Lori Roop — Air Force spouse
When Lori Roop, an executive and public relations she held a party for the wives in the squadron, no
professional, got married at age 40, she wasn’t sure one replied. “I was crushed,” Lori says. “Here I
what being an Air Force offi cer’s wife was about. can’t fi nd a job, and I can’t fi nd friends.” She laughs
Seven moves and nine years of military marriage at the memory of it.
later, Lori is a card-carrying Air Force wife. She had better luck at Maxwell AFB, Ala., where
Today, she and her husband, Col. Jon Roop, USAF, she served for 11 months as executive director for
the wing commander at Bolling AFB, Washington, Habitat for Humanity before moving to Germany.
D.C., are back in the nation’s capital where they met During her job interview she told the board, “I guar-
a decade ago. Lori is the special events coordinator antee you’ll get 120 percent out of me regardless of the
for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. time.” The board hired her an hour later.
But as a single woman, Lori spent 20 years in In Europe, Lori volunteered fi ve days a week, eight
high-powered jobs in Washington, D.C. “Do you hours a day as president of the spouses’ club. “I never
understand that we will move every other year?” missed a paycheck,” she says. “Just seeing the faces of
she remembers her then-future husband asking. the people we affected was enough.” The club’s fund-
“You sure you want to go through with this?” raising efforts grossed in excess of $2.7 million.
Yes, she was sure. “I was thrilled but not pre- With her job at the museum, Lori realizes she can’t
pared” she says. “Where did I fi t in as a wife at do it all. She is the advisor for the Air Force Offi cers’
40 into this world and as a professional woman?” Wives Club and attends as many events as she’s able.
It wasn’t easy. At their fi rst assignment in “I’m making it work, and I’m enjoying the ride,”
Charleston, S.C., Lori couldn’t fi nd work. When Lori says.
Roxanne Reed — Marine Corps spouse
“No, I can’t” is one phrase Marine Corps wife and small business entrepreneur Rox-
anne Reed never utters. “It drives my husband crazy sometimes,” says Roxanne, who
runs a design and distribution company and is the founder of Jane Wayne Gear and All
Fired Up Candles.
This mother of two got her start in the business world eight years ago in an unlikely
place — her kitchen at Camp Lejeune, N.C. That’s where Reed hand-poured candles
with names like the apple pie-scented “God Bless America” and the buttery vanilla-
scented “Semper Fi.”
Later, she created Jane Wayne Gear after attending Jane Wayne Day, an event
where military spouses get to experience their Marine’s job for a day.
“I saw all these women in gear and had a light-bulb moment,” Roxanne says. She put
her idea into action and created a military-themed line of handbags and apparel, known
for its signature pink and camoufl age designs. Her line is carried in boutiques, online at
Target stores, and in more than 40 military exchanges.
Roxanne might never have gone into business if her husband, Capt. Ron Reed,
USMC, hadn’t joined the military. With a degree in psychology, she wanted to pursue
a career as a criminal profi ler. “When my husband decided to go back into the military,
that dream was thwarted,” she says. So Roxanne switched gears and combined her hob-
bies of art and fashion with her skills as a researcher and profi ler. The result was her
“Designed by Military Wives” branding company. She knew that to be successful she’d
need a basic knowledge of operating a business. With young children, a husband on
back-to-back deployments, and no university nearby, she earned her MBA online.
“It takes a village to grow a business,” says Roxanne, whose company has doubled
or tripled in growth each year. “And I’m just thankful my village is the military.”
“At the end of the day, unless my sisters are succeeding with me, it’s not a good day,”
she says. “I get as much pleasure watching their success as I do my own.” MO
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