Amy Parrinello pursued a childhood passion, but as an adult found a new one in public service and training people with TEMS.
Amy grew up with a childhood dream of one day becoming a veterinarian – just about every child wants that. But the difference was Amy actually followed through with her childhood dream and entered the veterinarian field.
However, it wasn’t exactly what she expected. She never developed a passion for it.
That’s when she discovered something completely different that changed her life forever.
“I ended up riding along with the fire department, loved it, and started in that career,” Amy said.
It appeared Amy had a bug for public service all along. She grew up in a law enforcement family with both her parents and sister all in law enforcement. Unfortunately, her father was killed in the line of duty. But that didn’t stop her from entering a different high-risk career in public service.
TEMS Tactical Training
But she didn’t stop there.
She was so passionate about the first responder profession, that her and her husband started a niche training company, Florida TEMS.
She explains how it all started. “He did a lot of SWAT training and tactical medicine with the military, so I started training with him. We recognized there was a big gap between what was being provided for military members and what was being provided for law enforcement as far as medical care and training,” Amy said.
Amy’s company provides very realistic training scenarios involving active-shooter and officer involved shooting incidents. They have a team of people who act as victims of an active shooter (blood make-up and all) and re-create a scene as detailed and accurate as possible.
“It’s dynamic and tactical. We believe a lot in practice like you play so everything is loud noises and scenario based to do a positive stress environment for the officers,” Amy said.
Amy and her husband’s training program is well known among the military and law enforcement community. They have traveled as far as Japan to help train others. They are willing to go anywhere so they can help people learn and improve their tactical skills.
But it isn’t an easy journey. Amy still encounters judgment by virtue of her gender. But once she begins training and teaching others, all the judgments quickly go away.
It’s that same strength that can help women everywhere. Her message to any woman considering starting a business is:
“Just do it. If you have a passion for something and you see there’s a gap in whatever that is, then you need to go for it.”
And Amy continues to go for it.
You can check out her training company by visiting www.floridatems.com
Have you heard about Trudy’s other Great American Women?
-Karen Medford left her successful career in the corporate sector behind to open Sirius Day spa. Karen feels it’s one of the best decisions ever!
-Jen Satterly was on the brink of leaving her husband because of his PTSD, but decided to give up her career and dedicate her life to understand Post Traumatic Stress and later founded the All Secure Foundation.
-Toni Brinker is revolutionizing how impoverished communities can thrive with One Community USA. Check out the full video interview of Toni.
Who is Trudy Jacobson?
Trudy is an entrepreneur and leader. Her path to success and entrepreneurialism started in the trucking industry decades ago. She encountered numerous obstacles in the male-dominated industry- like discrimination. She was even conned out of a lot of money in a fraudulent scheme. Despite all that, Trudy always fought hard and pushed forward. Once she realized she was capable of anything, she went on to start her own company and excelled. Now she empowers other women to do the same and to learn from her experience. Trudy now highlights their stories for the world to see in the Great American Women Series. Trudy wants women everywhere to know they can achieve their goals.
