When you joined Rotary: I joined
Rotary on May 26, 2016, and was sponsored by Nelson Green.
Why you joined Rotary:
I joined Rotary because I wanted to have a more formal path of giving back to the community. I firmly believe in the “Service Above Self” motto, as I would not be where I am today if others had not given me opportunities along the way. The Rockledge Rotarians aren’t too bad either; I can’t think of a better way to spend my Thursday morning each week.
Where you’re from, originally: The Houston area
Other places you’ve lived and worked:
As a military spouse, I have moved several times. I have always had a knack for timing and became a Financial Advisor with
Edward Jones in 2008. At that time, Edward Jones believed in door-to-door interaction. It got me out of my introverted shell, but it was also challenging to muster the nerve to do this day in and day out, especially since I was new to the Albuquerque area and had no network. And did I mention it was 2008? I had some success but, ultimately, we had to decide if my husband was going to continue with the military or leave so I could continue to pursue my career. Needless to say, we continued with the military.
From there we moved to Florida where it was challenging to find employment due to not having a network, so I initially stayed home with my kids. I later worked at Florida Today handling marketing and advertising, which is where my Rotary story begins. I helped two amazing companies with advertising:
Great Southeast Flooring America and
Slug-A-Bug (they advertised Space Coast Derby Day in the newspaper). After attending the event, I knew I had to learn more about Rotary and how I could get involved.
Not long after joining Rotary, in true military fashion, we got orders to move to
Okinawa, Japan. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to shedding a few tears at the thought of leaving the Space Coast. I was fortunate enough to gain employment as the Volunteer Program Manager with Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) in Japan. I helped connect the military community (active duty and families) with volunteer opportunities, on and off base. That helped bridge the military and Japanese community, as well as provide a sense of belonging and purpose for thousands of service members and families in Okinawa.
Learning from the needs of the military and Japanese community, we created volunteer opportunities where they previously didn’t exist. We started English language classes where we taught low-income students English at Jukus around the island (after-school program), which turned out to be one of my favorite volunteer opportunities. The locals taught their culture to service members, families and me. We taught them American culture. A memory I’ll never forget was when we shared Thanksgiving and they ate mashed potatoes with chopsticks. They had also never seen a turkey before – the size of that bird blew their minds! As you can imagine when the time came for us to leave on military orders there were tears … again.
The only thing making that move bearable was that, somehow, we won the military lottery and got orders back to the Space Coast. This move was going to be EASY… We owned a home in Brevard… I had a network in place … what could go wrong? Did I mention this was January 2020? I started applying for positions as soon as we got orders.
After years as a military spouse and the continuous starting over with employment, I decided to do something about it and volunteered to start a
Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Professional Network on the Space Coast in August 2020. We had this program in Japan and it helped spouses gain employment by building relationships with employers and community partners, as well as military spouses.
Helping military spouses gain employment is something I love and would do for free. That leads to my role as Sr. Manager of the Military Spouse Economic Empowerment Zones. We leverage best practices from across the U.S. and address issues getting in the way of employment (such as licensure reciprocity and educating employers on the benefits of hiring military spouses). There are currently 21 working groups across the country. Thanks to the work of our community, we will have one on the Space Coast officially on April 22, 2022.
Your major influences in life:
I actively surround myself with people that want to make a positive impact and give underserved communities an opportunity to thrive.
A few interesting anecdotes from your history: I was in 4-H as a kid and had a pig named “Weezer.” We paid for the pig and food by gaining sponsors, and used the money earned for college when selling the pig. Also:
- Graduate of Lead Brevard “Best Class Ever” Class of 2021.
- Traveled to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan while we were stationed in Okinawa.
- Space Coast Derby Day Chair 2022 (shameless plug, I hope you can join us).
Things you do outside of work, interests, hobbies: Traveling, hiking, yoga, running to 90s hip-hop music, reading and audio books, volunteering, hanging with my family and learning new things.
Tell us a little about your philosophy of life: Life is what you make it. Be successful by doing what others aren’t willing to do.
