We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rhonda Coleman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rhonda below.

Rhonda , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I transitioned from being a teacher to law school. I quit my teaching job, and moved from Memphis (where all of my family was) to Chicago, IL (where I had very little family) with 2 young kids in tow. I knew that where I was in my professional life was not enough, I wanted more. I gambled on law school. This blog post that I wrote captures why I made the move and how it turned out for me:

By Rhonda Coleman Wandel

Read about how Rhonda transitioned into a legal career with young children after teaching for ten years.

Tip #1: Trust yourself, plan for what you can, be prepared to swerve, and have faith that things will come together in the end.

I remember the day I received my acceptance letter to Loyola University Chicago School of Law. I was walking into my Memphis apartment, letter in hand. When I opened it and saw “Congratulations,” I screamed. I was going to law school in Chicago. I was so excited that the hours I had spent in test prep and writing law school applications had paid off. When I decided to change careers, I had been teaching high school English for ten years. While I enjoyed working with my students, I was no longer intellectually challenged, my options for career advancement were limited, and my entire work week was spent pouring into everyone except me. I was unfulfilled, drained, unhappy, and I knew I had to make a change. I was an entrepreneur at heart, starting companies that I managed in the summers throughout my teaching career. One was a children’s boutique, another a tutoring agency. I was enterprising, but pretty soon I realized that I didn’t have the business acumen needed to build a successful company. A law degree would provide me with more options and opportunities, so I decided to go to law school.

I quickly understood that if I was going to move to a new city with a first grader and a third grader by myself, I needed a plan that addressed my key areas of need. With the right resources, I would have the support to get me through three years of law school. First, I wanted to live in a walking neighborhood not too far away from the law school where everything I needed was accessible. My network of family and friends would be over 500 miles away so having enough resources to replace the support that they provided was critical. I picked Lincoln Park Chicago, a bit yuppie and not very diverse, but safe and full of things to do for the kids. Second, I had to be sure my kids were in a school that I could afford where they felt safe and would continue to grow and develop in the ways aligned to my values. After much research and deliberation, I enrolled them at the neighborhood public elementary school. Third, I hired a babysitter to help me with the girls while I was in class or studying. Stephanie was me, when I couldn’t be there. She walked the girls home from school, prepared after school snacks and dinner, and even did their laundry. Stephanie was a life saver, and I am grateful to her.

But remember to be flexible and know that it is ok to swerve or switch gears. A few weeks into the school year, I noticed that my girls were not blossoming at school as they should have been. I couldn’t successfully complete law school if they were not happy, so I started to look for alternatives. God extended me a bit of grace, and I met a woman in line at the neighborhood Marshall’s. I had run in to pick up something for the girls I’m sure. She gazed at my children lovingly as if she had met them before. It’s only now as I reflect that I realize that little black girls in Lincoln Park, Chicago with a black mother was out of the ordinary. This is probably what intrigued her about us. I asked her where her kids went to school. She told me, and I said, “Oh I’ve seen that. It’s near my law school.” I asked her whether they were accepting new students, and she answered “quite possibly.” I love her for that. She could have easily told me that there was a long waiting list, upon which there are people who give donations, and still don’t get their kids in. Which would have been the truth. Her optimism however led me to call the school, meet with the admissions director, submit applications, and get my little birds into one of the best schools in the city where they felt safe, happy, and nurtured by a strong school community. They made lots of friends, many of whom we still have today. Be willing to identity when a shift is needed and seek out the help and guidance you need to make it. The Universe will support you and doors will open up.

Tip #2: Have a realistic idea of what kind of job you’re preparing for long term and focus your efforts so that you are on track to get there in a way that works for you as a non-traditional student/career transferee.

I was a little naïve when I switched from teaching to law. In Memphis, I had a strong professional network that supported my goals. I was confident, secure, and knew I could get a job wherever I wanted to teach. I had job security. I thought that my law career would unfold the same way. After all, I was going to law school in Chicago— a city where the first Black president and First Lady had lived and grown up. I felt like my potential for success was limitless. My plan was to graduate from law school, get a job at a law firm that would allow me to work a normal shift so that I could get home to my kids on time, and live happily ever after. Well, when I got to law school, I learned that a 40 hour week for a new law firm associate was unheard of, and beyond that, landing a job at a law firm was extremely competitive. After your first year of law school, firms gather at a fair, interview candidates, and judge you on your grades, grades, and your grades. If you aren’t in the top 10%, good luck. I had always excelled academically and professionally and felt I was good enough for anything, thanks to my parents and community, but I wasn’t prepared for this. I was a non-traditional student, competing in a game with traditional rules. My inability to compete shook my confidence. I began to think that I wasn’t good enough or smart enough to work in a top law firm. Undoubtedly this lack of confidence began to show up in my communications with others about employment which I’m sure didn’t help my prospects.

But, I didn’t give up. Instead, I swerved and shifted my focus to working in a corporation because even if I did somehow manage to get a job at a law firm I realized that I couldn’t work big law firm hours parenting two young girls on my own anyway. I started asking my peers and mentors about opportunities for new lawyers in corporations, and everyone told me that I had to work at a firm first before moving into a corporation They said that the chances of landing an in-house counsel position at a corporation right out of law school, was—you guessed it—reserved for members of the top 10%. So with no pre-paved track for me to go from law school to a corporation what was I to do? I didn’t learn until my third year in law school that corporations would hire new lawyers in non-lawyer positions, such as contract managers or contract specialists. I could then use that opportunity as a springboard to an attorney position within the company.

