4 Women Talking: Employment as Expat Spouses

Make Life Less Difficult

Welcome to an episode that’s a bit different. Today, there are four of us talking and sharing experiences from the perspective of Foreign Service life – mainly as spouses and one contractor.

If you happened to listen to episode 162 which was about fitness, you may recognize these amazing women – Hillery Midkiff, Susie Csorsz Brown, and Morgan Loosli.

The four of us all met while living and working Sri Lanka, starting back in 2020. At this point, I am now living in the US, Hillery and Susie are still in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Morgan and her family are living in Shanghai.

We recorded this conversation in the spring of 2024, and it got lost in my folders, so hence the delay in publication. As I listened to it recently, I appreciated the stories and decided it needed to be released into the wild!

IF you are not connected with the Foreign Service, a warning that there are a number of acronyms that you will hear and likely not understand. The most frequent one is probably EFM which stands for Eligible Family Member – the term given to spouses and children who are considered dependents of Foreign Service Officers. Susie, Morgan, and I are in the role of EFMs. Hillery is a contracted officer and her husband is an EFM. Other than that, I think you’ll be able to follow just fine despite the other acronyms.

We are talking about careers, finding professional fulfillment, and unique challenges that are associated with living and moving internationally. Sometimes in countries where we have permission to work in the local economy, and sometimes in countries where we do not have permission to work locally. A certain number of jobs exist at our US Embassies and Consulates that are specific for EFM employment – Susie and Morgan will share about some of their experiences in those positions. I have chosen to develop my own business and have also worked on a part-time basis as a trainer for the Foreign Service Institute, the training center for the US Department of State.

Susie, Morgan, Hillery – thank you for this conversation. Thanks for sharing the ups and downs and realities of this interesting life we live. I’m super grateful for your friendships and how we stay connected across the globe! (And quick note that Hillery does indeed drop the F bomb at one point in our conversation, so it’s marked explicit. She’ll appreciate the shoutout for that. You are welcome, Hillery!!)

And with that, let me turn this over to our conversation that is graciously hosted by Susie.

Make Life Less Difficult