We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Beierle a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Rachel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I’m a military spouse, and its next to impossible to work a traditional 9-5 when you’re having to move every 2-3 years, dealing with deployments, and other crazy stuff so I started my own design business, Beier Le Design to continue my creative work (I’m an Interior Designer). When we moved to Edwards Air Force Base (a very remote location), I got super close with the community, both the spouses and the squadron in general and it brought me back to when we were stationed at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, TX (another very remote base). I think when you’re stuck in a remote location like this its important to lean on that community, at least that’s what works for me! Since I’m hanging with the spouses all the time I started noticing a lot of the same pain points brought up-lack of things to do, long drives into town, typical fast food options, nowhere for family to stay, and of course I can’t help but notice, (sorry on base developers), but a lack of good design. That’s when The Mil Project was born. I want to use my background and skillset in design to modernize and improve the lodging, dining, and retail experiences around the military. This project will be a collective of creative, mixed-use developments near remote military installations, and will serve as a bridge connecting the local community with the nearby military base. There’s currently nothing out there like this, and I truly feel this is going to change the entire outlook on military living, especially when you find out you’re being stationed at a remote base. Instead of dreading assignments and hating where you’re stationed, maybe you’ll actually look forward to it when you know there’s a Mil Project located nearby. We’re working on first bringing this to life at Edwards, but envision this all over the country, integrated with all branches, not just the Air Force.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Im an Interior Designer who originally thought she wanted to go to Medical School. After moving to the Bay Area after college, I realized that wasn’t going to work. Being in Silicon Valley, I was suddenly surrounded by people who loved what they were doing, and they were doing BIG THINGS. I wanted more, so I started thinking what else would I do? I actually minored in Studio Art FOR FUN, so I knew it had to be something artistic, I just never realized I cold make a career out of doing something artistic. It sounds ridiculous looking back, but honestly I just didn’t know! Once I got through this mindset shift, I decided to switch gears and I got into the MA program at The Academy of Art in San Francisco for Interior Architecture and Design. This changed everything for me. I interned for Kendall Wilkinson and planned on moving into full time employment there, until my husband, Connor, was selected to become a pilot in the Air National Guard, and training for him was about to begin. During this time I went back home to New York to work for a commercial design firm, and gain experience in that arena, but once his training was over it was time to move into a new role. A role I had no idea what to expect – the military spouse.
I knew I was about to jump into a whole new type of life, but I definitely underestimated exactly what I was getting into. My nice little design career was about to be put on hold. However, I wasn’t going to let a remote base keep me from being creative so I started doing E-design services for clients, working remotely before remote work was actually a thing! Being a military spouse sort of forced me to build my own thing which honestly is a total blessing. When we made it to DC (the base we would be stationed at), I was excited to go back to work at a nice architectural firm again (which I did), but after having kids, going through deployments, and another military move on the horizon, it just reassured my entrepreneurial intentions and I decided to go all in on my own firm, Beier Le Design, and soon after, The Mil Project.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Branching into Real Estate Development, I’ve noticed there’s not a lot of women, so being able to adapt and be resilient is important to not getting overwhelmed, or overly intimidated. I also remind myself that most of these people don’t even realize what you as a military spouse have gone through. It doesn’t matter to me how “hard” something might be or if it hasn’t been done before, there’s always a way.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I’ve pivoted many times in all of these areas! First, when I knew it didn’t feel right going to med school anymore. If you’re dreading going to work day in and day out then you should know something isn’t right. And also, you don’t know what you don’t know. I loved art as a child, as a young adult, and still today, but I just didn’t know I could make a career out of being a creative. Once I figured out you can truly do anything you want in life, especially when you’re so young, I wasn’t afraid to do anything! I think this realization has also set me up really well for being a military spouse, and eventually starting The Mil Project. You can’t really “plan” much with being a military spouse, and as much planning as I do for our development project, something always comes up! Pivoting is something that happens everyday, especially for entrepreneurs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Themilproject.com
- Instagram: @themilproject
- Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/rachel-beierle
Image Credits
Bronte Mcquade