Shamsa is leading women in Australia. Besides serving in the Australian Air Force she is also working as a contractor for Deloitte and helped launch Propel Her. Propel Her is an online leadership series, tailored for Defense Women. It exists to empower women to shape their careers and enhance their professional development in an inclusive space to share, discuss and challenge ideas. Shamsa has such an interesting story of service and I love getting a chance to talk to women who have served in militaries outside of the U.S.
leading women in Australia and Beyond
She joined the military because her then boyfriend, now husband, recommended she join and they could pay for her education at University. It wasn’t part of her plan but as a poor college student it seemed like a great option. And it led to an amazing career in the Australian Air Force. She graduated and commissioned at 19 so she had a lot of responsibility at a young age, but her career was a good one that gave her lots of different experiences really quickly.
Deployments at a young age
Her first deployment was at Papa New Guinea. It was a challenging deployment in the political access and she learned a lot from the experience that then helped her in her next deployment to Afghanistan. She had the opportunity to work with U.S forces and shared some of the cultural differences and experiences. She also talked about her role as a woman in Afghanistan and working with Afghan men. Her third deployment was in United Air of Emirates. She deployed to support the deployment of the KC-38 (Australian Air to Air Refueling). It wasn’t quite ready to deploy but was needed and so she worked to finalize the contracts and ensure the aircraft had everything it needed.
Being a mom in the service
After the third deployment she decided to start working to start her family. It took a little bit of time but she was able to become a mom and shift her role in the military. We also discussed how maternity leave in Australia works and how these changes are good for women giving them the option to stay home longer and not have to leave the military.
Testing out her skills as a civilian
She decided to leave the military on a temporary basis so she could see what her skills in the civilian world were. Wanting to get a depth and breath of experience led her to work at a Defense contractor. She ended up enjoying it and at the end of the year off the military had given her she decided to stay but continue her service in the Reserve.
Propel Her
She and a girlfriend started Propel Her to create change in a place like it felt like change wasn’t happening. They wanted to create a space for women within the Australian military to connect and discuss issues within the military. What started as few resources and guidance turned into a safe place for women to share their own stories and experiences.
