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Hi, I'm Career Momma!

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”—a.k.a. 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 22, 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. O.K., 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.

O.K., 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. To start, 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 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 alleviating 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!

You can write to Brittany at brittyshark[at]aol[dot]com. And you can add her to your WomenCo. network.

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