“Do you think you’ll return to work after having your baby?” That’s a question I heard many times before having my son more than eight years ago. I started hearing it again before the birth of my daughter last year. If there is one misperception I would love to quash, it’s the notion that women…

Recently, a possibly tragic event took place: a highly educated young woman I know got married. Radiant in her delicate lace dress, full of joy and optimism about the future, this blushing bride was not yet aware of the reality of her situation: that she has been groomed through her many years of education to…

During her two maternity leaves, Tara Piurko maintained a lifeline to her hard-earned career as a lawyer in Toronto through an innovative buddy program run by her firm, McCarthy Tétrault LLP. Through the program, she and a selected work buddy regularly met for lunch, with her baby in tow. In weekly calls, Ms. Piurko received…

It can be awfully tasting medicine, yet some unplanned career disruptions are true blessings in disguise. So thought Steve Jobs after being fired from his own company (ten years after starting Apple), as he recounted in a memorable commencement speech at Stanford. (Editor’s note: The first link takes you to the text of the speech,…

I’m deliberately late on my Father’s Day post. The reason? I thought I should wait until after the holiday to say that I’m happy that it increasingly seems as though dads today are struggling to manage their work and family commitments. The reality is that as long as work-life balance and alternative work options are considered “women’s…

Forget the old adage about staying away from religion and politics, if you want to get an emotional conversation going, raise the question of “When is the best time to have kids?” Because despite the cliche that really, there is no “perfect” time to have a baby,  the crass question of  whether it’s “better” to…

So, I’m back from my campaign hiatus and have been thinking about family businesses. For the last 6+ weeks, my husband and I had put all the commitments of our professional lives on hold and during that time, we were effectively running a family start-up.  From building a website, finding an office, bringing a staff…

The irony of modern life is that despite all of our modern conveniences, we are somehow busier than ever. This is partly because we’re living out the effects of a massive social shift in which the vast majority of women have entered the workforce. In Canada, women now outnumber men at work and in universities….

Could children actually help your career and professional life? I know, it sounds unlikely, if not impossible. From the “mommy track” to off ramping, downshifting or just disappearing, the primary cultural and media story that we hear is that family sidetracks (or de-rails) a woman’s career. As the best selling author Chimamanda Adichie discusses in…

Sometimes the difference between hating and loving people closest to us lies not so much in them as in ourselves. And going from one to the other may be quicker and easier than we think. This transition is well portrayed in this short commercial presented at the Advertising & Design Club of Canada‘s 61st annual…