Carol Fishman Cohen: Welcome to 3 2 1 iRelaunch, the podcast where we discuss strategies, advice, and success stories about returning to work after a career break. I'm Carol Fishman Cohen, the CEO and co founder of iRelaunch, and your host. Today, we put together a special compilation episode in which we share some of the best tips and advice from previous podcast guests. We hope you enjoy it.

And today's guest is Kerry Ann Carter. Kerry Ann Carter is the CEO of Hope and Comfort, a Massachusetts based non profit working to end hygiene insecurity. Hygiene insecurity refers to situations in which people cannot afford basic hygiene. products such as soap, toothpaste, deodorant, and shampoo. We're going to talk to Kerry about her amazing career path and which began in the private sector and moved on to non profit, the non profit world.

But I want to focus on her rise at Staples where she returned to. It was her original employer after a six year career break and her subsequent moving up the ranks over a 15 year period. And she can talk to us about her career progression after that. But Kerry, we're excited to speak with you and welcome to our iRelaunch video series.

Kerry Ann Carter: Thank you so much, Carol. I'm really excited to talk with you today and I'm going to share my story in the hopes that maybe somebody might get an idea from what I'm talking about today that will help him or her.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Yes, and we, you're such an example of the potential for relaunchers once you're back in the workforce. And our demographic, our population, we're known for being high caliber and people who are mid career who are poised and ready to move up in an organization once we come back in. So I want to get more details from you about this and what is your best piece of advice for our relauncher audience, even if it's something that we've already talked about today?

Kerry Ann Carter: Great. I'll leave you with two of those, sorry. The first one is, take your time and be brave enough to really reflect on what you want to do. Sometimes when people make a decision to get back into the workforce, they might be clutched with, Oh, my gosh, what am I going to do? Who's going to want me?

I just got to do anything that presents itself. No, you don't have to do anything that presents, you should really take, do some internal self reflection, and be brave enough to be, I'll call it quiet with yourself, and think about what do you love? What do you love? And what are you good at? Where do those things intersect?

Because that's going to help you find the next role, whatever that might be. Take that time to think about it because you left for some reason that was critically important. And what I thought about myself and what I hear from other people is, there's got to be a equal or better compelling reason to come back.

So make sure that you take the time to think about what's going to get you out of bed in the morning so it's not a chore, so you're filled with excitement, joy.

Carol Fishman Cohen: That's such good advice. I know that's advice number one, there's another one coming. But this idea about taking It's hard work to take the time to really examine where your interests and skills are now and what you want to do, and that process that you're talking about is the main driver for relaunch. And it's so important that people start out with that. Thank you for that being advice number one.

Kerry Ann Carter: I think it's hard work and I think it's scary.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Absolutely.

Kerry Ann Carter: To like really be quiet, look inside, turn off the distractions, whether that's like going for walks in the woods or runs or meditating or whatever it is, it's scary, having been there. But do it. It's going to be worth it. So that the second piece of advice that I would give is be confident. Here's, why not you? Whoever's listening out there. If you're going to, if you're, you might be thinking, oh, they, should I go for this or not? Or, after you've taken this period of reflection, why not you?

Who's better? They're all, have that confidence, you may have not been in paid work for a period of time, but you've certainly been working and evolving as a human being. And you had a set of experiences before you stopped getting paid for the work that you're doing. You may have continued some form of work while you were on a career break, or not, perhaps you were sidelined by health issue. It could be a variety of reasons, but even if you were sidelined by a health issue, as an example, it did something to your inner psyche and core that helped you evolve, like, why not you? Be confident when you go after this. We have a huge dearth of talent and enthusiasm out there and there's a labor shortage still.

Why not you? Be confident and go for it. Reach out to, you know what? Whatever you're thinking about if somebody's listening right now and you're thinking, should I reach out to that person? Like I didn't know if Jeff was gonna say yes to my, I never met him, to my note about having coffee. Why not reach out?

