113: “Seeking out help brought a lot of change, not only in my professional life, but in my emotional well-being.” Local networking and professional volunteerism with Kyra Seeley

Jen Amos 0:00

All right. Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the award winning podcast show holding down the fort. I am your Creator and co host Jenn emos. And of course, as always, I have my co host with me, Jenny Lynch troupe.

Unknown Speaker 0:09

Gentlemen,

Jen Amos 0:10

welcome back.

Unknown Speaker 0:11

Hey, glad to be here.

Jen Amos 0:13

came out in November: 2020

Unknown Speaker 1:11

Hi, thank you so much for having me today.

Jen Amos 1:14

Yeah, we are really excited to have you and I just I love that we are in a space where Christina is like, I am way too busy, I can't do it. Let me just send someone else and Kira, you disclose with us before we started recording that you're a fairly new military spouse. So for our listeners meeting you for the first time. Tell us a little bit about your background. And what compelled you to volunteer with its military life?

Speaker 1 1:36

my wedding with my fiance to: 2021

Jen Amos 2:18

Yeah. So I have to ask you a little bit more about getting married in that fashion, because I've only seen that, you know, I've only seen like documentaries about it. And I really appreciate your upbeat attitude. But I imagine at that time, it probably was I don't know, for lack of better term disappointing that it couldn't have been your ideal wedding. Like Tell me what that was like for you. Because you did specifically say it was interesting to get married in that way.

Speaker 1 2:39

. It's not going to happen in: 2020

Jen Amos 3:42

that. Yeah, no, definitely my husband and I are a CT wedding as well. We have yet to do our big ceremony five plus years later now so I don't know genuinely you didn't know that. No, we Yeah, in case anyone's ever wondering like eight years are married but I haven't like seen any like wedding photos. Oh, that's because we didn't do it. So fun fact, on five for everyone here but no rush, right. And one of my best friends like, you know, he did a court wedding too. And like it's been like years since he's been with his spouse. And I'm like, sorry, you guys gonna do a big wedding? Like, we don't need to, you know, it's not that big video, but either way, you know, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. And, you know, hopefully when we get to some sort of normalcy, you guys will be able to have your actual, you know, dream wedding. But in the meantime, welcome to the military.

Speaker 1 4:24

Thank you. There's been lots to learn. But everyone, you know, it has been such a welcoming experience, I'll say, and I felt like everyone in the military community around us really understood that our wedding situation in a sense, right, they understood the courthouse thing and really just took everything so nicely, so

Speaker 2 4:42

yeah, for sure. I'm just like every here chuckling thinking back to my own military wedding. My kids actually asked me the other I've married for 12 years my kids actually asked me today like mom, like how long are you dad? Like how long do you date and how long were you engaged and like stem to stern for meeting to getting married? Was 18 months and it was like we dated for nine, we were engaged for nine we were married, and they were like, what? Some people consider that fast? And I'm like, I mean, I suppose some people would work for you. Yeah, you know, such as military life. We were gonna make sure we were married before he got a different duty station and all of the fun things that come with military life. So

Jen Amos 5:24

yeah, that reminds me of my mom. I think I recall her mentioning that they had a quick marriage before a quick wedding before my dad actually, like was sent off to his next like duty station. So it seems very common, you know, in this military life to have like quick weddings, in a sense, but 15 years later, you know, Jln, because I know 15 years you've been with Matthew now. Right? You are. You are 15 years later. So kudos to you and Matthew. Yeah. Well, Kira, I am curious to know, let's go ahead and talk about it's a military life. Now. How did you come across Christina? And what compelled you to get involved in working with her?

Speaker 1 5:59

Absolutely. So we moved to the Virginia Beach area just over a year now. And when I got here, I really struggled with employment, and trying to find a job creating a network making those connections, it really, as a young professional at that time, I really didn't have a lot of people I knew. And then of course, I moved into a new area, which I know so many military spouses can relate to. And after joining a local network around here, I it was recommended that I, you know, get some volunteer experience, you know, in the position that I'm interested in going into. And so I saw Christina's posting on LinkedIn, looking for an administrative pipe volunteer for her new organization that she was hoping to turn into a nonprofit. And I thought that this would be a great opportunity, it was remote, I could do it from home, he had just gotten a puppy. So I was like, it's a perfect fit. And so I applied to that. And I was very fortunate to get that position. And but Christina was even more fortunate, because she received applications from like, 20 different people. They're all such strong applicants. And so what she decided to do is not just pick one of us, but really take as many as she could on, um, to form an internship cohort. And so that's how I became first involved with its military life with by joining in on this amazing opportunity to gain some professional experiences.

