Since 2001, Major Amy Quesenberry of the United States Air National Guard and retired active duty officer in the Air Force, has been deployed a total of seven times. She’s served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the United Arab Emirates. 

During her service, Major Quesenberry served as an Air Battle Manager. She directed complicated multi-aircraft maneuvers. She led a team of up to fifteen people as they made decisions that would affect the lives of pilots in hostile territory. She was a leader and a mentor.  

On her last deployment, she and her husband, a 21-year veteran of the military himself, were sent overseas for upwards of 190 days in two countries. They loved their jobs but they worked sixteen hour days. They missed their children. They missed each other. 

As Major Quesenberry transitioned out of active duty military, she started asking herself what she wanted to do with her civilian life. With all the experiences she had built up over fourteen years of service, she found the transition difficult. 

She said:

“Now that this deployment is finally over I feel like I can finally get my civilian life, as we call it, in order and figure out what I'm going to do. And that is absolutely intimidating. 

When you've had the military for 14 years to fall back on, to not have to worry about writing a resume, not have to worry about doing a job interview. And you've done and seen as much as you have in the military and you've managed lots of people and been in charge of programs.

And all of a sudden you're doing something that somebody right out of college is learning how to do too.”

She isn’t alone. The veteran unemployment rate is nearly double the national average.  

After months of looking for work, Major Quesenberry went to a job fair for veterans and their spouses. At that job fair, she saw Starbucks. Starbucks District manager, Devin Craig, formerly a member of the National Guard, immediately saw the potential in Amy. With her experience leading small teams, mentoring individuals, and her ability to handle high stress situations, she was a perfect fit as an assistant store manager in his district. 

On Veterans Day, 2013, Starbucks will commit to hiring 10,000 veterans and their active duty spouse over the course of 5 years. 

Howard Schultz, Chairman, President and CEO of Starbucks details the importance of this initiative:

“These are people, across the board, who have demonstrated great leadership skills, great discipline, and people who will add value to Starbucks.We think this is the right thing to do for the country, for our company, our customers and every stakeholder of Starbucks.”

MediaStorm, in partnership with Starbucks and Starbucks Armed Forces Network, was tasked with developing a character-driven documentary that speaks to the responsibility Americans have towards returning veterans and their families.

By focusing on the stories of returning veterans, MediaStorm set out to describe the staggering reintegration challenges facing veterans while celebrating their mission oriented focus, teamwork, discipline, service, and diverse work experience--thereby demonstrating their job readiness.

This film aimed to break away from the traditional viewpoint of veterans as charity cases. Instead, it aimed to portray veterans as important members of our community that have the skills and training necessary to become assets to any company. In so doing, the film aimed to inspire audiences to act to honor their service and do more to provide equal opportunities.

To showcase what companies and communities can do to help returning veterans, MediaStorm highlights Starbucks’ efforts to help vets transition safely back to civilian life.

As always, the greatest challenge was finding the right subject. Starbucks, in cooperation with MediaStorm, identified several potential candidates. MediaStorm producer Tim McLaughlin, and cinematographer Lisa Berglund conducted pre-interviews to identify the best candidates. Additionally, with only four weeks to find, develop, shoot, and edit three versions of the project, communication between MediaStorm, Starbucks and the cinematographer Lisa Berglund needed to be open and fluid.

MediaStorm and Starbucks identified clear objectives before searching for the story. Knowing the client’s objectives made the process of finding the right subject, capturing the story and editing the film much more attainable in the allotted time.

Starbucks will use the film on Veteran’s Day, 2013 to help launch their veterans hiring initiative. They will also use the film throughout their organization as a way to highlight the benefits of hiring veterans.

Founded in 1971 in Seattle, Starbucks has become the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world, with more than 15,000 stores in 50 countries. They participate in a number of community support activities, including their Shared Planet initiative, (Starbucks)RED, the Starbucks Foundation, and the Ethos(R) Water Fund.