Monica Fullerton and her husband moved to Las Vegas from Texas more than six years ago. As part of an active military family of nine years she has a special connection with that community.
That’s why she founded Spouse-ly, an online marketplace that supports active and former military families and first responders.
“Spouse-ly was just a word military spouses used to say to each other when they did something to support one another: ‘That is so spouse-ly of you.’”
Spouse-ly features 350 vendors (and adding more on a weekly basis), who are active or former military or first responders, from all over the world. They provide services and goods to anyone who visits the site, spouse-ly.com.
“It is an online marketplace to shop a wide variety of handmade products and services provided by military and first-responder families. Anyone can shop small and make a big impact,” she said. “It’s a way to purchase with a purpose. A way to get people to support small businesses and have money actually going into the pockets our heroes.”
Fullerton launched the company in February of 2020, right before the global pandemic.
“It was a blessing in disguise,” she said. “More than ever people are wanting to find ways to give back. And have their dollar go much further.”
She started with 30 vendors and a desire to help military families and first responders find a flexible way to earn income as they traveled and supported their families.
A few months ago, she gave up her full-time corporate job in business development to focus on Spouse-ly full time.
She has plans to partner with companies and organizations to provide tools and resources to her online businesses to “grow and thrive.” Some of the new features could include an entrepreneurial hub, employment opportunities, education and business marketing.
Fullerton won the 2021 Startup Showdown pitch competition July 29 for her startup business during the Las Vegas Innovation Marketing Association’s Digital Technology Planning event. She received $5,000 in consultation services from Lightning Digital and $2,000 in website services from Hunter Marketing.
Members of the editorial and news staff of the Las Vegas Review-Journal were not involved in the creation of this content.