Why not you? That's my last piece of advice.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Oh, I love that. I love ending on that note. All right, Kerry. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Kerry Ann Carter: Oh, thanks for having me, Carol. Good luck to everyone out there. You're gonna be great.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Today, we welcome Avanti Tilak, who is an astrophysicist turned data scientist. After earning her PhD and postdoc, Avanti took a seven year career break while trying to transition into data science. She has been working with healthcare data for the last four and a half years and has broad experience in healthcare data science from working on a production team and a multinational tech company to a small innovative startup, and now in a traditional health insurance company.

Avanti, welcome to 321 iRelaunch.

Avanti Tilak: Hi Carol, thank you for having me.

Carol Fishman Cohen: I want to ask you the question we ask all of our podcast guests, which is, what is your best piece of advice for our relauncher audience, even if it's something that we've already talked about today?

Avanti Tilak: So I thought about this a little bit, and it's going to be a little long because there were a couple of things I really wanted to say.

One was keep learning, keep looking for those opportunities, not for the pay or whatever, but just to learn. Sometimes you have to learn and unlearn and relearn things and that's okay. You'll figure it out. It's fine. Just keep learning that will get you very far. Two, ask for help. This can be a long process.

It's a marathon. You may need help with different parts of the actual job search, specific things, but also for your mental health, for your soul. And be kind to yourself, it is okay. Ask for help when you need it from friends, family, or mental health professionals. It's really okay. Don't be too hard on yourself and then get back up.

Make your ego, I like to think of my ego as a cyst. It is small but indestructible. It's small so I can keep learning, but it's indestructible because without that hardened core, you may have a hard time handling the rejections, the setbacks. And you have to keep remembering that it means they are losing out on you, not the other way around.

You'll find a place that deserves you, that will be right for you. And you may have to find it again and again, and that's okay too. From my favorite movie, just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

Carol Fishman Cohen: I love that. That advice is incredible and on so many levels. and I just love this perspective of your, that company ultimately that deserves you is going to get you, and to keep that even in the darkest point of your journey where you're in the middle of a long string of rejections that can last a, an extended period to, think about what Avanti is telling all of us, think about your words Avanti, I think will be really helpful and inspiring to people. Avanti, thank you so much for joining us today.

Avanti Tilak: Thank you so much for having me.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Today we welcome Shweta Sharma, a senior software engineer at Intuit. Shweta started her career at a startup developing a product for digital marketing. Later she joined Intel and focused on growing cloud technologies and architectures. Shweta moved to the United States from India and worked with Microsoft and Pandora and then joined Intuit before moving back to India, back to India in order to continue exploring different dimensions of software development. In today's episode, we speak with Shweta about her three career breaks and experiences job searching in both India and the U. S. Shweta, welcome to 321 iRelaunch.

Shweta Sharma: Thank you for having me. I'm really excited.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Yes. we're so thrilled to be speaking with you. You have such a unique experience in terms of your career path and working across two countries, and we are, have a lot to learn. So what is your best piece of advice for our relauncher audience, even if it's something we've already talked about today?

Shweta Sharma: Okay. The first one is, as I highlighted in my first answer, I believe, identify and prioritize.

Identify what is the need of this hour and then work on the top priority for that. Is it something like I said, visa? Is it something tech? Is it something completely preparing or building your confidence back? Because your approach always changing to address that priority.

The second thing, as we both talked about, don't give up. Get out of your comfort zone. There are, there could be technical reasons. There could be emotional things you're going through. We all go through that. Just do not give up. Be consistent in your approach. You take a break a day, go for a walk, do some yoga, meditation, but then come back, and start again. Always go for interview prepared, but never say no to anything. Never say no.

The most important thing which I have seen has contributed personally in my journey as a relauncher or non relauncher, personally, professionally, ask for it. Always ask what you are looking for. Again, another small piece of story. I know a friend who got into the relaunch program, who joined Intuit as a relauncher, through the Intuit internship program.

She was really good. She was working so hard. But she did not ask for the work where she thought might excel. She's just continuously doing what were asked for her to do, where she was really not performing that well. But I knew her, so I could see that if she asked for it, she can do much better there.

