How I Started My Next Chapter After a Career Break for Motherhood
What comes after a career pause? Four mothers open up about finding meaningful work in their next chapters—and share the steps they took to reenter the paid workforce.
There’s no standard template for getting back to work after a career break for motherhood. Across the Mother Untitled community, stay-at-home moms are taking big leaps into entrepreneurial life. Women who once downshifted their careers are heading back to full-time office life. And others are carving space for themselves professionally, leveraging the skills they discovered during their career pauses to launch into something new.
Below, we highlight four mothers who harnessed their curiosity and passions to guide them out of a career pause and into work that is meaningful to them. Here’s how they started their next chapters.
1. I Jumped First, and Figured It Out as I Went
I remember asking myself the question “How can I call myself a consultant if I haven’t done any consulting work yet?” and coming to the conclusion that I just needed to fake it ’til I made it in the beginning. I put together a website that included the skills I’d developed over the past 8+ years, and when a friend said she needed help rebranding her business, I volunteered to do it for a very reasonable fee. This was my first foray into developing a new client on-boarding system, figuring out invoicing, tracking my time, and everything that goes into the process. From there, I felt confident saying I was a consultant and pitching myself to a few local businesses. Before I knew it, I found that it was much easier than anticipated to offer up help when someone mentioned that they were struggling with an aspect of their business. Then referrals started coming in, and here we are. So long story short, my advice is fake it ’til you make it (because you will make it!).
I was surprised to find that I craved more consistent work, and I don’t feel guilty about that because it makes me a more engaged mom when I come home.
In terms of being a mom and bringing kids into that equation, understand that you might not be working as much or making as much as you might like to right now, but you are prioritizing both aspects of your life and that’s OK. Ease into it and see how it feels. I was surprised to find that I craved more consistent work, and I don’t feel guilty about that because it makes me a more engaged mom when I come home.
— Whitney Goodman, a brand strategy consultant, shop owner, and mom of one
2. I Dove Into My ‘Yes’ Phase
After I lost my job, my husband encouraged me to start Cooking Full Circle. I spent a month getting my ideas and content in order. It gave me a little bit of purpose and allowed me to mentally postpone putting my resume together. I truly saw a need in the market for a destination that busy parents could visit to help them get healthy meals on the table for their family—fast. Everyone I knew was struggling with this. And, I wanted to use my talents to make it even a tiny bit easier for them with some recipes and inspiration. This allowed me to create content with my boys and help out my community at the same time.
I said yes to meetings and phone calls... I wanted everyone to know what I did and that I was available for work.
After a month or so of nurturing Cooking Full Circle, I knew I needed to “get back to work.” I call this my “yes” stage. I said yes to meetings and phone calls, yes to “being open for work,” yes to a chat about a project I wasn’t even sure about. I wanted everyone to know what I did and that I was available for work.
Since then, I’ve been able to piece together consulting projects to keep me busy. It allows me to be with my family when they need me, but also to be earning a paycheck.
— Ashley Wasilenko, a former director in media partnerships, and a mom of two
3. I Redefined My Success Metrics
When I made a choice to take a career pause, I was very clear about using this time as a way to grow personally and creatively. While I was pregnant with my first, I went to nutrition school and got a degree in nutrition consulting. It was a part-time program and felt like a great way to learn and grow in a slow-paced setting.
After my son was born, I started working on gathering our family recipes, cooking them, and working with an incredible photographer and editor to create a cookbook that I'm really proud of. And even though my cookbook will never be a bestseller, I learned so much about the creation process and made our extended family and friends so happy to have a gorgeous book that shares our family stories and preserves our culinary heritage. This process also helped me get clarity around the purpose for the next chapter of my life—starting a company that will help other families create their own cookbooks.
Value isn’t always money. It can be about creating community, learning a new skill, or creating a product that only 50 people may use.
Across the board, my personal projects were incredibly fulfilling but always brought up the question of ‘value’. We have learned to associate value with money, so what happens when you create a cookbook that’s meant to preserve your own culinary identity? The biggest challenge was rewriting this narrative and judgment around value. Value isn’t always money. It can be about creating community, learning a new skill, or creating a product that only 50 people may use. And in some seasons of our lives, that value is absolutely enough.
— Sri Bodanapu, a nutritionist, small business owner, podcaster, and mom of two
4. I Refused to Wait for the ‘Right’ Time
I started my own freelance projects with clients who trusted my ability to both mother hard and work hard. I created space in my schedule to both enjoy raising my sons and take on projects that felt meaningful and fulfilling. And I wrote a business plan with a trusted friend (now my business partner!) for a company that I envisioned having the ability to be impactful in a new industry and empower women.
I believe that if you wait for the right time, then it’s already passed you by. I feel this deeply in both motherhood and entrepreneurship.
I believe that if you wait for the right time, then it’s already passed you by. I feel this deeply in both motherhood and entrepreneurship. There will never be the right time, when things feel peaceful and perfectly aligned, the universe doesn't work that way! I didn't want to have any regrets and think about any "what ifs" and looking at my three sons growing so quickly, I knew there was never going to be perfect timing.
— Sarah Tupper, an entrepreneur and mom of three
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