I Have Some Exciting News To Share

I have some exciting news to share. I’ve accepted a full-time position here at ABC News Radio doing exactly what I love doing; producing top-notch, quality newscasts and covering the exciting, intoxicating world of technology. You ask: wasn’t I already doing this? Well, yes, I was, kind of. I was working the job and the hours, but wasn’t considered a full-time “staffer.” I was working in the newsroom 3 or 4 days a week, plus covering tech events and doing TV segments for World News Now and ABC News Now which sometimes made it seem like more than a full-time job. So I’m looking forward to this new chapter where I’ll have more time to devote to technology; an interview or meeting will cover more than one platform, and perhaps most challenging and exciting, I’ll be a part of Radio’s evolution into the digital age.

I consider myself to be one of the luckiest women in the workplace at a time when women are still struggling to find balance. When my son was born, back in the days before home computers even existed, I gave up my staff position as a newswriter at ABC Radio in order to embark on a then ground-breaking ‘job-share agreement’ with another “mommy writer” in the newsroom. We shared a full-time position, each working 2 and 3 days a week, shared vacation time and even paid sick days.  It was ideal. Every weekend for me was a 4-day weekend. And my son knew that Mondays and Fridays were all his. We went to the park, had play dates, went to the library, etc. and then when we moved to the suburbs, those became my carpool days.

As Matt got older, I added more responsibilities, and more days to my job. I started producing ABC’s technology feature and covering tech on a more consistent basis. The days were exciting and fast-paced, and I loved what I was doing. That, coupled with my long weekends with my family, was perfect.

I look around now at colleagues who are starting families, and the choices they’re making. In so many ways, it seems easier for them. Technology allows us to be in constant communication, always available in an emergency; we can even watch everything that’s going on at home. But that’s not the same as being there, and I know I’ll always have those afternoons in the playground, or evenings we walked up to the subway to greet my husband, and time spent sailing the Long Island Sound or up the Hudson. Those are memories that no career could top, and I cherish each of them.  Even if my son may not remember them, I feel blessed and incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to balance my career and family as I did. I hope my younger colleagues are as fortunate as I was in striking that balance.

And so it seems fitting that as my son arrives home from his third year of college, having recently celebrated his 21^st birthday, I would be officially returning to work in a full time capacity. Yup, getting up and going into the city five days a week. No more prepping a segment in my home office and then going out to work in the garden. Or switching days that I’m working in order to accommodate a family event, or to cover a big tech launch. It’s a set schedule, and as I look around and see the piles of clothes and boxes and empty water bottles that are starting to take over my house, it seems like the timing is just right.