Name: Lauren Sveen
Location: Colorado
Company: Mom Corps Denver
Professional Industry: Staffing/Recruiting
Job Title: President
WIXII-ISM™ FROM LAUREN:
“I took for granted the professional network I had built-up in NY and CT, and did not do an adequate job of maintaining that when I moved to Colorado and stop working. It was therefore very hard for me to step back in when I was ready. My advice is to never stop working on your professional network, no matter what life stage you are in.”
LAUREN’S STORY:
Meet our featured Wixii™, Lauren Sveen. Lauren just celebrated her 50th birthday and is mother to an 18 year daughter, 16 year old son and 11 year old son. She studied Public Policy at Duke University and earned her MBA in Marketing from Wharton. She currently is the President of Mom Corps Denver, a national talent acquisition and career development company.
LAUREN’S CAREER PATH:
I started my career on Wall Street, then went on to grad school and got my MBA in marketing. I worked in brand management for a number of years, and then ran the NY office of a worldwide public relations agency. When I started my family, I quickly realized it was untenable to have both parents commuting into NYC from CT, so I left the corporate world and began what has become a long entrepreneurial career. I first had a successful marketing consulting practice and then, at the height of the Internet bubble, I founded an e-commerce and catalog company called kid-e-sport. The company was borne out of my experience as a sports-oriented parent, and became the first online retailer to sell high quality children’s sporting goods, across ALL sports, while engaging parents with an active online community and exhaustive library of relative content. But I also filled my senior management team with highly talented women who had similarly left careers in NYC and wanted to be able to work on a flexible basis out in the “suburbs.” Importantly for a start-up, they were willing to give up on compensation to have that benefit, which created a win-win, and very successful, situation.
After I sold the e-commerce business we moved to Colorado, and for several years I focused on my family, volunteerism and building a real estate portfolio. Over time, I was ready to bring more into the mix, and my most recent venture has given me an avenue to breathe new life into my earlier passion – professionals achieving just the right mix. I embarked on a new business venture as President of Mom Corps Denver, a professional-level talent acquisition firm.
LAUREN’S MINDSET AND WORK-LIFE MIX:
I am a pragmatic optimist.
The best way I’ve found to maintain balance is to control my own time by being an entrepreneur. I am able to control my schedule so that I can be there for what’s important to my family, fit in my favorite yoga class and enjoy life. I wear other hats as well…as the leader of the local club, I work to keep the Wharton alumni network going in Colorado, and also work to help professional women stay connected to each other, through both the Wharton Women in Business and the Duke Women’s Forum steering committees.
How does your current mindset/attitude empower and/or frustrate your ability to thrive in your work-life mix? How has your mindset/attitude toward life changed over time?
I am, perhaps, more motivated and rewarded than I have ever been in my career. I like helping women who want to work, work. If I can make a great match with an employer who understands the huge untapped opportunity amongst high caliber women who want to balance life and work, then it’s a very good day.
What specific actions, choices, steps and/or decisions have you made (or would you like to make) to better manage your work-life mix?
I chose early on to achieve flexibility by having my own business. Although the downside is sometimes you can never get away from work, the upside is worth it…for most of my children’s lives I have been able to participate in the activities I have wanted to.
What advice would you give an earlier version of yourself?
I took for granted the professional network I had built-up in NY and CT, and did not do an adequate job of maintaining that when I moved to Colorado and stop working. It was therefore very hard for me to step back in when I was ready. My advice is to never stop working on your professional network, no matter what life stage you are in.
