim [:But that's all part of it. That's all part of, making your own creating your own dreams.
Jessica Quezada [:Yeah. It's the biggest part of it. That's I don't even think that's just one part. I think that's the most important part is getting ready for that failure because it will come regardless and being ready to say, I'm gonna push forward. I was actually having a conversation with the founder of Alpha Coffee, and he has a really wonderful story. You should chat with him. In terms of entrepreneurship, he was like, the definition of being entrepreneur is somebody who can experience setback after setback after setback and still push forward with enthusiasm.
Captain Kim [:I love that.
Jessica Quezada [:Aw. It's like that really spoke to me, and I love that about him and, like, his story, but it's definitely something I've taken on through my time in building LiboRisk.
Captain Kim [:Because you're brave enough to go against the grain.
Jessica Quezada [:For sure. And I will say that competition, it's actually very important when it comes to being an entrepreneur. I'm always surveying the land and looking at who's coming into this industry, who's trying to be the next liberalist, who's copycatting kinda thing. Because it it's not a matter of if it's when. Right?
Captain Kim [:It's when. Yeah.
Jessica Quezada [:Yeah. So there was a company that I saw that was attempting to make something very similar, which is fine. And there was some bad blood that happened because of miscommunication. And, like, that doesn't really matter. Like, I could care less about what they're doing. But what was important to me was that they were trying to host a trip to Alaska. And, one, it was just, like, overpriced for 3 or 4 days of camping and Denali. I was perplexed that this person was trying to, like, rip off veterans to go camping.
Jessica Quezada [:And at the same time, I'm like sitting here. I'm like, If I'm gonna talk so much smack, this person is at least hosting something out of the state. I've never done that. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna plan a trip to Alaska. So I started researching, and I started looking into it, and I was like, woah. First off, Alaska is not that expensive. It is, but it's not to the price that she was selling it. So that gave me a great understanding of, like, the cost in regards to going and hosting a trip there.
Jessica Quezada [:We ended up hosting our 1st out of state retreat in 2023 to Alaska for 7 full days, which was longer than hers. It was cheaper than hers. I think I sold it for a $1,000 a person, which is insane. Like and we still made profit. It was a very small profit margin, mind you, but we still made profit. And I was just like, yes. Like, I didn't compromise quality. I didn't compromise costs.
Jessica Quezada [:I didn't compromise impact on the participants, and we still freaking outdid them. And, like, that to me was the biggest sense of importance to that I derived from competition is the healthy challenge that you give yourself and recognizing your here's your target, but I'm aiming just outside of that. And if I make that, then not only do I make the target, but I make that past end zone. I think that was a phenomenal experience that I had. And was it perfect? By no means. But I made lifelong friends, and it set up the success for what we would do in the next year, which is this year. We not only hosted Alaska again, we did it bigger, better, and we hosted our 1st international retreat.
Captain Kim [:Of course, you did. And I wanna tell you, I feel like the reason you're so successful is because, yes, we do need to generate money in general, but your primary need is not money. I see your primary need is connection and making sure that not just you, that everybody gets connected. And I feel like when you work from a place of that type of need, that everything else is just gonna follow into place eventually.
Jessica Quezada [:Yeah. The money doesn't matter. If you keep community over coin, then the rest of the world will speak for itself. Not just the world, the universe will give you what you want when you need it, when you want it, when you need it. And I think it's very important for us to, as business owners, to recognize the signs and the symptoms of the universe telling you that you're going in the right direction. I have had so many, oh my god, no way that just happened moments throughout all of my retreats where things were just, like, too coincidental. There are so many coincidences that have happened.
Captain Kim [:Okay. Will you share one?
Jessica Quezada [:Okay. For example, this is the gnarliest, and it's kind of silly because I I was like, wow. I'm stupid. We do something special during our retreats where we do a show and tell, and we bring a personal item that is maybe sentimental, military related. Maybe it's funny. It's like whatever you want, but it's a chance for us to get to know you as a person. I had brought this old flag that I picked up at an antique store, like, years ago before I even joined the military. It's huge.
Jessica Quezada [:It covers a whole wall. And I remember at one point, I counted the stars, and there were 49 stars. And I was I always remember that. And I was like, oh, okay. And so I brought this to the Alaska trip. And before that retreat officially started, some of us had gotten an Airbnb to, like, stay there before the trip. And I was telling my friend about I was like, yeah. I brought that for show and tell.
Jessica Quezada [:It has 49 stars on it. It's, like, pretty unique. And she's like, oh my god. No way. I was like, yeah. What's up? And she's like, 49 stars. That's the Alaska flag. Like Oh.
Jessica Quezada [:Alaska is the 49th state. And I was like, no way. No way. I'm so stupid. And she's like, yeah. Like, that's so coincidental. Like, that's amazing. So we brought this flag with us everywhere we went, put it on my backpack, went kayaking with it.
Jessica Quezada [:It was just like and I brought it this year as well. It goes with us on every single Alaska retreat. So that is a very special flag. And the first trip we had there, we had a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran. And he was always every time we brought it out, he would always be the first one to walk up and, like, start folding it and just wanted to take care of it. Like, the sentiment that he had towards holding that flag was so pure and beautiful to watch. So that was incredibly coincidental. There is a very specific quote that I've known since I was a child, and I share it with the participants.
