WITH THE FAMILY THEY LOVE
Maria Quinn, Lt Colonel, USSF; Mil to Mil Couple; Mom of Six
Maria Quinn is on a mission; To Partner with Families so They Can “Serve as Well as They Can, For as Long as They Want, With the Family They Love”.
Self-described as one-half of a dual military family, Maria has served on active duty for over 15 years, first in the United States Air Force (USAF) and now as an officer in the United States Space Force (USSF). Her husband, John, is also serving as a Lt Colonel in the USSF. But that’s just the beginning of what makes Team Quinn so awe-inspiring: Maria and John have a beautiful family of five sons and one daughter who range between the ages of 11 months and 11 years old! In addition, while continuing to serve, Maria founded her own company, Design Your Family Life, to assist military families with military childcare education and support.
Maria and her husband have both worked a variety of schedules, and their careers have taken them across the globe. To ensure their children were lovingly cared for while serving their nation, they sought alternative care that best fit their family, starting with the birth of their first child. Maria has painstakingly earned 12 years of experience hiring nannies and caregivers. Seeing this need within the Department of Defense (DoD), she has been leveraging her experience to help DoD families navigate their unique needs and options for child care during the past three years. “Quality, flexible child care is the only way my husband and I can both serve at the level we feel called to while simultaneously keeping our children first,” Maria expresses. “We’ve learned how to navigate non-traditional care and we want to help families by reducing the stigma, the cost, and the stress surrounding those decisions,” she explains.
In 2022, just as she was getting started with her company, Maria crossed paths with Kayla Corbitt, founder of The Operation Child Care Project (OCCP), a then-emerging 501(c)(3) non-profit with a mission to ensure military families have access to affordable, high-quality child care options, empowering them to pursue their career goals and create stable environments for their quality of life. “It was clear to both of us that we were committed to tackling how to best serve military families and leaders with child care education and support,” Maria reflects. Maria now serves on the board of directors for The Operation Child Care Project and lends her leadership, mentoring mindset, and personal military experience to support the mission of the non-profit.
“I believe by meeting military families exactly where they are when navigating child care, we can positively impact force readiness, retention, and spouse employment,” Maria shares.
In addition to homeschooling, basketball, baseball, and piano, the Quinns love to visit family, and Maria and John even sneak out for a dinner date as often as possible. They are currently working on the logistics of their upcoming military move from Northern Virginia to Florida.
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