The Career Butterfly

Caitlein Ryan has one of the best educational backgrounds possible to be a mother of four kids. She has a PhD in Theater with an emphasis on Education and Social Justice - and isn't drama, education, and fairness basically a summary of parenting??

Through some intentional choices, Caitlein was able to pursue a meaningful career even as she and her spouse started a family. As the family grew, Caitlein also discovered that her two oldest children had medical conditions that required significant attention. She chose to step away from her career and set a plan to be the best stay-at-home-mom ever.

All was going well until her family experienced a shocking job loss six years into Caitlein's career pause. It led them on an unexpected journey, including a business venture in the cannabis industry just as it was legalized in Washington State. 

In this podcast you'll hear:

• Why Phoenix, Milwaukee, and Seattle were 3 great cities for Caitlein's passion for children's theater.
• How Caitlein found the perfect job, outside of her chosen career, that offered free child care, close access to her preschooler, and a chance to meaningfully contribute to her body of work.
• The truth about stay-at-home-moms who do it all: sometimes they need an extra set of hands to make it all work. Caitlein shares how having a nanny, during a time of financial freedom for her family, allowed her to be there for all her kids' most important needs, medical and otherwise.
• How she became a Tier 3 cannabis farmer who now serves on the board of the Cannabis Alliance.
• How she succinctly explains her involvement in the marijuana industry to her kids - and why it's not right for their young brains.
• About Caitlein's struggle to find an authentic 41-year-old voice on social media in an industry that skews much younger.

You can find more out about the Ready Pause Go community on our website, private Facebook community or Instagram.

Lora Poepping worked in corporate HR departments for years, but considered the help she gave friends and family in finding jobs to be more a favor than a career until a friend suggested she turn it into a business. Fortunately, Lora gave it some thought and realized that starting her own business could really fill her soul.

Today, she runs Plum Seattle as a successful and thriving career coaching and HR consulting business. Lora can easily relate with her clients as she's been in their shoes – she's been laid off, she's paused her career, she's had high self-esteem and low self-esteem. More than anything, she wants career pausers to seek the support they need to achieve their goals and know that they deserve it.

Mentioned in this episode:

• How Lora became the first part-time employee in Microsoft's HR department
• The difference between men and women when it comes to investing in themselves
• Specific advice on what to say to busy former colleagues when you're looking to connect
• The importance of classification and clarity in your discussions
• Why Lora doesn't believe in networking
• Rock-star stories and why you need 5 of them in your back pocket
• Why you should read job postings in your industry even if you aren't currently looking

You can find Lora on LinkedIn or at Plum Seattle

Keep up with Ready Pause Go every day on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram

Lora Poepping worked in corporate HR departments for years, but considered the help she gave friends and family in finding jobs to be more a favor than a career until a friend suggested she turn it into a business. Fortunately, Lora gave it some thought and realized that starting her own business could really fill her soul. 

Today, she runs Plum Seattle as a successful and thriving career coaching and HR consulting business. Lora can easily relate with her clients as she’s been in their shoes – she’s been laid off, she’s paused her career, she’s had high self-esteem and low self-esteem. More than anything, she wants career pausers to seek the support they need to achieve their goals and know that they deserve it.

Mentioned in this episode:

• How Lora became the first part-time employee in Microsoft’s HR department
• The difference between men and women when it comes to investing in themselves
• Specific advice on what to say to busy former colleagues when you’re looking to connect
• The importance of classification and clarity in your discussions
• Why Lora doesn’t believe in networking
• Rock-star stories and why you need 5 of them in your back pocket
• Why you should read job postings in your industry even if you aren’t currently looking

You can find Lora on LinkedIn or at Plum Seattle

Keep up with Ready Pause Go every day on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram

Lori Poliski has always grown flowers in her backyard garden. Although she never charged for her services, over the years, she created beautiful wedding flower arrangements for friends and family. In this episode, she shares how she jumped at the opportunity for her first paying gig when her life was finally in the right place to pursue this dream.

Although she briefly worked as a florist when she was young, Lori spent most of her early career working in journalism and high-tech marketing. She stepped away to focus on building a family, but planned a career pivot towards teaching.

That plan was never realized when she became immersed in the complicated medical journeys of her children, both of whom were born prematurely. Her oldest child was born with a cleft lip and palate, while the youngest developed hydrocephalus within his first month of life. Fifteen years and fifteen major surgeries later, Lori is one resilient mama.

Today, she has two thriving teenagers. She has also raised $1.5M for the Hydrocephalus Association and, along with her husband, is a Co-Founder of the Hydrocephalus Clinical Research Network. She runs her new business Flori as a gardener/florist and is looking ahead to offering studio workshops, as well as finding a way to weave sustainable business practices and social justice causes into her industry.

A decade after Yasmin Ali left her high-tech career, she built a new business that brought together her work experience, her extensive education, the resiliency she learned from parenting, and a passion for a specific community. She created Skillspire, a coding academy, to provide technical training for underrepresented populations. She's passionate about getting all career pausers including stay-at-home parents, veterans, and refugees back to their full potential and showing them a clear path back to meaningful, financially secure careers.

A decade after Yasmin Ali left her high-tech career, she built a new business that brought together her work experience, her extensive education, the resiliency she learned from parenting, and a passion for a specific community. She created Skillspire, a coding academy, to provide technical training for underrepresented populations. She's passionate about getting all career pausers including stay-at-home parents, veterans, and refugees back to their full potential and showing them a clear path back to meaningful, financially secure careers. 

Ever feel like you're all alone on this journey? You're not! 43% of women take a career pause. Ever wonder why returning from a career pause is so hard? This week we take a deep dive into the numbers to find out how many take a pause, how long a pause lasts, and how it impacts us, our families, and society as a whole.

Goli Kalkhoran was a successful lawyer, but after several years finally admitted that the profession wasn't right for her. Although she intended to return to her career after her first maternity leave, she followed her intuition down a different path. Along the way, she started Usie Booth, a company that offers a portable photobooth for parties and events. Today, she is the mom of two young children, runs her business, and supports other professionals on the same journey. Leaving a big career can be a radical shift so she launched the podcast Lessons from a Quitter to interview other people who've had the courage to walk away and pursue their true passions.