Jessica Quezada [:In one particular moment, what I feel is the most important imperative moment, that retreat, I will then share that. Only then. I shared it during this past Alaska retreat. 1 of the participants had the quote tattooed on them. I was just like, oh my god. And it was a participant in particular who was a bit withdrawn and reserved. So, like, I feel like this moment really spoke to them as if, like, they were meant to be there, and they felt kind of like the sense of togetherness after I had shared that quote. So, yeah, there's way too many to count.
Jessica Quezada [:It's oh, I was on my hour bound course, so this is really gnarly. So we're doing a sea kayaking trip this past year in Alaska, and one of the guides was super cool helping us kayak around there, having a great time. He took a selfie of our group, and I guess he sent it to, like, his friends or whatever, other sea kayakers. Guess who he's friends with? He stayed he's roommates with him. My Outward Bound course instructor for my sea kayaking course. I was like, dude, the world is so small. He was like, you know Joe?
Captain Kim [:I was like, yeah. I know Joe. I know Joe. What? That's so
Jessica Quezada [:small. So small. So those are the things that have happened, and I'm sure plenty others that. Right?
Captain Kim [:Oh my god. And they keep you alive, and they bring other people alive. Oh my gosh. You are doing such beautiful things.
Jessica Quezada [:Yeah. God's given me signs. God, the universe, the unicorn, tooth fairy. I don't know. Somebody.
Captain Kim [:Yes. All of them. All of them. They're all they're all together in part. So what are your next couple of retreats?
Jessica Quezada [:We have our returned retreats, which are operation shred. This is a hybrid, as I like to call it, where part of the retreat is, like, provided by the nonprofit part or organization where it's, like, pretty much free. It is free. And so the other half is including activities from the local area that would be charged. And so it's a way to, like, be able to really keep costs down, especially for, like, a ski and a snowboard retreat, which we valued this thing at, like, $6, and we're able to sell it less than 25100, which is phenomenal. So, yeah, it's really affordable for pretty much 7 days of activities. So we have that in February, and then we're going back to Panama for our international retreat. I fell in love with that country, so we almost have that sold out.
Jessica Quezada [:And that's 10 days in the country going from Casco Viejo and experiencing the culture, the cuisine, the music, the people, and then bouncing over to the islands to go snorkeling and check out the Caribbean. That's like I'm just so excited about that.
Captain Kim [:You just said, like, a 1000 healing modalities in 10 days. Oh my gosh. When is that?
Jessica Quezada [:It's so fun. I can't believe this. It's my job. We have operation shred in middle. No, the end of February. And then Panama is the end of March. Then we are working on a collaborative experience. This will be a first time with an organization to do a skimo expedition of Mount Hood, which will be about a week.
Captain Kim [:What is that? What's a skimo?
Jessica Quezada [:Skimo is like ski mountaineering. So you go up there with your your skis and your skins, and then, like, you hike up the mountain, and then you ski down. So we'll summit, and then we'll ski back down and then have a full week of activities there. We also have, oh gosh, we have our wellness retreat, which is something that we actually did this past year, which was very pivotal. It was kind of a random thing that a lot of people didn't understand. Like, why is LiboRisk introducing wellness, and what does that have to do with travel, recreation, and the outdoors? And it's like, woah. Woah. Woah.
Jessica Quezada [:Actually, a lot. Let me tell you. So we designed a whole wellness retreat based on the methodologies and the teachings that I've been absorbing throughout the past few years. So it's a lot of grounded science in how to enhance your mental, physical, and spiritual well-being so you're actually primed to enjoy these things in life. Because otherwise, you're not actually absorbing. You're not actually experiencing. It's in black and white. Life is in black and white at that point.
Jessica Quezada [:So we're gonna do that again. We're going to North Carolina. That's our climbing and camping retreat. We have Joshua Tree. We have Alaska. We have 2 more that we're adding to this year that are gonna be in other countries, so it's gonna be a very busy year.
Captain Kim [:And how are you doing that on your own?
Jessica Quezada [:I don't prioritize what's on my schedule. I schedule my priorities. Oh. I think that has been the recipe for a lot of things. And because I was living in a bus with such minimal financial responsibilities, I didn't need to work another job. I was eating out of one pot, sacrificing my comforts to not have to take care of rent, not have to take care of any other bills. Yes. It was a very uncomfortable, minimalistic lifestyle, but I did it for 4 years, and I earned my ability to be able to say, this is what I'm gonna focus on a 100%.
Jessica Quezada [:I don't wanna have to have those things and then compromise my time and working another job just so I can earn enough to pay for stuff, to pay for life. I don't wanna do that. So the I think that sacrifice throughout these past 4 years, I know that sacrifice has been pivotal in being able to hyperfocus myself on what that matters right now, which is liberal risk, and then be able to give all my time and attention to it.
