Maritime Milestones: Breaking Barriers with Angelica Brooks

I am Jennifer Karpis-Romain , executive Director at the Transportation Marketing and Sales Association , which is a trade nonprofit educating and connecting marketing and sales professionals in the industry , and today I have Angelica Brooks , director of Communications , marketing and Events at the Women in Maritime Operations , also known as Wemos , so excited to have you on the

show . I know we had fun technical glitches to get here , but it'll be all worth it in the end so we could have this chat . Welcome to the show , angelica , thanks . Thanks for having me so excited . So you wear many hats in your life . So you're a director of communications at WeMost , you're a Coast Guard reserve officer . You're a Columbia graduate .

I want to start with your journey and how did you find your way into the maritime industry and communications and kind of what keeps you here ?

so I will have to say it first started with communications . So growing up I was always a communicator . I did speech , competitions . I knew I was interested in public relations and marketing . I just didn't know what a career looked like in those fields whenever I was a kid .

So I knew going to college that that was something that I was going to be interested in and want to pursue . So I'm actually from Oklahoma , oklahoma City . So , as you can imagine , we don't really have a maritime presence there and we also don't have a Coast Guard presence there .

So the way I found myself into the industry was I attended Spelman College in Atlanta , georgia . In my freshman year there I learned about the Coast Guard College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative , which is a scholarship program that's equivalent to ROTC and the other branches , and whenever I learned about that program I was like wait a minute , that program .

I was like wait a minute so I can do this program , get my bachelor's , my master's paid for , have a full-time job . Like what 18 year old would not see that this is like a great opportunity . So my freshman year I decided that I was going to apply for this program . So fast forward . I ended up getting accepted .

I go through basic training the summer after my sophomore year in college and then after I graduated from Spelman , I commissioned as an officer in the Coast Guard and my first assignment as an ensign was aboard the Coast Guard Bark Eagle , which is a tall ship , is a tall ship and I really wanted to be assigned to that ship in particular because it is the

goodwill ambassador training platform public affairs vessel of this country essentially . So basically what the ship does is it about six months out of the year . It will travel to different US ports as well as overseas , and it will host foreign governments and militaries for different receptions , for Goodwill Ambassador initiatives .

So I had to work with public affairs for the Coast Guard , with the State Department , with the Department of Homeland Security , in order to create our communication plan for each of our deployments . So that was really my first job as a communicator and in maritime . So that was basically my introduction and from there I knew I wanted to stay in communications .

I knew that this was something for me , that it was really interesting and it was fun and I started learning on during that tour on the Bark Eagle , that communications could look so different . It transcends all industries . Everyone needs an effective communicator and you can basically go anywhere with it .

So from there , that was about 10 years ago , and from there I've really just transitioned to different parts of my career . I love being in the Coast Guard , I love being able to serve my country , and so , after seven years of active duty , I decided that I was going to take a different career path and be able to , so I could pursue communications full time .

But because I love my service so much , I decided to stay in the reserves . So I've been in the Coast Guard for about 10 years now .

I started my career in journalism and always gravitated more towards the industrial space , which was interesting for me because previously I wanted to write for the New York Times , because every journalist you see in every movie ever known that's the only place they work and so but you don't hear about all the other pieces .

And so then I transitioned from journalism to marketing and that's how I feel too , like it's there , it needs to be there , it's in every space , in every place . You just have to find it and then market things differently or communicate things differently , which is really cool . So I'm glad you kind of share that joy and passion there .

Obviously , your journey then led you to Wemo , so I would love for you to tell our audience kind of more about the organization and its mission

.

And that's when Casey Eckstein , the founder of Wemos , came running up to her and was like hey , we hardly ever see female Coast Guard inspectors . We would love to do a joint event with the Coast Guard . So the girl comes back and she said hey , ms Brooks , like this is basically what happened .

