Managing A Whole New Life as a Late Career Milspouse
Life comes at you fast, but that’s ok! Creative Director and Business Owner Morgan Specht is ready for anything. When she first met her husband, they were both employees at their local Costco. Fast forward a few years later and they became new business owners, her husband re-enlists after 10 years, and she has to restructure her business to work from anywhere. How did she do it all?!
Morgan Specht is the creative director, brand strategist, and founder of Specht & Co. creative studio. Professionally, she loves helping clients connect with their ideal audience and grow their businesses through personalized, strategic branding and web design.
While she’s usually a planner, the milspouse life can mean picking up and shipping out with very little notice. In this week’s episode, we speak to Morgan about how she manages a whole new life as a working milspouse who owns her own business and how she makes it all work from anywhere.
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Morgan is the creative director, brand strategist, and founder of Specht & Co. creative studio. Professionally, she loves helping clients connect with their ideal audience and grow their businesses through personalized, strategic branding and web design. When she's not elbows deep in her latest branding project, Morgan loves spending time outdoors with her dogs and taking road trips with her husband.
Morgan’s Free Brand Vision Planner: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/61d23e4aa247a7a541995808
Find Morgan in all the places:
Website: https://www.spechtand.co/
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The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Milspouse Mentor, Speaker, and Writer.
Grab your ♥️free♥️ resources here: jaylarae.com
Let's chat! @mil.spouse
Check out Jayla Rae’s Free Enneagram here! jaylarae.com/enneagram-guide
Making Milspouse Life Work for Her with Brittany Zimmerman
Welcome back to another installment of the Late Career Milspouse series! This week I have the pleasure of speaking with the amazing interior designer and business owner, Brittany Zimmerman!
Brittany is the owner of Bleu Bee Designs - a boutique residential interior decorating company. Bleu Bee Designs offers in-person and virtual design services across the United States, making it perfect for the ever-changing Milspouse life!
Brittany is a half-glass-full kind of person as you will hear on this week’s episode. And while she never planned on marrying a military man, she has made it her mission to make it all work and support the man she loves. And she does make it work! This Enneagram 6 fostered a community everywhere she goes and has even been able to attract clients in the midst of every move.
Listen to Brittany’s episode to hear how she maintains her sunshiny disposition as a Milspouse.
If you liked this episode and you’d like to hear more, please take a moment to leave a sparkly review and subscribe to The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast. Subscriptions and positive reviews make a huge difference for podcasters and it would help us out immensely. Thanks!
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Bleu Bee Designs is a boutique residential interior decorating run by Brittany Zimmerman. Bleu Bee Designs offers in-person and virtual design services across the United States. Bleu Bee Designs also runs an online retail storefront “Curated by Brittany”, which sells new, vintage, and antique home décor and furnishings.
Find Brittany in all the places:
Website: http://www.bleubeedesigns.me
Instagram: @bleubeedesigns_
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The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Milspouse Mentor, Speaker, and Writer.
Grab your ♥️free♥️ resources here: jaylarae.com
Let's chat! @mil.spouse
Alleviating Food Insecurity as a Late Career Milspouse With Monica Basset
If you're catching this episode in real time, vote for me for the AFI Military Spouse of the Year® here (and thank you! ♥️):
https://msoy.afi.org/profiles/2023-jayla-rae-ardelean
...Everyone get ready for a dose of inspiration on what Late Career Milspouses are capable of!
2022 AFI Army Spouse of the Year®, Monica Basset entered military life in her 30's, and has never stopped building community wherever they've been stationed since! As an advocate for fighting military food insecurity, her passion is truly infectious. This conversation will educate you and inspire you all in one!
Topics we cover:
👉🏻How to fill the gaps you notice in your own military base community
👉🏻What it's like to have a predetermined identity before entering military life, and how to shift
👉🏻Her amazing advice on how to strengthen your military marriage when shit gets rough
👉🏻Why we've seen an increase in discussing the military food insecurity issue, and how we can get LOUDER!
👉🏻Monica's inspiring permission slip to fellow Late Career Milspouses
This is Episode #8 of The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast series highlighting Late Career Milspouse/Milso stories + their experiences ♥️
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Meet 2022 AFI Army Spouse of the Year®, Monica Basset!
