Member since November 2025
Marilyn Richards is a dual-service U.S. Navy and Air Force veteran, trauma survivor, and the founder of Echo Tango Sierra, LLC, a veteran-focused transition and empowerment company. As a Keynote Speaker, and Trauma-Informed, Life Transition & Military Transition Coach, Marilyn helps service members, women, and communities navigate life transitions with confidence, clarity, and resilience.
Drawing from her own lived experience, Marilyn bridges the gaps left by traditional transition programs by blending military discipline, faith, trauma-informed practices, and her signature “big sister” approach. Her talks offer a powerful mix of authenticity, storytelling, and practical strategies that help audiences heal, reset, and rise after difficult seasons.
Marilyn speaks on military transition, trauma-informed leadership, resilience, women’s empowerment, faith-based strength, and post-traumatic growth. Passionate, relatable, and deeply grounded, she inspires others to transform adversity into purpose and live life on their own terms.
Helping people rediscover their strength during seasons of transition puts a smile on my face. I light up when I talk about resilience — especially when I can take the hardest parts of my story and turn them into hope, clarity, and direction for someone else. Guiding veterans and women out of survival mode and into confidence, purpose, and emotional freedom is what fuels me. I love reminding people that they’re not broken — they’re becoming.
"From Survivor to Founder: Turning a Calling Into Echo Tango Sierra”
For over a decade, I carried a dream quietly inside me — a vision born from my own journey as a dual-service U.S. Navy and Air Force veteran, trauma survivor, and someone who had to rebuild her life from ground zero. After years of suppressing parts of my story and navigating military trauma, transition challenges, and identity loss, I realized that my lived experience wasn’t just pain — it was purpose.
In 2023, after spending 20+ years helping veterans informally through encouragement, career guidance, and spiritual support, I finally took the leap and created Echo Tango Sierra, LLC. What started as a personal calling became a real business: a place where I could combine faith, resilience, military discipline, and trauma-informed wisdom to help others through the very battles I once fought alone.
Echo Tango Sierra was built from scratch — no investors, no roadmap, just the belief that transformation is possible when we stop surviving and start living with intention. My “best story” is not just launching a business, but proving that healing can create impact, and that your voice can become the very tool God uses to set others free. Today, I help veterans, women, and trauma survivors transition with confidence, find their identity again, and thrive on the other side of adversity.
My journey is proof that your story can turn into strategy, your pain can turn into power, and your purpose can become the legacy you build.
Echo Tango Sierra was born from my own journey of navigating military transition twice — once after the Navy and again after the Air Force. I carried trauma, responsibility, and survival mode for years, thinking that was “normal” because service members are taught to push through. My a-ha moment came when I realized that most veterans aren’t struggling because they lack discipline — they’re struggling because no one taught us how to transition emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
I created Echo Tango Sierra to bridge that gap. What started as helping one veteran at a time quickly grew into a calling: to provide trauma-informed, faith-centered, holistic support for the parts of transition that no one talks about. I built what I wish I had — a place where veterans can be human, heal, and thrive.
Trauma changes us — but it doesn’t get to define us. In this empowering and deeply human talk, Marilyn Richards shares her journey as a dual-service veteran and trauma survivor to illuminate what true healing and post-traumatic growth look like in real life. Blending lived experience, faith, resilience science, and trauma-informed practices, she helps audiences understand how to move from surviving to thriving with compassion, courage, and clarity.
Attendees will learn how trauma impacts identity, relationships, confidence, and purpose — and how to rebuild each with intention. Marilyn offers practical strategies for grounding, emotional regulation, mindset renewal, and reconnecting with one’s voice after seasons of hardship.
This talk is ideal for:
Women’s empowerment events
Mental health & resilience conferences
Veteran and military-affiliated audiences
Faith-based communities
Public service, leadership, and workforce wellness programs
Audience Level:Beginner to Intermediate
Key Takeaways:
Understand trauma's emotional, mental, and spiritual impact
Recognize signs of survival mode and how to shift out of it
Learn trauma-informed tools for resilience and self-compassion
Discover how to rebuild identity, confidence, and purpose
Walk away with hope, clarity, and actionable steps for healing
Marilyn’s storytelling is raw, relatable, and filled with encouragement. Attendees leave feeling seen, grounded, and ready to rise again.
"From Survivor to Founder: Turning a Calling Into Echo Tango Sierra”
For over a decade, I carried a dream quietly inside me — a vision born from my own journey as a dual-service U.S. Navy and Air Force veteran, trauma survivor, and someone who had to rebuild her life from ground zero. After years of suppressing parts of my story and navigating military trauma, transition challenges, and identity loss, I realized that my lived experience wasn’t just pain — it was purpose.
In 2023, after spending 20+ years helping veterans informally through encouragement, career guidance, and spiritual support, I finally took the leap and created Echo Tango Sierra, LLC. What started as a personal calling became a real business: a place where I could combine faith, resilience, military discipline, and trauma-informed wisdom to help others through the very battles I once fought alone.
Echo Tango Sierra was built from scratch — no investors, no roadmap, just the belief that transformation is possible when we stop surviving and start living with intention. My “best story” is not just launching a business, but proving that healing can create impact, and that your voice can become the very tool God uses to set others free. Today, I help veterans, women, and trauma survivors transition with confidence, find their identity again, and thrive on the other side of adversity.
My journey is proof that your story can turn into strategy, your pain can turn into power, and your purpose can become the legacy you build.
Echo Tango Sierra was born from my own journey of navigating military transition twice — once after the Navy and again after the Air Force. I carried trauma, responsibility, and survival mode for years, thinking that was “normal” because service members are taught to push through. My a-ha moment came when I realized that most veterans aren’t struggling because they lack discipline — they’re struggling because no one taught us how to transition emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
I created Echo Tango Sierra to bridge that gap. What started as helping one veteran at a time quickly grew into a calling: to provide trauma-informed, faith-centered, holistic support for the parts of transition that no one talks about. I built what I wish I had — a place where veterans can be human, heal, and thrive.
Trauma changes us — but it doesn’t get to define us. In this empowering and deeply human talk, Marilyn Richards shares her journey as a dual-service veteran and trauma survivor to illuminate what true healing and post-traumatic growth look like in real life. Blending lived experience, faith, resilience science, and trauma-informed practices, she helps audiences understand how to move from surviving to thriving with compassion, courage, and clarity.
Attendees will learn how trauma impacts identity, relationships, confidence, and purpose — and how to rebuild each with intention. Marilyn offers practical strategies for grounding, emotional regulation, mindset renewal, and reconnecting with one’s voice after seasons of hardship.
This talk is ideal for:
Women’s empowerment events
Mental health & resilience conferences
Veteran and military-affiliated audiences
Faith-based communities
Public service, leadership, and workforce wellness programs
Audience Level:Beginner to Intermediate
Key Takeaways:
Understand trauma's emotional, mental, and spiritual impact
Recognize signs of survival mode and how to shift out of it
Learn trauma-informed tools for resilience and self-compassion
Discover how to rebuild identity, confidence, and purpose
Walk away with hope, clarity, and actionable steps for healing
Marilyn’s storytelling is raw, relatable, and filled with encouragement. Attendees leave feeling seen, grounded, and ready to rise again.