'The Comeback' can help moms blaze new career paths

— -- A little well-placed denial helped Emma Gilbey Keller rediscover her passion for work, and led to her second book: The Comeback: Seven Stories of Women Who Went from Career to Family and Back Again.

The former freelance journalist and author of The Lady: The Life and Times of Winnie Mandela put aside a thriving career to become a mother in the mid-1990s, when she was in her mid-30s. (She is now 47.)

As her husband, Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, took exciting steps at the newspaper, and the couple welcomed their second daughter in 2001, Keller felt her self-confidence slowly draining and "the ennui of dealing solely with small children."

In search of inspiration, she looked for information about women who returned to the workplace after staying home with children. Instead of the positive anecdotes and promising statistics she'd hoped for, "I learned that I could never make the same money as I had before, that I would have to take a demotion."

Keller focused on the women who had achieved success — only a third of the women she read about. She became determined to find and talk to women like them, learn from their experiences, and share their stories.

The seven women profiled in The Comeback shore up Keller's theory that creativity, determination and flexibility can result in career and family satisfaction.

Women would do well to view a career as an evolution rather than a series of steps that must be followed in a particular order. Similarly, considering only a return to the exact job you left is limiting. It's better to be open to career paths that use a variety of skills. In this way, there's more potential for success.

Keller learned valuable lessons from the women featured:

•A hobby can become a multistage career. Over the course of 35 years, Ellen Warner was a photojournalist, portraitist, stay-at-home mother, dedicated volunteer, specialist in author photos, photojournalist again and an artist with showings in Manhattan galleries.

•Having a partner willing to compromise is invaluable. Elaine Stone — corporate lawyer, mother and wife of a rabbi — characterizes her marriage as a give-and-take that helped the family and the couple's careers thrive.

•Time off is not only for the wealthy. Sherry Goff's family has been through challenging times, but thanks to hard work and careful prioritizing, she was able to stay home with her young children and further her education, which led to a fulfilling career.

•Ask for what you want. Lauren Jacobsen, a South African lawyer, at one point worked for a company that didn't have a job-sharing program, so she proposed one and was given the authority to implement it.

Keller's reporting skills are put to good use, digging up interesting data about the world of work:

•Small businesses (up to 500 workers) owned by women are growing at double the national average, according to the Small Business Administration.

•The Census shows that in 2015 older workers (age 55-plus) will be 20% of the workforce. The upshot: We're living longer, and will need to make more money.

The women profiled in The Comeback range in age from fortysomething to sixtysomething. Six of the seven are married (one is divorced), all have enough money to view staying home as a plausible choice rather than a significant risk. Hourly and low-earning entry-level workers aren't represented here.

Keller doesn't debate whether it's better for new mothers to stay home or keep working. She offers unfailing support for women choosing either or both. "If you can (make a comeback) once, you can do it twice — or more. The job you come back to might be the perfect way back in, but it might not be what suits you for the long haul."

Keller's message for working women thinking of starting a family: Adding children to your life doesn't have to mean giving up your work, but it does require a willingness to consider a career path that might go in unexpected directions.

Linda M. Castellitto is a freelance writer based in Raleigh, N.C.