Military Spouse Mentoring & YOUR Career Growth with LA Care Health Plan IT Director Tanya Bonelli

We are calling our shot! It’s the military spouse takeover where Act Now Education is helping 1,000 military spouses launch their careers…This is a podcast special. 

I have a guest who has experience being a US Army Soldier, a military spouse, and now is the IT Director for LA Care Health Plan. Our guest today, Tanya Bonelli, now volunteers as an American Corporate Partners (ACP) Mentor. Join me on this podcast to hear all about Leslie's organization and the Military Spouse Takeover with Act Now Education! 

Connect with Tanya Bonelli on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tbonelli-mba-pmp-l6σmbb/ 

American Corporate Partners Website: http://www.acp-usa.org/ 

Act Now Education Website: www.actnoweducation.com

Transcript

KP: 0:00

This episode is powered by act now education, go to www dot ATT now education.com For free comprehensive educational resources and opportunities for active duty veterans, military spouses, and children. Warriors fall it's time for formation. We're calling our shot. It's the military spouse takeover Act. Now education is helping 1000 military spouses launch their careers. This is a podcast special folks. I have a guest from our military community who's the Director it program delivery at La Care Health Plan. She's been both a soldier and a military spouse and is now an ACP mentor. I'm joined with Tanya banally, Kenya. Thank you for joining us on the morning cremation podcast. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much for the opportunity to come and speak regarding ACP and the military spouses and what we do for our military forces. I really appreciate that.

Tanya Bonelli: 0:59

So I'm glad to be here.

KP: 1:02

The honor is all mine. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule, directing. And before the show started, you talked about how you've been speaking all day, because you've been hiring. You've been hiring like a frenzy over there, over at the LA Care Health Plan, which is exciting, because it's great to hear that there's opportunities out there growing. But before we get into all that, I'd like to I'd like for you to share with us a little bit about who you are. And a little bit about your background.

Tanya Bonelli: 1:34

Awesome. Thank you. So yes, so I, I am, first of all, I'm a mom, I'm already a grandmother. I'm a happy grandmother and a happy mother and I am a lover of people. So all of those things together got me to where I am today working in program and project management. I've spent my entire career minus the first few years of my career that I spent as a soldier in the US Army Reserve, my career has been spent in health care. So having a passion for helping people is a great way to take my structured and organized way of being and bring that to the general population. So I started off in the Army Reserves as a little skinny runt. I'm almost six feet tall. So I was tall and very, very thin 18 year old, in in basic training, so that you can imagine that must have been really interested in trying to get push ups out of me, I could run, but the push ups not so much. And then from there, I've pretty much moved into working in healthcare worked in a lot of different areas of healthcare. And probably I would say maybe 10 years into my career is where I got into the project management domain in it. So I'm a healthcare IT professional. As a military spouse, I was very young, I was a young military spouse. My husband was a cook in the Marine Corps, I have a ton of family and friends that are all have been in the military, some family members and friends are still in there. And I just have a passion, a true passion for helping veterans and spouses and people who are connected to our military family. Because I've always had this feeling that when it comes to military in the US, our people get left out. And so that's really, really important to me. And so when I had the opportunity, through one of the jobs that I was working before I went to LA care health plan, I had the opportunity to work with ACP and become a mentor. And I've been mentoring with them. Ever since I think I'm going on like six years, it's been a real pleasure to see the growth, and says to have so many opportunities to work with very, very different mentees from year to year. So I've really enjoyed doing that.

KP: 4:08

You know, when you talk about the military community being left out, that's very true, in my opinion, and I hate to play the victim of anything ever in my life, you know, how we are in the military, we're always like, Oh, we can do it. You know, don't leave me out. We tend to be very humble about who we are. But we don't make excuses. And I'm not making any excuses. But at the end of the day statistics are true. That less than I mean, less, I think right around actually read on 8% of the entire US population ever serve in the military. So with that being said, you know, when you release us out into the world into the civilian world, you know, that makes up for 97% of folks that never served, which is 90 some percent of folks that might be a recruiter that's going to be sitting across across the table from you, looking to hire you So it can be very difficult to leave out folks who are military spouses or military veterans who have that experience, because when I start talking about advanced individual training, for example, or what I did as a NCO, a lot of folks won't understand that because of the likelihood of you sitting across from someone who actually served in the military. So it's really, really refreshing to see folks like you, who have a little taste of what it's like to be a soldier, you have a taste of what it's like to be a military spouse as well. And you're actually reaching back, you're a mentor, you're taking the time to help build up our community when it comes to making that that career transition. And specifically, when you were in the military, I'm just curious from my own, like, what was your What was your MOS,