Monica is a military spouse and advocate for the underprivileged in the military community. Through her personal experience with food insecurity as a child and by connecting with military families facing these same struggles, she has made it her mission to ease the burden of food insecurity and shine a light on undernourishment of families. She built Stronghold to respectfully supply resources to families, provide actionable solutions, and educate others on the crisis of food insecurity in the military. Monica was named the Armed Forces Insurance Army Spouse of the Year for 2022 because of her commitment to alleviating food insecurity.
Website: www.strongholdfoodpantry.com
Keep up with Stronghold Food Pantry + Monica on Facebook:
facebook.com/monicabassett2022afiarmyspouseoftheyear/
facebook.com/StrongholdCommunityFoodPantry/
Instagram:
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The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Milspouse Mentor, Speaker, and Writer.
Grab your ♥️free♥️ resources here: jaylarae.com
Let's chat! @mil.spouse
Single Mom in Construction Turned Late Career Milspouse With Tonia Rivers
Talking with Tonia felt like an inspiring pep talk on vulnerability, how to make career pivots, and relationship woes I didn't even know I needed! Please enjoy her spirit ♥️
Topics we cover:
👉🏻Where Tonia was at with her relationship history as a single mom when meeting her service member
👉🏻What it's like to be a black female mother in the construction industry, and how she pivoted to keep her career
👉🏻Her experience with seasoned spouses
👉🏻Tonia's beautiful permission slip to fellow Late Career Milspouses
This is Episode #7 of The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast series highlighting Late Career Milspouse/Milso stories + their experiences ♥️
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Meet Tonia Rivers!
Tonia Rivers is the Owner and President of WLS Construction Consultants LLC and Founder of the nonprofit Mothers In Construction. She has a Bachelor of Architecture from Howard University and has 17 years of experience in the construction industry.
Tonia has been a critical team member in the management of over $1Billion in construction projects as both a senior project manager for large-scale general contractors in the Washington, DC area and as a key stakeholder of a Department of Defense federal agency managing MILCON projects across the Midwest region of the United States. Tonia's experiences span across several market sectors to include historic preservation and restoration, high-end commercial, marine construction, residential, institutional, federal, healthcare, and K-12 education.
She has also been instrumental in the development of young professionals who have utilized the skills learned to take on leadership roles at various organizations. Tonia 's ability to forge positive relationships with design professionals and subcontractor communities has led to the execution of successful projects across the nation.
Catch Tonia's The Mothers in Construction Podcast: https://anchor.fm/mothers-in-construction
Website: www.mothersincon.org
Instagram: instagram.com/mothersinconstruction
instagram.com/wls_construction_consultants
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The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Milspouse Mentor, Speaker, and Writer.
Grab your ♥️free♥️ resources here: jaylarae.com
Let's chat! @mil.spouse
Getting Resourceful as a Late Career Milspouse
Get ready to discuss how and why Late Career Milspouses are nowhere near the default messaging for milspouses, and why we should care about this!
The future of this category of milspouses is in our hands, and my guest today shares her infinite wisdom on how to get resourceful.
This is Episode #6 of The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast series highlighting Late Career Milspouse/Milso stories + their experiences ♥️
Topics we cover:
👉🏻How Manda Lynn was backed into a professional corner, and where she took it from there
👉🏻What it's like to meet your future spouse at 12 years old, but spend nearly lifetimes apart
👉🏻Playing catch up as a Late Career Milspouse
👉🏻One important question to ask yourself in conversation with other milspouses
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Meet Manda Lynn McVey!
Manda Lynn is Armed Forces Insurance 2022 Fort Polk Spouse of the Year, Founder & COO of Healitary Spouse, LLC, a Spouse Master Resilience Trainer, Holistic Wellness Practitioner, Behaviour Change Specialist, Fitness Nutrition Educator, and Yoga & Meditation instructor with a background in both the medical and culinary industries with over 3,000 volunteer hours under her belt leading military spouses to reconnect with their intuition in order to achieve overall wellness and resilience through a variety of modalities.
A native of Colorado, Manda lived a rather nomadic lifestyle prior to becoming a military spouse making her an extremely resourceful person she finds joy from sharing resources with fellow military spouses, creating art, and reading pretty much anything you can consider to be a book.
Armed Forces Insurance 2022 Spouse of the Year: https://msoy.afi.org/about
Learn about Manda Lynn's services on Sofia Health: https://sofiahealth.com/shop/manda-lynn-mcvey/
For more information on the Disaster Preparedness kits for Fort Polk, send Manda Lynn a DM on Instagram
Get Acronyms and Abbreviations sheet from Manda Lynn!
