Meet Masen Baker

 

We were lucky to catch up with Masen Baker recently and have shared our conversation below.

Masen, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

The Keigan Baker Memorial Foundation was started after the passing of my brother Keigan Baker, a Combat Controller in the Air Force’s Special Warfare program. Keigan had lived a life fulfilled through the love of the military and specifically Special Operations, training day in and day out with a plan of becoming a member of that community. After achieving that goal by graduating the Combat Control (CCT) pipeline, he ventured into the next step of that career path by attending Combat Dive School, a program driven to make it students efficient in underwater operations in combat, such as underwater navigation, team infiltration dives, deep dives, diving physics, marine hazards, tides and currents and closed-circuit and open-circuit dives. While at this school, Keigan tragically passed away during training.

During the years leading up to his career path into Special Operations, as well as during his time in the community and training pipeline, Keigan was driven to help others along their own journey into the same career. Whether helping others succeed physically, educationally, with their motivation, or even determining which career field they wanted to go into based on the skill-sets those individuals had, Keigan was a born leader and helper. When Keigan passed away, we knew we had to take his name, legacy, and those amazing qualities, and continue to help the people in need whether they were past military members, current military members, Gold-Star Families, or the future generations of Special Operations soldiers! The Keigan Baker Memorial Foundation (KBMF) was created as beacon of support for these groups while also acting as a reminder of Keigan, his legacy, his story, and his love for the community. As we venture into year 5 of this foundation, our mission is the same as day one……..”We strive to support the Special Operations community, Gold Star families, and Veterans.

We will accomplish this mission through partnership with entities that provide mentoring and training opportunities geared toward US SOF careers, and organizations which support Gold Star families and Veterans.

We will keep Keigan’s legacy alive by supporting others with the same passion and commitment, working diligently toward service to others, and assisting both individuals and organizations impacted by military service/loss.”

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

Growing up with Keigan as my only blood brother, I grew up as most younger brothers do….. looking up to their older brother as a superhero and role model as they took on life ahead of you! When Keigan passed away, I knew that he made too big of an impact and was loved by too many people to let his name and legacy fade as the years went by, which is why the Keigan Baker Memorial Foundation was created. Keigan had mentioned that later in life and after his service time, he wanted to open a business with the purpose of training and preparing individuals with ambitions of going into Special Operations which is why when Keigan passed away, we knew that was something we wanted to make become a reality. We partnered with a company called SOCOMATHLETE, America’s #1 resource for Special Operations career preparation. Through SOCOMATHLETE and their events, the Keigan Baker Memorial Foundation provides scholarships for some of these students , paying for their event access and cost, allowing them to further their training towards Special Operations without the cost. To date, the we have provided 22 scholarships and $12,235 provided for these scholarships. Our partnership with SOCOMATHLETE has been a huge focus for us and furthering the impact we have on the community, however we hope to make big impacts outside of just training! Along with providing scholarships, the foundation has donated $12,980 to other organizations and their efforts as well.

As a marketing business owners outside of the foundation, I get to see both sides of business, the side fueled by making money and the side fueled by love and compassion that does not come with any money. Running a non-profit foundation is a full-time job all on its own. From the beginning of creating this foundation, we made the promise to use all funds received directly for foundation costs, meaning that 100% of the money received is used for exactly what we advertise it to be used for and we take huge pride in that! My compensation from this foundation is purely being able to see the impact we make on people’s lives whether they are past military members’ current members’ Gold-Star family members, or the individuals who received scholarships during their path into Special Operations.

We are excited to continue to build this foundation form further connections with other people and organizations that will make the Keigan Baker Memorial Foundation more impactful than ever.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

When it came to running a non-profit foundation, most of what I learned was on the go! Forming and operating a marketing company on the personal side of my life helped tremendously in our ability to market ourselves, develop content and strategies going forward, helping make us look professional to others.

What helped in my case with this foundation is what I see a lot of other people lack in their journey’s….. and that’s passion for what I do. It is hard to work hard on something if it’s something you don’t believe in whole heartedly, especially for free! Having that passion allowed me to work hard on making this foundation unforgettable and never looking back because it wasn’t just my name attached to the foundation, it was my brothers name who was a lot more important to me.

Passion for what you do is what gets your through those tough periods, the unknowns, and the long nights in your journey. Beyond passion, I would say that you should be open and driven to learn new skills and to not be afraid to get out of your comfort zone.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

The Keigan Baker Memorial Foundation is always looking for further ways to make an impact on the military community! Our focus is on veterans, Gold-Star families, and future members of Special Operations, so if you run or know someone who runs an business or organization focused on one of those categories, we would love to see how the Keigan Baker Memorial Foundation could become a part of that journey and vice versa.

You could connect with us be emailing “[email protected]” or going to our website “keiganbakermemorialfoundation.com”.

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