074 : Navigating Life's Roller Coaster with Alex Rickerby

Join Jess Sands in this inspiring episode of The InDependent Spouse Podcast as she chats with the incredible Alex Rickerby. Alex, a career coach for the Forces Employment Charity and a private coach in the tech sector, shares her remarkable story of balancing a high-powered career with the unique demands of military life, motherhood, and unexpected challenges. In this episode, you'll hear about: A Powerhouse Career Before Military Life: Discover Alex's impressive professional background, including her years at The Telegraph and her impactful role as a Senior Industry Head at Google, managing key client relationships with central government, publishing, and top non-profit charities. The Unexpected Turn: Alex candidly discusses the "easiest, hardest decision" she made to step away from her corporate career at Google after the challenging birth and illness of her first child, highlighting the profound impact it had on her life and choices. Building a Business on the Move: Learn how Alex strategically utilised "20% time" at Google to explore coaching and how her own transformative experience with a coach in her twenties inspired her path. She also shares how living overseas, particularly in Canada, provided the unique opportunity and "brain space" to invest in her coaching qualification and lay the foundations for her business. The Unexpected Realities of Overseas Life: Alex opens up about the immense community support received during her husband's sudden and serious illness while they were posted in Canada, and the invaluable safety net the armed forces community provides when life takes unforeseen turns. The Unflappable Spirit of Military Spouses: Alex passionately highlights the incredible value, capacity, and "unflappability" that military spouses possess, skills often created through navigating frequent moves, deployments, and the general unpredictability of armed forces life. She emphasizes the importance of using available resources and networks within the military spouse community Essential Support for Military Families: Alex details her work as a career coach for the Forces Employment Charity, providing lifelong support for veterans, families, and serving personnel. She also discusses her volunteer coaching role with Recruit for Spouses, underscoring the abundance of free and high-quality support available to military spouses for career development and personal growth. Key Takeaways: Military life, while presenting unique challenges, also builds incredible skills, adaptability, and a strong sense of community Use the resources available to military spouses, such as career coaching and business support programs offered by charities like the Forces Employment Charity and Recruit for Spouses. Connect with Alex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrickerby/ Discover More from The InDependent Spouse Podcast: https://milspo.co.uk/podcast/ If you're a military spouse with a business idea, or looking to start your own, join the MILSPO eight-week online business startup course! Thanks to the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, your space is funded. Over 60 military spouses and partners have already been helped to start their businesses! Head to https://milspo.co.uk/course/ to register for updates and save your seat. Connect with the Milspo Community: If you are a UK military spouse, partner, or "other half" running a business, join our thriving community of over 1,500+ members at milspo.co.uk.About The InDependent Spouse Podcast: Hosted by Jess Sands, this podcast is dedicated to modern military life, deployment support, and navigating life on the patch. We share real stories of UK military wives, RAF spouses, Army partners, and Navy families who are building epic businesses that thrive.Don't forget to hit follow or subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to never miss an episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.