Founders Edition: STEPHANIE BROWN, FOUNDER OF THE ROSIE NETWORK

Stephanie Brown, CEO and founder, The Rosie Network. Stephanie is a nationally recognized leader and sought-after subject matter expert on military entrepreneurship. As CEO and Founder of The Rosie Network, Stephanie has been featured on numerous national news channels including FOX Business, CBS and NPR. She has also been featured in Woman’s Day Magazine, Business Insider, The New York Times, Military Families Magazine, and U.S. Veterans Magazine, to name a few. She is the widow of retired Admiral Thomas Brown (SEAL) and the daughter of an Air Force Vietnam veteran.

Stephanie has dedicated over 20 years to supporting and advocating on behalf of military families, and veterans. Stephanie is a member of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Military Community and Family Policy, Spouse Ambassador. Network and Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP). She leads the Military Spouse Entrepreneur Task Force working with DoD leaders to empower military spouse business owners and budding entrepreneurs to launch and grow small businesses with confidence and clarity. Stephanie is a founding affiliate partner of the Coalition of Veteran Owned Business (CVOB) alongside Billion Dollar Roundtable companies, and is the Chairperson of the Military Affairs Committee for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. She has also served on the Board of Advisors for California Department of Veterans Affairs, CalVet and Veteran Launch, CDFI.

In January of 2021, Stephanie co-founded the first U.S. Military Spouse Chamber of Commerce (MSCC) and serves as CEO. She was instrumental in developing the first industry-standard Military Spouse-Owned Enterprise Certification (MSEC) and on-boarding corporations such as USAA, Johnson & Johnson, CVS Heath and Disney committed to doing business with certified military spouse-owned businesses.

Stephanie ' sAwards

Department of the Army, Civilian Service Commendation Medal 2019 Veteran Small Business Champion of the Year, Small Business Administration Innovator of the Year, Our City San Diego Small Business Owner of the Year, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Top 10 Most Influential Military Spouse Business Owners, Business Insider HillVets 100 Award, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Military Times 50 Business Leaders Making a Difference, San Diego Business Journal 500 Most Influential Leaders, San Diego Business Journal

The Rosie Network is a non-profit organization founded by military spouse, Stephanie Brown, after spending hours searching on-line for a contractor to do repair work on her home. Preferring to hire a veteran, a vision was born to promote military family-owned businesses to the American public. Shortly after, Rosie’s List was launched, the first of its kind search tool featuring verified veteran and military spouse-owned businesses. Entrepreneurs create solutions to problems. Stephanie did just that in the early years, but what she didn’t expect was to find a greater problem, the lack of training and networking opportunities for veteran and military spouses small business owners, and budding entrepreneurs. The Solution? Service2CEO. What started in Rosie’s Military Entrepreneur Development Center in San Diego - the first of its kind in the region - has grown to provide nocost training, networking, and mentorship to thousands of military entrepreneurs around the country and overseas. “We believe our military members and their families have earned the right to the American Dream of small business ownership. Our mission every day is to help them succeed, ” says Stephanie, “and after 10 years, we are just getting started.

Who better to represent the commitment of a nation to those serving in harm’s way, than the WWIIera icon, Rosie the Riveter? The Rosie Team draws inspiration from her “We Can Do It!” attitude every day.

10

Years

THEWHY

THERE ARE NEARLY 1.8 MILLION MILITARY VETERAN ENTREPRENEURS AND THEIR BUSINESSES GENERATE AROUND $1 TRILLION IN ANNUAL RECEIPTS.

U.S. Small Business Association

ENTREPRENEURSHIP HAS A POSITIVE EFFECT ON VETERANS.

FIFTY-SIX PERCENT NOTED THAT BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR HELPED THEM FIND A PURPOSE AFTER THE MILITARY.

56%

2021 National Survey of Military-Affiliated Entrepreneurs(NSMAE)

MILITARY SPOUSES FACE UNEMPLOYMENT RATES THAT ARE 4X THE NATIONAL AVERAGE

NMSN Roadmap to Employment Stability for Military Spouses

MILITARY SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT IS A TOP-FIVE MILITARY LIFE ISSUE FOR NEARLY HALF OF ACTIVE-DUTY SPOUSES

2021 Blue Star Families Life Style Survey Military spouses, veterans, and active duty service members are choosing small business ownership and in doing so building financial stability for their family, becoming powerful engines of economic development in their local communities, and creating portable career options across the globe. For 10 years, The Rosie Network has led and trailblazed a path for the Military Connected Entrepreneur movement by providing training with our Service2CEO Program, a Military Entrepreneur Development Center an accelerator space in San Diego, ongoing mentorship with our national network, conferences, roundtables, think tanks and continuous education in our growing Alumni Program… just to highlight a few. The Rosie Network believes that those who serve and their families have earned the right to the American Dream. Their success is our mission.

Join us as we celebrate our 10th Anniversary and the nation’s next generation of American business leaders.

T H E M I S S I O N

T H E R O S I E N E T W O R K ’ S M I S S I O N I S T O B U I L D S T R O N G E R M I L I T A R Y F A M I L I E S B Y D E V E L O P I N G E N T R E P R E N E U R I A L P R O G R A M S A N D S U P P O R T S E R V I C E S T H A T E M P O W E R M I L I T A R Y S P O U S E S T R A N S I T I O N I N G S E R V I C E M E M B E R S A N D V E T E R A N S , I N C R E A S I N G T H E F I N A N C I A L S T A B I L I T Y A N D S E L F - S U F F I C I E N C Y O F A M E R I C A N F A M I L I E S W H O S E R V E .