Rekindling a Nursing Career: My Tulsa Remote Plus-One Story

When my husband, Mike, got the message that said he'd been accepted into the Tulsa Remote program, it wasn't just our home address that was going to change. My career was going to as well. I just didn't know it yet.

Leaving Missouri

We packed up our lives and said our goodbyes to Ava, Missouri. The moving truck carried our bed, couch, clothes, and kitchen supplies.

And I was carrying my own load of uncertainty and doubt. What would Tulsa have in store for me?

Early Career

My professional career began in 1996 when I earned my BSN-RN degree. But life has its own plans. Shortly after I graduated, we started a family. As our infants became toddlers, we decided to homeschool them, and I poured myself into making sure we provided them with a good education. When they turned 12 and 13, we jumped into an RV and traveled the USA for the next eight years, continuing to homeschool along the way.

After the kids launched as independent adults, Mike and I settled in Missouri. I worked briefly at a nursing home, then joined him to run the local newspaper. Then the newspaper owner retired and sold the business. We weren't a good fit with the new owner, and planned our exit.

Right during the height of COVID-19.

Mike found a remote job.

And I didn't know what to do.

Nursing under COVID-19 restrictions wasn't an attractive option. The job market in Missouri wasn't great. I ended up volunteering locally.

Finding a Direction

Moving to Tulsa was like stepping onto an unfamiliar stage and not knowing what role I was supposed to play. I toyed with various job ideas including retail, front desk, and office work. Nothing seemed to fit. They felt like placeholders - just temporary roles that didn't spark excitement or a sense of purpose in me.

Then, Tulsa's community resources came to the rescue.

I started with inTulsa - a recruiting agency. I'm not a Slack user, but my husband Mike is. He learned about inTulsa through the Tulsa Remote Slack channel and connected me to them.

inTulsa welcomed me to town and gave me hope that there would be a place for me here. However, after interviews with their staff and clients I came to a realization.

I needed more than just a job. I needed a direction.

This led me to Retrain Tulsa - which provides career coaching, job training, and workshops for locals. Retrain Tulsa helped me update my personal brand with new headshots, resume advice, and LinkedIn workshops. Retrain Tulsa also provided me with updated CPR training, where I learned about the nursing refresher courses offered at Tulsa Tech.

But I still wasn't sure what I wanted to be when I grew up.

During this time, I had also enrolled in New U, which is "an innovative personal and professional strategy that equips diverse talent to successfully align their desires with opportunity."

After several sessions of taking various personality tests, vision-mapping, and conversations about personal and career goals, my direction came into focus.

I still wanted to be a nurse.

Moving with New Purpose

I enrolled in Tulsa Tech's nursing refresher course. After four months of rigorous online classes and a week of clinicals at the OSU Medical Center, I realized I wasn't just revisiting a former career. I was coming home to myself.

I liked my experience at OSU. The location - just a couple blocks away from our downtown Tulsa apartment - was ideal. I could walk to work.

I applied for a position at OSU as a Med-Surg RN and quickly received a job offer.

Accepting that offer was a great confirmation after the long process of decision-making and preparation. Starting work this April wasn't just a career move - it was a personal triumph.