My working mom journey began 24 years ago. I am originally from New Jersey, but I have lived in eastern Pennsylvania for the majority of my adult life. I graduated from medical school in May of 1998 and got married one week later. The following month, I began my orthopedic surgery residency and two years later, I became a mom for the first time. My daughter Danielle was born in 2000, and I went back to work six weeks later. My typical work week at that time consisted of up to 100 hours with overnight stays in the hospital when I was on call. I was the only woman in my program and determined not to be the weak link, but also determined to be a great mom.

In 2002, my daughter Kayla was born. I was in the fifth and final year of my residency. I went back to work four weeks later this time and was then faced with the break-up of my marriage four weeks after that. It was a very difficult time in my life, and I could have never handled it without my parents’ help. My mom had already been taking care of the girls while I worked, but after my break-up and ultimate divorce, we all moved in together. We then lived together for 20 years, and my parents helped me raise my daughters. I am so fortunate and grateful to them.

After residency, I did a one year fellowship and then went into practice. I have now been in practice for 20 years, and while the 100 hour weeks ended a long time ago, my work has continued to be extremely demanding and time consuming. I tried to find a balance between my career and motherhood. My daughters have always been and will always be my top priority. I worked hard for many years in school and post-graduate training to get to where I am as a surgeon, so it was also important to me to succeed in my career. I  often struggled with feelings of guilt about being away from my daughters so much of the time, but I always made sure I was available for every school event, field trip, parent-teacher conference and extracurricular activity. I did my best to adjust my work schedule, and I took as much time off as I could so we could do things together.

As my girls grew up and learned more about my career, they understood why I needed to work, and why I often had long days. My daughters are now amazing young adults, and I could not be more proud of them. Even with grown kids, being a working mom can still be a balancing act at times. We juggle three busy schedules with my work, my older daughter's work as an event coordinator at Iowa State University, and my younger daughter's schedule who is a fresh graduate of NYU.  Now that they are older, I decided to try something new and found a true passion in ballroom dancing. In 2018, I began taking lessons and competing with my incredible instructor. This involves a fair amount of travel, and the girls join me when they can. We continue to make it work and truly understand the importance of quality time. 

I look forward to this next chapter in my life as a business owner, and I hope that all of the skills I have gained over the past 24 years will serve me well now. Lisa and I co-founded this company based on a strong friendship and a strong desire to do something different after many years on the front lines of  healthcare. Our expertise lies in managing the demands of a career in medicine and motherhood. We are dedicated to helping our fellow goal oriented working moms in the healthcare industry,  and we look forward to connecting with this amazing population of women.