Tanya Bonelli: 5:52

I was 71 Lima, I was an admin. So So really, the work that I do now is very heavily administrative, you know, project management. So I'm a process improvement specialist, I'm a master black belt, Lean Six Sigma, I'm not talking about fighting, probably somebody could beat me up. But if it comes to process improvement, and making processes more efficient, I'm your girl. And I also am a PMP, which is a Project Management Professional. So I the fact that you asked me that question is pretty funny, because I started in admin, and admin is all about being organized. And, you know, getting your paperwork together, making sure that people have the things that they need. So I feel like I've from the beginning, I started in the right place with doing that. But I wanted to I wanted to mention something because you you stated that you mentioned ai t and you mentioned when you're talking about what you did as an NCO and how people who are sitting across the table don't really get it. And that's one of the great things about this mentoring program is because there are those of us who are here to help those people get it right. And so it's all in making sure that you're changing the words that you're using from military speak to regular civilian speak. And that's one of the great things about this program. When you go into the program. The person is basically a profile is created on the mentor and the mentee. And we asked, you know, what do you need help with? We also do resume review? We do. I've done everything for my mentee. So I have said, Oh, you're nervous about an interview. Let's do a mock interview right now. And they're like, wait, what you want to do a mock interview? I said, we could do it right now. Let's do it right now. You know, and I'm going to ask you some questions. So this mentoring from where I sit is really about truly showing people tactical hands on, how do I walk in the door? What you know, what should I say? What should not that say? What is it like, you know, being in the project management role in the civilian environment? What is it like when you go to work, right? A lot of a lot of people don't know what you know what to expect. And in the program, I've mentored officers, I mentored a officer out of the Air Force, he was a pilot. I've mentored a gentleman that was in the Navy, I think he was like an EAD nine, I don't remember its rank exactly. I mentored someone who was just like a, you know, like a junior level NCO and was getting out. And I've mentored a couple of spouses, and they all basically are uncertain about what to expect and how to navigate corporate America, basically, you know, with the kinds of roles that they're looking for. So I think it's a great opportunity to help with the things that you mentioned, that that that soldiers that veterans and their spouses struggle with.

KP: 9:02

Yeah, you know, my next question was going to be what was your overall motivation for your career path, but it sounds like from the get go from your MOS leading up into your certifications, which by the way, is extremely impressive. Six Sigma, Black Belt and PMP. That's no easy. That's no easy task. I looked at getting a PMP at one point and I was extremely intimidated with the amount of work that was going to take place. And me being a project management MBA. I do highly value, the project management, overall tasks and things that you learn while getting that certification, how important it is to understand how to be organized, efficient, and on time with your deliverables. I wanted to ask you over it sounds like you have mentored military spouses to NCOs to really high ranking officers. And speaking as a former As a commissioned officer, myself, I felt like when I got out, I kind of got in my own way. I thought that I could do it myself, I don't need help. Do you find a lot of military folks sort of have that issue where, you know, I got this, I don't need mentorship, I can figure it out on my own? Or do you find that a lot of military folks come to you, willingly and openly looking for help?

