We had the good fortune of connecting with Brianna Walston and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brianna, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Well, I have two businesses. One is BriWalston, for my Travel and Outdoor Adventure content creation, photography, and User Generated Content (UGC). This platform inspires others to get outside, see the world, and doing it scared because sometimes you have to do it solo! I also work with brands I love and support to market their products to my community. My other business is The Roaming Vet, a community for Veterans, Service Members, and Veterans to connect in the outdoors and through travel. My thought process behind starting The Roaming Vet was that I found other outdoor communities, like the amazing group, Outsiders, Together. However, I felt like I wasn;t finding the community that I was missing after I separated from the military. A community that had similar interests and passions in the outdoors, and who understood the struggles of the military and separation. I also found that other service members and veterans were lacking in this community, too. Thus, The Roaming Vet was born. I really struggled after leaving the military and found passion and purpose in the outdoors. My goal is to help others find that, too!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Before starting content creation and photography, I would often ask myself how I was different from other people with similar interests. I felt that I wasn’t unique in a way that would really set me apart. But I am different. I was on active duty in the Air Force for six years, aspiring to become a pilot, working on my private pilot’s license, in a high-profile position, with several high awards and accomplishments. However, I was medically separated. This left me feeling a lack of passion and purpose. It took about a year for me to discover who I was outside of the military because it was all I knew as an adult and I thought I would stay in until I retired. It wasn’t easy because I struggled with PTSD, anxiety, and depression, and I left a 3-year relationship because our interests no longer aligned. I spent a lot of time being scared. Pursuing social media content creation is scary because I didn’t know what I was doing, how to monetize it, how to build a community and connect with people, and I had to leave behind what was, what I thought, the conventional expectation of what life should look like; setting down. The biggest lesson I have learned along the way is to do it scared because nobody is going to take care of you better than you and that whatever you aren’t changing, you are accepting. I want the world to know that life is so much bigger than the boxes people put us in and that we allow ourselves to stay in. Despite the challenges of life, you are so capable of doing big things.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was going to visit me, I would take her to Moab because it is a hub for outdoor adventure. I would take her to Tandem BASE jump with BASE Jump Moab, hot air ballooning with Red Rock Ballooning, go to Moab Coffee Roasters to relax and get some work done, maybe get a stick-n-poke tattoo, eat at the Moab Diner, visit Dead Horse Point State Park, and visit Arches National Park. Moab was one of my first stops when I first started traveling full time and the community and adventure resonated with me. I would love for her to experience these things, too!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I wish I had a more specific answer to this question. However, I think it wouldn’t do justice to shout out a single person. The truth is that I have been fortunate in connecting with so many outdoor enthusiasts, content creators, photographers, and other creatives that have inspired me, and where we don’t see each other as competition, but as a community with shared passions. Each person has individually supported and encouraged me in different ways. To shout out a single person would be wrong of me. I want to shout out Maddy Garrett (Content Creator and Founder of Outsiders, Together), Ky Rae (Outdoor adventure & self-care content creator), Julia (Colorado-Based Adventure Creator), Cody Mayer (Landscape + Travel Photographer), Joanne Hollings (Photographer), and Michelle Lawrence (Photographer). Throughout my journey in content creation and photography, they have impacted and inspired me in unique ways. Through support, encouragement, teaching, sharing, creating together, and being positive impacts on me, the people around them, the environments they create in, and the messages they are leaving on the world.

Website: https://theroamingvet.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briwalston/

Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@briwalston

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutColorado is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.