Work/Life Balance Session

Rita Henley Jensen, editor in chief of Women's eNew,s moderated an insightful session on balancing work and life in an increasingly demanding industry. Panelists included Chicago freelancer Cindy Richards, former Ms. and Essence editor Marcia Gillespie and freelancer and author Courtney Martin.

Rita began the session by pointing out that only the US, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland do not guarantee paid maternity leave for others, and that in the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women in the workforce have dropped 4 percentage points.

Rita then asked: How are these 3 extraordinary freelance journalists making a living?

Marcia has been writing books, speaking, and has been editor in chief of several magazines after she left Ms. She spoke about how with doing public speaking, the demand for you shifts over the years and how with even a large book advance, it is sometimes disappointing to still not have a monthly paycheck.

Courtney writes a biweekly column for the American prospect, writes books, blogs for Crucial Minutae and Feministing.org and has several consulting gigs at a time. Courtney pointed out that freelancing is difficult, and that many people have a parental safety net or savings in case of emergencies.

Courtney also spoke on the importance of keeping a regular, balanced work schedule. She works 9 to 6 and often meets up with other freelancer friends at the New York Public Library in a wireless-free room without the Internet surfing distractions.

Cindy balances freelancing full time with family time as she is raising two teens. She recommends nonprofit gigs, which pay awfully well, and also teaches part-time at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Cindy says she has many Chicago connections from working at the Tribune, Sun-Times and Chicago Parent, and that has helped tremendously. She mentors other freelancers and welcomes questions about the freelancing life. She says it is a wonderful life.

Rita then posed the question of how do you have a life when the basic business plan in journalism today is to pay the journalists as little as possible and work them so hard?

Marcia says, "We often get caught up in the essentialness of our work, and that’s when publishers can really take advantage of you. I was real clear about turning the lights out on work sometimes. We have gotten something as women that we have bought into the male model for how to do things. It doesn’t work. We really need to – I’m only here for 2 seconds on this planet, and you have to figure out what is important to you."

Courtney says, "One of these things that keeps me from working all of the time is that I have an amazing partner...y work is so much my life; I write about stuff that I care so much about. The work/life thing is something that’s really hard to wrap my mind around. It’s a beautiful problem to have, that I love what I do and the people I work with."

There was also much discussion about maintaining work/life boundaries, but also occasionally working late to meet deadlines -- within reason.

An audience member brought up the need for senior staff to set reasonable work hours and live that example for junior staffers. "You've gotta carry as you climb."

Health insurance came up! Most of the panel pays for it out of pocket, ranging from $240 to $800 and month and deductibles as high as $5,000.

An audience member asked the panel how much time they spend on self-marketing. All of the panelists agreed it's important to build personal relationships so you don't spend too much time on cold calling and writing pitch letters cold.

Mary Kay Blakely ended the session by talking about when her sons were young (and she worked from home) she had a note about "Deadline Day" on the bathroom mirror, and the boys knew that meant, "Be quiet or die." This got a big laugh from the audience, and she said it fostered for the future generation support for women working from the boys and their friends as they grew up.