From Trauma to Triumph: Army Veteran Makissa Lewis on Healing, Iraq, and Building a Seesterhood for Women Veterans

About this episode

Army veteran Makissa Lewis discusses her journey from trauma to healing and the importance of support for women veterans.

Summary: In this episode of Dog Tag Diaries , host Captain Kim sits down with Army veteran Makissa Lewis for a deeply honest conversation about service, survival, and sisterhood. Makissa shares her path from Jamaica to New York, then into the Army right out of high school, where she hoped to prove she was stronger than people expected. She opens up about surviving military sexual trauma before there was even common language for it, deploying to Iraq after 9/11, and living with the lasting effects of PTSD. Most of all, she talks about turning pain into purpose by founding My Seester, Inc., a nonprofit that supports women veterans in South Florida. This episode is a powerful reminder that healing often starts when someone decides to create the support they needed most. In this episode, we cover: Why Makissa joined the Army straight out of high school How books, writing, and faith helped her cope through hard transitions Her experience with military sexual trauma in Germany What Iraq was like and how combat stress stayed with her after coming home Why women veterans are too often unseen in military and civilian systems How My Seester, Inc. was born out of a need for real, in-person…

People in this episode

Host: Captain Kim

Guest: Makissa Lewis

Topics covered

• military service
• sexual trauma
• PTSD
• women veterans
• nonprofit support
• sisterhood
• healing

Keywords

• military sexual trauma
• PTSD
• women veterans
• nonprofit
• healing
• sisterhood
• Iraq

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: My Seester, Inc.

Places: Jamaica, New York, Iraq

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