Making a Difference | Sharlene Wells Hawkes

 

About Sharlene Wells Hawkes

Sharlene Hawkes was previously VP of Communications with Monarch Health Sciences where she was responsible for all corporate brand communications. Additionally, she was one of the first women to work for ESPN and worked as an award-winning sportscaster nearly 15 years, covering such events as World Cup Soccer, the Kentucky Derby, the French Open and Big 10 football. Later, in 2002, she co-founded Best of State, a premiere awards program for businesses, organizations, and individuals. In 1985, Sharlene became the first and only foreign-born Miss America. She is a popular author and speaker, addressing such corporate audiences as Prudential and CitiCorp. Sharlene graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Communications from Brigham Young University, and holds an MS degree in Integrated Marketing Communication from the University of Utah.

 

Interview Transcript:

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Sharlene Wells Hawkes. Sharlene, welcome to the show.

Sharlene
Thank you always great to be with you.

Alan
So Charlene, let’s start with your background. I miss American fits into your life. So

Sharlene
30 years ago, we go back three decades on that one. Yeah, that was 1984. I was 20 years old. I was a baby. But it was an interesting year, I learned a lot, a lot of trial and error, but great discovery year for me.

Alan
And then and then you fast forwarding that you’re today with ESPN?

Sharlene
Well, that was I worked with ESPN for 16 years. But I left a long time ago. 2005 is the last time that I worked with them. It was just I was making a big transition over to business. So and then, of course, with children and everything was really too difficult to continue on with that kind of lifestyle.

Alan
So how was it? You know, it juggling career and family? Was it easy for you?

Sharlene
Oh, gosh, yeah, it was tough. Because I worked with ESPN for the for seven years full time. And during that time, so my three of my four children were born. And so I was really ramping down. It just got harder and harder and harder. And fortunately, I had the help of my mom came over and helped when I had to go off for college football. I did five years of sideline football for big 10. And so that was every single week I’d be gone three or four days during the football season. So that was probably my hardest. But then I started ramping down. I just did a lot of freelance work, and then went back and got my master’s degree. Finished that in 2005 and then got into business. So that’s where I really originally intended of being but ESPN was kind of a fun sidetrack.

Alan
Just a touch point. Not a lot of women working for ESPN when you started.

Sharlene
No, I was the third woman to work there on air. And what was that? Like? Oh my gosh, I didn’t set out to be a pioneer or anything. I didn’t set out for any of that. I just really loved sports. And I wasn’t an expert by any means in sports, especially not when it came to data collection. What I loved was the microcosm of life’s drama down on the field, the court the track, you know, it was you just see all these David and Goliath stories and the triumphs against all odds and the you know, devastating defeats and the amazing comebacks, and that’s the part that I loved about being with ESPN. So I got a chance to do a lot of World Cup soccer. I was the the reporter the feature reporter for the US team during that time. World Alpine championships, Kentucky Derby, French Open, a lot of pre Olympic kind of stuff, college football, so at a good time.

Alan
And of all the sports that you’ve covered, which was your favorite.

Sharlene
You don’t have to say World Cup soccer because I was in Argentina in 1978. I grew up in South America. I was born in Paraguay. Yeah. Tell me about Yes. Well, so I spent most of my formative years in South America, but I was a teenager in 1978 in Buenos itis, Argentina, when they hosted now, they didn’t host they were they won the World Cup soccer. And the country went wild. And to be right in the middle of that. I mean, it was it was incredible. So I had followed soccer ever since then. So to be able to cover World Cup soccer for about six months in 94. I think it was was really really incredible to be on the field during the final Brazil Italy.

Alan
That was amazing. So being in South America, you’re fluent in Spanish.

Sharlene
Yeah. It’s getting a little rusty. You know, it’s been a long time. I’ve been down there but yeah, I grew up speaking just the general the Argentine Spanish with the sound.

Alan
Now I got you here. I remember you for Miss America. Your when your talents was the harp.

Sharlene
The Paraguayan harp. Yeah, cuz I was born. My son was young.

Alan
I remember that day.

Sharlene
Yeah, exactly. Wow. Look at you. It was very different. Yeah. Nobody else playing the Paraguayan harp.

Alan
No. And in you just learned that in your spare time.

