Deborah Jelin Newmyer - Moms For Hire: 8 Steps to Kickstart Your Next Career

Copyright 2017 by Deborah Jelin Newmyer

Foreword copyright 2017 by Kathleen Kennedy

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Jenny Zemanek

Cover photo credit: iStock

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0569-2

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0570-8

Printed in China

Dedicated to Every Mom

Past, Present, and Future

Especially my Mom,

Sima Kislak Jelin

my first and favorite bossy girlfriend

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

I met Deb when she was a gangly, idealistic twenty-something, applying for a job at Amblin Entertainment. We were a small production company with ten full-time employees in the middle of producing The Goonies , and we needed some fresh voices and enthusiastic hands to help out.

In her first interview, Deb seemed to have the skills and stamina for the job, but she separated herself from the pack with her common sense opinions and her unabashed candor. I valued her boldness and introduced her to Steven Spielberg, and, without a hint of nervousness, she pitched out her favorite scenes from the novel The Color Purple, emphasizing a few moments that felt especially cinematic. She got the job. And Steven made the movie.

We worked closely together as a team for the next thirteen years. Everybody flourished, and Deb grew with the company to become senior executive and executive producer on several films, including Little Rascals , An American Tail, Land Before Time, and How to Make an American Quilt .

Since then, I have watched Deb indomitably reinvent herself many timesfrom a young go-getter, to a working mother with a few babies, to a freelance independent producer, to suddenly a widowed mother of four, who then circled back into the workforce with verve and conviction to produce films and the hit TV series The Sing-Off .

Throughout the decades of ups-and-downs, Deb always brought along the laughs. Never cynical or at someone elses expense, Deb wore lenses that saw the funny zing in most things, whether it is a complex movie idea, a kids dilemma, or a friends struggle. Her rose-colored bounce could turn those long working hours into a joyous experience.

I will never forget when we would skip lunch to jog around Toluca Lake and reboot ourselves. On one such autumn run, a pinecone was in Debs path, and she went down. Her ankle was twisted, but we were a mile from the office. Deb got up, limped a little, and quoted her mom: Walk it off it will be better in the morning. We slowed a bit, Deb grimaced, but onward we went. Turned out it was a pretty bad sprain. Doctors, X-rays, and crutches followed. But Deb never complained. She kept that foot elevated, and somehow, we laughed. Her only request was that on my next solo run, Id look for that offending pinecone. She wanted to use it as a paperweight to remind her to always Walk it off it will be better in the morning.

I know that whatever orbit Deb chooses, she will succeed. Through tragedy or glory, she always remains present and true. I look forward to our catch-up dinners and adventures. I can count on real laughter, honest tears, and everlasting insights.

In writing Moms for Hire, Deb has essentially written the book Lean Back In an appealing and indispensable manual for any woman who wants to reenter the working world. She has succeeded in so many facets of work and parenting to become an expert herself in this debate. No one can gently boss people around or help them navigate (and then defuse) the minefields of a moms daily struggles better than my friend and colleague, Deborah Jelin Newmyer.

So Listen to Deb. I know I do.

Kathleen Kennedy started her career, while still in college, as a camera operator at her local San Diego television station. The first movie she produced was ET (1982), and she continued to produce over 60 films including Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Color Purple, Jurassic Park, and Schindlers List. In 2012, Kathy became president of Lucasfilm and reinvigorated the Star Wars franchise. She is married to fellow producer Frank Marshall, and when not on a far-off production set, they live in Los Angeles with their two teenaged daughters.

THE INTRO

G rowing up, we all dreamed of becoming some sort of princess. My princess was going to live in a Technicolor world. Not as a damsel in distress. Not laden with a weighty crown. Or twisted up in a superhero cape. Nope. My princess plan was to be a sharp-witted, tough-willed, respected, and beloved ruler of a 3-D castle on the hill. I would be adored by fine children and a dashing husband. My princess was going to have her name in lights for curing real things and brokering real peace. Dragons would meet their match. And, of course, I would have great hair.

And then, there was a honk.

It was 2:55 p.m. My dusty Toyota hybrid was silently waiting in the carpool pickup lane behind several minivans. That day I had proudly completed the crossword puzzle but couldnt claim any other significant accomplishment since dropping off my third grader at school six hours earlier.

The irony was not lost on me that the first question I would ask my sweet, sweaty-faced child was:

Hey, Hon! So what did you do today?

Oh how I hoped nobody would ask me that very same question.

Once, I could so casually brag about my workday. It was filled with power meetings, bustling ideas, and designer-ish suits. I was speed-dialing top agents and talent, and I was respected and invited inside for my producing skills. That snapshot of sassy careerist has turned in dress and in attitude. That castle on a hilltop had moved far far away. And out of the front window, all I could see were moats and gatekeepers.

I was still the same Deb: energetic, bossy, and likeable, but somehow in the mulch of skating schedules and separated socks, I was cheering on the sidelines, doling out perfect orange wedges, fostering someone elses signature. When the passport office asked me to write down my occupation, I was stumped.

I had always been a book browser, so I went foraging for a guidebook to help me reignite my professional mojo. Books had always given me answers, and provided me decades of information and pleasure. Books had insulated every homethey were a spine I could wrap my hands around, from academics to pop fiction, Pulitzer Prize classics to How to Get Your Child to Sleep Through the Night. Books guided me to the best tours in Costa Rica and gave me hours of bedtime consorting with Gryffindors. And yet, bookshelf after bookshelf, I never found the one that would steer me out of the carpool pickup lane and back into my happy job on the hill.

Every time I turned my head, Id see another capable ex-careerist brillantly organizing travel for a soccer tournament, or having a ladies lunch or rushing home to a leaking dishwasher. Across America, so many valuable minds and ambitions were hanging back, leaning out, and fixing other peoples boo-boos. Hmmm , I thought, maybe I could channel my bossy cheer and mix in some researched expertise to help these talented moms look out their window and see a more fulfilled snapshot of themselves.