Ditching Traditional Work and Creating a Career That Works For You: Part 2
As the 2020 landscape for women in the workforce has drastically shifted, so too have our needs as mothers. Working Momkind is committed to being a resource for you, which is why we've created an interview series highlighting the careers of five working moms and their successful leaps from traditional work to the freelance hustle, and building their brands to becoming Founders and CEOs. We invite you to join us as we release two stories per week, describing their experiences and sharing the knowledge of what they've learned along the way.
In Part 2 of our series, we chat with Kerry Cheney, a Vice President at Ogilvy in New York City. She describes what it's like to transition from the corporate world to freelance just two months after becoming a mom and how to set yourself up for a successful career pivot amongst the chaos of new motherhood.
Kerry Cheney, Vice President, Ogilvy
A senior media relations specialist with 11+ years of experience, Kerry works with brands of all shapes and sizes to develop and execute holistic communication strategies and campaigns that make an impact for her clients. Across her career, she's worked with brands like LG, McDonald's, Listerine, WAZE, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Discover, and more to reach key stakeholders with unique messages. Kerry lives in New Jersey with her husband, Colin, two children, Addison (3) and Logan (2 months), and her black lab, Max (10).
WM: Thank you for speaking with us today (while on maternity leave with baby #2 – no less)! We're excited to hear about your experience going from corporate work with no kids to being a new mom while figuring out the freelance life. Can you tell me a little about what your role was like before your daughter came along?
Kerry Cheney: Prior to freelancing, I was a Vice President at a global public relations firm in NYC. In my career up until that point, I had worked at several big agencies, slowly working my way up the ladder over the span of nine years.
Once I had my daughter, Addison (now 3), in 2017, I decided to quit my full-time job and try my hand at freelance work within my industry. I freelanced for nearly two years, working as a public relations and media relations consultant. My contract work was mostly with agency contacts for media relations and general communications support for various consumer and corporate clients.
WM: That sounds like an exciting, but highly demanding job. Did the birth of your daughter spark the idea to begin freelance work, or was it something that you'd always wanted to try?
Cheney: I had accepted a position before I was pregnant, and shortly after starting, I knew I wasn't going to be happy there. Working in NYC in the public relations world has a way of burning you out and taxing your life and relationships outside of work. So I was more than ready for a change, and freelance was always in the back of my mind. I knew I'd eventually want something with a bit more flexibility once a baby came along.
When I did become pregnant, I decided that I wasn't going to be returning, but only started to explore the freelance route a month or two after she was born. I wanted something that I could shape around my new lifestyle. I had moved to the suburbs, was a first-time mom, and wanted to be able to be there for my daughter, both mentally and physically, in the best way that I knew how.
WM: Can you explain what happened in the two months that you were a new mom and trying to figure out the next steps for freelance work and your family?
Cheney: I knew quite a few people who had recently made the jump to freelance, so I started reaching out to them to make sure this was even a viable route for me. In parallel, there were many discussions with my husband about how much income I needed to make this work. After that, I was able to settle on a rate that was appropriate for my experience level and the work I was looking to do. I then defined the number of hours a month that would get me to that comfortable income level and still give me the balance I craved.
WM: After setting rates and deciphering a livable income for your newly-expanded family, how did you go about connecting with clients?
Cheney: In tandem with the financial stuff, I started putting together a list of my contacts and getting some feelers out there. I can't stress enough the value of relationships in terms of getting started. Throughout my two years of freelancing, nearly all of my work was due to the relationships I had from prior work environments. And all, might I add, were other women. While the initial outreach to these contacts may have felt a little awkward, these women (both older and of similar age) embraced my new situation with open arms, jumped at the chance to help me get started or offer advice, and helped me expand my network even farther. I am forever in debt to the women who helped me along the way and can only hope that I have and will continue to have the opportunity to do the same for others.
WM: Love this and wholeheartedly agree on the need to advocate for one another! As a new mom, how did you structure your time and rates to advocate for yourself and still get everything done?
Cheney: As with any job, you have to set boundaries. For me, those boundaries were much easier to define as a freelancer and a mom simply because there was no other option. I was the primary caregiver, and my husband worked in the city full-time, meaning there was only so much I could do on any given day.
In the beginning, I worked from home, hustling to get work done in the 4 hours a day that my daughter napped upstairs in her room and then again at night once she was in bed. As my work became more regular and reliable, we hired a nanny to come 2-3 times a week in the mornings. This set-up gave me the chance to head to the local library or coffee shop to work and get out of the house.
Like any career changes, there's going to be a period of adjustment. It'll take time to find your confidence not only in the work you're doing, but with the business side of things too. I sometimes felt like an imposter asking clients for the rates that I set, even though I knew they were fair, but I quickly learned that this was just a lack of confidence. Once I got a few projects under my belt, I was able to stand behind my rates and proposals more strongly. I even became comfortable turning down work that I either wasn't interested in or where it was clear my contribution wasn't valued.
WM: It sounds like your years of experience and expertise quickly gave you the confidence to establish your footing in the freelance world and keep moving forward. As you worked through carving out these immense lifestyle changes, did you ever doubt yourself or the plan you had created?
Cheney: While the work came faster and more often than I had anticipated, the anxiety of not knowing what the next month would hold was much greater than I had expected. Perhaps this was because my husband also lost his job a month after I decided to leave my corporate position, but I constantly worried about whether or not the work would dry up and if we'd have enough to keep going. Having always had a salaried position, this type of anxiety was very new and scary for me.
WM: As someone who has successfully transitioned from corporate work to freelance, and then back again, what advice would you give to someone who has similar fears about getting started?
Cheney: Things can be slow when you get started, and there will undoubtedly be bumps in the road. You'll want to have a plan to help you manage realistic expectations for what kind of money you'll bring in and be sure that you can afford to withstand a few months of little to no income.
But despite all this - Go for it, anyway! It's scary, yes, but if you're good at what you do (and you are!), you'll make it work. It may not always be exactly how you envision, and it may not be a forever change, but I think it's important to have the confidence in yourself to take the leap (with all the appropriate prep, of course). Carving out my own path definitely made me a more confident mother and professional. Without having freelanced, I don't think I would have had the confidence to ask for the salary and flexible set-up I have in my full-time position today.
WM: Thank you for your time and for sharing your story!
Stay tuned for Part Three of our series, as we chat with Erica Mutschler, Communications Consultant & Founder of EFGM Creative. We'll discuss what it's like living in a two-entrepreneur household and the essential costs to consider when you are your own benefits package.
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