Table of contents for October - November 2015 in Working Mother

Jami Curl, founder of QUIN Candy, Portland, OR. Initial investment: none (business transition). Mom of Theo, 8. Ten years ago, before I was a mom, I opened a bakery here in Portland. No surprise, the retail bakery business is hard work. When we were at our largest, we had around 30 employees at a couple of locations. After eight years, I felt it was time to do something new. I’d been making caramels all along to sell at our checkout counter along with our baked treats. The customer response to them was great, so I thought maybe I’d play around with a couple of other recipes and develop more candies to see what could happen. That’s how QUIN came about (quin being a type of sprinkle we used all the…

Thirty years ago, Working Mother set out on a bold mission: to demand that companies not only offer family-friendly benefits, but also compete to be the best at it. We recruited as many companies as we could to participate, asking them to reveal how many women worked there and in what roles. We asked about their maternity leave, child care and flex offerings. The best employers were starting to think about these issues, while others needed a bit of coaxing to apply. Only 30 companies that first year were good enough to be called Best. Today, with hundreds of companies competing yearly to join our Working Mother 100 Best Companies, the four primary pillars—advancement of women, paid parental leave, child care and flex— still hold up our efforts. Yet so much…

Although a few tech companies have made waves in recent months with announcements of great new leave policies for their highest-paid professional staffers, the fact is that most new parents in the United States receive no paid leave when they have a baby or adopt a child. Sad to say, only 5 percent of companies offer fully paid maternity leave, according to the 2014 National Study of Employers, from the Families and Work Institute. (Fifty-eight percent offer some paid maternity leave, including partially paid weeks.) By contrast, every Working Mother 100 Best Company offers fully paid maternity leave to its full-time employees who have been on the payroll for at least a year. These companies are setting an important example, offering up to 18 weeks for new moms, 16 for…

I had the honor of interviewing Mika Brzezinski for this issue’s cover story. I’m not overstating it when I say we bonded instantly: Two breadwinning moms in media, both married, with two kids? What’s not to bond over? As you’ll see, we talked a lot about the choices we make as working moms, and the impacts these decisions have on our families, our careers and ourselves. Of particular importance, we talked about what it means to start something new. For Mika, that has meant starting her Know Your Value books and event series— while succeeding in her day job as co-host of Morning Joe on MSNBC. For me, rebranding comes with a twist. Longtime readers of Working Mother know that there have been more downs than ups in my years…

Whether you’re home and looking to steal an hour outside your own four walls or traveling and want to escape the drab hotel decor, these websites and apps can help you find the right temporary workspace. CubeFree Like Yelp for remote workers, this app will show you all of the libraries, coffee shops and cafes in your area, along with crowdsourced info about Wi-Fi strength and noise level (cubefreeapp.com). Workfrom In addition to finding public workspaces, Workfrom also lets you filter the results by your work habits, revealing spaces that are open late, are unusually quiet or serve alcohol (workfrom.co). LiquidSpace If you’re willing to pay, this app will enable you to search, browse and book local co-working spaces in places like area hotels (liquidspace.com).…

Diversify your experiences ANDREA WAINER Vice President of Abbott Molecular Abbott Chicago, IL Mom of Ari, 12, and Annali, 10 One way to maximize your earning power is to show you can take on various roles. The more diverse your experience, the more assignments and opportunities for advancement you can position yourself for. I started my career in pharmaceuticals. I was also with animal health, and now I’m in molecular diagnostics, all within Abbott. When I was in pharmaceuticals, I began the discussion with leadership that I would like to move into a general management role. Now, by having a diverse set of experiences, I’ve been able to be challenged and be afforded the opportunity to work on special projects. For me, earning power is less about the paycheck and…

A.T. Kearney Chicago, IL MANAGING PARTNER & CHAIRMAN Johan Aurik PARTNER & GLOBAL HR LEAD Phil Morgan Figuring out what works best for the team might be the secret to this global management consulting firm’s success. Flexible schedules and career paths are popular here, and in 2014, management added a formal program that facilitates discussions between colleagues about how, when and where they prefer to work—encouraging groups to adopt mutually desirable arrangements. Primary caregivers who give birth or adopt a child get two to 10 fully paid weeks off and may return to work on a reduced schedule or stay home for the rest of the year at 20% salary (with full benefits). Sponsorship propels female leaders. Abbott TOP 10 ⋆ Abbott Park, IL CHAIRMAN & CEO Miles D. White…

