October 2021 - Powerhouse Planning

New Powerhouse Team Member

Amy grew up in Macon, Georgia and attended the University of Georgia, graduating with a degree in education. She then pursued a Master of Education degree from Mercer University while teaching full-time in the public school system. After marrying her high school sweetheart, they began military life together, moving all around the world from North Carolina to Germany with countries in between. They have been married for over 20 years and have raised two children, both of whom are now adults. After Amy’s husband retired from the Marine Corps, they settled in Peachtree City, Georgia.

Amy joins Powerhouse Planning as a freelance project liaison. Between her teaching career and volunteer endeavors, Amy has worn a variety of job hats over the years. She worked many years as a full-time classroom teacher as well as a virtual ESL teacher. As many of the Powerhouse family know, military life brings many moves, deployments, and sometimes “single parenting” moments. Because of these circumstances, there were times over 26 years of military spouse life that Amy did not “work” but instead volunteered her time/talents. She volunteered in school settings as a classroom helper, reading tutor, and PTO board member. On the military side, Amy volunteered to organize and run several fundraising events for military-based clubs, as well as coordinate and advise families before and during deployments.

Amy believes that working as a project liaison will give her the opportunity to utilize skills/talents that she has developed from her previous positions. Amy’s instructional, organizational, problem-solving, and curriculum development skills have all been honed as a result of her teaching career and volunteer duties during military life. Amy enjoys working as part of a team and feels that she is at her best when she is helping others.

When Amy is not teaching or volunteering, you will find her lunching and shopping with friends, exercising, reading books, and vacationing with her family.

Spotlight on Powerhouse’s Rossmery Oakes

We’re back with another entry in one of our favorite blog series and shining the spotlight on another of our powerful team members, Rossmery Oakes. Rossmery has been a part of the Powerhouse team since 2018 and serves as one of our web designers/graphic designers and as one of our proud military spouses. She’s been “doing military life” together with her Air Force spouse since 2014 but is excited to have an opportunity to pursue her career while supporting her husband’s service. Giving military spouses and veterans realistic, remote careers is one of our passions, and Rossmery is a prime example of how talented this underappreciated segment of our national workforce is.

Rossmery describes herself as a passionate critical thinker, communicator, and empath. “I think in everything I do,” she says, “whether personal or professional. It’s always important to me to connect with people, enjoy great conversations, and solve problems.” That’s probably why she cites the enthusiasm of everyone at Powerhouse as one of her favorite aspects of the company. “The genuine care and respect there is for everyone on the team and our well-being in the workplace” speaks to Rossmery and allows her a safe space to create and grow.

In addition to working with Powerhouse and being a passionate military spouse, Rossmery and her husband (very) recently welcomed their first baby (an absolutely adorable girl) who joins her parents and two furry “siblings.” The newly expanded family enjoys “getting to do life together,” and Rossmery says one of her favorite things is “seeing how all our unique characters and personalities just fit.” Rossmery and her husband love getting to explore and know the areas where the Air Force takes them, but when she’s at home, Rossmery loves solving puzzles. Add in the fact that Rossmery describes her family as “big foodies” and she’s got all the bases covered.

Being able to have a remote career with Powerhouse is something Rossmery loves, and she envisions Powerhouse growing its remote business practice to a point where it can give “hundreds of military spouses” the same opportunity she has. She says that it’s been a blessing to work with a “really great group that inspires [her] to want to do [her] best in all areas, not just work.” Powerhouse allows Rossmery to work on projects with people she connects with, something she says is vital to a remote career. If you’ve got the right people, Rossmery believes, then keeping an open line of communication and setting the right expectations are easy and allow everyone on the team to stay accountable to a work/life balance.

Rossmery purposefully creates equally unique and fun environments for both home and work. She suggests making enjoyable but separate spaces in the home to help ensure your head is “in the right space” for what you need to do. If you’ve got “work projects that light you up and you’re partnering with people who respect your time,” she says, then the sky’s the limit. Additionally, she recommends never being afraid to take a break when you need it. It’s something you might feel guilty for doing when working from home, but there’s a reason that offices have built-in break times.

That might be why Rossmery enjoys Powerhouse’s Power Hours, virtual get-togethers that are a mix of fun and work. “They’re a great resource,” she says, “especially for those of us who strictly work from home and get much less interaction than you might from a different job.” Whether coworkers are engaged in painting nights or workshops, Rossmery says, “It’s a nice opportunity for us to get different kinds of human interaction.” It also builds team camaraderie, which translates to fun, exciting, and satisfying work. “Recently I worked on a project for one of our clients, Dune Dwellings. I think the work of the team came together so nicely at the end, it felt like a Fixer Upper show reveal!” she says. When work is fun, life is better.

As always, we asked Rossmery to share a little tidbit that not many others might know. Hers came complete with a celebrity encounter: an old hotel job Rossmery once held meant she interacted with a lot of different people. Every Sunday night, former NFL wide receiver legend Jerry Rice would stop by the hotel for a drink and Rossmery would serve him. So, of course, we asked what his favorite drink was. Turns out Jerry Rice loves mimosas. We can’t lie—that fun fact may have made us love Jerry Rice a little bit more. But not as much as we love Rossmery. Sorry, Jerry.