Sharlene
When I was down in Argentina, and I was I was about 12 years old when my dad took me back to Paraguay because I hadn’t been there since I was a baby. So he took me back there. And I just fell in love with the Paraguayan heart the it was just such a beautiful sound, very romantic sound. And so I wanted to learn so we found a Paraguayan harp teacher in Buenos itis. And he would come over to my house and teach me and so several years later, I got good enough that it could make for a nice presentation for Miss American. And I sang along with the playing the harp. And you know, it’s all about differentiation. Sometimes. I actually grew up playing the piano. My mom was a concert pianist, but there were a lot of other pianists back there. So you know, it’s kind of like oh, it’s gonna be different well, and Paraguayan harp so it worked.

Alan
That a great culture there. How many brothers and sisters?

Sharlene
There are seven of us seven siblings. I’m fifth of seven. I have two older sisters, two older brothers and then two younger sisters. So you right in the middle of the pie, but I’m the oldest of my mom and dad married because my dad was a widower, he had three children. And when he met my mom who had been divorced and she had a daughter, so they got married, and then I came along, so I kind of feel like the oldest of the second batch. We’re a blended family. But I grew up with, you know, all my my, technically my step sisters and brothers, but I didn’t feel that I just felt like they’re my sisters and brother.

Alan
I’m here today visiting with Sharlene Wells Hawks, she is a former Miss America. Also well versed experience at ESPN and a Charlaine. We need to take a quick break. Okay. And I want to fast forward this when we get back to remember my service. That’s all about so we’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Sharlene Wells Hawkes. We’ve been talking about your your journey through life Miss America, ESPN. And we’re we’re catching up now to what you’re working on. Now. Remember my service and tell tell us a little bit about that, oh, this

Sharlene
Has become my passion. And I have to say of all the fun things that I’ve been able to do in my life, this is probably my favorite. Other than being mom, moms. That’s number one. Because it’s been crazy, right? But I love my kids. But about 10 years ago, I started working for story rock, which is a technology company in Salt Lake City. And I came on as the Chief Marketing Officer and very soon after that, where we specialize in digital content management. And we got approached by a general officer of one of the largest geographical commands in the Army Reserve. And he said, I need help managing our digital content. I have my public affairs officers that’s grabbing content over here, photos and videos and newsletters and everything, but I never see it. It’s on some computer somewhere. My historian, my soldiers, my families, they’re all gathering all this content that’s being hidden on computers everywhere. I want to do something with it, I need a collection of this, I need to bring it all together and tell our unit story. And then give it to my soldiers and say thank you for your service. Here’s what you did. Here’s who you served with here the sacrifices that were made the accomplishments of together, you know, that we did together. And so we did that and it’s just exploded for the last 10 years it’s grown. We’ve now worked with half the National Guard, we’ve worked with army divisions with the Navy. And more and more of these commands are coming to us to help them tell their story, not only for the preservation of their legacy and their history, but because it builds morale, it builds pride and unit cohesion when they all know what they’ve accomplished together. So gradually over the last few years, I’ve really put all my attention on the remember my service division of story rockets now a wholly owned subsidiary. In fact, that’s what I’m doing out here in San Francisco is not only speaking tonight, but because I’m working with a bunch of companies on sponsorships for some of these commands. Also sponsorships for some work that we’re doing for the Department of Defense and their commemorations. We just finished a big project with the Korean War, 60s commemoration, we’re gonna do the same thing for the Vietnam War. 50th commemoration.

Alan
Wow. And so getting getting included into the remember my service so that people, soldiers, veterans contacting you, or how do they.

Sharlene
We have become kind of a sponsor broker. It’s not it’s not my role, necessarily, but we’re kind of the middleman. So companies or individuals that want to sponsor a brigade or sponsor our Vietnam or 50th commemoration or something to show their support. They contact us and then we match them up. For instance, I got contacted by a woman in in Ohio, who said my dad served in the army. She’s a CEO of a company, she said, I want to support one of the brigades in the army. And I said, Well, number one on our list is the 1/25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Fairbanks, Alaska, she’s in Ohio, they’re in Alaska, she says, great, but I’ll sponsor them. So she took care of the whole. So all 4500 of these soldiers are getting their historical record, as you know, thanks from her and from the commanding officers.

Alan
Organizing the data that goes in there, how who runs that process?

Sharlene
You know, our team, we have developed such a great process over the years, what we do is we match up, I have a team of three assigned to every command. I have a project manager, I have a video specialist and our graphic design, and those three work with that command. We give them a checklist of all the stuff that we need, and I just say, here’s all my all my stuff. It’s like a treasure checklist, you know, you’re gonna go out there and find it, bring it all send it to us, that usually takes about eight weeks. They send it to us, and then we go to work. We do all the design layouts, we do all the video editing of all the stuff that they send us all the B roll all the interviews and everything, and then we deliver it back to them in a very high class archival quality with a hardbound book coffee table book, and ebook, multimedia ebook that is then shared with no restrictions to anybody that they want to help tell their story.