Tanya Bonelli: 10:30

So I'm, so with the experience through ACP, the individuals who've been assigned to work with me, they are they want the help they want, you know, they're very inquisitive, they want to know, anything that I can give them. I mean, they want to know, just like you mentioned, you got an MBA, in project management, you're thinking about doing the PMP. You know, usually people overload themselves, and they're trying to do all of this stuff at once. And I, they want to know, am I doing the right thing? Am I taking the right step, where I find that people are unsure is when I'm out in the street, right, like, so when I'm not mentoring through the program. If I meet someone, or know someone who's in the military, they'll talk about their career, like, I have a friend, for instance, who was a captain got out of the military, and said, Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna case the person hears me on this station, but I'm going to do an admin assistant position. And I was puzzled because the the person has so much, just so much experience to give, you know, more than what an admin administrative person would do. And what I find is some, some of the military personnel are afraid to maybe take that leap at the level that they were working while they were in the military. So, you know, always try to make sure that people understand, these are just human beings that you're that you're working with, it is a different world. But it's something that can definitely be navigated like, there, there are no, you know, you can go and be a superstar, because that's within you, if you were if you were rocking it out in the military, and you were, you know all about your business, and you did what you needed to do, you'll be good to go when you go into your civilian career, as long as you put that same energy into it. And so I think it depends on the person. But I can say that the individuals who've made the decision to come through the program, they, they want to help, they want to know how to get to that next step. And, you know, I have a good track record so far. So, so far, all of the mentees that I've worked with have gotten excellent, excellent careers going. And I keep in touch with all of my mentees, sometimes I'll just text, text them and say, Hey, how are you doing? I just wonder, are you still at the same place? Let me know if you need anything. And that's the other thing I would, I would guess that other mentors are also making themselves available to their mentees, because you're with your mentee for six to 12 months. So you do really create a bond. So you know, you get that kind of lifelong person who can help you along the way even later on in your career, if they have a problem, or they you know, I'm I'm uncertain how to deal with this. This is new to me in this domain. So, yeah, I think I think it's a mixed bag. But I do believe that the individuals who come through the program are anxious and inquisitive, and they want to know and they want to help.

KP: 13:40

You know, Tanya, I always found it so challenging whenever I was in front of my formation, and I would try to inspire, motivate entice the soldiers to take advantage of the Education Center. And, you know, it's easy when someone comes to you for for help, but it's really challenging when somebody doesn't quite understand the challenge that's in front of them, before they take that career transition leap out of the military and, and understand like how to invest in themselves. And I understand what you're saying too. And it's surprising to hear that some people are, you know, some people think that they have to take a leap down. When they make that career transition. That's that's very disheartening, but it's great to hear that you're there to kind of pick them up and motivate them to say, you don't have to take a leap down in your career. You can take a leap up or a lateral leap, I guess you should say. And over the years with you being an ACP mentor, would you mind describing any career pain points that you've had experiences with or you've heard others that have had experiences with or and what are some of the issues that you've seen as far as being a military spouse with a career? So,

Tanya Bonelli: 14:53

in terms of some of the pain points that I've seen from some of my my mentees is just really the trying to navigate how to get started looking for a job, or trying to get in there, their next career step started. So every person has come to me because I have, like 25 years of experience in the project management domain, every person that comes to me is really mashed up quite well. So there are people who are interested in, they think they're interested in project management, maybe some process improvement. And so those are the types of individuals that I get, and even though they have some experience they have questions about, okay, so where should I look like some, some people don't know what industry to look in. The great thing about project management is once you learn the tools, and you learn the tricks of the trade, and you learn how to project manage as a professional, you can take that into any domain, whether it's healthcare, automotive, I have one person that went to work for an airport, at the program level. So at the at the management level, I had one person who worked for one, I think Toyota, I had a couple of spouses. One of them was more of a data analyst and I worked at many different places while we were working together. So I think that those are some of the initial challenges is, where do I start? Where do I look, you know, I'm going from working as some of the some of the folks have, especially the veterans, like, they go from working, doing something where they cannot really see opportunity that's completely transferable. So if like my husband, my husband was a cook. So he went, you can go from being a cook to a cook, right? That's easy. Like, I'm a cook, I can go and find a job. But if you did something in the military, that's not really, you know, one to one, you have to really start thinking about, what are the skills that I was using, while I was doing my job? So was I facilitating a lot of meetings? Was I creating presentations was I needing to resolve issues and need to identify where, where the risks are, right? So all of that project management speak. So they kind of have a problem with that. And then one of the other things is, I think, again, that fear of Oh, my gosh, I got people to call me back on my resume, what do I do? That's another area is just trying to get them prepared and make them help them to feel comfortable. That a is just the interview, you know, yourself. And that's what you're selling, you're selling you you're selling all of these great communication skills, you're selling the, you're going to tell that story about, you know, this project you were working on, they don't care about what the project was, but you were working on the project, there was a situation presented, this is the task I did, here's the actions that were taken. And here was the result. So that's the STAR method, right? So they learn how to sort of okay, that I can make it relatable. So I think those are some of the major challenges that I've seen, from spouses and veterans as they kind of go through the program.

