Military Spouse Spotlight: Anna Blanch Rabe
Hiring Our Heroes is dedicated to connecting military spouses with meaningful employment opportunities and career advancement resources. We host comprehensive hiring and networking events as well as employment forums and career intensives, bringing attendees face-to-face with employers committed to hiring. Hiring Our Heroes also coordinates the Military Spouse Professional Network, a program connecting career-oriented military spouses with peers, mentors and employers through its more than 40 local chapters located across the globe.
Each month we highlight military spouses who participate in Hiring Our Heroes events and programs to allow them to share their experiences and success stories. This week we are pleased to introduce Anna Blanch Rabe.
What is your military affiliation, and what can you tell us about some of your passions?
I’m an attorney (non-practicing), a writer, and the CEO of Anna Blanch Rabe & Associates, a communications consulting company. I’m also a veteran of the Australian Army and the spouse of an active duty U.S. Air Force Airman.
What interested you in participating in the Military Spouse Professional Network through Hiring Our Heroes?
The Military Spouse Professional Network is about sharing our stories, encouraging each other, and sharing resources that help with overcoming the obstacles and challenges inherent to having your career impacted by your own service, or the service of a spouse. It is about showing each other what is possible. I participate because the Military Spouse JD Network (MSJDN) showed me what a community of military spouse attorneys could do for each other and the broader military community, and the MSPN is similar in that it’s focused on building a community of career-minded military spouses and veterans.
What is your favorite highlight or event from the Military Spouse Professional Network?
My favorite moment was witnessing a spouse who had chosen to walk away from a dream job offer in order to join her fiancé (now husband) receive a job offer in her chosen field of engineering that she was really excited about! I am reenergized each time a MSPN member shares that they have overcome another obstacle and have been promoted or hired, or have been able to convert their job into a remote position so that they can take their position with them.
How have you engaged in your local and/or military community?
Along with being a chapter lead for MSPN Holloman, I am a key spouse mentor for one of the squadrons. My involvement within the community has been related to my work with nonprofits and social enterprises. I have been appointed as a member of the Housing Authority Board for the City of Alamogordo (an appointment made by the Mayor of Alamogordo and confirmed by the city commissioners), a member of the Board of Directors of Thrive of Southern New Mexico, a nonprofit that serves and empowers other nonprofits locally, a member of MainGate United – a local committee focused on base and city relations, and a member of the Rotary Club of White Sands.