And then in the end, they let her go. So people cannot really know what you need or what you can do better. You know yourself, go ask for it. And then if, there will be two things, either you will get it or you will get no. If it is a no, the next point I always emphasize on, get the action items in. You ask your manager, recruiter, the people who are saying, okay, yeah, so sorry, it didn't work out.

Can you please let me know why it didn't work out? I really want to work on those things. And most of the time people are kind enough and not very diplomatic. They go, no, all good. They will give you specific action items. If not, you work on getting those action items.

And then build your network. Once you build your network, you will get to know about many things which is going on in and around you. It could be school PTM. It could be, as I said, temple. It could be schools or it could be any, anywhere. Like we said, reach out to your old network. It will help you. These are the key things which I will think of.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Fantastic advice. Shweta, thank you so much. I want to just add that we will put in the podcast notes some of the resources that Shweta is going to follow up with, about certain technical websites or other places to make sure that you can get yourself back up to speed. and so we'll get very specific about that.

Shweta, thank you so much for spending this time with us.

Shweta Sharma: I really enjoyed talking to you. It was such a pleasure, Carol, thank you for having me. Thank you.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Thank you.

I am thrilled to interview today one of our favorite relaunchers, Zarna Garg. We have been following Zarna's career closely for almost two years. She has, she began her career as a lawyer, took a 16 year career break, and at the strong urging and assistance of her oldest, her daughter, Zoya, she relaunched her career as a stand up comedian.

Now, I had the opportunity to see Zarna perform live recently, and she was even funnier than her social media clips, which are really funny, and you should watch them. There was so much additional material. I couldn't stop laughing and Zarna is followed by millions of people on TikTok and Instagram, which is an important element of her success.

And with her fabulous delivery, improvisation, original material, she's a rising star in the world of comedy, Zarna and her daughter Zoya were interviewed on This American Life with Ivor Glass. They were recently featured on the Tamron Hall Show. Zoya's college essay was published in the New York Times and I mention that because the essay was about how Zoya encouraged her mom to relaunch.

And it has a quote in there that we'll discuss that captures the relauncher mindset so many of us share early in the process, and we're also going to get into the details of how Zarna relaunched her unusual career, how she uses social media to engage her and grow her community, and her process in developing content.

Zarna, welcome, and thank you for doing this interview with us. If you can't tell, we are huge fans.

Zarna Garg: Thank you. Namaste. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. This is my community, so I'm so excited and thrilled to be here.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Well, it's quite a privilege to have this conversation.

All right, I guess two more questions as we wrap up. They're the same question. Is there anything you'd go back and tell your 30 year old self that might have changed something about your current trajectory and also what's your number one piece of advice for relaunchers or people anticipating career break?

Maybe it's the same, maybe it's different.

Zarna Garg: Yeah, I would tell my 30 year old self that I wish I had taken a side hustle more seriously. That losing myself entirely 100 percent in motherhood was a mistake for me. I'm not judging those who do it, but if you, if I had one foot in the door somewhere, maybe the, maybe getting out from under it would not have been the big struggle that it was.

But that said, like life works its way out the way it does. And the one piece of advice I would give to anybody who's relaunching is that come into whatever you choose to do with complete clarity that you're coming in for the business. Because what I find is that when you're in a second act, like what relaunching is, often people think, Oh, it's a hobby.

It's a backup. It's not, it's a business. Like I charge money for what I do. And I offer no apologies for it because I'm here to make money and there's no shame around it. And there's and keeping that as a North star and as a guiding moral compass in your brain really focuses you on how you deal with people.

The projects you take on, the projects you decline, like there could be a hundred things that are fun and interesting, but that are not going to lead to revenue. So you have to be disciplined enough to say, Right now, I'm not having fun. It's not fun and games. I'm building something and I need to focus on building that, because you need that much Concentrated energy to get this rocket ship off the ground. Once it's off you may have a little more leeway into what you choose to do and how you allocate your time. But to get back into it you need that extreme discipline in my experience

Carol Fishman Cohen: Wow. I love it. All right. Zarna, thank you so much for joining us.

