125 Years of Family Serving Family – Emma-Jayne Cariglio, Whiteman AFB Express Manager

One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 125 years of family serving family

When Emma-Jayne Cariglio began working at the Whiteman AFB Shoppette, she had no intention of making it a career. She had another job offer but that job wasn’t willing to give her time off to see her family members, who were visiting from the UK.

“My team really makes me enjoy working for the Exchange,” says Emma-Jayne Cariglio, Shoppette manager at Whiteman AFB. “Every day there’s a new story to tell about helping a shopper or making someone’s day better that just doesn’t translate to any other company.”

Her managers at the Shoppette, however, were accommodating, which made a big impact on her. Twenty years later, she is still with the Exchange as Shoppette manager at Whiteman. In fact, it’s become a family affair as her husband, Christopher, also works at Whiteman as a food service foreman.

“We have such unique jobs, with it being retail on my side and food service for him,” Cariglio said. “No one outside the gate gets to do what we do to support the military and to be able to share that with him is very unique.”

Cariglio first heard about the Exchange when she was in the UK and would rent movies from the Shoppette once a week. Since then, she’s held many positions at Whiteman, including Hardlines manager, assistant store manager and temporary store manager before “returning home” as store manager at the Shoppette.

“My team really makes me enjoy working for the Exchange,” Cariglio said. “We have a dedication to taking care of the military and their families. We have so many shoppers that I have served from when they were just Airmen until they retired. Every day there’s a new story to tell about helping a shopper or making someone’s day better that just doesn’t translate to any other company.”