KP: 18:17

It's always such a challenge to kind of collect, formulate, and then also translate those skills, which is sort of what you're talking about when you're talking about the STAR method, the situation tasks, actions and results. And sometimes it takes it takes someone to simply clarify that. And that's exactly what you're talking about. And you keep talking about project management. I'm in love with project management, because I like I said, I got my graduate degree, and I got my graduate degree in project management. And it's so universal. And with that being said, you know, when you talk about, you know, where do I start, and that is something that I find a lot of folks, whether it's entrepreneurship, whether it's education, whether it's certification, whether it's where I go with my entire career. That's why it's so fascinating and outstanding, that there's folks like you who are serving as ACP mentors, because you can have that conversation with someone and help them find who they are and what they really want to do. And, you know, that's why I have you as a guest on the show today, because I think it's absolutely outstanding, that there's folks like you willing to take their time and volunteer to be an ACP mentor. And now Tanya with all the career with all the career things that we spoken about today, would you mind talking about how many years you've been specifically with ACP as a mentor and about how many mentees Have you had over the years and describe the overall impact of the organization itself?

Tanya Bonelli: 19:52

So, um, I think this is I'm pretty sure I'm, I'm either leaving out on my fifth year and going into my sixth year i believe I've had six, six mentees, because you get your mentee is assigned to you for six to 12 months. So you it's a lot, it's a long haul, right? Because you want to make sure that the person is, is set up properly. And I, you know, I'm a glutton for punishment. So I just, I never take a break from it because I love it. I think I just want to make one comment. When you said that, you know, it's great that there are people who are willing to do this, where my heart is, is that it is awesome that there are people who are willing to put their life on the line every single day so that we can go to sleep at night and watch TV and Netflix and go out and play basketball and go to church and do all of these things that we do without even thinking about it. So for me, it is a very small thing that any, you know, that any of us can do to give back to those people who protect us every day, right? And we don't even we don't even think about it. Right. But that that is what's happening when these young men and women are going out getting on the ship going away for six months doing all of their their training and even going into conflicts. So I do want to say that I think is very important to say. And then as far as, as far as you know, the impact of this program, it has such a large impact. I I think that when you and I'm just I'm going to talk about my last mentee, the my most recent mentee that we just ended our mentoring assignment just about a month or so ago. Bright, bright, young young woman, you know, she has her family, she's moved, you know, telling me all the time and like, oh, we might move here, we might go there, what am I going to do and just kept powering after whatever she wants it. And you know, at some point, everyone, you know, starts to think, you know, can I really do this. And I think the biggest impact is because they get into the program. So actually joining the ACP mentoring program is the most important step. And the biggest impact that they see at the end of the day is I accomplished all of these things, right, half of the stuff that's on my list that I accomplished through this mentorship program. I didn't even know that I wanted to do that. But we figured it out together. And I did that. I mean, like I got my resume, I updated my links in I have my elevator speech, I know what to say if I, if I see some important CEO, and it's, you know, he's part of the company I want to work for, or some manager or some director or I'm out, and I'm networking, I know how to network. Now I know where to go to meet people, I know what to say, I know how to convince people that I know what I'm doing. And I know how to sell myself. And guess what I got, you know, my career's off off to the races. So every single person that I've mentored has gotten the type of job that they've wanted. And they've all been career, because these are all people who have decided to do project management minus 111, young lady was into data analytics. But I think that's the biggest impact is that our mentees walk away, feeling proud, feeling strong, feeling accomplished, and being able to see that, hey, this wasn't so bad after all, this 12 months was awesome. And by the way, Tanya, can I call you if I get if I need anything else, you know, or if I have questions, and that that happens, you know? So I think that that's the biggest impact has given is built building, building up that confidence and seeing that, at the end of the day, I will get what I'm looking for. And then so much more. I mean, it's always been so much more I've mentees who've put down you know, they just wanted to I just need resume help. And then they come out of it like wow, you know, I got this wonderful job offer. Can we talk about it? And I think that's the best feeling that I get of accomplishment for me being able to help these folks who desperately need us to help right like it's the right thing to do, you know?