Zarna Garg: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Namaste.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Today, we welcome Alisha Fernandez Miranda. Alicia is the author of My What If Year, her book which is documenting the year when she left her full time job to pursue a series of internships. She serves as chair and former CEO of IG Advisors, which is an award winning social impact intelligence agency that consults with some of the world's biggest non profits, foundations, philanthropists, and corporations on their philanthropy and social initiatives.

A graduate of Harvard University and the London School of Economics, her writing has been featured in Vogue, Business Insider, and many more, Romper, and The Huffington Post. Originally from Miami, she currently lives in Scotland with her husband and children. Alisha, welcome to 3 2 1 iRelaunch.

Alisha Fernandez Miranda: Carol, thank you so much for having me.

I'm so excited to be here today.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Yeah, and I'm so excited to have this conversation with you. What is your best relauncher audience, even if it's already something we've already talked about today?

Alisha Fernandez Miranda: Gosh, I, I love this idea of a relaunch, and I really believe, to the point now that I tell my children, you don't have to decide what you want to do when you grow up, you just have to decide the first thing you want to try. But I, I think, I love that this exists as a concept, I love what you're doing. I think that the piece of advice I wish someone had told me when I was going into this was, to not be so afraid and to just. do it. It's hard to know what would have happened had I not done this during 2020, had I not done this during the pandemic, had I not sat around twiddling my thumbs for eight months being afraid to do this before I actually decided to take the next step, which was then another six months away.

Had, if this happened during 2019, before the world shut down, who knows, maybe I would have ended up at a marine biological institute, which was one of the things I wanted to do, or working at a fashion magazine in New York, which was another. I, I don't know. I'm happy with the way things have gone and ended up.

I feel like the right, I did the right thing at the right time. I wish I would not have been so afraid. I think I felt like this felt huge, it felt so big. And actually what I did is I took a series of small steps that ended up being very big in the end, a big change in my life, but I did not do it all at once.

And I wish I had just gotten to that point sooner where I realized, Okay, let me just do this one thing. I'm just gonna work on my resume. I'm gonna send my cover letter out to five people. I'm gonna, try to clear my calendar for just this one short period of time. See if I can get two weeks where I can make this happen.

And, I, I waited a long time to do that. And so I would just say to the relaunchers, Don't be afraid and maybe just take a small step if a big step feels too huge, because many small steps can get you to very far away actually if you keep on taking them. So I think that's probably what I would share.

Carol Fishman Cohen: And that is fantastic advice. This idea of relaunching through baby steps, is sometimes much more accessible for people and less frightening, and so I love that you're talking about it and you're an example of doing it. So really helpful to our community. Alisha, thank you so much for joining us today.

Alisha Fernandez Miranda: Thank you so much for having me. This was so awesome.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Today, I am thrilled to welcome Susan Golden, a relauncher, who is now the director of DCIX at the Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute and an adjunct professor. She leads the DCIX Longevity Innovations Special Interest Group focused on creating innovations and new business opportunities for longevity and healthy aging.

And she serves as a lead mentor to the Techstars Future of Longevity Accelerator. Susan is also the author of Stage Not Age, How to Understand and Serve People Over 60, which focuses on the business opportunities and strategies to support longevity and healthy aging. using stage and not a person's age.

In today's episode, we're going to speak with Susan about her relaunch and her work reducing the stigma about older workers. Susan, welcome to 321 iRelaunch.

Susan Golden: Thank you, Carol, so much for having me today. I'm really excited to be here.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Well, we're thrilled to have you, and thank you for spending the time.

What is your best piece of advice for our relauncher audience, even if it's something that we've already talked about today?

Susan Golden: So I think the secret there to a secret sauce to relaunching is being a lifelong learner. I could not have done what I am doing now, had I not been fortunate enough to be part of the Distinguished Careers Institute, but there are many ways to get that.

lifelong learning. There were lots of webinars, conferences, I started going to conferences and as I told you, I joined SV2, in the years before I actually relaunched. Any way you can continue to learn and get current and get stimulated with new ideas and new information and to the extent you can, be part of a group.

