Dallas Atkinson

Share your military spouse story:
Most people do not imagine themselves becoming military spouses. It is not a path you plan, but one you adapt to. Over the past decade, this life has shaped how I lead, endure, and find meaning in uncertainty. In that time, we have navigated eight PCS moves and more career changes than I can count. My husband’s military service brought constant transition and long separations, including deployments during some of the most vulnerable moments of our family’s life. Like many spouses, I became a steady presence at home, building stability from scratch and rebuilding community with each move. Military life taught me that leadership often happens without visibility. Rather than viewing this life as limiting, I leaned into it. After years of using my voice to advocate for spouses, that passion eventually took shape in my professional work, focused on ensuring military families have a voice where decisions are made. My story is not exceptional because it is unique, but because it is shared by military spouses everywhere who adapt and persevere.

Describe any leadership positions or provide an overview of your leadership contributions within the military community.
I serve as Director of Programs at the HillVets Foundation, where my leadership centers on advancing military spouses and military-connected families through access, representation, and community. I oversee HillVets’ flagship programs, including the HillVets Fellowship and HillVets LEAD, a leadership cohort preparing veterans and military spouses for influence in public service, policy, and advocacy. Since joining the organization, I expanded LEAD to more fully include military spouses, ensuring the program reflects the leadership, lived experience, and professional expertise spouses bring to policy spaces. I also work to ensure veterans and military spouses have meaningful access to advocacy on Capitol Hill through fly-ins and partnerships. Beyond formal programs, I mentor spouses across branches and life stages, building inclusive communities where military spouses are positioned to lead and shape their communities.

What programs or projects are you currently involved in that support the needs of military families?
I am actively involved in programs that support military families by addressing their most persistent challenges. Through my work at HillVets, I support initiatives that help veterans and military spouses navigate career disruption caused by PCS moves, deployments,childcare challenges, and caregiving responsibilities. These efforts focus on reducing isolation, restoring professional momentum, and creating access to networks that military families often lose during transitions. Beyond formal programs, I remain deeply involved in mentoring military spouses navigating career pivots and reintegration, helping them identify pathways forward that align with their skills, values, and lived experience. My involvement is rooted in sustained engagement, long-term relationship building, and meeting military families where they are.

What moments best reflect your impact on building inclusive community among military spouses?
The moments that best reflect my impact are often quiet but lasting. They look like a military spouse attending her first community event and realizing she belongs in the room, or a spouse who has felt invisible through multiple moves finding confidence after being welcomed and listened to. I have seen spouses from different branches, ranks, career stages, and backgrounds connect with one another and recognize shared experience where isolation once existed. Some of the most meaningful moments come when spouses tell me they feel seen for the first time, not just peripheral to service members, but as leaders in their own right. Creating spaces where spouses are intentionally included, valued, and encouraged to engage has transformed uncertainty into connection and hesitation into participation. Those moments of belonging and confidence are the foundation of lasting community.

Identify your main advocacy effort and describe your personal connection to the cause.
My primary advocacy effort centers on ensuring military spouses are recognized as leaders and contributors in policy and civic spaces, not solely as supporters of service members. As a military spouse for more than a decade, I have lived the reality of career disruption, constant transition, and invisible labor. That experience shaped my belief that policies affecting military families must be informed by those who live them. My advocacy is personal because it reflects my own journey, learning to adapt, rebuild, and lead without formal recognition, and my commitment to ensuring future military spouses have greater access, representation, and opportunity than those who came before them.

Summarize your advocacy outreach strategies, including any events, media involvement, or other communication efforts.
My advocacy strategy centers on clear, authentic communication that connects lived experience to action. I translate complex military spouse and family issues into clear, accessible insights for nonprofit leaders, partners, and the public. Through partner-led advocacy, collaborative events, public speaking, written advocacy, and the design of large community events, I bring military spouse perspectives directly to decision-makers. I prioritize storytelling as a tool for change, sharing real experiences to humanize policy impacts and foster understanding among civilian audiences. I maintain relationships with national and local media, including CNN and regional outlets, to elevate military spouse issues beyond the military community. Whether engaging in interviews, small group discussions, public forums, or large convenings, I communicate with clarity and credibility to ensure military spouse voices are meaningfully considered in decisions that affect military families.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year^® title?
If selected, it would be an incredible honor to serve as an ambassador for the AFI Military Spouse of the Year community. I would work tirelessly within my toolkit, resources, and ecosystem to expand the mission of the program and strengthen its impact. I hope to create bridges between spouses and institutions, between lived experience and decision-making, and between military and civilian communities so spouses feel both welcomed and equipped to engage. My hope is to encourage every military spouse to recognize their value and claim their rightful seat at the table where decisions are made. By fostering connection, confidence, and collaboration, particularly for spouses who may not yet see themselves reflected in leadership or advocacy spaces. Most importantly, I would steward this platform with humility and purpose, ensuring its reach extends beyond any one voice and leaves behind stronger networks, deeper understanding, and more military spouses prepared to step forward and lead.