The Foreign Service Journal, April 2012

24 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 1 2 In 2002, she parlayed her edu- cation experience into a job as the education and youth officer at the Family Liaison Office. Grappo worked there until 2006, when her husband was appointed ambassa- dor to Oman and she was forced to think about employment again. She knew that this time she would have trouble combining her new role with teaching, so it was her “now or never” moment. Having taken an entrepre- neurship course offered by FLO and completed other professional training, she launched her own educational consulting business, advising families on the best schools for their children. Her first client was an Omani family that paid her with a box of chocolates. But her business has turned prof- itable and has continued to grow through four overseas moves. “I plan to keep working until I can’t do it any- more,” she says. To gin up clients, Grappo developed a Web site, uses social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and gives presentations at American schools overseas. She also re- lies on the referrals of former clients. Most of her clients are expatriate Americans, but only a few of them are State Department personnel. “What I love about what I’m doing is that I’m my own boss,” she says. But there are drawbacks to running your own business too, she warns. “There’s a lot of stress and you never have a day off,” she says. “I have to work wher- ever I am.” In 2006, Scott Beale was living in New Delhi with his wife, an FSO, and working in the embassy on combating human trafficking. He had considered going the tandem route by joining the Foreign Service himself, but then he had an epiphany. What triggered it was New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s book, The World Is Flat (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005), about the growing importance of international ties. Through his embassy work, he’d met a number of Indian nonprofit leaders and thought: “It would be pretty neat if these talented Indians could go volunteer in the U.S.” As it turns out, many American nonprofits were eager to have them. Since Beale launched his Atlas Service Corps in 2006, he’s brought more than 100 international nonprofit leaders from 32 coun- tries to the United States to work for nonprofits on one-year fel- lowships. The fellows get room, board and living expenses, but more importantly, exposure to U.S. nonprofit management and training. The program has proven popu- lar: Last year, 2,000 people ap- plied for 50 positions with non- profits like the breast cancer treatment advocacy group, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, and environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund. Underwriters like the Omidyar Foundation, created by eBay’s founder, have boosted the group’s budget to $1.4mil- lion a year. Beale, who leads a staff of nine, is now in Mon- terrey with his wife. He says the moves required by the Foreign Service actually help him build more contacts and spread the word to more international nonprofit leaders. He adds that he may never have been willing to start his own nonprofit if not for the financial security provided by his wife’s Foreign Service job. “I encourage people to really think through what they are most passionate about and then give it a try. As an entrepreneur, if your spouse is in the Foreign Service, it’s a blessing.” Going Tandem Starting one’s own company or nonprofit requires a great idea and a business plan. Getting a job through State’s expanded professional associates program is a long shot. And many American employers are reluctant to try a teleworking arrangement. As a result, it’s inevitable that many spouses begin to think about joining the Foreign Service themselves. Beale considered it, and Henriksen says that if he’d become a Foreign Service spouse earlier in his career, it’s the route he would have pursued. Many tandem couples speak highly of the experience. Several of them told the FSJ that they thought State would be wise to make it easier for spouses to join the Foreign Service and to be assigned to the same post as their spouse or partner. Longtime tandems Dave and Terry Jones, for instance, say it was the right decision for them. They point out that going tandem offers both spouses the chance to pursue re- warding, professional careers with all the benefits of fed- F OCUS State has concluded bilateral work agreements with 114 countries, and has informal arrangements in 42 other countries.