BTM132 - Elizabeth Garcia - Hiring Our Heroes Military Spouse Fellowship Program
Show Summary
Military Spouse Elizabeth Garcia, the Director of the Military Spouse Fellowship Program for Hiring Our Heroes, an initiative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation connecting transitioning service members, veterans, military spouses and caregivers with American businesses to create economic opportunity and a strong and diversified workforce.
About Today’s Guest
Elizabeth Garcia is the Director of the Military Spouse Fellowship Program for Hiring Our Heroes, an initiative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation connecting transitioning service members, veterans, military spouses and caregivers with American businesses to create economic opportunity and a strong and diversified workforce. In her role, Elizabeth focuses on strategic planning, team building, business development and strengthening partnerships.
Elizabeth is a seasoned military spouse of 21 years and currently serves alongside her active-duty husband, an Army Aviator, at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. She joined Hiring Our Heroes in September of 2017, helping to launch the pilot for the Military Spouse Fellowship Program in Maryland. Over the past six years, she has launched other programs at Hiring Our Heroes and served in other roles to include Senior Program Manager for the Corporate Fellowship Program and Communications Director. Elizabeth serves as an advocate and subject matter expert on veteran and military spouse employment and educates on issues impacting the military community.
Before her career at Hiring Our Heroes, Elizabeth was a communications professional and Emmy-award winning television news reporter, but, like many military spouses, experienced numerous military moves which negatively impacted her career. These experiences drove her to advocate for military spouses in their pursuit of meaningful employment opportunities.
Elizabeth has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Texas State University and serves as an Executive Advisor for the 25th Infantry Division. She is the recipient of the State of Texas’s Yellow Rose of Texas Award and an inductee of the Honorable Order of Our Lady of Loreto. She resides on Oahu, Hawaii with her husband, RJ, and her daughter, Ella. Her son, Grant, is entering his plebe year at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Go Army!
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the PsychArmor Course 15 Reasons to Hire a Military Spouse As an employer, you are 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.
Links Mentioned In This Episode
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
