This is a replay of a post authored by Vickie Pynchon, posted on Forbes Woman, Thursday, September 29, 2011. We are so in awe that we were included as well as reinvigorated by the messages it conveys that we asked Vickie if we could share it with all of you. This blog describes our core as female leaders and has roots in the guiding principles we use in our business each day. We will never be able to thank Vickie enough. We are inspired by her wisdom, passion and vision as well as her generosity, she shares her knowledge at least once a day through her blogs.
We talk about race, gender and Mom Corps Dallas because we’re in the midst of a recession worse than anything anyone under 80 has ever seen.
Because we’re teetering on the brink of a genuine depression. Because the financial geniuses who brought annus horribilis 2008 aren’t any better at solving the problem than they were at avoiding it in the first place.
Because America needs all hands on deck.
That’s why I interviewed Cindy Strand Yared of Mom Corps Dallas (profile soon) yesterday. And it’s why I’m addressing race and gender again today.
Why Mom Corps Dallas?
Mom Corps specializes in pairing Fortune 500 – Ford and General Foods – and small to mid-market businesses – with highly-educated and experienced professionals, many of them women who have “opted out” of the workforce to find work-life balance.
These women are America’s stealth recession-weapon. Ivy League educated professionals, executives and managers, as well as those who, without Ivy League credentials, distinguished themselves as top-flight go-to professional and business women before their child care responsibilities (or diverse interests) drew them away from the punishing schedules of firms like KPMG and Deloitte.
For candidates, Mom Corps explains that it:
provides professionals nationwide with challenging, flexible work arrangements and work from home job opportunities suited to their qualifications and scheduling needs. Once registered, candidates can search and apply directly to contract, full-time or part-time flexible jobs posted on the site, access resume writing services, attend local Mom Corps University workshops, and find tips, articles and information on our “MOM-ents” blog to help them transition back into the workforce or into a new role.
To Mom or Not to Mom
You knew I’d true-confession this. As a woman entering the legal field in the late ’70s, I was counseled by those women who came before me not to have children before I made partner. By the time that opportunity neared, I was in the midst of my first divorce, caused, in large part, because I was pretty much never home. Mea culpa.
I remarried and took a teaching position at a local State College. Though I loved teaching, I missed the rough and tumble of legal practice and returned two years later. By the time my then-husband and I decided to have children, it was too late for me. And no, I didn’t try IVF because, by that time, I just didn’t see the point. I couldn’t work at the level I was working and raise children at the same time. The idea of simply turning them over to a nanny or au pair seemed just nuts. If I couldn’t be present for my children, I shouldn’t have them in the first place. It was hard enough on my second husband.
Solving the Dilemma
That was then and this is now. Let me say, in passing, that I know a great many women of my generation who did have the energy to pursue a high-flying career and have a family as well. They have my undying respect. Not every woman can be Super Woman and I lost my secret-decoder Super ring way back in elementary school. I was just an ordinary, hard-working journeyman lawyer.
Read the rest of the post by clicking here!
About Vickie Pynchon
Vickie Pynchon, Esq., is an attorney-mediator and arbitrator. She is also a principal in the She Negotiates Consulting + Training firm for which her blog is named. She also writes for the Forbes.com legal blog On the Docket. Her book, A is for A**hole, the Grownups’ ABCs of Conflict Resolution, was released by Reason Press this October and is available on Amazon.com. Her book, Success as a Mediator for Dummies, will be released in April 2012 and is available for pre-order on BarnesandNoble.com.
You can follow her on Twitter, like her on Facebook and connect with her on LinkedIn.
