![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/tullahoma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/07\/3-3-1024x683.jpg\")
\u201cI knew, wow, I like this. I\u2019m good at this,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m going to represent my job well, but I\u2019m also going to represent myself. So I started volunteering for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She has volunteered for the Wobble Gobble, the Christmas parade, Women Impacting the Community, and more. She said she wasn\u2019t doing it just for herself or her employer, but for her children \u2014 Jackson, 15, and her 12-year-old twins, Emily and Lucy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re watching how their mom is handling life. And I want them to see what it looks like to be a productive member of society,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2024, she was named the Tullahoma Chamber\u2019s Ambassador of the Year. She also joined the Military Affairs Committee, where she raised an often overlooked issue: military wives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat about the wives?\u201d she asked during one meeting. \u201cThey\u2019re staying home during deployments, raising kids, supporting their spouses, and sometimes they get lost in the weeds. That was me. I came out of that, and I didn\u2019t know who I was anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through her work in the community and her involvement in the Coffee County Leadership Program, where her class project focused on helping residents find local volunteer opportunities, Tucker is shaping systems she once struggled to navigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a new opportunity opened up at the Tullahoma Utilities Authority in February, she saw it as no coincidence \u2014 it was the direct result of her commitment at the start of the year to become her best self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI prayed about it,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd now, I\u2019m in a leadership role at a company that supplies power and utilities for the town I call home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She thinks back on the past four years, tearing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf I had to go back four years and wonder where I\u2019d be, that version of me would be proud, for sure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Divorce and identity loss are real, but she believes the story is ultimately about resilience and hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat moment in time didn\u2019t define my future,\u201d she said. \u201cYour past doesn\u2019t define your future. You decide what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, with three kids watching her every move, Tucker keeps showing up for herself, her family, and her community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI just want to keep setting a good example for them, to continue growing, giving, and being present,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery year, I want to add a little more to everything I\u2019ve already done.\u201d GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" EVERY MORNING, before stepping into her day, Rikki Tucker stands in front of the mirror and reminds herself of something simple but powerful: \u201cYou got this. You can do this.\u201d It\u2019s more than a mantra. It\u2019s the foundation of how she rebuilt a life once clouded by uncertainty, change, and identity loss. It\u2019s how she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":24045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/tullahoma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/07\/Story-1-photo1-2-1024x683.jpg\")