New Powerhouse Team Member
Nicole is a milspouse of over 12 years and mom of a daughter, Itahlee, and two Dobermans, Luther and Lexie. Along with a love of traveling and exploring the country, which has been easily done as a Coastie wife, Nicole enjoys creating memories with her family. She grew up in Pennsylvania, but throughout their Coast Guard career, she and her family have spent time in New England, Texas, NYC, and NorCal. Professionally, Nicole has a passion for business, leadership, achieving goals, supporting a positive people experience, and organization. (Yay for spreadsheets!)
Nicole earned her B.S. in accounting and her M.S. in organizational leadership with a focus in human resources. She brings a background in retail management, both big box and specialty, as well as in recruiting and training in early childhood education to the Powerhouse Planning team. Nicole views the challenges faced as a career-driven milspouse to be developmental opportunities and is grateful to put that experience and drive to work for her clients at Powerhouse!
New Powerhouse Team Member
Amy grew up in Macon, Georgia and attended the University of Georgia, graduating with a degree in education. She then pursued a Master of Education degree from Mercer University while teaching full-time in the public school system. After marrying her high school sweetheart, they began military life together, moving all around the world from North Carolina to Germany with countries in between. They have been married for over 20 years and have raised two children, both of whom are now adults. After Amy’s husband retired from the Marine Corps, they settled in Peachtree City, Georgia.
Amy joins Powerhouse Planning as a freelance project liaison. Between her teaching career and volunteer endeavors, Amy has worn a variety of job hats over the years. She worked many years as a full-time classroom teacher as well as a virtual ESL teacher. As many of the Powerhouse family know, military life brings many moves, deployments, and sometimes “single parenting” moments. Because of these circumstances, there were times over 26 years of military spouse life that Amy did not “work” but instead volunteered her time/talents. She volunteered in school settings as a classroom helper, reading tutor, and PTO board member. On the military side, Amy volunteered to organize and run several fundraising events for military-based clubs, as well as coordinate and advise families before and during deployments.
Amy believes that working as a project liaison will give her the opportunity to utilize skills/talents that she has developed from her previous positions. Amy’s instructional, organizational, problem-solving, and curriculum development skills have all been honed as a result of her teaching career and volunteer duties during military life. Amy enjoys working as part of a team and feels that she is at her best when she is helping others.
When Amy is not teaching or volunteering, you will find her lunching and shopping with friends, exercising, reading books, and vacationing with her family.
Spotlight on Powerhouse’s Rossmery Oakes
We’re back with another entry in one of our favorite blog series and shining the spotlight on another of our powerful team members, Rossmery Oakes. Rossmery has been a part of the Powerhouse team since 2018 and serves as one of our web designers/graphic designers and as one of our proud military spouses. She’s been “doing military life” together with her Air Force spouse since 2014 but is excited to have an opportunity to pursue her career while supporting her husband’s service. Giving military spouses and veterans realistic, remote careers is one of our passions, and Rossmery is a prime example of how talented this underappreciated segment of our national workforce is.
Rossmery describes herself as a passionate critical thinker, communicator, and empath. “I think in everything I do,” she says, “whether personal or professional. It’s always important to me to connect with people, enjoy great conversations, and solve problems.” That’s probably why she cites the enthusiasm of everyone at Powerhouse as one of her favorite aspects of the company. “The genuine care and respect there is for everyone on the team and our well-being in the workplace” speaks to Rossmery and allows her a safe space to create and grow.
In addition to working with Powerhouse and being a passionate military spouse, Rossmery and her husband (very) recently welcomed their first baby (an absolutely adorable girl) who joins her parents and two furry “siblings.” The newly expanded family enjoys “getting to do life together,” and Rossmery says one of her favorite things is “seeing how all our unique characters and personalities just fit.” Rossmery and her husband love getting to explore and know the areas where the Air Force takes them, but when she’s at home, Rossmery loves solving puzzles. Add in the fact that Rossmery describes her family as “big foodies” and she’s got all the bases covered.
Being able to have a remote career with Powerhouse is something Rossmery loves, and she envisions Powerhouse growing its remote business practice to a point where it can give “hundreds of military spouses” the same opportunity she has. She says that it’s been a blessing to work with a “really great group that inspires [her] to want to do [her] best in all areas, not just work.” Powerhouse allows Rossmery to work on projects with people she connects with, something she says is vital to a remote career. If you’ve got the right people, Rossmery believes, then keeping an open line of communication and setting the right expectations are easy and allow everyone on the team to stay accountable to a work/life balance.
Rossmery purposefully creates equally unique and fun environments for both home and work. She suggests making enjoyable but separate spaces in the home to help ensure your head is “in the right space” for what you need to do. If you’ve got “work projects that light you up and you’re partnering with people who respect your time,” she says, then the sky’s the limit. Additionally, she recommends never being afraid to take a break when you need it. It’s something you might feel guilty for doing when working from home, but there’s a reason that offices have built-in break times.
