3,2,1 iRelaunch

Renee Rudczynski is a human resources professional who has worked in HR consulting and led HR teams within a variety of environments, including higher ed, finance, and startups. After a seven-year career break, she recently began an organizational development role. Renee discusses her non-linear job search and how networking helped her land her dream job at a tech startup. She also shares how her experiences at the iRelaunch Return to Work Conference and as a member of the iRelaunch Return to Work Facebook Forum helped with her relaunch and how she is now giving back.

Eraina Ferguson is a Marketing & Communications Manager who spoke on our Successful Relaunchers Panel at our October 2021 iRelaunch Return to Work Conference. She is a special needs advocate, UX (user experience) designer, journalist, and TEDx curator who took a 10-year career break to stay at home with her four children before returning to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eraina discusses her experiences freelancing during her career break and why it was important for her to share her journey about raising a daughter with special needs prior to her relaunch. She also shares her pathway to relaunching in a marketing and communications career, including how she upskilled by participating in a UX design program that ultimately led to her current full time role.

Karolyn Diamond-Jones is a registered nurse working in the area of healthcare compliance who took a 15-year career break to raise her four children. She rejoined the full-time workforce in 2017 as a case manager in the home hospice and palliative care field. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Karolyn pivoted and now works for a healthcare company focused on Medicare denials and appeals. Karolyn candidly discusses how her relaunch resulted out of financial necessity, the steps she took to leverage the helpful advice and resources in her community and on LinkedIn, and why positivity and curiosity are so important to her.

Misbah Sheikh is a Salesforce consultant who spoke on our Successful Relaunchers Panel at our recent virtual iRelaunch Return to Work Conference. She went on career break after the birth of her twins in 2009 – a story in itself. During a career break that was for childcare as well as eldercare, Misbah continued to be an active learner, completing an initial Salesforce certificate program and then moving on to complete a variety of others. Hear about the certificate programs she pursued, how she managed to do the work with all her caregiving responsibilities, and how the certificates ultimately led to her relaunch role. This is a story of perseverance and grit and we have a lot to learn from Misbah.

Mai Ensmann is the Senior Program Planner at Cyber Florida: The Florida Center for Cybersecurity. Previously Mai had worked as a program manager and trainer for international higher education programs and non-profit and humanitarian organizations in the U.S. and across Europe, Africa and Central Asia. Mai took an 11-year career break while raising her children in Belgium, Switzerland and Ghana. She spent many hours folding laundry and listening to the 3, 2, 1 iRelaunch podcast while planning her successful return to work. Hear Mai describe the unique strengths that expats/trailing spouses bring to the workforce and how she relaunched in Belgium. She also discusses her career pivot to cybersecurity, how that evolved, and why relaunchers should consider cybersecurity for their next career.

Note to Florida relaunchers: the application deadline for the Spring 2022 cohort of CyberFlorida is 11/21/2021. https://cyberflorida.org/

This is the first episode in our "Relaunchers in Senior Roles" mini-series.

Lori Taylor is head of America’s corporate lending and derivatives in Credit Risk at Goldman Sachs. She relaunched her Wall Street career by participating in Goldman’s Returnship program in 2015, which she joined shortly after attending our iRelaunch Return to Work Conference in the Fall of 2014. Lori advanced from her Goldman Returnship to a Managing Director role in less than five years. Hear about Lori’s experience at the Return to Work conference, the subsequent events that led to her getting hired for the Returnship program, her time during the program, and her career progression since then. Lori also discusses the valuable support she received throughout from her Goldman colleagues, family and friends -- including her best friend's perspective-setting advice that helped her make her return to work decision.

https://www.goldmansachs.com/careers/professionals/returnship/

Bryn Panee Burkhart is Principal and Founder of Next Evolution Leadership Coaching and Career Management, and currently serves as an Institute Fellow at Simmons University’s Institute for Inclusive Leadership. She previously oversaw Alumni Career Services at the MIT Sloan School of Management and was a speaker at our November 2020 Return to Work Conference. Bryn discusses compensation: how employers determine compensation structures, how relaunchers should prepare for compensation conversations, and exactly what to say during compensation discussions when relaunching via a return to work (RTW) program or hired directly. This discussion is full of practical, detailed advice and scripts that relaunchers can use with potential employers. Note at 27:14 Bryn gives specific language to use when negotiating compensation when "converting" to a permanent hire after a returnship or when discussing an offer that is not part of a return to work program.

https://www.nextevolutioncoach.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextevolution-coach

Lucy Chang Evans is a civil engineer who also worked as a U.S. Secret Service agent before going on career break to build a family. Ten years later, she found herself in the middle of a divorce with three young kids. She first relaunched by returning to her original career as a civil engineer. After nearly six years in that role, Lucy went on career break again last year to focus on the online MBA she was pursuing and to help her children navigate e-learning during the pandemic. Lucy describes the vulnerability she felt at the beginning of her relaunch and the steps she took to “put one foot in front of the other” to turn things around. She also discusses the valuable relationships she developed as a result of her unsuccessful bid to win a city council seat, her advice for people relaunching as a single parent, and why positivity is so important.

Time magazine article by Joanne Lipman in which Lucy is mentioned:

https://time.com/6051955/work-after-covid-19/

Maria D’Agostino Crawford is the Associate Director of Alumni Relations at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts who took an eight-year career break to care for her two daughters. Maria’s relaunch happened in a series of steps that first involved part time work and then a full time relaunch back at her pre-career break employer in a lower position than when she left. Since then, she has worked her way up to the Associate Director role. Maria discusses her part time to full time approach to relaunching and her career progression to where she is today. She also explains the benefits of intentionally taking a lower-level position when transitioning to a full-time role.

Faye Penn is the Executive Director of women.nyc, which is dedicated to helping New York City women succeed in their careers and businesses through innovative programs and partnerships. She is also an Executive Vice President of Initiatives at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she oversees the project startup team. Among her previous roles, Faye was an editor for titles including New York Magazine, The New York Post, The New York Observer and InStyle and an executive at Lifetime Television. Faye discusses her successful career transition from media to her work in economic development, including how she literally mapped out her skills and experience to form a cohesive and persuasive narrative describing how they transferred from one industry to another during the interview process. She also shares why it’s important to treat a career pivot as a job and the critical questions you need to consider when pivoting.

https://women.nyc/