KP: 24:16

Yeah, because I mean, we've all been there before, you know what it's like to be lower enlisted, you know what it's like to have to struggle and strive and thrive through. You know, at the end of the day, military spouses serve and service members, veterans, you know, we've all sacrificed, whether you deployed or you didn't deploy at the end of the day, you were plucked from your from your bubble from your hometown, and you were placed somewhere that you were was outside of your comfort zone. And you had to figure it out for yourself and you had to grow up early in life and become an adult fairly quickly. And so what you're doing as an ACP mentor is very honorable. And you're certainly serving the folks out there within our community, our entire military community who have made major sacrifices for their own lives. And I like to think that folks like you, and I, you know, we really are family. And I love talking to folks like you, because you're a lot like me when it comes to when it comes to being inspired and motivated. You know, I always, I always love hearing a happy ending when it comes to career transition. And it sounds like you're the same on a lot of levels, where I am as well, specifically for this campaign. Why do you think military spouses should consider signing up with ACP and getting that mentorship? What would you say to that military spouse out there, who doesn't necessarily see themselves as someone that should undertake this sort of thing, because it may not be for them, and maybe they can do it on their own?

Tanya Bonelli: 25:55

I think that, um, that is, I think that military spouses should do this, because there is a lot to be had. One thing that I want to point out is the, you know, it's not like I'm some kind of special person. So every other mentor that's part of ACP has an incredible wealth of knowledge, background, education, hands on experience. And because ACP does an excellent job at when they get the profiles for either person at matching you with a mentor who's going to fit what you need. This is already a step above other mentoring programs, I've mentored in several different programs. And most, a lot of the programs though, they look at Oh, well, personality, they'll do the personality and the behavioral test to see if your personalities match. But what ACP is doing is looking at what your history is, what kind of work you're looking to do, what kind of experience you have, and then they go and get the best of the best in that field. That is just like a tremendous network of people to be connected to, right, because not everyone has hands on someone who is a director or a CEO, or, you know, the manager of accounting, or some data scientists, this, you know, you know, data science sciencing their life away. Not everyone has access to that when they're getting a mentor. So a lot of the mentoring programs look, say, hey, you know, Tanya is a dominant person, I need to make sure that I match her with someone who can, you know, deal with her personality and vice versa. But that's it. ACP is matching you up with the person who can help you with specifically what you think that you want to do. And even if you are not quite sure, they're going to look at what it is that you have done, what you have an interest in doing. And then they're going to match you up with someone who can help you think through that. So I think it's a wonderful opportunity to have a partner. And think about it like if you didn't, if you weren't a military spouse, or a service member, and you just were starting your life out, you're pretty much on your own to figure it out. And this way, you have a partner, a partner, who's going to be there for you, who's going to give you the tools walk you through when you have issues or problems, or you're confused about things and sort of help you set yourself up for success. So I think that that's the best reason why a military spouse should do this. And military spouses are awesome. That's the other thing, they have so many different skill sets. And we need that in corporate America we need to have and not just corporate America, because you know, you could be mentored, you could be a chef, whatever it is, whatever your your domain is, we need military spouses, because they are built in May with grit, they have a lot of spirit, they have a lot of spunk. They're very smart. They're flexible, adaptable, I mean, some of the best people on Earth. So the world needs that. And so this is a good starting place for that for someone looking to transition into a new career. And I will and I'm gonna purposely say career because I know we spoke about that earlier. But these are careers that are being born, right. And sometimes people are on the second career. So it is definitely worth trying and there's nothing to lose, you know, there's nothing to lose by joining up, signing up having that first conversation, and then you'll be hooked. Because the people are just awesome.

