Building a Career Alongside Military Life: Two Paths at Expedia Group
For Karen Harris and Lauren Michaelis, military life has shaped more than where home is. It has influenced the choices they’ve made about work, the ways they’ve navigated uncertainty and what career success means to them. Their paths are different: Karen changed industries to find a career that fit her family’s needs, while Lauren continued in product through an overseas move and a new-parent chapter. Together, their stories show there is no single route to building a career alongside military life.
A leap into a new field
Before joining Expedia Group, Karen worked in healthcare as a Surgical Technologist, supporting procedures in Labor & Delivery and the Operating Room. When her husband was away on military orders, she needed more flexibility for her family. She made a major career change and joined Expedia Group in a role supporting hotels, primarily case work, in what is now TPSP.
“It was a terrifying leap of faith,” Karen says. She loved working with patients, and moving from hands-on healthcare to a computer-based role was a significant adjustment. Over time, she found a different kind of purpose and is now a Supervisor in Fraud & Risk, where managing people and helping them grow has become especially rewarding.
Karen’s experience as a Reserve spouse did not include frequent relocations; she stayed in the same area. But military life still brought uncertainty and family responsibilities that colleagues did not always understand. Karen says being open with leaders about what she needed—and finding work she could balance with those responsibilities—made a difference. The support she received early in her career also inspired her to get involved with the VETS IBG. She serves as the IBG Vets Global Events Chair, connecting with others in the military community.
“What started as a need for flexibility turned into a career that has given me growth, purpose, and the chance to support others,” she says.
Keeping a career through an overseas move
Lauren’s experience as a Coast Guard spouse has included a different kind of transition. Most of her husband’s tours kept their family in the Seattle or Bay Area, so for years she did not face the career tradeoffs that can come with a new set of orders. That changed when they moved to Stuttgart, Germany, shortly after their son was born.
Expedia Group supported Lauren in continuing remotely for a year in her role as Strategic Partnerships Product Lead. The move brought a lot at once: a new country, a newborn, no local network and work still running on Pacific Time. Her team was spread across four continents, and the days could be long. Like many military spouses, she had to find her bearings quickly and make a new place feel normal.
There were bright moments, too. Living in Germany brought back Lauren’s love of travel. Weekend trips to small towns and castles became favorite memories, alongside the built-in support she found living on base. She says she was grateful for leaders at Expedia Group who were willing to make the move work.
Now, with her husband retiring, the family has settled in Seattle because of Lauren’s job. After years of supporting his military career while building her own, she says, “for the first time in a long time, our family’s next chapter is being shaped around my career. That shift feels both exciting and earned.”
Different journeys, a shared ability to adapt
Karen’s path did not involve a move across the country or overseas; Lauren’s included an international relocation. What they share is not one version of military life, but the need to adjust as circumstances change. Karen describes resilience as learning to “keep moving forward, adjust quickly, and handle uncertainty.” Lauren says military spouses become good at “walking into new situations and figuring them out quickly.”
Their advice also points to the value of seeing the person behind a career decision. Karen encourages employers to ask questions rather than make assumptions about a career shift, location change or résumé gap. For her, success now means meaningful work that supports her family and lets her help others grow. Lauren’s next chapter has brought her career closer to the center of her family’s plans.
At Expedia Group, their stories have taken different shapes—one from healthcare into travel and people leadership, the other through an overseas move and a new family chapter. Both show how a career can evolve alongside military life, on terms shaped by the people living it.
