Growing up, I always liked numbers, so I naturally assumed I’d wind up working in finance. I also always knew I would want to have a family as well. To “have it all,” as they say.
I met my husband, Brian, in New York City after getting my MBA at Booth. I was working as a private banking relationship manager at Chase Bank. I loved it there; I had a wonderful client base and everything was copacetic.
My husband, who was training to be a physician, decided he wanted to practice medicine in Hong Kong. We were not sure how long he’d be there, so I made the decision to take a leave of absence. We stayed in Hong Kong for 2 years and started a family there. We relocated back to the US when Brian accepted a fellowship in Texas. My daughter was only a year old, and I knew his fellowship would be short, so there wouldn’t be much point in my starting a new job until we had a more definitive idea where we would be settling. We eventually came to Minnesota, where Brian joined a group practice and we still reside today. I began setting up a new house with a toddler, and soon had our second child.
My children proved to be much tougher bosses than I had had in the professional workplace! Kids usually have little respect for schedules or for personal needs. I wanted to give my girls all of my time and energy, so I didn’t seriously consider going back to work until they were fully grown.
When my youngest left for college, I revisited resuming my career. But I had been out of the workforce for so long, I wondered if it was even worth it. I was out of date with technology. I had some insecurity about my worth in the current marketplace. But I knew I had some added value because of translatable skills from motherhood and volunteering. I could multitask. I could spin on a dime when something unexpected happened. I knew I would bring a lot of value with my background, and I’m not untested in the workforce.
But it wasn’t worth my time to just do something. It had to be a job that was both worthwhile and challenging, rather than just any job.