Jen Amos 7:32

Yeah, well, I think that's really awesome. And I recall the time when Christina was telling me like, yes, I'm looking for an assistant, I'm looking for a team right now. So it's really cool to, you know, again, like chat with you to know that that has really manifested into someone such as yourself, and even this internship cohort program. What has it been like for you so far? You know, in working with it's a military life?

Speaker 1 7:52

Yeah. So when I first started with the internship cohort, I was working in a smaller team, and, and we were trying to really develop the nonprofit side of the organization. And after the cohort program ended, Christina had offered me an invitation to stay on as a professional volunteer. And so at that time, I transitioned into kind of this dream role. In a sense, I was the director of, you know, fundraising, and community outreach, which, for me, was just very exciting to be able to really gain so much experience in that nonprofit career I was looking to jump right into. And so since then, that was, gosh, six months ago now it has just been so wonderful because I've gotten so much hands on experience and I really seen this organization grow from being kind of you know, this almost an idea you know, when I came on, it was just Christina working just by herself to now this established nonprofit. And so it's been it's been really awesome to see the programs grow with the veteran pen pal project that has, you know, gained so many new volunteers there and also to, to see this next internship cohort program starting to come to life in the next few months.

Jen Amos 9:08

Yeah, I think that's really incredible. Jenny Lynn, you met Christina basically the same time that I did and you guys had a lot of in common at that time. But I'm curious to see what your thoughts are just kind of seeing the progression of you know, her starting with her site to where she is today.

Speaker 2 9:23

I mean, I'm just constantly amazed every time we hear about it's our military life I am just in awe of like, how quickly Christina was able to put things together and then know that like, Oh, this is bigger than me and form a team and I mean, what an awesome service all around both. And like you said, Kira, you know that like you were looking for experience so that you get to put on your resume like, Hey, I have this experience, like, How awesome is it that something run by a military spouse offers other military spouses like an opportunity to like put things on their resume that are real honest to goodness skills and show like the work ethic of spouses, I mean, I've moved all around, I don't work in a career that I have any kind of degree in this. two degrees, none of them and what I do, you know, I have large gaps in employment from all the moving. So to be able to, you know, one work remotely for something and like help get it off the ground and then be able to go, Hey, look at this thing I helped build, like, that's awesome.

: 10:27

It's been so exciting. And, and if you don't mind me, adding one of the coolest things I think that I've kind of been able to experience and Christina has been able to share with me is that, because of my role here, actually, we just started a job at a highly recognized nonprofit organization. And so I was really able to basically what its military life did worked, right, like her goal of providing these hands on resources for military spouses and veterans to add to their resume, and to help it stand out and give them some great talking points worked for me. And so it's kind of it's fun to see that success. And that that journey from the beginning to now. That's awesome.

Jen Amos: 11:10

Yeah, and for you to be able to benefit from it professionally. Yeah. Well, let's talk a little bit about you know, as you mentioned, its military life has expanded so much. And since we talked with Christina, last summer, let's talk about maybe some of the favorite programs that are currently going on right now. Yeah, absolutely.

: 11:28

Um, so of course, one of the biggest ones we have, and my personal favorite is veteran pen pal project. And that's our ongoing initiative to pair veterans with volunteer pen pals. And we actually, we got so much interest from volunteers wanting to write to veterans that we actually for a bit of time had to close down the submissions for that. We needed to we needed to catch up and getting more veterans on ball involved. And so that was just really humbling for us, because you're like, wow, you know, like, people really want to get involved in this. They're very interested. And so that's one of my favorite ones, just because you know, it's all year round. And it really provides some meaningful connections there to our nation's heroes. And but one of the other ones that, of course, is my favorite is the internship cohort program that we offer. And we do have the second annual I guess you could say now, one coming up this January. And so we're starting to really prepare for that. There's just some some really cool things that are in store there. Lots of developments from its first initial year.

: 12:40

You guys also participate in military marriage day this past August in Yeah,

: 12:43

yeah. Oh, yes, we did. Oh, I feel it's just I feel like so much I like forget sometimes of some of the other things we've been involved with. But yes, we did participate with military marriage day. And with that celebration, we did the love notes program. And so for that, kind of stemming off our ideas of veterans, 10 power projects, we encourage military spouses, veterans to just write a random love note for their significant other, you know, encouraging them to not only share and show love on Valentine's Day, let's say, but to do that all year round. And so that was just so fun to see the different stories that came in. And I'm really just to celebrate the relationships that military spouses have.

