Gracefully Global Group, LLC
Recognized by President Obama’s White House as a “Woman Veteran Leader, Champion of Change,” Graciela Tiscareño-Sato is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, turned graduate of the University of California at Berkeley where she majored in Environmental Design/Architecture.
Details of the White House honor are here. The recording of the White House event is here.
She simultaneously completed Cal’s Aerospace Studies program as an Air Force ROTC scholarship cadet and was named Distinguished Graduate upon completion.
Upon her subsequent commissioning as an Air Force lieutenant, Graciela then completed Undergraduate Navigator Training, KC-135R aerial refueling tanker crew and flight instructor training. She deployed multiple times to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to fly combat operations sorties over Iraq and earned the prestigious Air Medal with her crew, a full year before women were officially allowed in combat roles. The Air Medal is selectively awarded to U.S. military personnel for meritorious achievements in aerial combat, including acts of heroism against an armed enemy. Graciela is the first Hispanic Air Force aviator ever awarded that distinction for valor.
During her decade-long active duty aviation career, Graciela earned a Master degree in International Management, with emphasis in global marketing, from Whitworth University in Spokane, while she was stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base.
Upon separation from the Air Force, she was hired as a global marketing manager in Silicon Valley at Siemens Enterprise Networks headquartered in Munich, Germany. There she managed product marketing teams, created and delivered executive and reference customer communications, global leg launches of flagship enterprise applications, and regularly presented to Fortune 1000 executives in English and Spanish.
Graciela then worked for an Israeli solar photovoltaic electronics startup headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel introducing the company to the North American market, creating marketing strategy, leading all marketing messaging, operations and trade show events in Mexico, USA and Canada.
Now a social entrepreneur with a servant heart, Graciela is the founder of a certified woman/veteran/Hispanic-owned publishing and marketing communications firm, Gracefully Global Group, LLC. She’s also the author of several innovative, bestselling, and award-winning books including nonfiction Latinnovating: Green American Jobs and the Latinos Creating Them (entrepreneurship case studies showcasing positive contribution from the entrepreneurial Latino American community) and her ground-breaking bilingual children’s picture books (Good Night, Captain Mama / Buenas noches, Capitán Mamá, Captain Mama’s Surprise / La sorpresa de Capitán Mamá and Taking Flight with Captain Mama / Despegando con Capitán Mamá), the first-ever bilingual book series about women serving in the military.
Her latest contribution to literature, B.R.A.N.D. Before your Resumé: Your Marketing Guide for Veterans & Military Service Members Entering Civilian Life was created to aid her fellow military veterans with the very difficult process of creating AUTHENTIC Personal Branding as they enter the civilian marketplace, an activity made more challenging by military culture that deemphasizes an individual identity in favor of the team/squadron/unit. Graciela has trained over 6000 military veterans and corporate professionals in the art of crafting intriguing, targeted personal branding stories for professional networking, offline and online.
Her work as an award-winning author has garnered 13 literary honors, eight of those in international competitions.
Graciela is a sought-after bilingual keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership, advocacy and intersectionality. She serves a wide variety of audiences ranging from corporate professionals to students in K-12 schools and students and staff at universities. A more detailed biography is available at the Captain Mama site here.
Graciela was honored by LATINA Style Magazine as the Entrepreneur of the Year at the Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund Gala in Washington D.C. Subsequently, Ms. Tiscareño-Sato was honored by the Business and Professional Women's Foundation with an National Business Women's Week award. The latter ceremony was part of the Women Veterans Career Development Forum that took place at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial and included a keynote speech by First Lady Michelle Obama. See the photo album here.
Her Congressman gave a moving tribute to her life and work here.
A popular source for media professionals doing stories in English and Spanish, her media clips are extensive and available here. Her thought leadership pieces and OpEds have published in the U.S. and Europe including such industry journals as Environmental Leader, Hispanic MBA Magazine, Communications News, Future Reflections and many others.
Graciela lives a love-and-chaos-filled-never-boring life in northern California with her husband and three young adult children, including her first-born daughter Milagro –a Braille-reading student who is thriving despite her dual-sensory-impairments. You can follow Graciela on both LinkedIn and Instagram below. See her inventions at shop.gracefullyglobal.com
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