Email a suggestion to thehealitaryspouse@gmail.com
Manda Lynn would like you to know that Military OneSource now has an app!
Check it out here: https://www.militaryonesource.mil/confidential-help/interactive-tools-services/my-military-onesource-app/
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The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Milspouse Mentor, Speaker, and Writer.
Grab your ♥️free♥️ resources here: jaylarae.com
Let's chat! @mil.spouse
How a Late Career Milspouse Turns Into a Mental Health Advocate
Ever wonder how or why mental health advocates for military families get their start? Maybe you too see this in your future as a milspouse? Join me and Jenny Lynne Stroup of the award-winning Holding Down the Fort Podcast for a debrief on what it's like to assimilate into military culture (after spending much of your life on the outside), and how seeking mental health resources for yourself is the best way to see cracks in the system.
Warning: this conversation just might inspire you to take on the identifier "milspouse" with much more ease 😉
This episode is only marked "explicit" because I drop one F-Bomb. Oops.
This is Episode #5 of The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast series highlighting Late Career Milspouse/Milso stories + experiences ❤️
In this episode we mention:
Holding Down the Fort Podcast, where Jenny Lynne co-hosts and Jayla Rae was a guest: https://www.holdingdownthefortpodcast.com/episode/126
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Jenny Lynne Stroup is writer, blogger, podcaster, mental health advocate, Milspouse, MOPS-alum, and recovering human being.
She joins the Holding Down the Fort Podcast as a seasoned military spouse who spends her time at each duty station fostering community. She believes that being vulnerable and sharing her story empowers others to do the same.
As a freelance writer, Jenny Lynne uses stories to bridge the gap between the civilian and military communities. She is passionate about narrowing that gap and sees her role as a military spouse as an opportunity to reach both communities.
Jenny Lynne has a background in marketing and education. Jenny Lynne received her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing Management from Virginia Tech and her Master’s degree in Elementary Education from Old Dominion University.
Prior to advocating for military families' mental health as the Outreach Coordinator for the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Veterans Village San Diego, Jenny Lynne taught elementary school and spent her time working with several military organizations and spouse groups. She was a keynote speaker for United Through Reading at both the Storybook Ball and the Tribute to Military Families events.
Jenny Lynne also worked for the USO of Metropolitan New York as a special event coordinator. During her time with the USO she worked to provide comfort and care for the wounded warriors participating the US Army Warrior Trials.
Originally from Virginia, Jenny Lynne takes her affection for her double name, her love of Southern cuisine, and her appreciation of Southern hospitality wherever the Navy sends her.
Learn more: www.jennylynnestroup.com
Find her on social:
Linkedin.com/in/jenny-lynne-stroup
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The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Late Career Milspouse Mentor.
Grab your ✨free✨ resources here: jaylarae.com
Let's chat! @mil.spouse
How Being a Late Career Milspouse Affects Your Identity
Get ready for the truth about what it means to have a strong identity before joining the military lifestyle! In this episode I talk with Jessica Wright, as she vulnerably shares her point of view with us. Becoming a Late Career Milspouse is like this:
Don't know how or where you need to catch up? Yep.
Hearing archaic advice from spouses who've been doing this for a long time? Yep.
Feeling like your identity prior to becoming a milspouse is painful to change or even let go of? Absolutely.
This is Episode #4 of The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast series highlighting Late Career Milspouse/Milso stories + experiences ❤️
Topics we cover:
How Jessica met her service member (same as me!)
Some advantages + disadvantages of having a strong identity prior to joining the military lifestyle
How Top Gun shapes the way we knew of the military (we had this convo before the new movie release)
The crap other spouses have said to her while experiencing tough deployment circumstances
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Jessica lives in the Seattle area with her Navy spouse and dachshund, Hershey. She's an Enneagram 2 and enjoys cooking, baking, crafting, and drinking coffee.
Jessica is obsessed with degrees and programs that have the word “transformation” in them because she believes in seeking continual growth and learning how to embrace change. It's been said that she takes no shit but does no harm. She's on a mission to help people believe that they can make a big difference in the world once they learn how to reframe their challenges and show up in their life in a way that makes them excited.
