Fairygodboss Of The Week: Lisen Stromberg

Chief Operating Officer – The 3% Movement

San Francisco Bay Area, California

LS: Well, it certainly wasn't a straight path – that's for sure! I started out in brand management at Nestle, left because it sucked to be a mother there. Moved to advertising at Foote, Cone & Belding and left because it sucked even more to be a mom there. Pivoted to become a social entrepreneur. Pivoted again to become a journalist. Now I'm back to advertising trying to help the industry (and others) become more family- and female-friendly.

LS: I am so very proud of my first book, “Work Pause Thrive: How to Pause for Parenthood Without Killing Your Career,” which was published on January 31st, 2017. It's the book I wish I had when I was trying to figure out how to integrate kids with my career.

LS: I've faced the same challenges women, and in particular mothers, face in the workplace each and every day: conscious and unconscious sexism, motherhood bias, ideal worker bias, and flexibility bias to name a few. But, in truth, the biggest thing I have had to overcome is my own self-doubt and fear about disrupting the traditional career paradigm to build the life and career I want.

LS: Without a doubt, my Fairygodboss is the 3% Movement founder and CEO, Kat Gordon. She embodies all that you could want from a boss - she is passionately committed to helping each of us reach our full potential.

LS: Right now I am busy with three key initiatives: 1) promoting my book, 2) speaking around the country on building the career that truly works for you and on how to create workplaces in which we all can thrive, and 3) building The 3% Movement beyond a conference to a full-service company dedicated to changing the ratio of women in leadership in advertising.

So...I'm pretty much always working right now, and I wouldn't have it any other way. But, I do love to ski, see movies, read, run, mountain bike, having dinner with friends, and cook with my husband.

LS: Table of 8: Michelle Obama, Gloria Steinem, Eleanor Roosevelt, Abigail Adams, Margaret Sanger, Sacajawea, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Aung San Suu Kyi.

LS: Let's be clear - I can't sing. But if we could totally auto tune my voice and I had many martinis, I'd would have sung these songs (by decade): In my 20s: You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman; In my 30s: Teenage Dream; In my 40s: Landslide; In my 50s: Dog Days Are Over.

LS:  Really? That's like asking which child is your favorite.

LS:  Middlemarch by George Eliot. It's long, mannered, and based in the cold, green English countryside, which should help offset the hot sun on that desert island.

LS: Shopping vice? Sunglasses. I really don't need another pair and yet...

If I won the lottery, I'd finishing paying off my children's education and then set up a college fund to pay full tuition for as many under- resourced first generation women and men as I could. I believe a well-educated populace is the cornerstone of a thriving democracy.

LS: Careers are long. If you chose to be a mother, you'll be a mother the rest of your life. Whatever immediate work/life "balance" issues you are facing right now will change in time. Free yourself from guilt and take confidence that you are exactly where you are supposed to be.

LS: I get to work with inspiring people each and every day. I get to control my time and work where and when I want. I get to do work that has purpose and deep meaning for me. I believe what we do is making a difference for women AND men in the workplace.