Bland went to work for the Fulton County Health Department in Atlanta, Georgia. There he was an epidemiologist in the Tuberculosis Control Department. Bland met his wife Deidre in Atlanta. They married on August 15, 1999. Deidre Bland is a teacher at Ross Collins in the Meridian Public School District. Bland returned to Mississippi and became the Human Resources Director and Marketing Director with the G.A. Carmichael Family Health Center. Bland moved to Meridian to run a State Farm Insurance Agency.