Name: Brooke Borgen
Location: Colorado
Company: Canopy Advisory Group
Professional Industry: Consulting
Job Title: Co-President
WIXII-ISM™ FROM BROOKE BORGEN:
“I saw that freelance was a viable career for me as a mom and ended up forming a company, Canopy Advisory Group, with a friend that is an umbrella for freelance consultants (lawyers, accountants, marketing professionals and strategy consultants) to provide the consultants with an additional avenue for business development and form a community to what otherwise can be a bit of a lonely path.”
“[R]emember that your career is a marathon not a sprint so don’t worry if you slow down a bit while having young kids – you can still ramp back up as long as you have stayed professionally relevant and believe in yourself as someone who can add value to your field.”
BROOKE’S STORY:
Meet our featured Wixii™, Brooke Borgen. She is in her mid-30s and mother to 2 daughters (ages 5.5 and 3.5) with her third child due in October. She has her B.A. in American Studies and also has an M.B.A. She is currently Co-President of Canopy Advisory Group, a portfolio of freelance professionals. Her husband works as a financial analyst in asset management. Brooke loves taking advantage of Colorado’s beautiful mountains and is also a competitive sailor (during summers when she is not pregnant!).
BROOKE’S CAREER PATH:
I began my career in the nonprofit sector, working for two different philanthropic foundations in various roles. I shifted gears to go to business school and then to Bain & Company where I was a management consultant. I left when my first daughter was one and merged my two careers into one as a freelance strategy consultant for the nonprofit sector. I saw that freelance was a viable career for me as a mom and ended up forming with a friend a company, Canopy Advisory Group, that is an umbrella for freelance consultants (lawyers, accountants, marketing professionals, and strategy consultants) to provide the consultants with an additional avenue for business development and form a community to what otherwise can be a bit of a lonely path. We are 30 consultants strong and growing.
BROOKE’S MINDSET AND WORK-LIFE MIX:
I would say I fit the “can do” camp: I fill my plate quite full during the 20-25 or so hours/week that I have without my kids but then rarely sacrifice my afternoon/evening/weekend time with them. I don’t harp on perfection (anyone knows that if they drop by my house unannounced for example) and TRY not to take on things if I don’t think I can do it relatively well (I am still working on saying “no” though).
I have my kids in school or with a sitter from 8:30am until 2pm Monday through Thursday and 8:30am until 11am on Fridays…so approximately 25 hours each week. During that time, I mostly work but that also includes time I put into my unpaid nonprofit board service. If I have a light-work day or week I also use that time to run kid-free errands or do other household duties like pay bills or some laundry (even though that is usually at night). I rarely exercise, and I try not to watch too much TV at night, but sometimes lounging with husband late night is just what I need to recharge.
If you could change one thing about your work-life mix, what would it be?
I would exercise! I try to cram in about 30 hours of work into 20-25 hours of childcare and then try to be very present with my kids every afternoon and evening, so I’ve found that I simply don’t prioritize taking good care of myself. I know many people who tag team with their husband on the weekend, but I feel like that is our primary time as a whole family so I hate sneaking off.
What advice would you give an earlier version of yourself?
Do it all over again. Get your degrees, learn as much as you can from your jobs and then leverage those skills to be a valuable contributor once you are a mom – either 10 hours/week or 60 hours/week. Don’t worry about taking longer maternity leaves if your company will allow and remember that your career is a marathon not a sprint so don’t worry if you slow down a bit while having young kids – you can still ramp back up as long as you have stayed professionally relevant and believe in yourself as someone who can add value to your field.