Captain Kim [:I love that you chose you and made sure that you knew what was important to you and dug deep. You have like this. So, like, I truly believe, like, from when we're little, even though, like, traumatic things happen to us, If we look at it in a positive light and obviously do therapy, big component of therapy, it does, it helps us like really translate all that inner child that we were at one point in time into a constructive adult. And now you are like amazing. You're doing amazing things. You're so dedicated to your program as you should be. You are bringing joy to the world. You really are.
Captain Kim [:Yes, absolutely.
Jessica Quezada [:I'm trying. I think we all get second chances, you know, and I've I've made my fair share of mistakes. I continue to make my own fair share of mistakes. So this comes at a time where turning 30 and realizing, wow, you know, do I want a family? Do I wanna settle down? Do I wanna do these things? I have to put aside a lot of personal, desires for the sake of something that will outlive me. And that's something hard that's really that's hard to wrestle with, I think, more than people think. They look at social media and they're like, oh, wow. She gets to go do this or she does that and all these different things. It's like, well, yeah, but at the expense of like what? So I think that's been a big part of being able to grow into this position and accept the responsibility.
Jessica Quezada [:It's a privilege to have the amount of responsibility that I do have in building a company that can potentially put food on plates of other people and clothes on their back. What a great thing to be able to contribute to. But at the same time, I have to have to keep a level head and understanding what my needs are as I grow up and how that's gonna affect me in the future. So it's a matter of balance. A homeostasis will never truly achieve, but the approach to it and the consistency in the process is a matter of progress. It's a matter of progress.
Captain Kim [:Jess, you have such good insight on yourself and the world. So I do have a closing question for you. What would you tell women who are already in the military or thinking of making the military a career for them, what advice would you give them?
Jessica Quezada [:I think this is gonna be a controversial answer. So part of me says, like, recognize the fact that you're human and that you have human needs and desires and that yourself development, self-regulation is the most underrepresented emotion and capability that human's adults should have. Like, it is so important, and none of what the military does is supporting that. We are making less and less self-regulated human beings through service to our country because of the backlog of ideologies and mentalities that still exist. We could be eons ahead, yet we are not because we forget the psychology of human beings. If we sat down and really represented what it meant to be human, I think that we would be so ahead of our time. Clearly, women still struggle. And so I would say to them, put your head down and your eyes forward.
Jessica Quezada [:Do what's best for you while ensuring while ensuring that you are maintaining the quality of the war fighting organization that you chose to go into. I will say that because it is a choice. And I think right now, I get a lot of frustration around these TikTok influencers and people who wanna do stupid things in uniforms for identity sake. Well, I'm still me. I'm trying to represent me. No. You're not. If you were, you would take off the uniform.
Jessica Quezada [:I think that there's a lot of devalue that comes from using the uniform as clout, And therefore, it's not a representation of you. It's a representation of the organization that you're utilizing and strategically trying to utilize to build your own identity. That's it's not the same thing. You're not actually building you up. You're building this facade, this caricature of who you are with the uniform on. Who the fuck are you without the uniform? That's important. Go work on that. Go derive value from that in activities and experiences that matter to you.
Jessica Quezada [:So there's kind of a split answer between accountability and pursuit of the individual. Does that make sense?
Captain Kim [:Thank you.
Jessica Quezada [:Of course. Very passionate about that.
Captain Kim [:You're passionate about a lot of things, and it really comes through when you talk about things and you can tell that you have spent time thinking about these subjects and yourself and the way you verbalize them just shows that you have so much passion for them. So thank you for being on and I cannot wait to be part of one of your retreats.
Jessica Quezada [:Thank you. It's been great chatting, Kim. I'm looking forward to connecting with you soon because it's nice to have women in your corner who are in the same field pursuing the same focus of just supporting other people. It's kind of a very tangible connection that you feel instantaneously when you're surrounded by, you know, those I call them infinity stones in your life.
Captain Kim [:Oh, I love them. It's so true though. Right? Like, we're here to provide our unique gift to the world, and we all have different gifts. So instead of being in competition with one another, actually allowing that other person to grow and be supportive of them is just a beautiful place to be. So when we find that group, like when I met you, it's not about competition. You have your own beautiful gift that you're providing and we're doing our beautiful gift in providing that. So there's no reason for competition, just support and love. And on that note, we will bring this to a close.
Captain Kim [:Thank you again for being on our show.
Jessica Quezada [:Thank you, Kim. Great chatting. Thank you.
Captain Kim [:Thank you for tuning in to Dog Tag Diaries. We appreciate your willingness to listen and engage with these stories as we understand the challenge that comes with sharing and hearing them. Your support in witnessing the experience of our military women is invaluable. These stories are meant to inspire and provide meaning, and we hope they can help you find your own voice as well.
Captain Dakota [:If you or anyone you know are in need of immediate help, call the crisis line by dialing 988, then press 1. There are resources available to help and provide guidance during difficult times. Please visit our website, www.revaletandretreatproject.org, to learn more about the Reveille and Retreat Project, including upcoming retreats for military women and resources. The link is in the show notes. We'll be here again next Wednesday. Keep finding the hope, the healing, and the power in community.
