We want to hear how you are coping with work and life and remote school and survival and everything… Please take a minute to fill out this survey so we can learn how the pandemic and parenthood is affecting your work life and the choices you are making about your current career path.
Tell us your story : Who are you Jennifer Owens?
I am an editor, writer and producer focused on women, wellness and work. Currently, I co-host The Breadwinners podcast and produce Turnaround Time for the Turnaround Management Association. I also founded thePause newsletter, focused on women’s health. I previously served as SVP of Digital Strategy of HealthyWomen.org and launched Spring.St, the place for smart women. Before that, I served as editorial director of Working Mother Media, and founded the Working Mother Research Institute, home to the Working Mother 100 Best Companies. In 2013, I launched National Flex Day, an annual spotlight on the benefits of flexible and remote work policies for all employees.
What is your proudest professional accomplishment?
Helping to organize the Summit on Working Families with the Obama Administration during my tenure as editorial director of Working Mother Media.
What is the hardest challenge you’ve faced, work-wise?
I think the hardest challenge is the constant hustle to stay upright and moving forward even as the media industry tries its damndest to bring us down!
If you could change one thing about how your given field operates, particularly with regards to women, what would it be, and why?
I would stamp out the rampant ageism that impacts all forms of publishing, especially when it comes to women.
What advice do you have for other women looking to make a career change but are afraid or lack confidence?
Come talk to me and then get hustling. I think the key is to think “side hustle” at first and to take any opportunity that comes your way to explore a career change, whether it’s through volunteering or consulting. (Keep your day job to pay the bills!)
Do you have any advice on how to craft a winning pitch?
Put yourself in your listener’s shoes. What do they need to know about you and what you do in order to solve their needs?
How do negotiate the balance between life and work when you are the one setting the boundaries?
Right now I’m a big fan of timeboxing to help prioritize and organize how I’m using my time and for what.
How do you make work work for you?
I make work work by focusing on the people, topics and formats I’m most interested in. I am most jazzed when someone takes an idea of mine and makes it better — and visa versa. Collaborating in truly supportive fashions to encourage our best selves at home and work is how I like to roll — and it’s the role I like best to play.
Do you want to be our Featured Member? Fill out this survey!!
The end of summer and return to school is akin to New Years for working parents. There is so much excitement around new beginnings, but this year feels so different, as it does in every area of life. Instead of focusing on work and encouraging you to get back to a work/life routine, we hope you will double down on yourself and invest time and energy into optimizing your career journey.
Today we are excited to announce the launch of our new career coaching platform where Second Shift expert career coaches offer their services to their fellow members at discounted rates. We’ve received a lot of interest so far and are thrilled to have an opportunity to strengthen our member ecosystem.
Here is how it works:
Second Shift member Sandy Sloane taught a member-led webinar on how to network remotely. Sandy is the founder of Solutions by Sloane, where she works with businesses on training and development, team building, events and public relations. Her session on best practices to use online tools to network effectively was a huge success.
Everyone feels confused in this new world where meeting for coffee or going to a conference is no long the best option to get to know someone or ask a favor. Sandy taught us how to work a zoom to your best advantage, how to use LinkedIn to grow your network without feeling like a nudge, how to create a personal elevator pitch… There was so much actionable, useful, step-by-step information that we can’t even break it down to bullet-point highlights. Here are a few things that we learned:
Watch the entire webinar here and enjoy!!
If you want to share your expertise with our member community reach out to us at members@thesecondshift.com.
I’m a performance coach and mindset and leadership trainer. I assist people and businesses get from where they are to where they want to be. This is done by tapping into the unconscious mind, removing blocks that are holding you back from success. Then by activating strategies, actionable tasks, and tools for success my clients create the results and outcomes they desire.
The fact I’ve been self employed for 9 years. Creating, developing, and producing my product The Rise: Vision|Action|Planner. Giving my TEDx Talk on Mindset Matters: The Art of Playing The Game To Win, and my featured articles in Essence and Forbes.
Being a single self-employed business owner without capital and connections. Being a bit ahead of my time in regards for the needs of executive coaching and leaderships skills on an unconscious level. Being a black woman in a white dominated field.
There would be more women in the technical and mind science coaching space. We would be featured more than the same run of the mill guys who teach mindset and leadership from their perspective and an old set of norms and ideas.
Plan, start small, and GO for it! You only live once, and we tend to regret and think about the things we didn’t or wished we’d done, rather than the things we did do and either were successful at, or found wasn’t for us. Slow and steady wins the race and get in the game.
Practice, practice, practice. And be confident in you. See yourself breezing through the pitch, even stumbling a few times, and making graceful pivots. See yourself confident, happy, and secure.
