“Despite the distance, I love this crazy lifestyle, and I know our marriage can withstand whatever the Marine Corps throws at us.”

Meet Danielle. She is married to her Marine, Dakota. She is fur mom to a spunky one-year-old adopted dog named Jax and two quiet cats, Layla and Mocha. She is married to her Marine, Dakota. She met him while her family was on vacation in Myrtle Beach and he was serving her table.Although he was getting ready to leave for boot camp, he was hesitant to tell her that because he didn’t know how she would feel about being with someone who is in the military. Finally he told her and she was fine with it, and the rest was history. They scheduled their wedding around his available leave dates and knew that he would have a long weekend on Labor Day, so they decided to get married Labor Day weekend of 2017. They have been married about nine months and are going strong!

Dakota is now on his first deployment, which is also their first deployment as a couple. She says they have learned how to communicate even better since he has left and they continue to grow as a couple. While he has been gone, she has decided to start her new career as a real estate agent. She used her benefits from MyCAA in order to take a six week class at Jacksonville Real Estate Academy where she learned laws for real estate. She then took her station and national exams and passed on her first try! After that, she quickly found a job at Century 21 Sweyer and has enjoyed building her business since then. If you know of anyone looking for a realtor, send them Danielle’s way!

Before she left Ohio, Danielle had her own photography business. When she moved down here, she said it was very difficult to transplant her business from one state to another. Initially, she attempted to move it, but she said it was very difficult to build a client base in a new place. She continues to shoot as a hobby though, and enjoys every minute of it.