3,2,1 iRelaunch

Nicole Diamond is a rare disease pharmaceutical industry specialist focused on the business side of pharma. She left her successful career at Shire Pharmaceuticals and took a four year career break to care for her children. When former colleagues moved to other companies, they asked Nicole if she would be interested in consulting for them; she has now been consulting for seven years. Nicole discusses how she managed the evolution of her consulting business while maintaining the schedule control she wanted. She also shares her insights on the benefits and challenges of her consulting arrangement. This episode is full of helpful advice for anyone who may be thinking about starting their own consulting business.

Cynthia Corby was a financial analyst on Wall Street before taking a 17 year career break. She decided to pursue a masters degree in business analytics as a way to relaunch her career. We met Cynthia when she reached out to us to see if she could focus her final project for her degree on data analysis that would be helpful to us. A dedicated relauncher and looking for a way to pay it forward, she produced a remarkable analysis to update our estimate of the number of relaunchers in the U.S. We discuss Cynthia’s career path, her decision to relaunch by enrolling in a graduate school program and what it was like to be in the program. We also talk about the methodologies and results of the data analysis she did for us. Shoutouts to our own Shannon Amspacher, Director of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships, at timestamp 17:40 and Katharine Bradbury, Senior Economist and Policy Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, at timestamp 19:40.

Today’s episode of “3, 2, 1, iRelaunch” is a re-run of an interview Carol did in 2017 with Cheryl McGee Wallace, who later became Special Advisor and Guest Podcast Host for iRelaunch. Cheryl shares some of the pivotal moments from her relaunch journey, including the approach that she took with regards to informational interviewing and networking, and the three questions that she always asked. She also discusses the steps that she took to prepare for the iRelaunch Return to Work conference, how she strategically approached her discussions with the recruiters, and what happened after the conference. This interview is filled with actionable steps and advice for relaunchers, particularly for those who are planning to attend one of our upcoming virtual conferences.

Alison Cormack serves on the Palo Alto City Council and chairs its Finance Committee. She has relaunched twice - once at Google where she worked for almost five years and then in politics. During a 10-year career break, as a volunteer, she was behind the approval of a $76 million bond measure to rebuild Palo Alto libraries and was the President of the Palo Alto Library Foundation, which raised $4 million in private funding. She took a second career break of 3 years before running for office. Hear how Alison’s work and volunteer experiences in the private and public sectors led to her decision to run for office, helped her run her campaign, and prepared her for her current role. We’ll hear about what she does on the City Council as well as her advice for anyone interested in relaunching in politics.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Asking by Jerold Panas (https://www.amazon.com/Asking-59-Minute-Everything-Members-Volunteers/dp/1889102490)

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip and Dan Heath (https://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/1400064287)

Jenny Brody is a partner at a law firm she co-founded, Brody Kling PLCC, which specializes in providing high quality, affordable legal representation in family law matters in the DC area. Jenny found her passion for this work while she was out on a 15-year career break. Jenny joined forces with two other attorneys on career break, Karen Marcou and Marla Spindel, to form the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project (DCVLP) which provides free legal help for domestic violence victims and at-risk children. Jenny talks about the origins, unique challenges, and growth of DCVLP, including their use of a job share arrangement that was critical for learning and contingency planning. She also discusses her work at Brody Kling and how it was created to fulfill an unmet need identified while she was at DCVLP.

https://www.dcvlp.org/

https://www.brodykling.com/

Kimberly Brown is a leadership development expert, accomplished speaker and podcast host whose mission is to empower women and people of color in the workplace. Her personal and professional development company, Manifest Yourself, LLC, helps professionals looking to lead a dynamic career and life. Kimberly discusses the impetus behind writing her recently-released book, Next Move, Best Move: Transitioning into a Career You’ll Love. She also shares her career planning framework, the importance of strategically thinking about your career in terms of getting from where you are today to where you want to be in ten years, and breaking down the steps to bridge that gap.

Kimberly's advice is relevant for anyone looking to make a career transition, whether relaunching or already in a job.

http://www.kimberlybonline.com/

In this milestone 200th episode, Carol speaks with Michael Madowitz, an economist for the Center for American Progress whose work includes a focus on labor markets and household budgeting at different life stages. Note: this episode was recorded in June 2021 and commentary is based on that point in time. Michael discusses the full cost of career breaks taken due to the pandemic (it's way more than forgone salary alone), how this may impact relaunchers going forward, the “silver lining” as to how career breaks may be perceived post-Covid, and the trends he’s seen so far in the economic recovery. Relaunchers and relaunchers-to-be should also listen to Episode 60 to hear Michael discuss the CAP Calculator he created, and which he used in a recent Newsweek article to estimate lost income to a woman who left the workforce during Covid.

Helpful note when listening to this episode: Economists' definition of "Unemployed" is "did not work for pay or profit in the last week and actively looked for work in the past four weeks."

Center for American Progress: https://www.americanprogress.org/

CAP Calculator: https://interactives.americanprogress.org/childcarecosts/

EP 60: “The Cost of a Career Break” with Economist Michael Madowitz https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-60-cost-career-break-economist-michael-madowitz/id1202049234?i=1000422614506

Miriam Berkowitz started her career as a software developer and returned to work as a data analyst after a 20 year career break. To update her technology skills, she enrolled in a 6-month intensive Data Analytics & Visualization bootcamp. She is thriving in her role and has been an active member of our private Facebook group, the iRelaunch Return to Work Forum, where she has shared her valuable inspiration and advice. In this episode, Miriam shares the specifics of applying to and attending her bootcamp as well as the steps she took to prepare and apply for jobs. She also discusses the importance of perseverance and overcoming imposter syndrome when starting her new job.

Koseli Cummings is a self-taught content strategist and copywriter. She returned to the workforce full-time after seven years of being a stay at home mom by sending “one brave email" to almost every woman she knows. That email turned into a six figure job that altered the course of her career. Now she’s passionate about helping other women get brave and send that one scary email that could change everything. We discuss the details of Koseli’s career path, her career break, her famous email, her blog post about her relaunch, and where she is today. Shoutout to Sheila Marcelo at care.com (https://www.care.com) at 39:07.

Link to Koseli’s blog post with the email:

https://koselicummings.medium.com/the-email-that-got-me-a-six-figure-job-after-seven-years-as-a-sahm-5e6ab0f557d7

Richard Eisenberg is the Managing Editor of Next Avenue, the PBS site for people 50+, and the editor of its Money and Work & Purpose channels. He aims to help people manage their personal finances, find jobs, switch fields, volunteer and find purpose in their lives. He’s also the author of two books focused on helping people to manage their money. Richard discusses career progression trends for the 50+ worker in the past several years, how Covid has impacted those trends, and his predictions about what working behaviors will look like post-Covid. He also shares his perspectives on how these trends have impacted the timing of retiring -- including why some people are choosing to “unretire” -- and what that decision entails.

In this episode, a special shoutout to Charlotte Japp of CIRKEL and a 2020 Next Avenue Influencer in Aging at 31:57. (She is our podcast guest in Episode 171)