I don't know what to do with this information , I'll pass it to you . So I said , okay , sounds good . So I learned more about it . I spoke with my command and we ended up hosting a joint event at the unit where we had about 30 WMOS members come for lunch and learn . I hosted on the Coast Guard side and the Houston chapter hosted on the Wemos side .

And that was my first introduction to Wemos and for me at that point I think I'd been in the Coast Guard about five or six years I was just floored . I hadn't done anything or joined a professional organization outside of the military yet .

So this was my first introduction to a professional network of women who also worked in maritime , who were in different points in their career , and they offer free membership to active duty military members . So then again , I'm like , why would I not pursue this opportunity ? Sounds amazing . So , basically , wemos is a nonprofit organization of women .

We currently have about 1,300 members across the United States , canada , nigeria and Iran , so it's really amazing that we're starting to have this global expansion , that we're starting to have this global expansion . We're about eight years old , so still relatively new .

We have about 13 different chapters across the United States primarily , and we're in the process of becoming a registered non-governmental organization in Nigeria , so really excited about that progression . Our members represent over 300 companies .

We host more than 120 events each year and basically our mission is to recruit , retain , promote and advance women with maritime careers .

We , of course , our goal is to be applicable to all modes of commercial transport but , admittedly , maritime doesn't reflect a lot of our membership , but we want it to and we want to include more of that maritime space and so loved getting to hear about your journey and hearing more about Wemos and how we could potentially support each other .

I do think Wemos is doing important work to support women in maritime . I love organizations that . Really , we are still a male dominated industry across the board in transportation and logistics but the women are , you know , rising , getting more and more places . I loved hearing about the different places you guys are going , how you guys are growing .

Over the past couple years Is I know you just touched on getting that in Nigeria , but is that the biggest impact that you are proud of so far in your time at Wemos , or is there something else you wanted to highlight ?

I transitioned after my tour in Houston , I transitioned into the Coast Guard Reserves and then I moved up to New York City and went to grad school at Columbia to get my master's in communications . And this was the first time in my career where I was like I am officially pursuing this as a career opportunity . I'm going in this direction .

I have this love for communications and marketing and I just want to explore that more . And so at that time , I'd already been a Wemos member for about a year and so they brought me on part time as a social media intern . So at that point this was in 2022 , we barely had a social media presence .

You know we had things on the website , but you know we we weren't really telling our story . We hadn't done um , a survey , a member-wide survey , or had any type of like data reports , um . So there was still . We were still so new and so young . So everything that's transpired since then it's just been very exciting for me because I've been along that journey .

So over the past few years since I've been with Wemos , we have done a member-wide impact survey and we've been able to not only share that digitally , but also well digitally as in on our website , but also in newsletters , annual reports and videos . So we've gotten a lot more mature at telling our story , which for me , my perspective , I'm like oh my .

God , this is exactly what we needed to do to share the heart and soul of our organization . Other things that we're excited about is the fact that we are expanding globally and we are starting to receive strong interest from women abroad who are like hey , we're also women in maritime and we want to start a women's chapter here .

So I work a lot with the C chapters , as we call them , where we have significant interest and they're wanting to create an official Wemos chapter . So I work heavily in supporting those growing chapters .

We also have launched a annual sponsorship menu , which is something that's helped us as a different revenue stream for the nonprofit , which is great that we have that opportunity . We're hosting more fundraising events across the country which are aimed at engaging our members in the maritime community in those activities .

For example , we host a clay shooting tournament , which several of our members they told us like hey , we never shot guns before , but a lot of the guys in our office they go on these hunting trips , they go to these clay shoot tournaments . So those are things I was never involved in because I didn't feel comfortable doing that . I'd never done it before .

So not only are we providing shooting lessons , but we're also hosting an annual clay shoot to bring people in the community together and making it a more comfortable environment . Same with golf golfing as well . We have a golf tournament and do golfing lessons .

Another thing that's really exciting that we've started over the last couple of years is a junior chapter at Texas A&M University . So something that we're really working on is creating this pipeline for women who are young women who are studying maritime or who are interested in maritime and they are trying to get their foot in the door .

