When Sue Hoppin was in college, she met the man she was going to marry. “I was attending the University of Denver, and he was at the Air Force Academy,” She said. “My dad had also attended the University of Denver and warned me not to date those flyboys from the Springs.”
“He didn’t say anything about marrying one of them,” She said. Her life as a military spouse began.
Life brings some real advantages, like opportunities to live abroad — her family got to live all around the US, Japan, and Germany — but it also comes with some downsides, like having to put your spouse’s career over your own goals.
“Though we choose to marry someone in the military, we had career goals before we got married, and those didn’t just disappear.”
It becomes more difficult to reach your career goals and there are many stops and starts. Sue was able to see these unique challenges firsthand and decided to start a nonprofit organization to assist military spouses who are in similar situations.
Sue had gotten a degree in international relations because she wanted to pursue a career in diplomacy, but for fourteen years she wasn’t able to make any headway — not until they moved back to the DC area. “Eighteen months later, many rejections later, it became apparent that this was going to be more challenging than I could ever imagine,” She said.
A typical assignment takes 18 months. By then, spouses will be looking for the next assignment. “If I couldn’t find a job in my own ‘hometown’ with multiple degrees and a great network, this didn’t bode well for other military spouses,” She said.
She is right. The majority of military spouses live with their partners, so they are often far away from their families and support networks. When they do find a job, they often make less than their civilian counterparts — and they’re more likely to experience underemployment or unemployment. On some deployments, spouses may not be allowed to work.
Prior to the pandemic, military spouses were only 22% of the workforce. It’s now expected to reach 35% after the pandemic.
Sue found work at a military-focused non-profit, which gave her the experience and knowledge she needed to start her own program for military spouses. She wrote a book and started saving up enough money to start the National Military Spouse Network (NMSN), which she founded in 2010 as the first organization of its kind.
“I founded the NMSN to help professional military spouses develop flexible careers they could perform from any location.”
“Over the years, the program has expanded to include a free digital magazine, professional development events, drafting annual White Papers and organizing national and local advocacy to address the issues of most concern to the professional military spouse community,” She said.
Sue was not only a big believer in NMSN’s mission, but also saw it as a part of something greater than her own.
“Gone are the days when families can thrive on one salary. Like everyone else, most military families rely on two salaries to make ends meet. If a military spouse wants or needs to work, they should be able to,” She said.
“When less than one percent of our population serves in the military,” she continues, “we need to be able to not only recruit the best and the brightest but also retain them.”
“We lose out as a nation when service members leave the force because their spouse is unable to find employment. We see it as a national security issue.”
“The NMSN team has worked tirelessly to jumpstart the discussion and keep the challenges affecting military spouses top of mind. We have elevated the conversation to Congress and the White House,” she continues. “I’m so proud of the fact that corporations, the government, and the general public are increasingly interested in the issues affecting military spouses and recognizing the employment roadblocks they unfairly have faced.”
“We have collectively made other people care, and in doing so, we elevated the issues of military spouse unemployment to a national and global level,” She adds. “In the process, we’ve also empowered military spouses to advocate for themselves and our community so that military spouse employment issues can continue to remain at the forefront.”
NMSN has been a highly sought-after leader within the military spouse employment sector. Sue also has seen the career she envisioned come to pass. With First Lady Jill Biden, Sue was invited to the public relaunched of Joining forces, a White House initiative that supports veterans and military families.
She also saw two of her practical solutions recommended to legislation. She was the first Air Force commander to recognize the potential of social media to reach both their Airmen as well as their military families
That is why Sue is one of Tory Burch’s “Empowered Women” this year. The $5,000 donation will be going to The Madeira School, a school that Sue herself attended when she was in high school because, she says, “the lessons I learned there as a student pretty much set the tone for my personal and professional life. It’s so meaningful to know that the donation will go towards making a Madeira education more accessible to those who may not otherwise be able to afford it and providing them with a life-changing opportunity.”
Most military children will move one to three times during high school so having a continuous four-year experience at one high school can be an important gift. After traveling for much of her formative years, Sue attended Madeira and found herself “in an environment that fostered confidence and empowerment. As young women, we were expected to have a voice and advocate not just for ourselves, but for those around us.”
To learn more about Tory Burch and Upworthy’s Empowered Women program visit https://www.toryburch.com/empoweredwomen/. Today, nominate an inspirational woman in your local community!