It's hard to do this alone. I can't tell you how many webinars I've signed up for and I put it on my calendar and I forget. And then, there's nobody else I'm doing it with, so I'm not accountable to them. But when you're a part of a program, you show up for the guest speaker. You show up for the class, so that if you can be part of a group.

And that's what iRelaunch offered when I did it. I looked around the room and there were lots of people like me. And you had this concept of returnships, which I hadn't heard before. Plus all the fabulous information and support. But you would then part of a community. So finding a community, and there's lots of ways, there's continuing education programs throughout the United States.

There's so much online right now, content that's fabulous and free. But find a partner and an individual or a group of friends who will do it with you or join a formal program. But it really makes all the difference to be part of a lifelong learning community. And we were going to need lifelong learning in a hundred year life multiple times.

I imagine I'm going to be going back to do something at some point again when I need to learn more about AI or, all the technology that's changing, because things are moving fast, but it's an exciting time.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Well, that's great advice for our audience. Susan, thank you so much. It's been such a great conversation.

Susan Golden: I always love being with you. Thank you.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Today, we welcome Jana Toner, Senior Vice President with American Corporate Partners, which is dedicated to assisting U. S. veterans and active duty military Spouses in finding rewarding careers based in Washington. DC. Jana has over 20 years of experience in the private and public sectors, including working in two White House administrations.

She took an eight year career break to care for her children, and we are going to talk about her career path and her relaunch. Jana, welcome to 3, 2, 1. I relaunch.

Jana Toner: Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here. Thank you for having me.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. What is your best piece of advice for our relauncher audience, even if it's something we have already talked about today?

Jana Toner: Absolutely. I have two, I hope you don't mind. But I think, the first one is talking about imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is not a real thing. It's not a real illness. It's just a mindset. So don't let your insecurities or your self doubt get in your way of success.

And the second is activate your network, accept help, find a mentor. It's hard to hear the truth sometimes, but I'd rather know so I can make adjustments and see something, a different result than do the same thing over and over again and not see anything, anything different.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Great advice. Jana, thank you so much for joining us today.

Jana Toner: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Today, we welcome Carmen Park, a data driven technical leader with experience in the automotive, electronics, telecom, semiconductor, defense, and medical device industries. She currently works as a senior manager at Johnson and Johnson and is pursuing a master's degree in data analytics at Penn State University.

Carmen returned to a technical role after a six year career break. Her husband had a key role in supporting her before and during her relaunch, and the Society of Women Engineers also played an important role, as did her master's degree studies. And we're going to talk about all of that. Carmen, welcome to 3 2 1 iRelaunch.

Carmen Park: Thank you, Carol. I am really excited to be considered, to be here with you.

Carol Fishman Cohen: What is your best piece of advice for our relauncher audience, even if it's something that we've already talked about before?

Carmen Park: First, that book. Yeah, I mentioned again, this book, every time I have looked for a job, I have gotten two offers, until 2021, I got three.

Be careful what you wish for. But this book prepares you so well that you come into an interview, actually almost like high fiving everybody because you feel so confident. You, you have three examples of how to answer a question. So that's one, advice.

The other one is, connect with societies in your field. That is really important and, very helpful that I have seen while applying for jobs in the last four years. They are asking you if you are part of a return, a new internship. So finding that in the company's career pages is very encouraging, and J& J also has it. And then go and, for me, it was like, I want to maybe do a refresher in Lean Six Sigma.

And so I took a course and, just, make me think that I really haven't forgotten everything, so that is, that is important. And you, my gosh, iRelaunch, I refer to all my mentees that are returning, and, the Facebook group that you have is amazing, and, everybody that collaborates, great resources, participating career fairs, you have a career fair, you have a conference also, and virtual career fairs or in person career fairs.

