Women’s History Month

(Originally posted in March 2022)

Thinking about my own personal women’s history this month…

One grandmother wasn’t able to finish high school after her father died unexpectedly. The family lost the house, but she found a husband when his family bought the home. Despite her keen intelligence, she never finished school and did not work outside the home.

One grandmother became a nurse and worked until she married. Though she did work as a volunteer, she never returned to her profession.

My mother tried nursing school, but instead took a secretarial course and became a legal secretary until she married. She was always disappointed that she did not have a college degree, but between her 4 daughters there are 7 degrees. We have all worked in our chosen careers after marriage, and after kids.

When I was building my early career, I didn’t know any women who worked in marketing or communications. One recruiter told me that despite my master’s degree, my only options were sales or administrative assistant. I had to figure things out on my own – and while I’ll always be figuring things out, I’ve done pretty well for myself.

Today, my 17-year-old daughter and I have regular conversations about the work world and what she might choose as her career (or careers!). She’s seen mine up close, and she has lots of other role models in her world, including stay-at-home moms and dads.

No one is going to tell her she has to be either an admin or a sales rep, and nothing else. And even if they did, she wouldn’t believe it for a second.

That’s progress.