THE MOM Wendy Davidson President of U.S. Specialty Channels at Kellogg Company THE SPOUSE Thor Davidson THE KIDS Änders, 16, Brenna, 11 LIVES IN Wheaton, IL MY BEST MENTOR TIP It’s important to offer help to others before you ask for anything in return. My Job I run our U.S. Specialty Channels business, which means our products sold in non-grocery-store venues like convenience stores, airports, cafeterias, school vending machines and such. It’s all about affordability. In these venues, my group handles all U.S. sales, marketing, and profit and loss for snack foods like Pringles and Cheez-Its, morning foods like cereals and Pop-Tarts, frozen foods like Eggo and MorningStar Farms, and 70 percent of the Girl Scout Cookies business. I think I have the best job in the company, because we…

Once upon a time, accountant Kelly Opferman’s workday was rigid: She had to be at her desk by 8:30 a.m., leave no sooner than 5:30 p.m. and log 55 hours per week. Every smidge of time off— a doctor’s appointment, a school conference, even being 15 minutes late—had to be accounted for. “It was difficult,” Kelly recalls. Today, the Bethel Park, PA–based mom of Jamie, 11, and Tyler, 8 months, works hours suited to that day’s project demands, personal goals and family needs. And guess what? She didn’t have to change companies to get a more family-friendly schedule. Kelly’s employer, the global tax services firm Ryan (a Working Mother 100 Best Company), is among those companies that have shifted from a “face-time” culture to a flexible, results-focused one. The year…

A.T. KEARNEY Christine Laurens Chief Financial Officer • Chicago, IL • Alexis, 15; Gabriel, 9 ABBVIE Sandra Chambers Supply Chain Director, Humira • North Chicago, IL • Joshua, 14; Andrew, 12; Sarah, 9; Jeremy, 8 ACCENTURE Julie Spellman Sweet Group Chief Executive— North America • Bethesda, MD • Chloe, 8; Abby, 7 ADP Kathy Ross Division Vice President/General Manager— National Accounts • Alpharetta, GA • Rachel, 17; Ben, 15 THE ADVISORY BOARD COMPANY Amanda Zides Managing Director, Product Management • Washington, DC • Viviane, 5; Zoe, 1½ ALLIANZ LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA Gretchen Cepek General Counsel • Golden Valley, MN • Christian, 3 ALLSTATE INSURANCE Lisa Wernli Management Consultant • Northbrook, IL • Daria, 12; Ali, 10 AOL Julie Saxon Senior Account Director, Sales • Atlanta, GA •…

Vice President & General Manager, Working Mother Media Many mornings, as I walk through midtown Manhattan to our offices at Park Avenue and 33rd Street, I put aside thoughts of the day to take in the plight of homeless people I encounter along the way. I ask myself: “What path brought these men and women to this sidewalk or this doorway? Why, in our land of opportunity, are so many trapped in a cycle of poverty?” I recall one young woman, her tattered copy of Shakespeare partially hidden behind her sign asking for help. What safety net failed? In about a year’s time, Americans will elect a new leader. Along with being a time of political change, the election also presents opportunity to influence changes in society. We have a…

Now Can We Have It All? Anne-Marie Slaughter says she’s learned a lot since writing her explosive Atlantic article, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” Now president and CEO of the New America Foundation, she offers a re-examined point of view in Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family, measuring the beliefs, “half-truths” and assumptions that many agree still hold women back. She then presents her vision for true gender equality, along with ideas for achieving it. Working moms can assess how closely their environments resemble Slaughter’s “perfect workplace.” Management ABCs We all know the stereotype of the Type A boss: high-strung, perfectionistic, demanding and stressed. But does it have to be that way? Forbes contributor Victor Lipman, who spent more than two decades in executive management at Fortune 500…