By Hayden Seder
Idaho resident Genevieve Chase was recently named a L’Oréal Paris “Woman of Worth” nominee for her work with American Women Veterans, a Sun Valley-based nonprofit organization Chase founded in 2009 to support fellow women veterans. Chase is one of 10 nominees for L’Oréal’s program, which honors women who selflessly volunteer their time and serve their communities.
Before settling in the Wood River Valley, Chase bounced around the globe with her father, who was serving in the U.S. Army. She graduated high school in South Korea.
“I knew if we ever went to war, I was going,” Chase recalled. “I just didn’t believe it would happen in my lifetime, but when it did, I didn’t want to sit on the sidelines anymore.”
Chase was a self-proclaimed workaholic, actively involved in real estate in Arizona during the housing boom, when she took a personal inventory that changed the course of her life.
“I looked at the people in the real estate community and they had great homes and cars, but they weren’t happy,” Chase said. “Eleven days after I started my real estate career, 9/11 happened and the friends I grew up with were joining to go to war, one by one. By the time the war in Iraq started, in 2003, I knew I was done.”
Chase quit her job, signed up, and was deployed to Afghanistan as an intelligence officer with the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army in 2006. She learned the Pashto language spoken in Afghanistan.
It was there that Chase had the experience that forever altered her, physically and emotionally, and lead to the founding of her organization.
While deployed, a car carrying large amounts of explosives crashed into her truck, causing her and the other passengers to suffer external wounds as well as traumatic brain injuries. Still, they remained for the duration of their deployment.
“We have this motto in the Army, ‘suck it up and drive on,’ so we think we have to take care of everything on our own and can’t admit that there’s a problem,” Chase said. “It’s a culture that needs to shift.”
After returning home, Chase suffered from PTSD, depression, and suicidal thoughts. It was the end of 2007 and there weren’t many resources available for women veterans at the time. The process to apply for any assistance from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs was extremely complicated.
“I didn’t even know I needed help—I was in complete denial,” Chase said. “When I tried to get help, I was so far down in the pit, I didn’t know where to go.”
Chase decided that she wanted to be part of the solution and to make sure that soldiers and people she served with in Iraq and Afghanistan didn’t come home and not know what resources were available to them. “If there are organizations out there, they need more awareness. If not, people need to start them, get funding and get the public aware to fund them.”
In December 2008, Chase hosted a breakfast to listen to women veterans and started her nonprofit, American Women Veterans, the following year. The organization is a non-direct company, meaning they work on policy advocacy initiatives and talk to Congress, universities, cities, and corporations about how to include women veterans, as well as advising veterans and connecting them with services like the Veteran Resource Line.
As a L’Oréal Paris “Woman of Worth” nominee, American Women Veterans will already receive a $10,000 donation, but, should Chase be the winner, the organization will receive an additional $25,000, which Chase has plans for.
“I would love to create chapters around the country that will be able to connect women veterans with resources in the community or at the state level,” Chase said. “We want to be an overarching organization that provides awareness and input in the communities and the public at large. A majority of women veterans didn’t identify as veterans until recently; when people hear veteran, they often think of the white male profile. We want female veterans to be aware of resources and to identify as veterans.”
Becoming a L’Oréal Paris “Woman of Worth” nominee has been a validating experience.
“I was overwhelmed and overcome with gratitude when I found out I was a nominee,” Chase said. “It felt like this recognition came at a point when I was still trying to recover from personal setbacks. The Woman of Worth nominees are doing such incredible things to help their communities directly; these women inspire me.”
Being seen and recognized for her organization, as well as as a woman veteran, is a dual accomplishment for Chase, who explains that women veterans often feel unseen and unacknowledged.
“I don’t know how to explain the toll it takes,” Chase said. “Being a ‘Woman of Worth’ is about raising the profile of women veterans and military women. I don’t like to promote myself, but I love promoting the work of the organization and the work it does to promote individual women veterans.”
Supporters can vote for Chase online at womenofworth.com until Nov. 30.
