As an author, speaker and coach, my mission is to keep women working toward financial security in a flexible way—alongside child and aging parent caregiving roles.
In my book, Ambition Redefined, and in discussions with women nationwide, I encourage no-apologies independence from the “lean in”, “break the glass ceiling” mantra: my message is to find your own brand of ambition and success, take full advantage of today’s more flexible workplace, chart alternate career paths that accommodate and fund life and tuck all generations of your family into a future that is financially secure and safe.
A mother of two daughters (ages 20 and 29), I’ve worked non-stop since the age of 16 in many flexible ways.
My message is to find your own brand of ambition and success, take full advantage of today’s more flexible workplace and chart alternate career paths that accommodate and fund life...
As my family needs ebbed and flowed, I negotiated flexible full-time and part-time schedules with demanding employers, launched a variety of entrepreneurial ventures solo and with partners, established independent marketing communications and career coaching practices, worked in a home office as a telecommuter and generated a wide range of freelance projects—while managing a household, carpooling, attending school plays, tending to sudden health issues of aging parents and in-laws, taking dogs to the vet and making yet another dinner.
I co-founded the Women@Work Network in 2002, one of the first companies focused on helping women return to the workforce, and I’ve created and led hundreds of workshops that help current professional women sustain and advance flexible careers. I lead pragmatic, compelling discussions for internal corporate women’s groups, financial advisors focused on retirement security for women, college alumni and career services programs and women’s professional and community organizations.
My high-profile “Make Work Fit Life” event sponsored by AXA Advisors, Cigna, Ernst & Young, Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, Raymond James and Wells Fargo drew an audience of 200 women and was one of the few programs that has focused squarely on flexwork for women.
A frequent media resource on women’s work vs. family issues, I’m always challenging the status quo, debunking work-life myths, helping you work around obstacles, digging to find all the places #realflexwork exists, calling for active participation in your own long-term financial security and encouraging all women to be creative, realistic and unstoppable when it comes to blending work and life.
Recognized as a thought leader in the women and work space, my book—Ambition Redefined: Why the Corner Office Doesn’t Work for Every Woman & What to Do Instead—is the everyday woman’s guide to developing her own brand of ambition and success and finding many lucrative ways to lean “in-between” alongside caregiving for children and aging parents.
Kathryn’s Biography
Kathryn Sollmann has created and led hundreds of conferences and workshops that help women sustain and advance careers as they blend work and life.
A frequent speaker and media resource on women’s work vs. family issues, she’s always challenging the status quo, debunking work-life myths, helping you work around corporate obstacles, digging to find all the places #realflexwork exists, calling for active participation in your own long-term financial security and encouraging all women to be creative, realistic and unstoppable when it comes to blending work and life.
Recognized as a thought leader in the women and work space, her book—Ambition Redefined: Why the Corner Office Doesn’t Work for Every Woman & What to Do Instead—is the everyday woman’s guide to developing her own brand of ambition and success and finding many lucrative ways to lean “in-between” alongside caregiving for children and aging parents.
In collaboration with Decision Analyst, a top 5 research firm in the U.S., Kathryn commissioned the national survey: Women in 2020: Choosing to Move Up the Career Ladder—Or Not?, which supports her call for employers to create resources that help women blend work and life. Until this is a corporate priority, survey data reveals that most women will not have the bandwidth to consider demanding senior-level roles.
A mother of two adult daughters, Kathryn has worked non-stop since the age of 16. She coaches women with insights from her own flexible work experience—as a full-time and part-time employee, a business owner, a marketing consultant, a telecommuter, a freelancer and a recruiter.
