Jenny Pacanowski is the Artistic Director and Curator of Women Veterans Empowered & Thriving, a reintegration program utilizing free writing and performance to empower experiences and facilitate skills to thrive in daily life. In the military, she served as a combat medic in Iraq and in a medical evacuation unit. Jenny was betrayed by the Army when they did not follow through with the educational benefits written in her contract. This betrayal contributed to an extremely difficult transition back into civilian society. Due to almost losing her life to post traumatic stress, Jenny decided to create empowerment programming to help other veterans cultivate skills and rebuild their lives after military service through storytelling, community and retraining their brains to thrive.