Alan
And you know, use social media or the websites want them to.

Sharlene
Yeah, anything that they want. So it’s on its full mobile applications, everything that they need, and we archive everything that we do with the Library of Congress, with the senator military history with the Army historical foundation, the naval historical Foundation, National Guard, bureau. All of them get it.

Alan
I’m visiting here today with Sharlene Wells Hawks, we’ve been talking about her current project and role that she’s playing it. Remember my service, which is documenting the life of service for a lot of the veterans here in the United States. And certainly we need to take a quick break. We’ll come back and I want to talk more about your passionate life and eventually what do you want to at the end of the day you want to the people to remember you bye. We’ll be right back after these messages.

Alan
Welcome back. I’m here today with Sharlene Wells Hawks is She’s a former Miss America. She’s a ESPN, former ESPN host for several sporting events. And and then she’s working on her current project is remember my service, which is helped to archive and put together documentaries towards the service of the veterans that have served in America across all the armed forces. Today’s

Sharlene
Military, yes. How? How did

Alan
you find your passion in life and what led you into this?

Sharlene
You know, I’ve always been about walking through open doors, and never really just just closing off everything just because either I was too scared to try it or something like that. So if there’s an open door, and there was an opportunity, I’m like, Okay, I’m just gonna try it, I’m gonna give it a shot. Because really, when I was a kid, I thought I was going to be a veterinarian, or, and then I thought I was going to be an architect. I mean, really, I never dreamed ESPN, because ESPN didn’t exist. When I was a teenager, I thought maybe concert pianist or something. So I had all these different ideas, but I thought you know what, I’m going to just grab opportunities. And one thing would just leave to another and I would just just keep grabbing those opportunities. But I how I found my most current passion was really just getting into the work and and making sure that I was around people that I really respected. So when I went on with this company was storey rock, I went on mostly because of the people and because of their mission, and their mission was to preserve history. And at the time it was with schools. And then it was like, wow, this is so broad. We can do this and this. And then after we worked with our first military command, I went, nobody else is preserving their history, they’re having a challenge everybody else in the military is having a challenge, we can help with this. And the more I dove in, and when you find out that there’s nobody serving a need, then you’re really excited. Because it’s like I can do this, I can actually make a difference. And when you feel like you’re making a difference, you feel like you got a purpose in life. Not that I didn’t beforehand. But as much as I loved sports, I didn’t really feel like that was making a difference in the world. Because I was enjoying myself. But I wasn’t really making a difference. And I was seriously on the sidelines of life, not just the football game, I was watching everybody else do stuff and reporting on it. But it just didn’t feel like I was personally involved. So for me to get personally involved in preserving history, you know, they make history every day our our men and women who are out there serving on our behalf and preserving our way of life. And for me to help make sure that their legacy of service is remembered and preserved and that they’re able to pass it on. I heard one soldier. In fact, we got it on camera. And he said, You know, I don’t know much about my father or my grandfather’s service in the army because he came from a long line, but my children and my grandchildren will know about mine. And that really mattered to him. So everything that we do with the military just matters a lot to me. And it just it feels like I’ve found exactly what I’m supposed to do. And here it is taken. I’m half century now. This is my 50th year.

Alan
I love it naturally.

Sharlene
So thank you. You know,

Alan
I would say there’s a spiritual aspect to what you’re doing here. These men and women had, you know, gave everything they had laid their life on the line. And then they come out of the service and they have a lifetime to think about it. When I often see people Fully interviewed, and they talk about their service, a lot of emotion behind that memories of those that didn’t make it.

Sharlene
Oh, exactly. And it is a brotherhood and a sisterhood. I mean, it’s, it’s really a very unique bonding experience for them. That is very difficult for them to share with others, because they don’t know really how much they’re going to relate to what they’re telling them. And so very often they don’t. So what we do is put it into a format that makes it easier for them to share what they have done, gives them a communication platform, my background actually is not in history, it’s in communication, both my degrees are in communication. And communication is so powerful towards the healing process. It helps when the more you communicate, the more people understand. And the more they understand, the more likely they are to support. And when somebody feels supported it, they feel more resilient. So this connection between communication and resiliency is powerful. So that’s kind of what what I’ve been getting into is I want to get right down to the resiliency part of it. Tell your story, share your story. Help others understand your story. And you will feel more supported.

