Married to: Larry Benson
SOY Location: USCG District 1 Rhode Island
Years as Milspouse: 13
Area of Focus:
Stacey Benson makes things happen. She is a former Army wife and a current Coast Guard spouse (married to the same person!), a mom, and a woman of extraordinary talent, drive and strength. She and her husband Larry have PCSed four times and been through six deployments. During that time Stacey not only held down the homefront, but never stopped searching for employment opportunities. Over the past several years, Stacey has been a wedding coordinator, an event planner, a wholesale travel incentive source, a fundraising solution and support provider, a project manager, a photography prop maker, a portrait and wedding photographer, a graphic designer, an executive secretary and a volunteer. While volunteering on the board of Military Spouses of Newport, Stacey discovered a huge number of spouses who had been in similar positions—spouses with talent and ambition who wanted to work, but who had grown frustrated with the lack of viable opportunities, whether due to companies not taking a chance on military spouses or the constant moves of the military lifestyle.
That’s when Stacey stepped up to the plate and took charge. During a meeting with her job at Newport Hospital, Stacey overheard an administrator share that they were looking to fill a number of positions within the hospital. She immediately spoke up and shared that she knew of a number of very qualified military spouses who would fit the positions perfectly. Now the Military Liaison of Newport Hospital, she uses her role with Military Spouses of Newport to help other military spouses find employment in the local health care system.
In 2015, Stacey wants to help bridge the gap between military spouses who want to work and need resume experience with local businesses that need quality help. She wants to partner with organizations like In Gear Career to help show these businesses the advantages of hiring a military spouse, and to encourage businesses to create quality job opportunities for military spouses. These are part-time, full-time and even consulting jobs. But whatever the work and whatever the job, Stacey is dedicated to helping our military spouses get their foot in the door.
In Her Own Words:
“I have seen other military spouses feeling the impact of putting their spouse’s career and their families’ well being before their own. This impacts military spouses in many ways such as: limiting mobility, competing for jobs for which they are overqualified and underpaid, and overall being discriminated against for job positions due to future relocations. If employers give a military spouse a chance, they will get a hard-working, dedicated, and well educated person who will give them 110% in return. Figuring out ways to help other spouses find quality positions wherever they PCS is my new mission in life!”