CareerMomma Now Featured on Womenco.com

My name is Brittany and I am a working mother. I feel like I should say that at some anonymous meeting somewhere as at times I occasionally feel powerless over it and it does make my life seem unmanageable. You know what I've learned though? My station in life only does that when I give it permission to and when I allow people, places and things to have a say in how I feel about myself.

I have been doing a lot of research on the working mother for the last year. I've been trying to understand her, trying to get a handle on her climate in society and business as a whole. I never even thought of her until the day I came back from maternity leave to hear that my flexible schedule that I was welcomed to as a Sales Rep who had achieved a certain status at her company was being rejected. Why? Well, it seemed obvious to my supervisor. How was I going to manage all of "this" AKA work, life and my new family. How I balanced my life wasn't remotely a consideration to my employer until my little bundle came into the world on September 22nd, 2006. All of the sudden how I managed my life and my career was of utmost concern from the top down.

As I started and continue my research, I see this is a common story. It seemed interesting to me that some websites for the working mother that I went on told an optimistic story, a dawn of a new era in which the working mom was thriving. Okay, where were they working? Who were they and how come I haven't met very many? Well, they are out there. Just ask the VPs of HR where they work. Their companies are stunning examples of success for the working mother. What else would they say "No, we are doing a terrible job addressing the needs of working mothers. By the way, when are you publishing your article so I can pack up my desk the day before?". You get the point. The women that work at these beacons of Work/Life Balance who get to take advantage of such programs are not the Average Jane laborer. They are the D levels and higher.

Okay, so what do we do then? Well, I am glad you asked. You are going to be hearing a lot about that from me. I am very engaged in political action that is trying to address this concern. If you don't know by now, it is a great concern to our economy and society. Read the book Restoring the American Dream by Dr. Thomas Kochan. It will give you great insight into how serious the problem really is. I recently interviewed Dr. Kochan and you can read that article on my blog: http://www.careerparent.blogspot.com/ for more information on Dr. Kochan and his research through the MIT Workplace Center.

Lastly, I can't wait to hear from you! Your input is critical to my research and my mission to building workable solutions and aleviating some the concerns about career motherhood. There is help out there. We just need to share it and come together. Nothing changes if we do nothing. You are not a victim. Working women and mothers are powerhouses for change. Put those two titles together and gather a few million of them around a cause and you have an unstoppable army.

HOOAH!

CareerMomma Goes to MIT

If you are like me as soon as someone mentions MIT you think of skinny little guys with crazy hair and glasses that have been out of fashion for over 20 years, complete with button-down shirt and pocket protector full of pens. If you think that you are actually only partly correct. When my husband started working there I was having trouble picturing my big burly husband with a penchant for crass jokes in a sea of scurrying brainiacs who communicate in mathematical algorithms. I mean, my husband looks like every jock that picked on a brainiac in high school. As it turns out they have a world-class business school as well, Sloan School of Management which is where he works. They train up tomorrow's (and even today's) top business leaders in the world.

When I started on my endeavor with CareerMomma (or should I say, "it" literally hired me) my husband would continually ask, "What can I do to help you?". I honestly couldn't think of anything and he would look dejected when I would say, "nothing right now, you are doing a great job of being a very supportive husband". I had no idea what a great help he would be.

As I developed my idea of "What is a CareerMomma.com?" I decided to do some research and see, was anyone studying the Career/Working Mother? What did they say about them? Did they feel as I did that the Glass Ceiling that everyone told me was smashed on my way up the corporate ladder was merely covered in diapers so you couldn't see it? Well, I did find a great book on the study of working families. It is entitled, Restoring the American Dream; A Working Families' Agenda for America by Dr. Thomas A. Kochan. I wanted to give it a read and see what his research showed. I was desperate for some expert validation on what I had both witnessed for myself in Corporate America and what I had heard from other working mothers regarding their struggles to maintain homes and respect in the work environment. The book, simply put, blew my socks off!

Dr. Kochan sure did agree and then some. His research illustrates a much bigger picture than your place of work and more importantly what all this is doing to our country at-large. If you care at all about fixing the problem of work/family/life balance or our economy, for the love of Pete, get the book and read it. Don't get scared, it's easy to read. It thankfully wasn't full of terminology that you would only understand if you were in his industry. Being a visually oriented person, I liked the case studies in particular. They helped draw the picture for me.

So what about MIT? Dr. Kochan is a professor there. I had a great opportunity to be introduced to him just yesterday. Dr. Kochan was not what I expected of a professor from a leading academic institution. He was warm, charming, obviously very knowledgeable (I mean c'mon this isn't Community College) about our subject and very open to sharing his experience, and expertise. I sat in his large office, explaining what I was doing and asking questions. He had lots of books (lots of books), my little ADD brain was in over-drive and titles kept jumping out at me very time I looked at the shelves. I think I forgot half the questions I wanted to ask I was so involved in talking to him. He is very sympathetic to our cause and sees the way to change is for us to take action collectively. We can't do it alone and we can't wait for someone else to do it. Stay tuned and read the book! I'd let you read mine but it is highlighted, dog-eared, underlined and has notes and questions written in the margins. I don't think I did that much damage to any text books I ever had in my favorite subjects in school. In fact, I have never studied so hard as I have with this project. This is the best class I ever signed up for. I doubt I would have had the opportunity to meet Dr. Kochan if not for my husband, Greg.

If all goes well this week CareerParent Blog is going national! Womenco.com has asked me to contribute my writing once a week to their website. This is a great opportunity for us to get the buzz going on a national website and create more energy out there in changing working families for the better.

I'll leave you with one last thing. There was a yellow flower pot on Dr. Kochan's window sill. It kept grabbing my attention. One, because it was yellow and two, I could only see 3 letters that were on the front of it. G-R...(is that an "O"?). I finally figured it out. GROW. That is exactly what I have been doing these last few months. I feel like I have been reborn along with this project as I work with my partners to bring "her" to life. That is my suggestion to you. Want to feel inspired and renewed? Discover and develop yourself for something which you have a great passion for. You will not believe how much energy it brings to a tired mind!