The 2012 Military Spouse Career Summit

The day after the Texas Conference for Women, I hopped on a plane bound for Washington, DC. I was headed to the National Military Spouse Network's Military Spouse Career Summit. I was very excited to meet with other military spouses who were interested in staying in the workforce despite PCSes and deployments. I was eager to here what the speakers had to share with us. Big thanks to Alaina Fitzner at Dwelling Moments Photography for sharing her beautiful professional photos with the attendees!

Shortly after I got in to DC, I attended the networking event that kicked off the Summit. I met some other military spouses and it was great to hear what others were doing. There was also a panel of spouses who shared their stories, which was very inspiring.

A Social Media Manager, Attorney, and retired Colonel.

The keynote speaker was Craig Newmark of Craigslist. It was interesting to hear how Craigslist got started. He basically started out emailing his friends a list of events around the San Francisco area. As it turns out, Craig does a lot of philanthropy work and there's a special place in his heart for military families. We were grateful for his support and making himself available to us.

Craig Newmark tells us what he's doing for military families and asks for our help.

After Craig's talk, we split up to go to our chosen breakout sessions. I attended "Goal Setting with the Military Spouse Coach" which was led by Krista Wells, the Military Spouse Coach. She gave some great goal-setting tips. My favorite was "write down your goal every day." Writing down the same goal each day keeps it at the front of your mind, helping you make decisions and take actions to help you reach your goal!

Krista Wells, the Military Spouse Coach, gives tips on goal setting.

Our lunch keynote speaker was Dr. Janet Breslin-Smith. She talked about how she was a professor at the National War College when she met her husband and how they dealt with PCSes throughout their marriage. One message that resonated with me is that we, as humans, have longer lives and we have more time to do what we want. Also, we don't have to do it all perfectly all the time. :)

Dr. Breslin-Smith talks about her experience as a college professor and a military spouse.

The Summit was very tech-friendly and I took lots of pictures and tweeted a lot throughout the day.

Alaina caught me snapping a pic!

It was a really great group and I made some awesome contacts while I was there. I can't wait to get more involved with this group of spouses and attend future conferences!

Attendees and speakers of the 2012 Military Spouse Career Summit.