To help highlight Women’s History Month, 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs recently met with several inspirational women around the KMC to ask them a few questions about what the month means to them. Staff Sgt. Joy Martz, 603rd Air and Space Operations Center Air Mobility Division NCO in charge of training, shared her responses.
Q: Who has been the most influential woman in your life? Why?
A: I am. I am my own worst critic nine times out of 10. I am the most influential person in my life because I have never learned more about myself and how to be a better version of me, rather than falling down and kicking myself in the butt, than when I don’t meet my own expectations. I am a work in progress, and being self-aware of that fact is powerful.
Q: What is your greatest personal accomplishment thus far?
A: So far, it was being awarded the John L. Levitow award in Airman Leadership School. In the command post career field, we don’t receive a lot of interaction with many people during our duty hours, outside of telephone conversations. To begin a class with complete strangers one day and then earn their respect and (the) confidence of people that I have never interacted with before creates a huge boost in self-confidence.
Q: What professional goal do you hope to accomplish, and how are you working toward that goal?
A: I want to work in the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. I have to earn the rank of technical sergeant to even have a chance of working there, but it is also essential that I gain experience in nuclear command and control aspects of our career field.
Q: What is something unique that most people don’t know about you?
A: I can’t wait to one day tell my grandchildren that I was once a ballerina, an artist, a bartender, an air traffic controller, a wife, a mother and a world traveler. It’s a pretty neat perspective.
Q: If you could give one piece of advice to women interested in joining the Air Force, what would it be?
A: You have the opportunity to reinvent and better yourself at each and every assignment. You will never be stuck forever. Take advantage of each new beginning.