To add insult to injury, while I was OK financially in law school with graduate loans, scholarship money and summer employment, I was not the summer after graduation. I had to study for the bar and there was no funding —or spouse—available to float me. Plus, I had the added pressure of trying to keep up with private school tuition, extracurricular activities fees, Christmas presents, and three mouths to feed—it was a very stressful time. Had I had a more targeted, realistic plan before I began law school, I could have prepared for some of these obstacles and avoided the stress. Don’t take for granted that you know what lies ahead. Seek the advice of others who have walked in your shoes.

Tip #3: A happy, balanced parent lends for a happy, balanced child.

Putting your children’s needs first, sometimes requires that you put your needs first. When you fly with kids, the flight attendant reminds you to put your oxygen mask on first and then on your kids in the event of an emergency because as the parent you must be in a position of strength before you can properly attend to the health and well being of your children.

I loved law school. I got to pour information into myself everyday for three years, which allowed me to grow and expand into a better version of myself, and my girls witnessed every minute of it. They saw me study hard and reel with excitement when I passed my exams. When my bar results came back with a pass on the first go, they probably thought I won the lottery when they saw me cry. When you grow into a new and better version of yourself, you feel good and that happiness uncontrollably spills over to others around you. I made decisions for my children from a position of confidence, strength, and self love. As a result of growing up in my “happy” orbit, they grew into strong, confident young women with a good sense of who they are and what they want. They understand the value of expanding, loving yourself, and pursuing a life that is fulfilling and desirable, and they have a tremendous amount of grit that rivals most.

As a working lawyer, the joy continues. I’m always stretching myself and learning new things. I now advise executive team members on the legal aspects of running corporations, but I’ve also developed the skills to run a corporation. It’s very rewarding. Switching to a career in law was the right decision for me. And my children.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started my podcast over 3 years ago in response to friends encouraging me to write a book either about raising great kids, or my life journey. I really didn’t know where to start, and didn’t feel I had much to say, but a friend encouraged me to start a blog. Another said “just start writing”. I went to Squarespace to create a website for my blog, and the template that best fit my needs captured a blog and a podcast–and the podcast was front and center. One of my mentors once told me that I had a radio voice. I don’t know how this prompted me to start a podcast, but it did. I started a podcast that did for other women, what I wanted someone to do for me–Recognize women who are deemed as “Everyday heroes” for the amazing contributions they make to their professional circles, families, and friends. This morphed into highlighting the career pivots that women make and sharing the HOW out with other women who might be considering making their own pivots.

I’m very proud of the pivot that I made. Some days I look back and say that I was nuts to walk away from a 10 year teaching career and my life in Memphis, TN and move to a big city with 2 young daughters to go through law school–one of the most intense, challenging graduate programs–with a small support system to start. But I knew deep down that in order to raise strong, confident, self possessed daughters, I needed to model that behavior for them. And so I moved forward, even though I didn’t have every little detail of my new path figured out. My girls turned out great. The older daughter is 22 and just graduated from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and my younger daughter is a sophomore at Tufts University in Boston, MA.

In a conversation with an upcoming podcast guest (who’s General Counsel of a major fashion company), we reflected on how in the early days of our careers we thought we could have it all–successful career, strong happy healthy balanced children, healthy marriage, the big house, etc. Our revelation was yes, we can have it all–but not always at the same time. I loved this revelation. There are seasons for these things. I did get happy healthy children, but I couldn’t have that and a booming career at the same time. I couldn’t take the 80 hour a week job at the firm post law school because I prioritized the needs of my kids. And I couldn’t always study as much as some of my law school classmates that didn’t have families, so getting the A for me was not a priority over chaperoning the field trip. I wanted the top job when I graduated law school, but it wasn’t my season for that. Now that my daughters are college age and require less of me, it is my season to pursue the top position. While I didn’t have the top job as they were growing up, did have great jobs as a commercial transactional attorney with great companies that prepared me for that “big job”. I did recall that I always evaluated whether I would take a role through the lens of “is this going to support my long term goal to lead a corporation someday?” I continue to do this. Among those great companies that I have worked for over the course of my career are Aon, Accenture, and now Google.

My next pivot is building a legal services company that provides outside Deputy General Counsel commercial transactional support to corporations. I’m an entrepreneur at heart and find joy in building my own thing. My company is named RCW Strategies, LLC. Both The podcast and my legal services business fall underneath the RCW Strategies umbrella.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I graduated from law school, the job that I expected to have waiting on me was not there. I I had been naive thinking that I would be able to find work as easily in Chicago as I had in Memphis as a teacher. I was under a lot of pressure to to provide for two children on my own financially, and so I had to find jobs that both supported my career as an attorney, yet provided enough income to pay my expenses—this was a big challenge. I applied to what felt like over 50 positions, and didn’t get anything. It was very depressing. I couldn’t have the “perfect” legal position and get the “perfect” paycheck too. While I was looking, I took a position doing document review as a contractor for the worst company in the business (unbeknownst to me) because I had to do SOMETHING to make money and put on my resume until I found the job I wanted. I can remember one day being so low that I wanted to just give up on Chicago and move back home to Memphis. Fortunately things turned around, and a friend brought me in on a contract position at Big Ten Network of Fox Entertainment. I consider that to be my first real job post law school and the start of my career as a commercial transactional attorney.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I used to think that I could do anything and everything all the same time. I thought this is what it meant to be a super woman. This is just not true. With respect to your career, It’s better to get clarity around what it is you really want to do and then push your energy and focus into that one thing. You can’t do everything well, all at once. You’ll burn out.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.rhondacolemanwandel.com
• Instagram: @rcwpodcast
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhondacolemanwandel/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5hmksG4jx0tunb10x7Y06A
• Other: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rhonda-coleman-wandel-podcast/id1559983301

  Podcast also available wherever you get your podcasts.

Image Credits

I own these photos. Photographer is Nicolette Nunez of Chicago Il