Lauren Corona

Share your military spouse story:
My favorite question people ask about myself and my husband is, "How did you two meet?" I laugh to myself and wait for the reaction to the answer, "Wally and I met in a mental hospital!" Some people think it is a joke but I promise it is very true. We met and we were at our lowest. My husband had complex PTSD. I had experienced sexual, mental, and physical abuse in relationships and had witnessed the death of my mother to an aggressive form of brain cancer. Life had not dealt either of us a good hand of cards. We had been placed in the same out-patient therapy groups and just wanted to figure out how to live. Even though we went our separate ways after therapy some divine power made sure our paths crossed again. We were married within 18 months and within two years we were expecting our first child. We picked up our broken pieces and glued them together. Our lives since have been a roller coaster that many would have decided to jump off of before the drop. When our daughter was newborn we experienced the worst hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast and had thousands of dollars of damage and lost property. We never got to return home and instead lived apart for six months while we tried to recover. We reunited after we received humanitarian orders to Hill AFB, Utah. Wally encouraged me to return to school and as we were finally getting into a groove COVID struck. Wally cheered me on while I pivoted into online classes and we decided to add to our little family. Shortly after falling pregnant my dad caught COVID and was placed on life support and needed a double lung transplant to survive. It was Wally's idea to apply for humanitarian orders in order to support my family. We have since relocated to Moody AFB, Georgia and try to use our story to help other and create a better environment for airmen and their families. We have been through countless trials but in the end we have always supported and loved each other and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
Our military community is small but we have a serious lack of comradery among spouses. I decided to lead the charge on planning the a Spouses Dining In event for the 2024 calendar year, the second year the event was hosted. This was an effort to bring people of all backgrounds together. I linked up with the former event coordinator and took all of her notes to review. I set up meetings with our former wing Chief Master Sergeant, the First Sergeants Group, Public Health, Chaplain Corps, Commanders, and outside venders in order to have all the pieces I needed for the event. I coordinated a team of six other spouses who helped with outside sponsors for donations and gifts, decorating venues, and ticket sales. We ended up having 50 to 60 spouses show up for our event and we were met with rave reviews and hopes that we'd continue the tradition. Overage from ticket sales were donated the Operation Warm Heart and extra food was donated to our base firefighters.

Describe your involvement in the military community:
Earned KSL Winner 1st quarter squadron level and wing level Safe talk training certified (suicide prevention) and scheduled for additional training as prevention trainer in 2025 Owned accountability for the delivery of service and support for a population of 102 active-duty families across the Civil Engineering Squadron Provided support for families during three critical deployments acting as unit liaison between military and civilian individuals. Organized, marketed, and established multiple wing and squadron functions in an effort to boost morale to include First Friday, Spouses Dining In, and Resilient Hearts Book Club Cooked and served food for two First Friday moral events and one squadron fund raiser Between three deployments; packed care packages for 70+ deployed members and care packages for local families Participated in annual cookie drive for airmen in dorms across Moody Organizing base tree lighting ceremony as well as merry marketplace for local business owners

Describe how you support your community:
I support my community by listening to their needs and trying to organize events or pointing them in the direction of existing events in the surrounding community using a social media page. I am a safe place for people to go if they need to talk regardless of if advice is needed or not. I do everything in my power to remain positive in adversity and share that positivity. I become emotional invested in people even though we aren't related by blood. I truly believe we are a family here and strive to share the bond I have found in other military communities.

What do you advocate for? Why?
I advocate for inclusivity in our community as well as positive mental health. There were days were I didn't want to continue living because I didn't feel like I was worth it. There were several times I had plans to not be in this world any more. Somehow I have found ways past those dark moments, I have found a tribe who supports me through the good and bad, and I want to share that. I want other spouses to know there is so much that the military life has to offer.

How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
I prefer to speak in person to people because I feel like that is the best way to communicate effectively. However, I do run a Facebook page titled "Moody Events and Socials" in order to share ways for people to connect with each other both on and off the installation. I also work with our base marketing team to push out more information to families.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year^® title?
I hope my story that is filled with adversity can help just one person. If I am able to help one then I have done what I was put here to do. It is my goal that one person know they can make it. The world can be cruel but we don't have to be. We can overcome any adversity that comes our way and leave this world better than how it was when we arrived.