About
Brandi Richard Thompson
Former federal emergency management official. Founder of Operation Prepare. On a mission to move families from reactive panic to proactive readiness.
Our Story
It started at 4:00 in the morning.
Brandi Richard Thompson, Founder of Operation Prepare
I was backing out of my garage to catch an early flight when I heard a strange crunching under my tires. I didn’t stop. I had a plane to catch.
As I merged onto the freeway, I saw them. Glowing embers on the opposite side of the highway, drifting from the hills toward my subdivision. I confirmed from the airport lounge that my home was in range for evacuation. Then I sent a text to my sleeping husband and boarded my 6:15 a.m. flight to Oakland.
I am the emergency manager in my family. And that morning, I was heading to work to help others impacted by fires across the state of California. There were fire management assistance declarations to communicate, communities to coordinate, agency partners to brief.
But I had also spent every spare minute trying to convince my parents in Lafayette, Louisiana to evacuate ahead of a hurricane. They hadn’t listened. They had gone conspicuously quiet so as not to let me in on their plan.
On the outside, I was calm. On the inside, I was losing it.
So I did what I always do. I detailed what needed to be taken and where it was located so my husband could evacuate if it came to that. I got back to work.
The heroic firefighters kept the flames away from our home. The hurricane switched course at the last minute. I made it home to pack my own items for evacuation, and those keepsake items sat ready for weeks as the embers continued to fall. And my parents missed out on a huge lecture from me.
That morning taught me something I couldn’t unsee: my family’s preparedness depended entirely on my individual knowledge. What I knew. Where I filed things. Which documents mattered and which ones could wait. If I wasn’t available, the system failed.
That is why I created the Operation Prepare Family Legacy Binder. Not because families need another checklist. Because every person in the household deserves to know what I know, for themselves, so they can make decisions without me.
Our Mission
Prepared, not paranoid.
Operation Prepare™ provides families with a comprehensive, federally-informed emergency preparedness system that translates decades of crisis response expertise into practical, accessible family guidance.
We believe in whole-family preparation: physical safety, financial security, document preparedness, and emotional readiness. Because you can’t compartmentalize disaster prep. You can’t prepare your house but not your kids. Your supplies but not your documents. Your body but not your finances. It’s all connected.
That’s our philosophy. That’s our promise.
The Nonprofit Mission
Preparedness for families who need it most.
Disaster survivors are the one audience that does not need to be convinced. They have lived the gap between prepared and unprepared in real time.
Through partnerships with disaster relief organizations, community advocacy groups, and preparedness networks, Operation Prepare donates the Foundation tier to families in disaster recovery. Their feedback informs how the product grows.
If your organization works with disaster survivors or underserved communities and would like to explore a partnership, we want to hear from you.
The Community
Stay Prepared. Every Quarter.
Operation Prepare is not a product company. It is a preparedness community. The Prepared Family membership brings binder owners together quarterly for live sessions, updated checklists, new resources, and ongoing support.
Readiness is not a one-time event. It is a practice. The Operation Prepare community is where that practice happens.
By the Numbers
20+
Years of federal emergency management service
50M+
People served across multiple states and territories
1
Mission: move families from panic to preparedness
Speaking and Media
Brandi is available for speaking engagements and media appearances.
Signature talks include: Prepared, Not Paranoid — Your Crisis Is My Calm — When the Moment Matters Most.
Questions? Contact us
Brandi Richard Thompson, Founder of Operation Prepare and Former Federal Emergency Management Official, operationprepare.com