Episode #144
Navigating Career Shifts as a New (or Old) Mom
January 21, 2024 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 144 / Guest: Jess Galica Subscribe and Review wherever you listen to podcasts! Show Summary: In this episode of the Mom &… Podcast, hosts Susanne Kerns and Missy Stevens welcome Jess Galica, an executive and career coach, speaker, and author. Jess shares her journey of transitioning from corporate roles to becoming a career coach, particularly focusing on the intertwining of motherhood and career aspirations. The discussion delves into the impact of COVID-19 on work-life paradigms, common career challenges faced by moms, and strategies for re-entering the workforce. They also emphasize the importance of support systems like coaches and community networks while touching on Jess’ book LEAP: WHY IT’S TIME TO LET GO TO GET AHEAD IN YOUR CAREER . Topics From This Episode: 00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Hosts 01:17 Guest Introduction: Jess Galica 01:56 Jess’s Career Journey and Motherhood 03:41 Impact of COVID on Career and Motherhood 05:35 Navigating Career Transitions 09:11 The Role of Coaching and Support 11:56 Storytelling and Overcoming Negative Self-Talk 18:14 Networking Strategies for Moms 24:21 Maintaining a LinkedIn Profile 26:53 Strategic Activities During Career Breaks 28:37 Exploring Core Values and Interests 30:12 Introduction to Jess’s Book 30:45 Navigating Career Shifts as a New Mom 32:39 Finding Comfort in Shared Experiences 34:11 Promoting the Book and Connecting with the Author 34:46 Look, Listen, Learn Segment Introduction 35:07 Susanne’s Look, Listen, Learn 43:10 Jessica’s Look, Listen, Learn 46:52 Missy’s Look, Listen, Learn 53:31 Final Thoughts and Farewell Look, Listen, Learns Susanne: Shopping for a printer MOTHER OF STRANGERS , by Suad Amiry How learning to put in contacts is a metaphor for life Jess: Origin Neha Ruch , Mother Untitled Melinda French Gates ’s new philanthropic endeavors for women’s rights Missy: LAY YOUR BODY DOWN , by Amy Suiter Clark Listening to favorites playlist and a lot of Taylor Swift Graston technique More About Jess Galica: Jessica Galica has worked in almost every kind of corporate environment, from Fortune 100 titans to startups to management consulting at prestigious Bain & Company. Today she splits her career between her role as a Director at Siemens and her work executive coaching and writing on how high-performing women can reclaim control, fulfillment, and greater success within their careers. Jess has researched women and career throughout her education. Her undergraduate thesis at Georgetown University examined depictions of working moms across media. And at MIT Sloan School of Management, where Jess earned her MBA, she pioneered the first research study to compare rates of students’ class participation by gender—proving her hypothesis that men were more likely than women to speak up in quantitative courses. Jess wants to redefine for high-performing women what a successful career looks like. Reclaim Your Career began as a personal project to redirect Jess’ career, but quickly became something much bigger. Jess discovered that her story—building a career, doing everything “right,” but waking up lost—is not unique. She had struck a larger chord. A personal project turned into dozens of in-depth interviews and valuable research on “the why and how” of reinventing your career. Now Jess is on a mission to share these insights so that all women have the inspiration and tools to build a purposeful, intentional career. Jess is a present mom to her two kids and lives in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood with her husband Matt and dog Riley. Connect with Jess Galica: Website LinkedIn Instagram Connect With the Mom &… Podcast Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts! If you’re so inclined to give us a 5-star rating, we’ll love you forever. Who couldn’t use a little extra love? Leave us a message – via voicemail or use our form – with your questions for experts, or suggestions for future episodes. Check out our website , where you can find links to all the things! Follow our Facebook Page Join our private Facebook Group (All you have to do is ask to join, and then be nice once you’re in. So easy!) Follow us on Instagram Become a patron – check us out on Patreon ! Watch this episode on our YouTube Channel! Musical Notes Our delightfully happy intro and outro theme music, “We Will Get Through This” is performed by Young Presidents , and used under license from Shutterstock . Transcript is auto-generated by a robot. Apologies in advance for misspellings or errors. [00:00:04] Susanne: Welcome to the mom and dot, dot, dot podcast, the podcast that helps you make your ellipses count, you know, all the dot, dot, dots that come after I’m a mom and I’m Susanne