This is what I was put on the planet to do. I can’t imagine doing much help. Helping people get over their self imposed blocks and create wins for themselves and their teams, is whats it’s about.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it burned down in one. Slow and steady wins the race, be patient, consistent, and do it with integrity. It takes forever to built something and one false move to break it. Do your best.
Gina Hadley, at Second Shift really has been a huge champion and friend. Deseriee Peterkin Bell- She’s also been an advocate, mentor and inspiration.
I have a set schedule that I adhere to. I’ve been doing this long enough to have burnt out, and to realize a sunk cost. I make them and I stick to them.
It’s going to look crazy and be wild. It will be harder than you think it will be, and worth every single second. Save more, invest more, even when you think you don’t have it. Become financially savvy and fall in love with yourself, and money.
I work on projects that I care about, with people I respect and admire. It’s a top value of mine. I’m flexible in my behavior and open to new ideas and opportunity. I know who I am, the incredible I offer, and that it’s required in the new era of work.
Hello Second Shift Community!
During the COVID 19 worldwide pandemic, virtual networking has become the new normal for making connections. Even though meeting people is just a click or two away, most of us feel a bit lost navigating a whole new networking landscape.
Our upcoming webinar, Navigating Online Networking, will provide best practices to use to make sure your ZOOM calls boom instead of bomb. Taught by Second Shift member Sandy Sloane, President of Solutions by Sloane, this event is for anyone looking to up their online networking game for professional and personal gain.
Navigating Online Networking
Tuesday, August 25th @ 1:00pm ET
Register Here
See you there!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/navigating-online-networking-tickets-116627749739
The stress and anxiety of the unknown is overwhelming many working parents right now. Speaking up for your needs to #makeworkworkforyou as we go into an uncertain school year is important for productivity, management and maintaining some semblance of work/life integration. We hosted a webinar with HR consultant Karen Finckenor and workplace parenting expert Lauren Smith Brody of the Fifth Trimester to learn how to advocate for your needs and set yourself, your team, and your family up for success.
Here are our main takeaways from the talk and you can watch the full webinar here:
Organizations are looking at their performance reviews because this is all new and have to reevaluate to address properly. Make your case.
If you want to ask for a promotion, raise or flexible schedule do the following: know what policies are available to you, get clear on your ask and make sure it solves your need, make a business case for it backed up with strong data, have a few options ready to suggest, be a partner on the solution.
Some final advice that we think it very relevant:
“This is a long game…. Your career is an evolution and you need to think about your longer term objectives and invest in your career. Do not make short term decisions. Look at your career, where are you right now, and where you want to go- then figure out how you get to your goals in the next 18-24 months to sustain that vision. Get clear on what you can do now, what you are learning and how that feeds into your professional vision for the future.”
Pleased to share a wonderful article in The 19th News (a wonderful media platform focused on women and politics) about how this pandemic is overwhelming working mothers and forcing them to make really tough choices about balancing work and childcare (if they are fortunate to have choices). Our co-founder Jenny was quoted as a representative of the women in our member community:
“Jenny Galluzzo, co-founder of the Second Shift, a platform that matches professional women with freelance and consulting projects, said the site has seen four times as many applicants since February as women try to make up lost work hours with part-time consulting work.
Beyond that, most women tell her they’re just waiting.
“You can’t plan ahead in any concrete way. And that stress manifests itself because you don’t know how to interact with the workforce. If you’re out looking for a job, how can you know what job to take because you don’t know in two months what your kids’ school situation will be?” Galluzzo said. “I worry for women because we’re taking an undue burden of all of the care and the invisible labor. I worry about all the strides we’ve made just being set back.”
One of our members, Mara Geronemus, a working mother of 3 young children and wife of a front-line doctor, is also featured because the weight of her work and responsibilities forced her to turn down clients and take a step back right when her practice was taking off. It’s a relatable story and one that really captures the anxiety, stress, helplessness and disappointment many of us feel right now.
On the positive side, Jenny sees a silver lining if we can just hold our breath and make it to the other side…
“In many ways, though, coronavirus has served as a magnifying glass, bringing into sharper focus issues like child care that have long been ignored — and employers are responding. Companies that once resisted flexible work set-ups, and particularly remote work, are starting to embrace the idea.
“We have been fighting for the ability for women to work remotely and flexibly for years. It’s the number one thing women want for employment and companies have now been forced to see that that model works,” said Galluzzo, from the Second Shift. “And when the economy comes back and jobs are more plentiful and our kids are in school, I see this as ultimately a benefit because you don’t have to convince people any longer that [flexibility and being remote] works.”
