How This All Began

On July 1st, 2013 I made what some people called a risky decision and starting a new role with a new organization at 16 weeks pregnant.

I was leaving a highly visible role where I ranked in the top 10 performers against 140 other individuals and was a regional mentor for others in the same role. My new role would be developing the organization’s career services department from scratch. Coming from a corporate environment where everything was prescribed through a policies and procedures book I was excited to take what I had learned as best practices and continue to seek out new and innovative ideas to infuse into the department I had been hired to develop.

The biggest shift in this career change was the family-friendly atmosphere I was in entering. The day I went to sign my contract, my future supervisor sat in front of me asking if he could share about the awesome weekend he had had. I answered, “of course I would love to hear about your weekend”.

He then shared with me that his son and daughter-in-law had an ultrasound that weekend and found out that they are having a baby boy who would be due on December 2nd. He was beaming ear-to-ear, such a proud first-time grandfather.

I then asked if I could share with him some exciting news that I too had learned that weekend. He too answered “of course”. And then I shared:

“this past weekend myself and my husband also went to the doctor and found out that we too are having a baby boy who would be due on December 8th”.

The grin on my future supervisor face could not have gotten any larger. He immediately marched me down the hallway to the public information officer’s office to introduce me as she was due to have a baby in August. I remembered her distinctly from my tour of the facility after my initial verbal offer. On that tour, everyone raved about her impending baby girl’s arrival and I knew that this was a place where I could be the Best Hire Ever, and still proudly hold the title of Mom.

In the months to follow after my start date the organization worked with me to provide flexibility in my schedule to attend all my prenatal visits as well as help me develop a maternity leave plan as I was not able to be covered under FMLA or my prior company’s short-term leave plan.

As with any job I put everything I had into each minute that I was at work and continually looked for ways to add value. It was probably a few weeks before I went on maternity leave when one of my supervisors said to me something that made me incredibly proud:

“Katie, I can’t wait for you to return from maternity leave because if you can do all of this while pregnant I can’t wait to see what else you will accomplish when you’re not pregnant.”

When I returned from maternity leave in February 2014, I was tired, missing my baby, but also motivated to continue the work that had been on hold for the 10 weeks I was on maternity leave. I knew with the right mix of productivity and efficiency I would be able to meet and exceed the goals I had set even while pumping every 3 hours and leaving the office when the clock hit 4:30 pm.

Flash forward to now, I’m a proud mother of two young boys and continue to strive to be the best hire ever while proudly wearing the title of Mom. No two days are the same and I have yet to find the ultimate Work-Life Balance, and that’s ok because priorities can be different day-to-day.

I want to help you hold the title of Best Hire Ever too — on the blog, you’ll find ideas for improving career success while navigating all the things life throws at you. I love to share tips and tricks for bettering efficiency at work and at home, while also highlighting the people, places, and products that add value to my family’s life.