Kerns, mom and dot, dot, dot writer, LGBTQ and sex ed advocate. And today, Prepping to jump from the frying pan into the fire, at least temperature wise, as we are heading to Arizona to celebrate my mother in law’s birthday. I mean, it’s been in the high nineties here in Texas, but it’s going to be 104 there, so. [00:00:35] Missy: but it’s a dry heat. [00:00:37] Susanne: It’s a dry heat, yes, that’s true. Look at you looking on [00:00:40] Missy: what they always say. I did think when we were there for a conference last year, I did think like it is different. [00:00:47] Susanne: is. Anything’s better than Texas, really, for many reasons. [00:00:52] Missy: Right. Agreed. Well, I’m Missy Stevens, mom and dot, dot, dot writer, foster care advocate. And today parent of a kid with a fresh new learner’s permit. We have another learning driver on the road [00:01:04] Susanne: Ooh, [00:01:04] Missy: and he drove himself to swim practice this morning. Very exciting. [00:01:07] Susanne: that is a big deal. [00:01:09] Missy: He keeps asking me if I need to go anywhere today and if he can take me and I’m like, Nope. Don’t have anywhere to go today. [00:01:16] Susanne: Can he come take Zoe to the store because she doesn’t want to drive? [00:01:19] Missy: He’d be happy to. [00:01:20] Susanne: Thank you. And today we are so excited to be welcoming Jess Gallagher to the podcast. Jess is a mom and executive and career coach, sought after speaker on topics around women’s leadership and motherhood, host of the Reclaim Your Career podcast and author of the book Leap, Why It’s Time to Let Go. Go and get ahead in your career. Jess holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, and a BA from Georgetown University. Welcome, Jess. We are so excited to have you here. [00:01:56] Jess: Hey, both. It is great to be here. Excited to chat today. [00:02:00] Missy: Awesome. Well, we want to dive into everything you do, but we thought we’d start with a just one on one and give us like a little snapshot if you can of where you started and what got you to where you are now. [00:02:12] Jess: sure. Yeah. So like you mentioned, I’m a mom. I have two kids, a daughter who is three and a half years old and a one year old son. So I am in the thick of it in those early years of motherhood, um, which is both wonderful and of course a challenge too. but my story is really about the intersection of my role as a mom also with my career ambition. And I spent the first 15 years of my career in pretty traditional corporate business roles. I worked in management consulting. I worked in tech leading global sales teams. And then my career really shifted in the beginning of 2020 before the pandemic broke out. I felt really unfulfilled at work despite working at all of these amazing companies and organizations. I just felt like I hadn’t found my place when it came to my career. And then of course I was stepping into motherhood for the first time. So I was pregnant with my now three and a half year old and that stepping into motherhood transformed really everything when it came to my career. But I had this deep desire to pursue work that felt more fulfilling. And I also had this desire to show up as a mom and invest more time with my kids that evolved starting as I became a mom and then has evolved in the years since. So that led me to write the book that you see behind me, which helps women who are kind of grappling with this question of how do I redefine my career and my career ambition, particularly after motherhood, um, and has led me to all of the work that I do today that I know we’ll dive a lot more into. [00:03:45] Susanne: Oh, it’s interesting, especially after that period of COVID that you’re, I mean, you had so many big life changes happening. Along with this global phenomenon, not in a good way, um, of COVID. So, I’m, I’m guessing that that greatly influenced the, the themes that you are hearing from some of your coaching clients. So, are, what, what is that looking like post COVID? those continuing themes, uh, that you see with moms. [00:04:19] Jess: I think there are some big themes, but I think the biggest one is just that COVID for so many people, whether a parent or a caregiver or not, It really challenged these fundamental truths and assumptions that we thought were unmovable about work and our lives, right? it really upended it, like the idea that, oh, maybe we can work remotely, maybe we can move somewhere else. this, um, you know, period where people started to, uh, COVID was such a challenging time for many, but it also was a time when a lot of people got to tap into other really rich, rewarding, fulfilling parts of their lives in a way that they hadn’t before. So I think it completely shifted, so many people that were really exclusively focused on career to really think less about just optimizing for