: 13:29

Yeah, it was fun to watch on social media. I did not participate this year, as we were a couple weeks out from my cross country PCs. And that was not going to fit in all of the other things we have going on. But it was really, really fun to see like people get into that and share their military marriage story. I mean, I don't know if you guys have pictures from your ticket booth wedding, but like that would be a fabulous military marriage share.

: 13:53

That would have been we actually I have pictures from it. None of them have been shared on the internet. away our big celebration, that would have totally been a perfect photo

Jen Amos: 14:05

for next year.

Unknown Speaker: 14:06

There's always next year.

Jen Amos: 14:09

Yeah, for sure. Well, it just sounds like there's so much fun going on with its military life. And I love seeing someone such as yourself, Kira, who is so young in the community right now to get so involved so quickly and see, you know, and kind of see the fruits of your labor very quickly and having these opportunities professionally, and all that good stuff. So all that being said, thanks Jenny Lynn. Just today. We had an interview

: 14:35

before the ceiling. I mean, we could blame it on Friday, except it's Tuesday. It's

Jen Amos: 14:41

Friday. Yeah. Awesome. What Kira It sounds like you're having a ton of fun with its military life. Let us know for you know our listeners who may be interested in getting involved. How can they do that? How can they get started?

: 14:53

absolutely the best place to just see what we're doing and try to get your feet in through the door. would be to head to it's a military life.org. And you can also find us on Facebook and Instagram at its military life. And really, you'll see listed there all the different programs we offer, there's information about joining the upcoming cohort immersion program, again, for anyone who's looking to, you know, just move along a professional journey or change things up a little bit. And so all that informations there, it's a military life at work.

Jen Amos: 15:26

Awesome, fantastic. And I just want to make a comment on how much I admire your willingness, you know, to get heavily involved in the community very early on, because I think very often genuine and I have these conversations where it just seems so difficult to find resources sometimes, or maybe even there's this sort of sense of shame or insecurity and reaching out for these kinds of resources. So to see you very early on to, you know, kind of jump into the deep end with this, I just want to you know, let you know that I find that very admirable

: 15:57

Thank you. I mean, I will also say like I went through that period of time where, yeah, I'm almost embarrassed in a way which sounds so silly, but to like, seek out help, you know, and like to find these resources. And really like the second I did was such a change and not only like my professional life, but just like my emotional well being to like knowing that there's people there out there to support you. And organizations that want to help really just made all the difference. So anyone who might be on the fence about it or unsure, like what they're doing their life, just find some people to help. There's so many out there like you.

Jen Amos: 16:36

Yeah, for sure. And I know at least on our show, and I know Jenna Lin is really big on community. So I think that I just love it. I just love your attitude and your spirit. We just really appreciate you know, having you check in with us today on our show here at holding down the fort.

: 16:52

I mean, okay, so I remember when we first communicated you had sent like a list of questions that might be asked and honestly one thing after I was kind of thinking about those was, you know, kind of how I hold down the fort, you know, and like how I kind of get get things going. And although I am just a dog parent, I have no little ones around. I think one of the biggest things for me that I've learned about myself and in being a military spouse is how important it is to really reach out and interact with your loved ones, families and friends. And because I now live in a new place that really looks different for me and I had to make sure that I was calling and texting and doing what I needed to do to still stay connected with them. And it really allowed me to have the time passed quicker when I was alone or when I was feeling lonely. And so I would just say it's so important to figure out what works best for you and making sure that you feel loved and connected within your community.

: 17:53

You will find no bigger proponent of the spouse network and community than me so well done on diving in headfirst and doing all the things you need to do to you know, take care of yourself and really to add value like people that have been around as long as I have and even longer like really, really appreciate brand new folks who want to join like you want to come into the fold. Like it is really special to be part of the military community and we're always you know, ready and willing to welcome folks with open arms so at least in my experience

Jen Amos: 18:26

Yeah, and thank you for answering that that actually was like on my list of things I wanted to ask but I was all like I was like oh well let's like wrap up but so anyway thank you for tuning in. I'm like the worst that like it's so funny because I'll give people the questions but then I also preface by saying like we don't actually like ask the questions but to give you an idea so anyway, thank you Kara so much for sharing that I think that is a great way to wrap up our conversation. And of course if people want to learn more about it's a military life they can visit its military life.org here I any other actually not ever. I want to ask that because then you already mentioned all the socials and stuff like that. Yes, so it's a military life.org. All that being said, Kira. It was an absolute pleasure having you on our show today. Thanks again for joining us. Thank you so much. Yes, and of course jennylyn Thank you for co hosting with me as always happy to be here. Yes. And to our listeners. Thank you all so much for listening, and we'll chat with you in the next episode. Till next time