Bureaucrat to Baby Steps

Category: Community

  • When Stability Turns Out to Be Conditional

    When Stability Turns Out to Be Conditional

    There’s a particular kind of disillusionment that comes from realizing that the “safe” choices weren’t actually safe. Public sector careers are often framed as the steady alternative. Lower risk. Predictable. Secure. But that stability is conditional. It depends on political priorities, budget cycles, and decisions made far above your pay grade. And when those shift,…

  • Almost Forgetting My Dad’s Birthday

    Almost Forgetting My Dad’s Birthday

    I almost forgot my dad’s birthday this year. That sentence alone feels impossible to write. Grief has a way of making certain dates feel etched into your bones, and yet life—messy, exhausting, relentless life—can sometimes blur even the moments you thought you’d never miss. Growing up, my dad never made much of a fuss about…

  • The Return-to-Work Cliff: Why So Many Mothers Don’t Come Back the Same

    The Return-to-Work Cliff: Why So Many Mothers Don’t Come Back the Same

    Part of the series Work, Care, and the Missing Middle There is a moment that does not get talked about enough. It is not the moment a child is born. It is not even the moment a parent decides to return to work. It is the moment you actually try to go back. The other…

  • Part 4: Beyond Survival: How a Mother’s Group Changed My Postpartum

    Part 4: Beyond Survival: How a Mother’s Group Changed My Postpartum

    Before I became a mother, I thought I understood the value of mother’s groups. During my time working as a Food for Peace officer, I managed programs in developing countries where mother’s groups were an important part of the program design. They were spaces where women came together to learn about nutrition for themselves and…

  • Part 2: The Net of Community That Carried Me

    Part 2: The Net of Community That Carried Me

    In my first post, Part 1: Birth — The Six Week Postpartum Journey, I wrote about the intensity of those first weeks after giving birth — the physical recovery, the emotional shifts, and the reality that postpartum doesn’t magically resolve at six weeks. What I didn’t fully talk about then was this:I didn’t go through…

  • Networking in a Changing Job Market: Why Who You Know Still Shapes Your Career

    Networking in a Changing Job Market: Why Who You Know Still Shapes Your Career

    Networking has always been part of how careers move forward, but stepping into the professional world again—outside the government—has made me realize just how brutally true it is: it’s often who you know, not just what you know, that opens doors. The days when DEIA initiatives kept hiring conversations somewhat balanced feel like they’re on…

  • Finding My Way Back to Joy: How My DC Community Carried Me Through a Year of Change

    Finding My Way Back to Joy: How My DC Community Carried Me Through a Year of Change

    This past year has been one of the hardest—and most beautiful—chapters of my life. It was a year filled with seismic shifts: the dismantling of USAID as I knew it, the uncertainty of unemployment, a pregnancy that tested every part of me, and the fear of stepping into motherhood without the stability I had once…