career and more about optimizing for their life. So for me, when I think about COVID, that is the most fundamental shift is this opening, this invitation, this possibility that work and life could look different. and opening that door a little bit, uh, allows a lot of people to make big reflections, decisions, and transitions when it comes to how they want to live their life. [00:05:30] Susanne: Yeah. Were you seeing that a lot of those transitions were intentional or forced? I know that a lot of stay at home moms suddenly had to go back to work because the partner was laid off or maybe they were laid off and it made them have to face a transition. I’m just really curious how people approach those next steps differently when it’s something that they’re excited about and, you know, is proactive versus something that was forced upon them by an outside force. [00:06:00] Jess: Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes it’s really clear, right? Sometimes it is choice, and sometimes it’s, um, by circumstance, and it’s very clear. And then I think there’s this kind of middle group, too, right? That it’s, well, is it choice, or is it circumstance, right? Maybe it’s not a complete choice, maybe it’s not a complete layoff scenario where it’s the only option, but it’s a pressure cooker environment of, gosh, I’m trying to juggle the cost of childcare and a dual income household or whatever it may be, but there’s so much pressure and force that whether it is choice or circumstance, but I think you’re totally right that it’s not only, you know, people and women in particular who are reimagining by choice, but there are also these really difficult circumstances with covid and then also with just generally motherhood and childcare, that force women into, you know, thinking about these situations in a new way. [00:06:51] Susanne: Yeah, [00:06:51] Missy: it comes to that re imagination, and this is, I may be putting my stuff into this question, but, uh, whether it’s something you want to do, cause it’s definitely a thing that I have a lot of energy around doing, but whether you want to do it or you’re being forced to do it, it’s kind of hard to know what that, how to start. How do we even start envisioning this new thing? How do we take what we have done before and Where we are now and combine that and create next [00:07:22] Susanne: your [00:07:23] Missy: Where do you, yeah, where do you start with that? [00:07:26] Jess: Yeah, I think the most helpful thing to get clear on is what’s the purpose here, right? What’s the value that you’re getting out of this? What is the why? and that can look really different, right? For people who are in a full time career wanting to switch to a full time career, that purpose might look like they want more flexibility, they want more fulfillment, they want a new different challenge. for a stay at home parent who is, I don’t know, maybe trying to launch a small sort of side business or do something different, right? What they want out of it probably looks really different. It might be, you know, oh, I want, you know, intellectual engagement. I want a small stream of revenue. I want, you know, something to keep my foot sort of in the water because long term I may want to transition back. but what I find is that the most important thing is not focusing on the execution, like how do I, you know, do X, Y, and Z. It’s really about getting super clear on what’s the purpose behind this, because the clearer and more confident you are on what you’re trying to get out of it, the more likely you will be to Stay committed and to execute and have that, um, just have that conviction that this is something you want to do. And then I say all the time, once you know you want to do it, people are phenomenal, especially women and moms. They are phenomenal executors. So really investing that time to, to know your why is I think the most important first step. [00:08:57] Susanne: And I think for probably a lot of us, that’s where a good coach comes in, because I think doing it by yourself can feel. Really overwhelming because you barely are able to find the what, let alone the why behind it. Missy and I liked to joke that after so many years of being stay at home moms, like, we didn’t even know what we liked anymore. We didn’t know what our interests were. We didn’t know if we had any hobbies or anything that we even liked. We just did kind of whatever the schedule for our kids told us to do in a given day. And I’m guessing you’ve encountered clients who are doing the same thing. [00:09:35] Jess: Yeah, absolutely. It’s funny, right? The, um, the biggest thing that our most common thing that I hear from clients, or if I’m doing a speaking engagement is. Well, he want, you know, I sense that I want to do something different or want to do something more, but I just, I don’t