KP: 29:41

I certainly agree with what you're saying there. And speaking from my own personal experience, being a former Army Captain myself, you know, when I made that career transition out of the military, I was probably my own worst enemy, when it came to not having a conversation with a mentor about how to make that transition proper. And I was sort of all over the place. And I ended up taking the first job that was offered to me and I was there for about a year before I quit and moved on to my next, my next job. I really think that having someone like yourself, who is very inspirational when it comes to looking at your overall background, and your overall education and your journey so far, I mean, at the end of the day, you've kind of paved the path. So instead of you having someone else pave their own path, you can actually go back and tell them, Hey, these are all the pitfalls that I experienced, that I want to help you avoid. And that's something that I really wish I had taken advantage of. And I didn't take advantage of it. And so I always say we can be our own worst enemy when it comes to those sorts of things. And, you know, in your own, in your own experiences, you know, aside from signing up for ACP, or signing up, including ACP mentoring, how can military spouses overcome some of the obstacles of career development?

Tanya Bonelli: 31:05

I think the thing is to be intentional with anyone you know, whether you're a military spouse or not, the thing about the career is to be intentional. And I'll just, I'll just share a little bit more about myself. I was born in Chicago, Illinois, I was born in Durham during the time when the time was better than it is now. But I was born in Chicago and Illinois in the in the neighborhood that I came from, I wouldn't want to go there right now. So the neighborhood that I came from, wasn't the best neighborhood ever wasn't the worst, but it wasn't the best. And so I think that everything that you do, you have to be very intentional about right, I think that you have to be intentional about what you want, you have to have pride and have, you know, find that confidence. And if you don't, necessarily, maybe, maybe there's some things that happen to you in life, I have a lot of things that happen, you'd be surprised to hear my story. But the bottom line is, is that I want it better for myself. And so I think that having that confidence and and understanding that, you know, if you want to grow yourself, and if you want to even if it's just for personal development, you have to figure out what are the steps that are going to help me to get there, and having people who are willing to give their time and to sow into you, you know, so into you and in support, you know, what they have into you is such a great gift to have, you know, people who do this kind of mentoring and volunteering, they have a passion for it. And that's, that's something you can't buy. And by the way, it's free, you don't have to buy it. So I think it's very, very important to be very intentional. So the thing that I would tell anyone a military spouse is think about what you think you like, what you want to do. If you're not sure there's there's all kinds of different assessments that you can do to kind of help you figure out there are people that you can talk to, there are materials that you can get your hands on, you can potentially shadow some, some folks, or at least get an idea of what is this job really like? You know, Tanya talked a lot about project management, what does that really mean? So, you know, or being a chef, you know, in the in some five star restaurant, what does that really mean? I have a friend right now who's a veteran who started out as a cook in the Marine Corps. And she, you know, wants desperately to be in to hospitality. And I told her, go to the hotel and see if you can, you know, shadow them and tell them, hey, I, you know, I'm a veteran, go see if you can work an event, you know, go go get your hands wet, and that things. So those are the things that I would do, that I have done. I've been very intentional about where I wanted my career to go. And some things I was like, What was I thinking? Like, you know, you try something and it's not exactly what you want, but you don't let that deter you. Because you know, folks who are military veterans spouses, like I said, we have a lot of grit, a lot of adapt, adaptability, flexibility. So that didn't work or that thing out to the side and try something new. I would just say keep trying and keep going for it. And my favorite word word in the whole wide world my daughter can attest to this is persevere. And so that's what we need to do is just have some perseverance and have that sort of go get them attitude and I think that people can just reach the stars.

KP: 34:42

I love it. I love the advice. Totally love the advice because when you talk about being intentional, that is 100% you know true when it comes to figuring out what it is that you want to do for yourself, but then also, you know, following and staying true to your career path and making sure that you have That clear vision. And we talked about, you know, making sure that that you do well for yourself, basically, because folks out there who mentor you and go to bat for you, I can tell you that for me over the years, Whenever someone's has stuck their neck out for me, or spent extra time with me, or even if it was someone that helped raise me over the years, there was a scene in Private Ryan in the very beginning, where Private Ryan is visiting the grave site of the captain that was killed. And he says, You know, I live my life for you. And that's a much bigger concept. But on a smaller concept for ourselves, we've had a lot of folks who have been involved in our own lives, who have made tremendous sacrifices for us. And a lot of times, even for me, that's been my motivation and my drive, whenever the going, whenever the going gets tough, the tough get going, right. And so for me, I think about the folks in my life who have sacrificed and have really stuck their own necks out for me, and spent time with me to help me develop and use as my motivation. So I understand what you're saying, when you talk about that. And just to find a lot to show, you know, I just want to ask you, is there any advice or anything that you'd like to mention that we didn't talk about during this episode that you'd like to talk talk about now, or mentioned to our guests out there who are listening to this, or we started our audience out there who's listening to this,

