I'm the worst self-employer. I'm only giving myself like 4 weeks of maternity leave. And the only way I'm affording this is working my butt off in the months before and the months after. But honestly, I am also extremely lucky. I get to decide what works for me, as an entrepreneur. I can afford to hire the support I need to help my family and to help my business. I'm very fortunate, too, in that I have a husband who values his family and prioritizes it over his work. His company provides four weeks of paid maternity leave, too, for dads. Not bad.

The issue of opting out and "family leave" is a topic I am deeply interested in and when I heard that our next guest had a book coming out on this issue, I jumped at the chance to invite her on the show.  LisenStromberg is here and she's the author of the new book Work Pause Thrive: How to Pause for Parenthood Without Killing Your Career. Lisen took time off after having her second child but then pivoted to another career shortly thereafter. In her research, she interviewed 186 women and surveyed 1,500 women to detail how other successful mothers leveraged their time off from work to achieve their personal and professional goals.

Opting out comes at a cost, of course. And Lisen breaks down the financial trade-offs families need to consider when making the decision to leave a job temporarily. we also discuss the good pressure Millennials are placing on workplace norms to give workers more flexibility and family support. And the $1.6 million she walked away from to opt out of the workforce.

More about Lisen: She is also the CEO and Founder of PrismWork where she and her team work with companies, leaders and advocates to ensure women and Millennials thrive in the workplace. She is also the COO of the 3% Movement, which is committed to changing the ratio of women in leadership in the advertising industry. Lisen was once a marketing and advertising executive herself.

For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com.

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