know what. And I think the most important thing that a coach can do, the coach isn’t going to give you the answers, right? Um, that’s, you’re with the wrong coach if they’re giving you the answers. But what a coach can do is really help you to unlock that voice that you have inside of yourself, that so many women and so many moms in particular have deprioritized and silenced and kind of, you know, all of the other things have gotten stacked on top of it. It’s really that work that a coach can help with to start to unearth, okay, what is that voice? And what are those things that I know about myself, that I want to uncover and, you know, shed some light on? [00:10:28] Missy: I think as moms, like, my brain is going a million miles [00:10:33] Susanne: I know. I’m [00:10:34] Missy: This is something really top of mind for me, but, um, you know, if we made the choice to have this extensive career pause, which Suzanne did, I did. I’m not going to lie, like lately more than ever, I am regretting it because it feels insurmountable to come back from this pause. And so what is that process like if someone like myself, for example, has been home for a long time and I’ve dabbled and I’ve done contract work and I’ve done some things, but, What does that look like when someone is trying to reinvent themselves and figure out what to do with that huge gap? How do you, how do you present it and move forward? [00:11:13] Jess: Mm. Yeah. I think, you know, I would talk about kind of three pillars. And this is for someone who’s already been out and, You can’t change how you spent that time or you know, so we’re talking you’re already there. I think that there’s three things that we see come up a lot. And the first is that storytelling. What is the story that you’re telling yourself and also you’re using externally to pitch and present and share who you are out with the market. So I think there is a storytelling piece that’s really, really important. And that’s a place where getting some outside help, whether a coach, right, or a peer or a friend or a mentor can be really valuable because it sounds like, well, I should just know my story. It is so much easier for someone with a little space to help you craft that story. So that’s the first piece, this storytelling. I think the second is a really pragmatic toolkit, right? Which is, okay, how do I, gosh, pick up and dust off my resume? How do I get comfortable? You know, informational interviewing like there are these skills and tools that you need to kind of get in tip top shape again to start the process. Um, and then the third is a good networking strategy. And of course you need one and two to support you for three, right? You need to know that story, you need to have some of the tools. But then what is your strategy to use that networking based approach? Because for, uh, you know, someone returning to work, You’ve become, in some ways, right, a non traditional candidate, and I’m using the air quotes here. So oftentimes, using that network based approach is the most effective way to get you back into a role in, in some capacity. So I really encourage women to be thinking about those three pillars and coming up with a, a plan for each of those. [00:13:06] Missy: That’s genius. [00:13:07] Susanne: Okay, I’m writing down [00:13:09] Missy: and I’m watching you write it down. [00:13:11] Susanne: I know. Do you see what I’m writing in my notes? Okay, so around the storytelling, One of the things we talk about a lot on the podcast is our negative inner voice. And I think that maybe having a coach is what’s necessary to keep you from um, Letting that voice take over your storytelling, because I know when you’re talking about it, you’re like, no, this is the story that you’re telling about yourself to project to the world to, like, get you to that next step. But if you have this negative inner voice, that is the story you’re listening to, like, you’re not ready to tell that story yet. So, like, how do you get from the step of, like, probably what a lot of, especially if they’ve had extensive career breaks, or if they’ve been through a layoff and are feeling the sting of that still. Yeah. To get over the internal negative dialogue storytelling that maybe they’re hearing inside their own heads to get to the place where you’re able to tell this forward thinking story about your, your relaunch or your new career. [00:14:12] Jess: Yeah, Suzanne, I think your instinct is right, that this is where the power of a coach can come in. But I want to be more inclusive than that. Because not everyone has access to a one on one dedicated coach. So I want to use the term broadly, but this is where a helper, let’s call it right. A helper or a cheerleader can come in. And I think if you can find someone too, who you really know can champion you and maybe even does have, you