Tanya Bonelli: 36:26

I would say be kind to yourself. Um, and in terms of being intentional, don't feel like you have to do everything at once. That's one of the things a lot of us know, regardless of who you are, where you come from, we feel like oh, I want to go, you know, do this job or have this career and we try to do every single thing that we can. So some of my goals, she has a PMP. And she has this and she has that I got the the the certifications that I got, because at the time that I went, decided to make that that choice, it was something that I knew it would better my career. But it doesn't mean that on day one, you have to be PMP certified, or you have to have whatever certification you're going for, just get be kind to yourself, and don't overwhelm yourself. Because it's not as hard as you think. And it doesn't necessarily require, you know, a whole bunch of accolades. To do that. I think sometimes, one thing I want people to leave with is, I don't, I don't want someone to sit here and listen to what we're talking about and go, Oh, he has an MBA, and she has this and she has that, that means nothing, because we didn't have those things before. That's something that we picked up along the way. So you can start your career, you can, you know, start taking baby steps to look at what you want to do. And you'll you'll decide along the way, what those things are that you need. Because sometimes you don't need exactly the same thing that Tanya or KP got you, you may not need those things. And you may be able to work in the in the similar field or to do the thing that you you know, dream of doing your your path, there may be a little bit different. That is one thing that I It breaks my heart when people are like, sometimes they're so overwhelmed, because they're like, I'm in the master's program. I'm in this, um, in that. And I'm like, wait, hold up, stop, why are you doing all of these things at once, you know, not saying that you shouldn't do them ever, but just, you know, think about it. So I like to tell people to be kind to themselves, and be okay, because you're already enough, you already have something that you're bringing with you that's going to be good to bring to the table, we just got to figure out which is the right table for you.

KP: 38:44

Tanya, that's actually really, really solid, you know, you definitely have to have a balance in there of taking care of yourself loving yourself, but then also investing in yourself. And I think that throughout your journey and your career, you've done an outstanding job with that. And if anyone out there listening is interested in contacting you because they'd like to discuss anything that you mentioned today a little bit further, what's the best way that they can contact you? What social platforms are you on that they can follow you on? Would you mind mentioning that?

Tanya Bonelli: 39:15

Yeah, I'm definitely on LinkedIn. So I'm, I'm on LinkedIn, my via my email, it's Tanya bonelli@yahoo.com. You can email me there. That's TANYAB o n e. Ll i@yahoo.com. And I would love to answer any questions or you know, helps anybody who wants to get a start, or has questions for me concerning my background or you know, the things that I've done or things that they might want to do.

KP: 39:49

Awesome, awesome. And I just want to thank you for spending time with us here on the morning formation podcast to inspire our military spouses out there who may feel like you know, having an actual career while they're in the military isn't for them. In reality, you have folks like Tanya here who is more than willing to sit down with you and have a conversation on what are your ultimate goals, because even if you can take care of the small targets right now, whether it's certifications, or maybe it's something as big as getting a graduate degree or an undergraduate degree, you know, start planning your career, start planning your path, start finding that light because you got folks out there like Tanya here, who, here she's already been there, done that. She understands what it's like to be on both sides of a military spouse and a soldier. So utilize the assets and the resources that you have with ACP and its overall mentorship program. So Tanya, I want to thank you for joining us on the morning formation. I really appreciate your time today.

Tanya Bonelli: 40:57

Thank you for having me. It's been a blast. Thank you so much.

KP: 41:03

The honor is all ours as I always say and from for all our audience members out there listening I want you to stay tuned, stay focused and stay motivated. Warriors Fallout