Nicole Daurio

Educator

Service Member's Branch - Air Force

Service Member's Status - Currently Serving - 20 years

What has been your military spouse career/entrepreneur journey so far?

Started teaching in 2001, and married my husband in 2007. Since then I have taught in two countries, five states, and eleven schools; public, private, online and charter environments, serving as a coach, teacher, counselor and administrator in Kindergarten through college.

Tell us about yourself.

My name is Nicole, and I am originally from Colorado. For the last 16 years, I have followed my husband around as I worked as a science educator for the better part of 23 years. I am currently working on my doctorate in Sport Medical Leadership. During my free time, if I have any, I enjoy swimming, walks with my husband Andrew, and puppy Francine.

Tell us about a "typical" day in your professional life.

The first bit of information is there is nothing "typical" as a public educator in high school. I spend my days surrounded by teenagers working through concepts of chemistry, physics, biology, and many more. One day we can be attempting to understand how to graph the reaction rate of a chemical reaction, the next we could be exploding pumpkins.

If you've been stationed overseas, how did this affect your career and or business?

Stationed at Ramstein AFB, 2008-2010. To be honest, overseas tanked my career. I took the only job I could find and had to 'fight' for it. Due to the job market, I had to return early for a job as I was working through a Masters degree and couldn't find a full-time job in DoDEA.

Stationed in Hawaii, Hickam AFB 2018-2020. Hawaii was easy to obtain a license through and a job. However, they would not grant me my administrator license. Public school pay and environment was less than stellar. I moved to a private school where the environment was better and the pay was ok.

What has been your biggest military spouse career struggle and how did you overcome it?

As an educator, you don't easily overcome the struggle. I may have a career in education, but I don't get to build a career, I get to find jobs. As a 23-year educator with my education and experience, I should be a principal of a school at the very least. You learn to accept the facts and find joy in different aspects of teaching.

What role did mentors and sponsors play in your journey?

I have learned to be my own mentor and make my own rules.

How does your career path differ from what you imagined for yourself?

I didn't expect to spend my life with a military man or move around the world. My pre-married self expected to be a large school athletic director.

How did military life (PCSing, deployments, trainings, etc) factor into your career decisions?

If my husband and I knew he would be deploying ahead of time, I would return to my home state to work for the year. We have done this three times. It means we geo-bachelor a bit and are separated, but it also means we can use the year to save money.

When we know we are moving to a new state, I research the area and talk to the Dept of Ed. I learn how hard DOE will be to work with, the best places to work, apply etc...

Have you ever had to geo-bach due to your career/entrepreneurship?

Yes, several times. Geo-bach sucks. It is hard to be separated from your spouse. You need to be a very independent person. Sometimes it is necessary for degrees or saving money.