New city, new life, new home… new blog.  So, what’s this blog about? Hmmm? Well, at its core, it’s essentially about me. Yet there are multiple “me’s.” I’m a 15-year marketing vet, a digital content creator, a writer (all with a pretty strong track record of success might I add). I’m also a wife and mother of two beautiful kids. As most can relate, I have multiple identities, equally “me” but not fully me, and even the sum of all these different parts when put together do not entirely add up to “me.” What I do know is that, starting just a few years ago towards the beginning of the pandemic, and despite having a well-paying, six-figure job and a loving family, I started to become (and, maybe frankly, still am) just a little bit lost.

So, who am I? I’ll try to summarize with this: I’m a typical working mom who spent the last several years burning the candle at both ends as the popular saying goes. I balanced, as best I could, being both a caregiver, a partner, and a very loyal, long-time employee at a major business think tank. I was running a marketing team and working directly with former C-Suite professionals, top economists, highly respected thought leaders and PHD-level academics. Every day, I turned on my computer way before the 9am hour and spent my time plugging away until late into the evening, ping ponging between feeling as if I was being placed on top of a pedestal to feeling as if I was being squashed like a bug (often within the same few minutes). I also ping ponged between feeling like the best mom in the world to feeling like an utter parental failure. I was burnt out and needed something completely different – a new environment, possibly even a new life. But what that life would be, I wasn’t sure. I just knew enough was enough…stick a fork in me, I was truly done! So, I metaphorically closed my eyes, grabbed my husband’s hand, and together we leapt.

Aaannnddd….we landed in Boca Raton, Florida. Though only a short flight away, this city presents quite a different picture from East Elmhurst, Queens, New York. We bought a beautiful home in a much smaller, but beautiful city, provided my kids with more space and better opportunities, and started working on building a new life surrounded by sunshine, lakes, ducks, iguana, and, well, two extremely aggressive geese (who knew these feathered types could be so obstinate). It’s peace…it’s Shangri-la, especially in comparison to the over-trafficked wrought iron city I had once existed in. It’s a perfect place to cut off all the noise that surrounded me, to move away from a toxic city, a toxic environment, and even some toxic relationships and start fresh. And most days I’m content …most.  But I’m also still trying to figure out where I go from here – and that’s something that, well, at 40 some-odd years of age, can also be highly disheartening and gloomy, even in the sunshine state.

Moving away from the world you knew and the people who both encircled and supported you is isolating, but when I look at the news and listen to the conversations that surround me, I realize that I’m actually part of a larger group – a group that for many reasons after COVID needed to leave behind soul-crushing jobs, harmful relationships, and toxic lives in order to start fresh. They took risks, left careers, moved to new places….I suppose everything I just did. They took a gamble on their lives, hoping that if they roll the dice again, they’ll have a better chance at getting a win. 

And maybe their journey is a lot like mine, so I thought this would be a good place to explore what it is to be a “working mom re-worked.” Maybe this would be a great place to survey the new working environment, while also seeking out new job experiences, new life experiences, and new “me” experiences. And maybe I can connect with others out there who also left behind the world they once knew to move forward on a new, and possibly, very different journey.  After all, there are millions of you out there, I’m sure – men and women, mothers and workers – all re-working themselves right now. So maybe we can start taking this journey together – and even help each other along the way!

So, what will this blog be about? Let’s see… making connections, exploring thoughts and experiences, existing in the new world of digital and content marketing, a little online therapy…perhaps all of the above really. But as I recently started focusing on my search for new, remote career opportunities in marketing, I think I’ll start this blog right where I’m at now – my experience hunting for a new job and a strong willingness to volunteer as a guinea pig for what seems like the current, grand and global employee experiment – namely Work from Home.