North Shore moms seek new work outlets

As some parents struggle to quickly replace lost jobs during difficult economic times, others have a little more time to contemplate their careers.

Highland Park resident Amy Small, 43, chose to take time off from working as an attorney to raise her four children; as they grow older, she’s wondering what’s next.

“I just feel like, ‘What impact have I had on this life?’” Small said. “I’ve raised four great kids so far, but I feel like there’s something more out there for me. And I let everything attorney-wise lapse.”

Small’s youngest is 8, and she said she’s ready to begin work again by filling the hours between 8:30 and 3 when the kids are at school.

Small is one of several women who will seek guidance at the Act Three workshop—a career session geared to mothers re-entering the workforce—which will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 16 at Saks Fifth Avenue, 1849 Green Bay Rd., Highland Park.

Ohio resident Juile Shifman’s coaching business, Act Three, provides a variety of services for women struggling through a stage in their lives when motherhood no longer requires all of their time.

“I have discovered my act three several times,” Shifman said. A mother of four, she went from law to business consulting and finally found a niche in helping women re-start their professional lives after children.

Shifman knows many North Shore moms because hers and their kids all go to the same overnight camp. She said she’s in touch with their concerns.

Shifman works with women in their 40s and 50s who previously had professional careers before they had children, have college degrees and have sufficient family incomes to make their work hiatuses possible.

However, she said women returning to work face income gaps, suffer from technology lapses and lose touch with old contacts.

“I think that business is moving so fast today that when you’ve been out of the work force that long and haven’t stayed connected, business moves on without you,” Shifman said. “And if you want to come back in, [you] can’t come back in at the same level.”

Shifman said she’d like to catch women earlier—before they leave the workforce. There are ways to make the transition back to work easier by staying involved in trade associations, continuing to attend conferences, continuing to network and keeping up with technology, she said.

Still, Shifman said other mothers realize the priorities of their 20s have changed altogether now that they’re in their 40s.

Small, for instance, said she’s questioning whether she even wants to return to law and has been considering teaching.

“I think when you leave the work place and you want to go back, you’re starting like when you did when you were graduating from college,” Small said. “I always say to my kids, I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.”

Meanwhile, Highland Park mom, Riv Lynch, has found a way to support moms who are trying to succeed in their own businesses while raising their children.

Lynch, herself, found her third act when she stopped working as an art therapist and transitioned into full-time motherhood, only to finally became a professional organizer.

She joined forces with her sister and Highland Parker Natalie Harel-Yakov—a financial planner— to form a mom-focused networking group called mom4profit.

“I think it’s really getting your name out there and using your friends and family to get the word (out)—that’s what I did,” said Lynch, who described herself as “incognito” for 12 years.

The one-year-old group of about 25 members meets monthly, and provides a support network for North Shore mothers of varying industries who own their own businesses.

“The women in my group…what they have in common is they feel that they could do both, that they can have their family and they can be extremely successful in something they really love where they personally thrive—not just as a mother, but as a woman.”

Mom4profit members are required to offer a set number of business referrals, she said. And, the group members offer their own expertise to each other for business development.

The group also provides a free mentorship program for women who are just starting their businesses, and those interested should e-mail mom4profit@comcast.net, she said.

For women who are still looking for a starting point, Shifman’s workshop costs $125 and will include exercises and discussions, culminating with a session on business image. The workshop also includes lunch and a business fashion show. Each woman will get a personal makeup consultation and a 15 percent Saks discount.

—By Blair Chavis|Triblocal.com reporter