Martina Schmidt

Founder, The She Served Initiative

Martina Schmidt was born and raised in Jever, Germany, a small town in Northwest Germany only a few kilometers from the North Sea. She moved to the United States in 1987, and a few years later she enlisted in the United States Air Force. She served as a Bioenvironmental Engineering Technician and was stationed at numerous bases both stateside and overseas. She deployed to Italy in support of Operation Joint Forge, and to Romania and Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She completed her 20-year military career at the Air War College Counterproliferation Center at Maxwell Air Force Base, retiring as a Master Sergeant.

After retirement from the military Martina began a career with Battelle Memorial Institute as an Air Force and Air National Guard consultant. In 2013 she decided to leave the military business world and pursue her artistic dream of becoming a photographer. She enrolled in a photography portfolio school and after graduating in 2016 formed her commercial photography business, Martina’s Images. Her passion for raising awareness for women veterans and photography led her to a sideline project photographing women veterans and telling their stories to raise awareness that women are veterans too. In 2022 she decided to pursue this venture full time and she founded the She Served Initiative, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Since forming She Served, she has photographed and profiled over 130 women veterans and published 6 magazine issues dedicated to them and their stories.

Martina is married and lives in Roswell, Georgia with her husband Bill and two cats. Both her and Bill love to travel and play pickleball. When Martina is not photographing or on an adventure, she loves to crochet and read.