She truly believes she’s the funniest person she knows and always wants to be around other changemakers, but can often be found narrating the thoughts inside every dog’s head that she sees.
Find her on social:
@jwrightlife Wright Life Coaching https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicarwright/
Website URL:
Snag her FREE 12 Journal Prompts for Changemakers:
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Know of another Late Career Milspouse who'd be great for this series? Send them here -> jaylarae.com/guest
The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Late Career Milspouse Mentor.
Grab your ✨free✨ resources here: jaylarae.com
Let's chat! @mil.spouse
Experiencing Barriers as a Veteran + Late Career Milspouse
Are you ever curious to hear a female veteran's perspective after leaving the military? Join me and Jeanette for a no-holds-barred conversation on what it means to be a black woman inside and outside what she describes as the most "toxic" relationship she's ever had.
This is Episode #3 of The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast series highlighting Late Career Milspouse/Milso stories + experiences ❤️
Questions we cover:
How and where Jeanette met her service member (it's scandalous!)
Challenges from the point of view of veteran + Late Career Milspouse - there are more barriers versus benefits than you'd think!
How Jeanette sees the term "Late Career Milspouse" shaping our unique experiences
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Jeanette Peterson is a US Air Force Iraqi Freedom veteran. She served 11 years, and met her husband, Austin and have been married for 7 years. They have two kids, Annalise (4), and Eleanor (2). After an abrupt exit from the military, moving across the country, and becoming a mother all within 6 months, she struggled with what her purpose was. Jeanette loves to coach and mentor women during a 'label' transition and learn to trust their intuition. She also coaches entrepreneur CEO women to trust their guidance and do what's right for them. She's a CISSP Cybersecurity Engineer working as a contractor for Veteran's Affairs.
Find her on social:
Website URL:
Listen to her podcast, Unapologetically Unstoppable:
https://open.spotify.com/show/6KbriMUsXFQZ94M16XtcjE?si=678f63edce994edd
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The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Late Career Milspouse Mentor.
Grab your ✨free✨ resources here: jaylarae.com
Let's chat! @mil.spouse
This episode is marked as "explicit" to account for language.
Shedding Biases as a Late Career Milso
Join me for an open + honest conversation with Samantha about what it means to shed our biases about the military, after having begun relationships with service members later in our lives. We bond over our challenged relationships with the military through the lens of punk rock, being millennials, and share our complicated thoughts about the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan.
As a Late Career Milso and nomadic copywriter, Samantha's story about entering military life is one you don't want to miss! This is Episode #2 of The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast series highlighting Late Career Milspouse/Milso stories + experiences ❤️
Questions we cover:
How did you meet your service member?
How has your nomadic lifestyle impacted your relationship?
What were your perceptions of the military before you met him, and what biases are you working to let go of?
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Samantha Burmeister is on a mission to provide high-converting copy to service-based businesses so they can sell more, and therefore drive a greater impact in their industry.
Find her on social:
Website URL:
Snag her FREE copy audit:
https://www.nomadcopyagency.com/audit-opt-in
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The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Late Career Milspouse Mentor.
Grab your ✨free✨ resources here: jaylarae.com
Let's chat! @mil.spouse
How Being a Late Career Milspouse Affects Your Marriage
Join me for a fun + candid conversation with Lindsay! As Late Career Milspouses, hear us bond over how we have pivoted our careers AND marriages countless times!
This is Episode #1 of a brand new series highlighting Late Career Milspouse stories + experiences ❤️.
Questions we cover:
Intro to how you and your husband met, and where you were at in life when y'all met
What are some particular challenges you've experienced as a Late Career Milspouse?
When we use this term "Late Career Milspouse", how do you see this helping other milspouses who may fall into this category?
How many career pivots have you had to make as someone with advanced degrees?
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Dr. Lindsay Cavanagh is a psychologist, Military Marriage Coach, and military spouse. She is passionate about helping military spouses improve their marriage so they have the marriage they truly desire and feel good in daily. She is the host of the Married to Military podcast and was named 2022 Armed Forces Insurance Naval Air Station North Island Military Spouse of the Year.
Find her on social:
Married to Military Facebook Group
Learn more:
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The Heart of a Milspouse Podcast is hosted by Jayla Rae Ardelean, Late Career Milspouse Mentor.
Grab your ✨free✨ resources here: jaylarae.com
Let's chat! @mil.spouse