BTM162 - Josie Beets - DoD Spouse Education and Career Opportunities Program
About Today’s Guest
Josie Beets is the Program Manager for the Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program, which supports and empowers more than 1.1 million military spouses through career exploration, education, training, and employer connections. Ms. Beets has 15 years of experience serving communities through the nonprofit and public sectors, with much of that time serving military families in both paid and volunteer positions.
She previously served as Senior Vice President of Advancement for United Through Reading, integrating marketing, communications, and fundraising to support the mission of connecting military families through reading. Her Federal Government experience includes serving at the General Services Administration managing the President’s Management Council, which advises the White House on government-wide management policy. She also served as an Army Legal Assistance Attorney at Fort Johnson, providing legal guidance to service members, family members, and retirees and where she received the Army Achievement Medal for Civilian Service.
Her other experience includes representing children in foster care in Louisiana; working on behalf of the legal profession as a registered lobbyist in Tennessee; developing community-based support to end the opioid epidemic nationwide; and serving on multiple non-profit boards. She has been recognized for her work as a Nashville Business Journal 40 Under 40 Award Winner and was competitively selected for the Princeton Emerging Leaders Program.
As an active-duty Army spouse, Ms. Beets served on the leadership team of the Military Spouse JD Network, founding the organization’s pro bono project connecting Gold Star families with free legal help, securing licensing accommodations for military spouse attorneys in multiple states, and building capacity for trailing spouses to continue their legal careers.
Ms. Beets earned her Juris Doctorate from Brooklyn Law School and her Bachelor of Arts from Sweet Briar College. She and her active-duty Army Soldier met while volunteering after Hurricane Katrina. Her go-to karaoke song is We Belong by Pat Benatar.
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the PsychArmor course 15 Reasons Why to Hire a Military Spouse. Employers are always looking for untapped talent pools. One talent pool that can be overlooked is the diverse and highly educated group of military spouses. Take this course to learn the top 15 Reasons to Hire a Military Spouse. You can see find the course here: https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/15-Reasons-to-Hire-a-Military-Spouse.
Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com
