Behind the Scenes: Finding a Dream Career
My favorite part about being a Writer for TPS is definitely the incredibly vibrant and interesting military spouses I meet and interview. Bobbi Rossiter is a military spouse of over ten years and an active TPS member. She’s also a proud mom to two beautiful, bi-cultural children. Bobbi is Jamaican, and loves being on, in and under the sea. Her hobbies? Dragon boats, diving, and sailing. She even was on a dragon boat the day before she gave birth to her first-born!
Her Jamaican heritage runs deep through her veins, and she is passionate about ensuring her children and other children of Jamaican emigrant parents know about their culture. So, when she found there were no programs for children to learn about Jamaican culture in the U.S., being the problem-solver and unapologetic military spouse, she is, she decided to start Irie Camp Jamaica. Irie Camp is a summer camp with week-long sessions where children can be fully immersed in all things Jamaican. Sign me up!
After her first successful inaugural summer, Bobbi realized she still had a lot to learn in advertising and marketing. So, when she saw GreenFig’s scholarship with TPS, she was thrilled.
“I knew that this program would not only give me the tools I need to do the digital marketing for my own company, but it would also provide me with skills that increase my professional marketability.” Bobbi’s background could not be further from digital marketing. She planned to be a college professor and had every desire to get started on a Master’s in psychology when her family moved to Okinawa.
This move overseas made this opportunity impossible and discouraged with her lack of opportunity to develop her career, she reached out to her undergraduate school advisor. Her advice? Build life experiences that will help you with your goals in the future. With that advice, Bobbi has found herself living in the moment as a Family Readiness Assistant, Family Readiness Officer, and in other career coaching positions. She also earned herself a Master’s in Leadership of Healthcare Organizations. Seems like a career full of twists and turns, and definitely looks a lot like the career map of many military spouses. But, for Bobbi, one theme is consistent….advocacy. She just wants to help people get to the next stage of their careers.
When I asked Bobbi what makes TPS different from other military spouse groups, she said “results.”
“TPS provides me with a platform where my professional self can socialize with professionals who face similar realities and are results-drive. That’s powerful.”
We think so, too, Bobbi. Every day, I’m amazed at the passion and motivation emanating from our members. Support systems and networking can come in all shapes and sizes. What makes TPS special is that we all truly care about helping each other succeed. They say it takes a village to raise a child. It also takes a village to master careers as a military spouse. Constant moves, changes in careers, and underemployment are purely obstacles. The village you create with networks and support and resources, like TPS, help you easily crush those obstacles!
And, Bobbi is excited to be part of building that village for others. “One of the things I want to do after I finish GreenFig is to help military spouse startups with their digital marketing strategy, so they don’t have to learn the costly lessons I did.”I cannot wait to see the incredible things Bobbi does with her career. The one thing I know, military spouses will be the better for her efforts!
