09/11/2026
🇺🇸 THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE — AND THANK YOU FOR CARING FOR THOSE WHO SERVE.
Our deepest appreciation to Kentucky Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (KY, the Kentucky National Guard, 123rd Airlift Wing - Kentucky Air National Guard, their leadership, and especially the men and women who serve our Commonwealth and our country.
Thank you for welcoming Louisville Beauty Academy and Di Tran University and helping us better understand what it means for the civilian community to stand behind our Guard and Reserve.
We came away with a simple understanding:
SERVICE. FAMILY. EMPLOYMENT.
A Service member does not serve alone.
Behind that uniform is a family carrying part of the sacrifice—and a civilian career and employer that must understand, value, and support that commitment.
That is why the mission of ESGR — Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve — resonates so deeply with us. ESGR develops supportive work environments for Reserve Component Service members through outreach, recognition, education, USERRA awareness, and employer engagement, with the ultimate goal of strengthening readiness. ESGR itself identifies employers, uniformed Service members, and affected families as central to its work.
Our small part is workforce development.
Louisville Beauty Academy Ă— Di Tran University operates at the intersection of:
Education • Workforce Development • Employment • Entrepreneurship • Small-Business Development
Louisville Beauty Academy has helped nearly 2,000 graduates move toward licensed professional careers. Many go on to work in salons, operate independently, open businesses, become instructors, and ultimately become employers themselves. The school estimates that its alumni contribute approximately $20–$50 million annually to Kentucky’s economy.
In 2025, this work received national recognition.
🇺🇸 Louisville Beauty Academy was named a U.S. Chamber of Commerce CO—100 Honoree — among America’s Top 100 Small Businesses — in the Enduring Businesses category.
And that same year, Di Tran of Louisville Beauty Academy was selected as a finalist for the National Small Business Association’s Lew Shattuck Small Business Advocate of the Year Award. NSBA specifically highlighted advocacy extending beyond one’s own business or industry and recognized work advancing small businesses and underserved communities.
That advocacy matters here.
Because supporting workforce does not stop with creating jobs.
It means advocating for the people who do the work.
That includes the citizen-warriors who may leave their civilian workplace when our country calls—and then return to their careers, businesses, coworkers and families.
Our own instructional workforce has included veterans and military spouses, making this commitment especially meaningful to us.
Yesterday, signing the Statement of Support for the Guard and Reserve was therefore not another award for the wall.
It was a commitment.
A commitment to understand and honor USERRA.
A commitment to support employees who serve.
A commitment to recognize the values, leadership and unique skills Service members bring into the civilian workforce.
A commitment to encourage employment opportunities for Guardsmen, Reservists and Veterans.
And a commitment to continually recognize and support Service members and their families—in peace, in crisis, and in war.
Those are the commitments ESGR asks employers to make when signing the Statement of Support.
And because our graduates become professionals, entrepreneurs and employers themselves, we have an opportunity to carry that understanding forward into thousands of workplaces, small businesses and families over time.
Service strengthens America.
Families sustain those who serve.
Supportive employers strengthen readiness.
Workforce development creates opportunity.
Small businesses turn opportunity into communities.
We are grateful for every local, state and national recognition Louisville Beauty Academy has received.
But recognition is meaningful only when it increases our capacity and responsibility to serve.
To Kentucky ESGR, the Kentucky National Guard, the 123rd Airlift Wing, our veterans, Guard and Reserve members, military spouses and families:
Thank you for your service.
Thank you for your sacrifice.
Thank you for allowing us to learn how to better support you. 🇺🇸
Recognition is appreciated.
Commitment is lived.
Service continues.
LOUISVILLE BEAUTY ACADEMY Ă— DI TRAN UNIVERSITY
Education • Workforce Development • Employment • Entrepreneurship
ELEVATE ONE LIFE AT A TIME.
