Industry - Leadership Development & Coaching

A Little Bit About Our Family

This is a time of transition for our family. I am transitioning from a role as a healthcare Chief Financial Officer to entrepreneur and business owner, a change that has been unfolding over the last year. I reached a point in my career where I was looking at the horizon and realized I was ready to do something different. I spent some time thinking about the things I love to do most and I landed on coaching through a series of twists and turns. This career move blends many of my passions and will allow me to help others build on their talents and realize their best lives too. 

At home, my husband is returning to flying for Southwest Airlines. He has always traveled 3-4 days a week and we all knew that lifestyle. He took a voluntary leave during COVID so that we had one parent focused on the children and their distance learning. We seem to have forgotten how this all works with one parent home, so there’s lots of re-learning to do over the Summer. The girls are not too fond of this idea that Daddy won’t be home all the time any more. And in the Fall, our oldest daughter will be off to middle school. I know that she’s ready but I just can’t get my head around the end of her elementary school years. 

The last year has been a whirlwind. Professionally, there are weeks that seem like a blur when I look back, and on the flip side, many great lessons learned about how to operate differently and mobilize more quickly. At home, while there were ups and downs, we enjoyed the slower pace (for a while) and being together a lot more.  

Balancing Career and Motherhood

I decided early on, after my girls were born, that I would figure out how to balance career and home. I credit two amazing women leaders for allowing me the flexibility to do that my own way. When I was working I learned how to be massively productive. And when I was home I did my best to focus on being a Mom. My only regret would be letting work stress roll over into my evenings - hindsight is 20:20. I made any pivots or switches necessary to attend the moments that were important to my children and to me, from preschool pickups to kindergarten reading time and school holiday events. Sometimes that meant choosing: PTA was always something I thought I’d do but it didn’t work at all with my schedule. Rather, leading a “low-key” Girl Scout troop yielded memories we’ll never forget.    

I have always been grateful that my husband has an alternative career. While it does require some planning and juggling to manage work and kid schedules on my own each week, my husband is fully present when he’s home. He doesn’t have work stress to bring home. When the plane is parked he gets to walk away, and that is a blessing. He has always been super supportive of my work, willing to pitch in when my workload was heavy and always willing to listen to the latest problem I was trying to solve. We divvied the household responsibilities long ago and he does more than his fair share of housework and yardwork. He was also responsible for the girls a couple days a week from the time they were born, while I was at the office, so he fully shares parenting too. He’s a self-made softball coach for our oldest and he’s known to do a mean dance bun for the youngest. 

Final Thoughts

I feel very lucky to have had the support and encouragement to balance well. I am grateful for lots of women in my life: my Grandmother and my Mom who were the most wonderful role models despite the times being different, my friends with older kids who reassure me that all our phases are normal, my local Moms who carpooled my kids more than their fair share, and the Moms of my kids’ friends who are also raising amazing people during these ever-changing times.