Returning to the Workforce After Cancer

Navigating my way into a new career as a woman in her early 40’s who has been healing from breast cancer and a host of interconnected health issues—especially at a time when the workforce is undergoing so much necessary change—is a really profound experience.

Everyday I ground myself with the energy of the Earth and the light that shines within me to balance the fear of the unknown. Learning to believe in myself and trust in the universe is a surprising gift from my experience and one for which I am very grateful.

I trust my own worth and the heart-centered opportunities I am calling in to share my gifts.

Our level of collective consciousness is awakening and we are currently experiencing systemic change as the global paradigm shifts. My healing journey created the space to expand my knowledge base, more closely examine the trends that change culture, shift my perceptions, and explore a deeper study into communication as a web of interconnectivity among all living beings.

I am intuitively compassionate towards the pulse of human behavior and generate momentum and advocacy in movements to help people rise. I am a woman who is well-aligned to support organizational communication transitions away from outdated norms and silos. My approach integrates the operational and relational connectivity between fluid strategic planning with the internal and external behaviors and communication that shape organizational culture, value, and brand.

I trust this article will reach colleagues from my early career in private sector public relations and marketing, and will inspire reconnection. I trust colleagues from my more recent career in organizational communication, sustainable economic development, and the facilitation of social change movements will read this and be encouraged to reach out. And, I trust new people in my life, some of whom I have yet to meet, will drop me a line to explore developing new relationships.

Building community, advancing social change, promoting health equity, empowering women, and advocating for the rise of people from oppressed populations and disadvantaged socio-economic status into positions of leadership are of considerable importance to me.

I have always been someone who speaks up for those who do not have or are fearful to use their voice for which I have experienced mansplaining, tone policing, and loss of autonomy. My journey to heal from cancer invited me to reclaim my power and my voice and to also realize why I always felt so passionate about speaking up for what’s right—because it is the apathy and lack of using our voices that allow for certain behaviors to become norms, and for those norms to hurt people in our culture and animals on our shared planet.

The relational approach to change is central to why I am seeking to co- create, co-conspire, and collaborate on an interdependent level. I am not interested in self-sufficient in dependence, working in a silo while competing for space. I want to support deconstructing the outdated patriarchal norms of competition.

• I am interested in sharing, teaching, and coaching based on the integration of the knowledge and wisdom I have learned over my 20 year career with the experience of my transformational journey to heal from cancer.
• I seek opportunities to facilitate complex conversations and promote equitable and inclusive dialogues so that new voices and perspectives can be heard.
• I am a storyteller and am available both as a writer and speaker in a variety of capacities.
• I am interested in providing strategic direction to support organizational culture and communication to nonprofit organizations and socially responsible businesses while partnering with funders to advance impact and consultants to expand value.
• I seek opportunities to offer collective impact guidance, facilitation, and communication strategy for both networks and movements, because together we can foster the systemic change our planet and our people need to thrive.

I am feeling healthy and whole, grounded and gracious. It is my responsibility to all living beings and this beautiful Earth to share my gifts and I am calling in opportunities to do so.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn in the Fall of 2019 as Rae was envisioning the creation of EmpowR.