Another thing is that, if you have an interview and then they don't call you back, it's fine. You practice. So then the next interview you are going to do better and, so I would recommend to go and apply as many jobs as you can at the beginning. So then you get comfortable talking about you and your career and definitely build your confidence.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Wow, that's incredible advice. So many different pieces of advice, but a lot for people to consider. Carmen, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing everything.

Carmen Park: Thank you. Thank you, Carol. It's a pleasure being here. and thank you. Thank you for everything that you have done.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Today, we welcome Tcheula Lienou, a Senior Controls Hardware Engineer with Trane Technologies. Tcheula, an electrical engineer took a 10 year career break to raise her three children before relaunching her career in 2019 in the inaugural cohort of Ingersoll Rand's Relaunch Career Reentry Program, which is now run by Trane Technologies following a 2020 corporate restructuring.

During her career break, Tcheula ran a food business called TRRUB, which we're going to talk about, in a little bit. and professionally and technically, her focus is in new product development, lifecycle engineering, quality, and supply chain. We will speak with Chula about her career path, her career break, her career progression since participating in the relaunch program, and, A few other topics too.

Tcheula, welcome to 3,2,1 iRelaunch.

Tcheula Lienou: Thanks, Carol. I'm so glad to be here.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Well, we're thrilled to have you and what is your best piece of advice for our relauncher audience, even if it's something that we've already talked about today?

Tcheula Lienou: Oh, that's a good question. So what I'll say is, be hopeful. There's a job out there for you if you're looking for a job.

Keep applying, use this platform, don't lose hope. And if you're already in the job, be strong. You have what it takes to get it done and exceed your company's goals. So believe that of yourself, believe what it's told you, even if it's not good, use it, but don't beat yourself up. You got the degree, you've worked, you can do this again in 15, 30 years.

Carol Fishman Cohen: I love that advice. I love that you have advice for people who are looking to relaunch and people who are already back on the job. So thank you. Tcheula thank you so much for joining us today.

Tcheula Lienou: Thank you, Carol. I have enjoyed this conversation.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Today, we welcome Katie Perry. Katie is the Chief Executive of the Daphne Jackson Trust, which, under her leadership, has become the UK's leading organization dedicated to helping returners relaunch their research careers. Katie is a physicist with a background in science communication and holds a degree and PhD in physics from the University of Surrey where she worked with Professor Daphne Jackson, the namesake of the organization.

In 2022, Katie was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Surrey. in recognition of her unwavering commitment to securing the legacy of the Daphne Jackson's Trust vision. Since inception, the Daphne Jackson Trust has awarded more than 475 fellowships to relaunching researchers in STEM and other fields, an amazing feat.

Katie, welcome to 321 iRelaunch.

Katie Perry: Carol, thank you. It's an absolute pleasure to be here chatting with you today.

Carol Fishman Cohen: Maybe we can start with the question that we ask all of our podcast guests, and that is what is your best piece of advice for our relauncher audience, even if it's something that we've already talked about today?

Katie Perry: This is a tough one, actually, but I thought about this, and I think my main advice to anyone wanting to relaunch and return is be flexible, be determined, and you will get there. It might not be by the path you originally thought about. But you will get there.

Carol Fishman Cohen: I love that advice because it's so true and we've seen it play out, in, in all different ways. So, this idea about having a path, but having some flexibility in terms of how you get there and maybe that the path might turn one way or the other. Excellent. Excellent advice. Katie, thank you so much for your time and sharing all of your knowledge with us.

Katie Perry: It's been lovely. Thank you very much for inviting me on.

Carol Fishman Cohen: And thanks for listening to 321 iRelaunch, the podcast where we discuss strategies, advice, and success stories about returning to work after a career break. I'm Carol Fishman Cohen, the CEO and co founder of iRelaunch and your host. For more information on iRelaunch conferences and events, to sign up for our job board and access our return to work tools and resources, go to iRelaunch.com. And if you like this podcast, be sure to rate it on Apple Podcasts and your favorite podcast platform. And be sure to share this podcast with a friend on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media. Thanks for joining

us!

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