By Glynn Cosker
Online Career Tips, Special Contributor
Every year, more and more successful female professionals also become successful mothers. People no longer have to quit their job or take a lesser paying, part-time job once baby enters the picture. Goals can be accomplished, “bucket lists” can have a majority of items checked, and anybody can juggle a rewarding career with the wonderful rewards found in parenthood—if they plan well and stay organized.
I recently chatted with one such successful businesswoman who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Evelyn in May of this year. Caroline Simpson is the Vice President of Student Services at American Public University System (APUS) and dispels the myth that one has to get everything important completed in one’s career before thinking about having children.
Q: What are some of the highlights of your career up until Evelyn’s birth and what highlights do you still look forward to?
Caroline: My first job was teaching 10th grade English. After that I taught first grade—so that was a pretty big jump—but a really rewarding one. Then I worked at an inter-generational preschool which was located on the campus of a retirement community. My job was to create opportunities for the preschool children and the retirement residents to interact. It involved baking cookies, putting on a play, having reading time, going on nature walks and other things like that. It was really interesting to coordinate activities for a three-year-old and an 83-year-old!
After that, I applied at APUS because the opportunity to work with adult learners in an online environment was appealing to me. I started as an advisor at APUS, and as the organization grew, I grew with it. Additionally, I earned my master’s degree in management through APUS in 2011. The flexibility of visiting an online classroom while also working full time was a huge benefit, in that I could do some reading during the weekends and on week nights; this allowed me to earn my master’s without sacrificing my career. I am currently Vice President of Student Services.
I have Evelyn now, but I’m taking classes towards my Ph.D. in organizational leadership. In the meantime, I can make sure that Evelyn gets my attention as well as my friends, family and co-workers. I don’t know when I’ll be Dr. Simpson, but someday I will!
Q: There is a concept that you need to complete your ‘bucket list’ before having children or you won’t be able to accomplish any goals. What do you say to that?
Caroline: I’ve never felt that I needed to accomplish a certain amount of things before having children. I watched my parents (who had my sister and me when they were young) complete the items on their bucket list with us in tow. Whether it was professionally or personally traveling around the world, or growing at work, they did all of it while my sister and I were part of their lives, and it worked really well. My parents made decisions based on what was going to be best for us all at the time, and I think that as parents, that’s your job.
My parents accomplished everything they set out to do and that’s something that my husband Jeremy and I will want to do as well with Evelyn. We are not going to put our goals and objectives on hold because she’s here. If anything, there is more that we get to do now because she’s here. There is more that we want to work towards because we want to give her the same opportunities in life that we’ve enjoyed.
Q: So, you’ve spent a lot of time with your baby. Has anything you’ve learned during your day-to-day career helped you and been applied to your new role of mom?
Caroline: A resounding yes! I feel like all of my experiences up to this point, be them personal or professional, have helped to prepare me to become a mom, which is—by the way—the hardest job I’ve ever had. This is the most intense, challenging, and awesome role I’ve ever performed. What I’ve done so far in my career, working with other people and the relationships I’ve built, with people who are parents themselves—that’s all shaped me into the parent I want to be.
In addition, APUS is a setting where lifelong learning is the mission and something that we live and breathe, and that is certainly something I want to teach Evelyn. I want to be a good role model and show her that education and learning are both very important to her parents.
Q: Babies don’t come with a manual or troubleshooting guide. Were there any surprises that you didn’t expect since your baby arrived?
Caroline: How hard this was going to be…How little sleep I would get. Jeremy and I have wanted to be parents for a long time, so this has been truly awesome and thrilling and exciting. I’m thankful for the opportunity to step away from work right now and focus on Evelyn because newborns are so much work—she’s my job right now.
Thinking about going back to work in a month, I’m excited about that. I need that for me. I need to be able to go to work and be successful and to be a contributor on a bigger scale, and I think that will ultimately make me a better parent because I’ll have that outlet. I’ll have the ability to be creative and to work with others, to problem solve, to use my management and leadership skills and then come home and be mom to Evelyn. So I am looking forward to going back to work.
Q: Your husband also has a successful business career. Do you two intend to ‘tag team’ things in the coming months and years, and if so, how?
Caroline: Absolutely, I have a whole new appreciation for parents who raise children independently—whether they are single moms or single dads or their partners are deployed overseas or have jobs that don’t allow them to be home during the day. When Jeremy’s done with work, it’s a total tag team, so I’m able to make dinner, take a shower, do things that you don’t do during the day when you have a baby who needs you.
Moving forward, I know that it’s really important for Jeremy to be active in Evelyn’s life. So we have a good daycare situation lined up. We’ll be part of a “nanny share” in our neighborhood where a couple of families get together and hire a nanny using our homes as bases. Since Evelyn will be just right around the corner, when we’re done from work we can go pick her up and spend some time with her.
Q: After returning to work, what is the best way to maximize time in the office while also maximizing time with your child?
Caroline: APUS promotes the benefit of telecommunicating so I spend some of my time at home and that works really well for me. I can catch up on individual projects at home, and when I’m in the office I can interact with my teams and can attend meetings. The benefit of telecommunicating is huge for parents. Northern Virginia commute times are awful. So saving that two-hour driving time is a massive benefit.
My work style is also a benefit; I like to be productive and focused, so when Evelyn goes to see her nanny, I will focus on my work day and then shut down and switch to family time. It’s easy for me to turn it on and turn it off. I can imagine that there are people who cannot easily turn it on or off or who cannot quickly transition from one part of their day to another I can see how that would be challenging.
My advice would be to be stay really organized and to have a daycare situation that you’re comfortable with, so you don’t feel that you have to rush home to pick up your child. I’ll continue to be really focused and organized at home and at work so I can reap the benefits of being able to spend quality time with Evelyn. Parenthood and a career—it’s all what you make of it!
About the Author:
Glynn Cosker is currently a contractor and content author with APUS. Born and raised in the UK, he spent 11 years working at the British Embassy in Washington DC. He is a freelance writer with a decade of content writing and creative writing experience. He is the father of three school-aged children.
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