They're trying to see what that looks like .

So we're starting these junior chapters at universities and at some point it will also be expanded to high schools as well , and they're structured the same as an official WMOS chapter , where they have lunch and learns , they have speaker events and then they also are in close proximity to the Houston chapter , about an hour south , so they're able to have partnership

with them . And the last thing I'll mention that we've been able to start up in the last couple of years is a mentoring program . So the mentoring program the mentors have to be WMOS members and the mentees , or as we call them , our protégés .

They can be any woman in the industry or interested in joining the industry and we pair them with the WMOS member , and so we now have over 120 women who are involved in that program and it's just continuing to grow as we promote it at different conferences or on our website , social media , word of mouth , et cetera .

So , yeah , we have a lot of amazing things that WMOS has grown to that we're excited for , and so many more places to go . But that's a few things that we've accomplished in the last few years .

mentorship program . That's something I want to get started and we have like little pieces but like holistically . I love that you guys were able to launch that . But besides that , what advice would you give ?

There are other people out there who have similar experiences as me and , at least for me , it made me feel less alone in that struggle .

So that's a reason I think I just loved Wemos so much and why I've been just so wholeheartedly involved in this organization for the last four years three years as an employee and one year as a member , three years as an employee and one year as a member and because just being able to build community and just connect with people in such an authentic way it

makes me feel just more connected and it makes me feel more confident and assured , in that you know , what I'm feeling is not unique to me and there are other people who have experienced this . And then it just I don't know what else to say other than it makes me feel it makes me be able to bring my whole self to work .

Because then I'm like , okay , it's not just me , I'm good , so now I can continue on my way and get out of my head a bit .

I think , in terms of leadership , one of the best things I did was become a mentor , because I have like a terrible and I still do is getting a little bit better but like an imposter syndrome , because I'm like I don't know what I'm talking about ever and other people think I do , which is great and I love that .

But it wasn't until I started really mentoring the people who are really up and coming , those coming out of college , those like fresh into their careers . I was like , oh , I really do have something to offer , like I'm in this midpoint ish of my career . So I don't feel like I'm this person that's been in this space forever , that has all of the answers .

But I started to realize like , oh , I do provide value and they are looking to me for this type of advice and that helped me substantially and it pushed me like I remember the first time I applied to be a mentor .

It pushed and it was at like a women in STEM program , which felt really uncomfortable for me because I never thought of myself as like super math or techie , but I was working at a tech firm at the time as a marketer , but still and so like pushing myself out of that comfort zone , exploring my own horizons and then helping the people who are upcoming , or

just like we talked about at the beginning , like communications marketing it's everywhere , but how can we make it applicable to the spaces we're working in ? Beginning , like communications marketing , it's everywhere , but how can we make it applicable to the spaces we're working in ?

So that was like a huge thing for me is realizing I do provide value and helped me become a more confident and competent leader because I was shaping that as I went along . So that's always my advice Don't be afraid to be a mentee or a mentor .

So whenever I was stationed on the ship I was 22 years old , fresh out of college , I majored in economics and Spanish , so I had no navigation background and now I'm managing initially was a team of two and they were subject matter experts . They were probably mid thirties at the time and I was very intimidated .

I was very intimidated because I felt like I'm being put in this completely new position of responsibility with something don't have a background in . So imposter syndrome is real .

And I was also lacked so much confidence in myself during that period of my life , lacked so much confidence in myself during that period of my life , questioned everything I said , everything I did , because I just felt like I was not qualified for the role I was interested to be in by the Coast Guard and by my leadership , and so I had a really hard time in

that role for so many different reasons and I think at that point in my career if I would have had that support system on the ship of being able to connect with people , especially since we were gone so much .

You know , it's like really hard to have community when you're stationed on a ship If the people that you're on a ship with aren't in that community for you , you know , like people that you connect with really well .

