Moving to Hollywood without a Plan

The first adjustment was just the move itself. “My first day out was in pursuit of moving physical location from Charleston, South Carolina, to the Air Force Base there, out to Los Angeles,” he recalled. He didn't have a set plan yet; he just had a destination and a dream to bring his skills to Hollywood.

He knew the entertainment world would be more significant than military productions but wasn’t sure where he would fit in. “I didn't know where I would get there. I didn't know how I would get in the room,” he admitted. He soon realized he needed a compelling story to open doors but found that he needed two versions of his story.

Translating Military Skills in Civilian Life

In informational meetings, Harper would highlight his military background, sharing Combat Camera briefing books to showcase his skills. This impressed some executives, like the one on NBC who saw the operational imagery Harper had gathered. But others, like the HR rep he spoke to about a production job, felt his military service made him seem entitled.

Harper quickly learned, “There's a pretty big military-civilian divide, and the way I presented the information to this representative was very matter-of-fact.” The HR rep saw his experience as irrelevant to the corporate production world. Harper realized he had to carefully translate his experience and capabilities to civilian positions, “drawing that line for them” between his capabilities and open jobs.

Early Lessons in Marketing from Hollywood

Eventually, at Technicolor, the firm making DVDs, Harper reframed his experience as a project and production manager for entertainment products, allowing him to transition into digital marketing roles. But early on, hiding his military service was sometimes needed to advance.

For other veterans struggling to create a compelling career story, Harper advises, “Your story is about getting through that translation for them by way of communicating a road for them to kind of let you get there.” The key is understanding what skills civilian employers need and clearly demonstrating how your military experience lines up.

He had to learn this the hard way, but eventually, he was able to make a case for how running Combat Camera prepared him for production and marketing roles in entertainment.

The Bumpy Road to Startup Success

After some bumpy early jobs, Harper went back to school at UCLA on the GI Bill. He started a high-end headphone company called Audeze Audio with some contacts from Technicolor. Raising money was extremely difficult; it took 18 months for funding to actually arrive after securing a $4.5 million commitment from Warner Music.

Like most startups, it was “a lot of constant reassessing, reevaluating, and trying to work through those challenges.” But Harper likened the grind to his time in service: “a lot of highs and a lot more lows...most of the time you were quote unquote embracing the suck, and there's a lot of that in being an entrepreneur, especially in the very early days.”

Creating Content for the Military Community

His next major venture proved a brighter opportunity. Harper was one of the first executives at We Are the Mighty, a media company focused on military storytelling across video and social media platforms. It felt like an extension of his work in Combat Camera and allowed Harper to return to his passion for creating content that resonates with the military community.

Rising through the Ranks in Media

Rising to Chief Marketing Officer, President, and eventually CEO, Harper played a “co-founder” role, focused on audience, content, and revenue growth to build this startup into an influential brand. Last year, it was acquired by Recurrent Ventures, which also owned military news site Task & Purpose. Though once competitors, Harper now oversees both properties as General Manager of Recurrent’s military portfolio.

Lessons Learned from a Bumpy Transition

Reflecting on his winding path through startups, corporates, failures, and comebacks, Harper emphasized the value of relationships in entertainment and business. Early mentor David Gale, ex-head of MTV Films, told him, “Be nice to people on your way up because they're the same people you're going to see on your way down.”

Keeping an open, helpful spirit has served Harper well through the ups and downs after his bumpy military transition. With support from veteran entrepreneurs, civilians who get it, and the military community, more veterans can find media careers where their unique stories are assets, not obstacles.