She, the stay-at-home-yet-ambitious career woman

This article is written by Prerna Raturi.

~Going to the office at noon and then working in the adrenaline-charged wee hours of my newspaper office didn’t seem as exciting once I gave birth to my daughter seven years ago. Judge me if you must, but nothing gave me more joy than to stay at home and see the baby grow up.
After she started her Montessori, however, I started to miss seeing my bylines and the familiar rush of nervous energy that I felt with a Word document open in front of me, the cursor blinking, urging me to write.
The few media houses I approached for a job in Kolkata – where I am based – had their HR people and editors tell me they understood how I can’t work late at night, and that I have “other” duties at home – they decided I didn’t want to work late and that I had “other” duties at home -- and finished off with a “We’ll let you know”. They never did.
I did have a few writing assignments here and there, thanks to my networking and a good reputation as a journalist – a woman can brag, can’t she? Two years ago, however, I hit a state of anxiety at not being able to plan my “work schedule” for the day – there just wasn’t enough work!
That’s when I came across Sheroes; I registered – for free, mind you – filled in my professional details, applied for assignments through the site and waited. Thankfully, the wait wasn’t long, and within a few weeks, I got a US-based writing assignment! And this year, just last month, I landed another long-term assignment with a management school - Sunstone Business School. Of course, I had to go through the usual routine of sending my resume, talking to the hiring person over the phone, and sending my work samples. Oh yes, and the negotiating, too.

Of course, there have also been assignments that I have lost as well. Some wanted people with more experience, some who won’t pay as much, others who wanted more specialised writers, and one because the person didn’t want to write that book he was considering me to edit. If I sit down and evaluate, I have been approached by at least eight prospective employers in the past two years. Not bad for a stay-at-home career woman, is it? Next on my list: approaching the mentors SHEROES has to offer.