So that's why , whenever I found Wemos , I was like , wow , this is amazing , because it's other women who have been like , yes , I've had imposter syndrome . Yes , I really struggled . Or whenever I've spoken to women who've been full-time employees , have children , you know , and and it's just like amazing to hear the the different experiences people have .

And I think the beauty of Wemos is that it really brings people together from so many different backgrounds . But you can come together and be like , oh , that's amazing , what have you done ?

And then just being able to talk about that , um , that's why I say you know , being able to create that connection in a very authentic way and it makes you feel more comfortable and confident and being able to show up to work , because you realize like you aren't the only one who has that experience .

So , yeah , it's been life changing for me and that's why I really try and promote the organization because I see the differences made for me , so I know it will be able to make a difference for other people as well .

no-transcript . I've always had to wear many hats , especially like growing up , being the , you know , oldest of four siblings , being a daughter also being , you know know , very involved in everything I did bands , uh , sports , everything .

So even from a young age , like I , had to wear many hats and I had to show up in different ways , and it's been the same as an adult as well .

And so now , being a working for Wemos it's , I'm just keeping on , keeping on doing what I do honestly , because I've already been conditioned for this , and I think that that's why , um , the board of directors and I work really well together is because they understand , like , where I'm coming from and what I bring to the table , and it's , I think , just just a

beautiful blend of just cultures and backgrounds to be able to make Wemos into what it is today .

It will be on August 26th and , as I mentioned , I'm having tech issues , so we're doing this interview in Zoom and not on our normal streaming platform , but we will put the registration link in the show notes instead of popping it nicely on the screen like I normally do . However , I'm really pumped about it .

What we're going to do is we're going to feature a TMSA member , so IMC Logistics will be coming on , and then WeMost member , port Houston , will also be coming on , and we're talking about the full scope of what happens in all the parts of logistics , because we felt like sometimes , people who are more on land don't understand what happens in the maritime , and

vice versa , so we wanted to do this joint collaboration . So what are you looking forward to for this webinar ?

So , yeah , I'm really excited for this joint webinar and thank you so much for the opportunity .

I'm really looking forward to this because one of my missions as the executive director at TMSA is to really serve all commercial modes of transport and make sure that we're providing education and resourcing for all of those , and I think one of the ways we can do that best is by partnering with other industry associations , that we cover everything for sales and

marketing people . But then we have these other wonderful industry associations that are segmented to one of the commercial modes , and so being able to partner with stuff like this and expand both of our educations , I think is pretty powerful for both organizations . So I'm excited about it and looking forward to August 26 .

So hopefully all of you guys will join us . And that takes me to my last question that I ask everybody who comes on the show and if that's , if you could go back in time and advise a younger self anything personally or professionally , when

would

you go back to and what advise a younger self ? Anything personally or professionally , when would you go back to and what would you tell ?

However , life doesn't always go according to plan , and that is okay , and whenever you embrace change and opportunities as they come , you will be able to explore and experience so much that is outside of your realm of imagination , because , as a young person who grew up in a relatively small city , your scope is relatively narrow , and then the more you speak to

people , the more you get out and experience and explore , the broader your scope will become , and explore the broader your scope will become . So don't limit yourself , it's okay . Change is inevitable . Just roll with it , that's what I would tell her .

I know she has a personal mission to get more maritime folks into TMSA , so love that . This will be our last on the move for the summer , as everybody goes into , you know , kind of more personal life . We thought we would take a little breaky break , but fun fact about on the move , we only feature people that are associated with TMSA .

So either industry partnerships like we most , our members , our speakers , any of that . So if you're interested in coming on the show , we will be back in September and we're excited to highlight , so we will also put the link to come on the show , tell us what you want to highlight and we will see everybody in the fall .

But don't forget August 28th or 26th August 26th the Wemos and TMSA webinar . Um , and excited for all of the above and to get back into the swing of things . So thank you , angelica , for coming on the show and for partnering for this webinar , and thank you everybody for listening , and I will catch you guys all in a few months . Bye you .