In March 2016, at Brussels Airport, Gail Martinez shielded her daughters from the blast. She saved their lives. She lost hers. What her husband built from that loss is this company, this book, and every room he has stood in since.
He served on five combat missions — one in Iraq, four in Afghanistan. He has stood in front of more than 100 audiences and told this story without notes, without armor, and without asking anyone to feel sorry for him.
He is a retired Colonel, a Purple Heart recipient, and a combat-wounded veteran. He is also a father of four. He built this company so that what he learned — from war, from loss, from the specific work of choosing to continue — could reach people who needed it.
What combat service teaches about pressure, decision-making, and getting up when everything in you says stay down. Built for teams in high-stakes environments.
The difference between surviving trauma and being transformed by it. Kato's personal journey from combat wounds to keynote stage — and the science behind the shift.
Authority built not from rank or title but from the willingness to be known — broken and whole. A framework for organizations ready to lead with authenticity.
The wound doesn't end your story.
Sometimes it's where the story finally begins.
— Kato Martinez · Her Love Still Carries Us
Gail's Love, Unbroken: Our Journey Beyond the Brussels Attack
A husband and father's account of the morning that took everything — and the love that refused to stay behind. Kato writes about Gail, about survival, about the particular weight of continuing when the person who believed in you most is no longer there to see it.
This is not a story about being unbreakable. It's about what happens when you break — and who you become on the other side.
Kato built this company in her name because she would not have built it in her own — but she would have wanted it built. Every part of what Gail's Dragonfly LLC is and will become is a conversation with her.
Kato reviews every inquiry personally. Tell him your audience, your date, and what you're hoping they leave with.
Submit a Speaking InquiryKato's vision is a foundation in Gail's name — one that opens its arms beyond the veteran to include military spouses and dependents. The people who serve alongside service members. The ones who carry the family while the family is away. The ones still carrying it after.
In Guam, the Andersen Officer's Spouses Club created the Gail Minglana Martinez Scholarship Foundation in her honor — because of everything she gave that community when she was part of it. That's the seed. This is what grows from it.
More to come.
