Life & Work with Rachael Paskvan of National

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachael Paskvan.

Hi Rachael, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I did not grow up knowing I would become a female bodyguard, and I certainly did not imagine that my career would eventually lead me to creating a podcast and platform dedicated to women’s stories.

I grew up as the eldest daughter and spent much of my childhood trying to find where I belonged. After experiencing bullying, I transferred to an all girls school, and that environment changed me. For the first time, I saw what could happen when girls were encouraged to speak up, lead, and take up space. That experience planted the earliest seeds for what would eventually become Femme Force.

My professional path began in the security industry. I became a female bodyguard and built a career in executive protection and corporate security, fields where very few people looked like me. I learned how to establish credibility, trust my instincts, advocate for myself, and navigate rooms that were not always designed to include women. Over time, I progressed into leadership roles, developing and leading protection programs for global organizations.

Throughout my career, I met so many remarkable women with powerful stories, but I noticed that women were not always given the platform or encouragement to share those stories. I wanted to help change that, so I created the Femme Force podcast.

I started without having everything perfectly figured out. I had to learn the creative and business sides of podcasting, including researching guests, developing meaningful questions, conducting interviews, producing episodes, creating social media content, building an audience, and consistently showing up even when growth felt slow. What began as a passion project became a brand, a community, and an important part of my purpose.

I have now interviewed more than 100 women, including entrepreneurs, executives, survivors, authors, experts, and women who have reinvented their lives. Each conversation explores not only what someone has accomplished, but also the setbacks, risks, failures, and personal experiences that shaped her. I want listeners to hear these stories and recognize pieces of themselves in them.

Femme Force has also grown beyond the podcast through speaking, social content, events, and my “What 100 Women Taught Me” series, where I share the most powerful lessons from my guests. My goal is to continue expanding it into a platform that connects women, amplifies their voices, and reminds them that their experiences are worth sharing.

Today, I bring together all parts of my story: the confidence and awareness I developed as a female bodyguard, the leadership experience I gained as a security executive, and the curiosity and creativity I discovered as a podcast host. The path has not been linear, but every chapter has led me closer to the same purpose: helping women recognize their power, own their voices, and take up space in every room they enter.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely not been a smooth road, but the challenges have shaped both who I am and the work I create.

Working as a woman in the security and executive protection industry meant frequently being the only woman in the room. I often had to prove my competence before I was given the same trust automatically extended to others. There were moments when I was underestimated, overlooked, or expected to adapt to systems that were never built with women in mind. That experience taught me how to advocate for myself, trust my instincts, and keep moving forward even when I did not feel fully welcomed.

Building Femme Force brought a different set of challenges. Podcasting can look glamorous from the outside, but there is an enormous amount of work behind every episode. Finding guests, researching their stories, preparing interviews, recording, producing, promoting, and consistently creating content takes time and discipline. Growth has not always happened as quickly as I hoped, and there have been moments when I questioned whether enough people were listening or whether all the work was making a difference.

I also had to become comfortable being visible. As an introvert, interviewing someone else came naturally because the attention was on her story. Sharing my own experiences, promoting my work, and positioning myself as a speaker and creator required a different level of vulnerability. I had to stop waiting for permission or external validation and learn to believe that my voice belonged in the conversation too.

Behind the scenes, I have also navigated major career changes, relocation, loneliness, and starting over in a new city at 39. There have been seasons when I was building Femme Force while also trying to rebuild parts of my own life. Continuing to create during those uncertain periods has not always been easy, but it has made the mission feel even more personal.

The biggest lesson has been that progress rarely looks like a straight line. Sometimes success is a major opportunity, and sometimes it is simply continuing to show up when no one is applauding yet. Every challenge has strengthened my commitment to creating the kind of platform I once needed, one where women can tell the truth about the difficult parts of their journeys, not just the polished outcomes.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My career sits at the intersection of security, leadership, and advocacy. I am a security executive with a background in executive protection, corporate security, event security, and protective operations. I began my career working directly in the field as a female bodyguard and eventually progressed into leadership roles where I developed programs, led teams, managed complex operations, and advised organizations on how to protect their people.

I specialize in building security programs that are both strategic and people centered. Security is not simply about responding when something goes wrong. It requires anticipating risks, understanding human behavior, building trusted relationships, and creating systems that allow people and organizations to operate confidently. I am known for remaining calm under pressure, noticing what others may overlook, asking the right questions, and turning complex security challenges into practical solutions.

I am especially proud of the work I have done to create more visibility and opportunity for women in the security industry. When I entered the field, I rarely saw women represented in protective roles or senior leadership. I understand what it feels like to be the only woman in the room and to have to prove that you belong there. Throughout my career, I have advocated for women to be recruited, developed, trusted, and promoted within the industry.

That commitment also inspired my work outside of corporate security. As the founder and host of Femme Force, I have interviewed more than 100 women about their careers, businesses, challenges, and reinventions. Through the podcast, speaking engagements, events, and social content, I translate the lessons I have learned from both security and storytelling into practical conversations about confidence, leadership, resilience, and owning your voice.

What sets me apart is the combination of frontline experience and executive leadership. I understand what it means to perform under pressure in the field, but I also know how to build programs, influence senior leaders, manage teams, and think strategically. My creative work gives me an additional perspective. Interviewing more than 100 women has made me a more curious listener and a more empathetic leader.

I am most proud that my career has grown into something larger than my own success. Whether I am building a protection program, mentoring a woman in security, interviewing a podcast guest, or speaking to an audience, my goal is the same: to help people feel safer, more confident, and better prepared to step into their power.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The most important lesson I have learned is that you cannot wait for someone else to give you permission to become who you are meant to be.

For a long time, I believed I needed to feel completely ready, have the perfect plan, or receive validation from the right person before taking the next step. My career taught me otherwise. I did not wait until the security industry felt ready for more women before becoming a female bodyguard. I did not wait until I knew everything about podcasting before starting Femme Force. I began, learned, adjusted, and became more confident through action.

Interviewing more than 100 women has reinforced that lesson. Very few successful women felt fully prepared when they took their biggest risks. They started businesses, changed careers, left situations that no longer served them, spoke up, or rebuilt their lives while still carrying fear and uncertainty. Their confidence often came after they moved, not before.

I have also learned that starting over is not the same as starting from nothing. Every experience, including the difficult ones, gives you skills, perspective, relationships, and wisdom that you carry into your next chapter. A setback may change your direction, but it does not erase everything you have already built.

Today, I try to approach every opportunity with curiosity instead of waiting for certainty. I may not always know exactly how the next chapter will unfold, but I trust that I can figure it out. The greatest opportunities in my life began when I stopped asking whether I was ready and gave myself permission to begin.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.femme-force.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/femmeforce_co
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/femmefoce_co
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/femmeforceco
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FemmeForce_co