Alan
That of all the stories you’ve done is one that stands out. Oh, well.

Sharlene
Yeah, oh my gosh, so many of them. I went over to Iraq, and Afghanistan in 2009. In 2009, October is when I went up to Afghanistan, and they took us up to a forward operating base up near Pakistan border. And and it was right about five miles down the road from COP Keating command outpost Keating, where just two weeks before they had had one of the bloodiest ambushes of the war, eight of our guys were lost. And the survivors had come down to this forward operating base. And we spent two hours talking with them. And it was their first time sharing what happened fact, they were really hesitant to talk about it, but because of my whole history and communication, I knew how important it was pull it out of them. And so they started talking and started talking very hard for them. One of them, I said, and it was a it was a big aha moment for me. And he’s I said, Where did you find the courage that nine silver stars came out of that, and to Medal of Honor recipients from that, that one ambush that day, but this soldier said, you know, I said, Where did you find the courage? And he said, Oh, I did not feel courageous. I was scared to death. But I’ve been trained to react with courage. And that is so significant, because that’s like all of us. I mean, we have to train ourselves, to react with faith, to react with courage, we can’t just all of a sudden expect, oh, I’m going to be courageous. When the time comes. You have to plan for what that time comes when you have to make that decision. Or when you have to do that. You train for that?

Alan
Surely anything. When everything’s said and you’ve had a unique path in life, South growing up the South American department of yours, Miss America, ESPN host now working on remember my service? When everything’s said and done, though? What do you want to be remembered for?

Sharlene
As mom? My mom, my kids, you know, I, I, the best thing I’ve ever done is be a mom. And I have four great kids and my husband, we’ve been married 20. So 27 years, 27 years next month. And just that’s that’s what makes me the happiest. And you know what I learned a lot during my Miss America years huge year of discovery. And the thing that I learned the most was that I am not interested in fame. I’m not interested in certain things because I got exposed to it. And I went, Oh, that’s not a motivator for me. Most people don’t know that until after they’ve spent 30 years getting there. And then they go, Oh, this is it. I don’t know. So fortunately, I realized that for me, it would be my family. That would mean the most to me. So of all the things I have been able to do some fun things but mom is the most important.

Alan
Thank you. Now, just one last note. Remember my service as a person get more information on go to.

Sharlene
Remember my service.com and there’s lots of ways to contact us there or email me info at remember my service.com

Alan
been busy here today with Charlene Wells Hawks. And certainly thank you for being on today’s show.

Sharlene
Thank you so much. It’s great to be here with you. Thank you

 

We hope you enjoyed this interview; “Making a Difference | Sharlene Wells Hawkes”.

To receive our free newsletter, contact us here.

Subscribe our YouTube Channel for more updates.

This transcript was generated by software and may not accurately reflect exactly what was said.

Alan Olsen, is the Host of the American Dreams Show and the Managing Partner of GROCO.com.  GROCO is a premier family office and tax advisory firm located in the San Francisco Bay area serving clients all over the world.

Alan L. Olsen, CPA, Wikipedia Bio

 

 

GROCO.com is a proud sponsor of The American Dreams Show.

 

The American Dreams show was the brainchild of Alan Olsen, CPA, MBA. It was originally created to fill a specific need; often inexperienced entrepreneurs lacked basic information about raising capital and how to successfully start a business.

Alan sincerely wanted to respond to the many requests from aspiring entrepreneurs asking for the information and introductions they needed. But he had to find a way to help in which his venture capital clients and friends would not mind.

The American Dreams show became the solution, first as a radio show and now with YouTube videos as well. Always respectful of interview guest’s time, he’s able to give access to individuals information and inspiration previously inaccessible to the first-time entrepreneurs who need it most.

They can listen to venture capitalists and successful business people explain first-hand, how they got to where they are, how to start a company, how to overcome challenges, how they see the future evolving, opportunities, work-life balance and so much more.

MyPaths.com (Also sponsored by GROCO) provides free access to content and world-class entrepreneurs, influencers and thought leaders’ personal success stories. To help you find your path in life to true, sustainable success & happiness.  I’s mission statement:

In an increasingly complex and difficult world, we hope to help you find your personal path in life and build a strong foundation by learning how others found success and happiness. True and sustainable success and happiness are different for each one of us but possible, often despite significant challenges.

Our mission at MyPaths.com is to provide resources and firsthand accounts of how others found their paths in life, so you can do the same.