Lisa Carrington Firmin is a Latina, writer, award winning author, poet, and Bronze Star-decorated combat U.S. Air Force veteran. Author of Latina Warrior and Stories from the Front: Pain, Betrayal, and Resilience on the MST Battlefield. Founder/CEO of Carrington Firmin LLC providing writing and consulting services in Leadership, Veteran Culture, Transitions, Military Sexual Trauma (MST) and Diversity and Inclusion. In 2023, she conducted training workshops and sessions to educate military personnel and civilians about MST using the very lived experiences in her book, Stories from the Front.
Her poetry is deeply personal, an intimate reflection into the invisible wounds of MST, PTSD, trauma, combat, hardship, and the joys of her Latina culture. Her art has been exhibited or shared nationally at various universities, VA Healthcare systems, conferences, summits, and galleries. One of her poems, “Invisible Veteran” was featured by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2023 at their historic ceremony to announce a more inclusive motto.
She is the co-editor for the Veteran Book Initiative at Blue Ear Books, assisting those who served in writing and publishing their stories. Carrington Firmin is the founder of The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Office of Veteran and Military Affairs, and the UTSA Top Scholar program. She retired from the United States Air Force as its most senior ranking Latina officer, after leading UTSA’s AF ROTC program to the best in the nation.
Awarded a Bronze Star Medal for efforts in combat as an Expeditionary Mission Support Group Commander in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle in 2004, Carrington Firmin has received many honors and accolades such as the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, 2023 National Latina Symposium Veteran of the Year, UTSA President’s Distinguished Diversity Award, United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce National Latina Leader, Governor of Texas’ Yellow Rose, National Diversity Council’s Trailblazer and Most Powerful and Influential Women in Texas, Texas Diversity Council’s Greater San Antonio LGBT Ally, Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas Trailblazer Award, Distinguished Alumni from Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Community Service Award from National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a Military Writers Society of America book award.