That might be why Rossmery enjoys Powerhouse’s Power Hours, virtual get-togethers that are a mix of fun and work. “They’re a great resource,” she says, “especially for those of us who strictly work from home and get much less interaction than you might from a different job.” Whether coworkers are engaged in painting nights or workshops, Rossmery says, “It’s a nice opportunity for us to get different kinds of human interaction.” It also builds team camaraderie, which translates to fun, exciting, and satisfying work. “Recently I worked on a project for one of our clients, Dune Dwellings. I think the work of the team came together so nicely at the end, it felt like a Fixer Upper show reveal!” she says. When work is fun, life is better.
As always, we asked Rossmery to share a little tidbit that not many others might know. Hers came complete with a celebrity encounter: an old hotel job Rossmery once held meant she interacted with a lot of different people. Every Sunday night, former NFL wide receiver legend Jerry Rice would stop by the hotel for a drink and Rossmery would serve him. So, of course, we asked what his favorite drink was. Turns out Jerry Rice loves mimosas. We can’t lie—that fun fact may have made us love Jerry Rice a little bit more. But not as much as we love Rossmery. Sorry, Jerry.
When Passion and Career Goals Coincide
By: Heatherlynn Akins
Mona Dexter believes passionately in helping military members, veterans, and military family members realize their career employment dreams. As a longtime military spouse herself, she’s experienced firsthand the challenges and struggles this segment of the workforce faces. Their skills and abilities don’t always translate easily to the civilian sector, but they are valuable assets for civilian employers. That’s why she joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) program in January 2018 as a special projects manager with the military spouse team. Today, Dexter serves as HOH Chief of Staff and Vice President of Operations and Communications.
Dexter’s journey to HOH was roundabout, typical of many military spouses. Her initial career was in higher education student affairs administration, primarily in career services and adult learning and development, and with programs focused on underserved populations. As she moved around, however, she began to find her passion for assisting those in military life with finding their career fits. She transferred her attentions first to the Army Soldier for Life-Transition Assistance Program, a program designed to help those transitioning from active-duty service to life after the Army. As a result, Dexter found her perfect fit with HOH, where she can help the organization provide 360-degree career development training and education through internships and hiring events. HOH’s unique mission to “educate civilian employers on the value of military-connected talent in diversifying and thus strengthening their workforces” is critical to Dexter’s way of thinking. That’s the missing link she couldn’t find with her previous position. Having lived the military life but working in the civilian sector, Dexter is singularly qualified to be a part of the bridge that effects understanding between those in the military and civilian worlds.
HOH is also authorized to operate on military installations, allowing its programs and services to be brought directly to its targeted clientele. HOH’s holistic approach to establishing hiring events along with internship opportunities and digital communities designed for networking and support purposes has been effective and successful. In 2012, HOH identified a possibly more alarming statistic: the drastically high rate of military spouse unemployment. When Dexter started with HOH in 2018, the unemployment rate for military-connected personnel was down considerably and the focus on military spouses was well underway. (more…)
Did You Know?
Business growth is directly tied to the goals we have for our businesses already. Things like brand loyalty, a stellar reputation, and an ability to recognize and anticipate our customers’ needs. At its heart, business development is nothing more than a process for determining how you can improve, whether that be financially, in reputation, or in overall value. All aspects of your business are covered under this broad umbrella because, really, all growth stems from the same basic mission: to provide your customers with on-time, reliable, and efficiently driven deliverables. Read through this month’s newsletter for lots of tips on how to update or plan for your own growth goals.
If you’re lost on how to make the most of your business development needs, Powerhouse Planning can help. We offer a wide range of services that can help you bring your business to the next level. Contact us today for details.
Tips for Growing Your Business in 2021
By: Meghan Traynor
According to a survey reported on by Small Business Trends, 92% of small businesses had to “reinvent themselves” during the pandemic. Whether your business had to pivot over the last year, or you’re just ready to grow, we believe, “Growth doesn’t come with a single action. It is the consequence of persistence courage and hard work” (Anonymous). Here are a few actions you can take to grow your business successfully.
- Be adaptable. If you were one of the 92% of small businesses who recently reinvented themselves, then you are already very familiar with this one. Being adaptable in business allows you to grow even when things don’t go according to plan. If you haven’t already created one, a strategic adaptability plan is something your business should consider so you are always prepared for the unexpected.
- Remote work and virtual services are in high demand. According to the Remote-How 2020 survey, 87% of remote managers believe that remote work is the way of the future. With so many businesses continuing with a full-time or part-time remote workforce, there are a few things you can do to set your company up for success:
- Use the right tools. Using the right support mechanisms and resources will not only help your business run smoothly, but it will also help with communication between your team. Here is a list of 20 Tools and Resources You Didn’t Know You Needed as a Business Owner.
