Octavia Goredema was in the middle of a career pivot, and two international moves, when her kids were born. Looking back now, she realizes how much she was juggling, but she tells LittleThings she didn’t fully appreciate that at the time.
“It was hard and I felt like I wasn’t achieving enough fast enough,” says Goredema. “I remember, at the time, feeling incredibly tired and frustrated because I felt like I was making slow progress. What I realize now is I was making monumental progress. I was laying the foundation for so many important things in my career, but I didn’t know it.”
Today, Goredema’s daughters are 10 and 12 years old. She is an acclaimed career coach and founder of Twenty Ten Agency, where she has coached leaders at renowned companies including Google, American Airlines, Tinder, General Motors, Nike, and Dow Jones.
She just published her first book, PREP, PUSH, PIVOT: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women (Wiley), an action-oriented career coaching guide specifically for women of color in the workplace. Her insights have been featured in leading media outlets including Fast Company, CNBC, Forbes, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Grazia, and Black Enterprise, among others. She even cohosted HBR Now, Harvard Business Review’s weekly show about leadership. And as if all that wasn’t impressive enough, Goredema — a dual US and UK citizen — was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by the Queen in recognition of her work.
Goredema has raised the bar for all women, but she has particularly solidified herself as a role model for Black working mothers. Growing up, Goredema tells LittleThings, “My mother told me that I would have to work twice as hard as everyone else to get ahead.”
She points out, “Women of color are the most underrepresented group in the corporate pipeline. We are hired, promoted, and retained at lower rates. I tried my best to follow my mother’s guidance, but it was not healthy or sustainable. Waiting for your boss to notice is not enough. Your health and well-being should be your top priority. Women of color are doing the work and achieving results but are not always seen.”
Goredema was inspired to become a coach after being coached for the first time. At the time, she was struggling with health challenges and career frustration. “When I started coaching, it felt like everything clicked into place,” she recounts. “I’d spent a decade writing about career advancement, mentoring, and creating networks for underrepresented professionals. Coaching was such a transformative experience that I immediately knew I needed to pivot.”
When Goredema became a mother, she sought writing as a new creative outlet. “I started blogging, as it was something I could do when my babies slept,” shares Goredema. “Now, 10 years later, I found myself in a parallel situation, writing a book manuscript in between navigating my daughters through Zoom school during the [health crisis]. With the benefit of hindsight, being a parent is what taught me how to really get things done. Time is limited, and the stakes are higher when you’re a parent, so you’ve just got to get things done however you can.”
As a career coach, Gordema sees fear as one of the biggest challenges for her clients. “Fear of not achieving enough, or a career not progressing in the way you want it to, is a common issue. We all experience that. It can be hard to be objective about yourself, as your career is so personal. I love how, as a career coach, I help people face their fears and build a career that aligns with their core values.”
When speaking with Black moms in particular, exhaustion is a common topic of discussion. “The [health crisis], accompanied with so much upheaval over the past three years, has been a reckoning for so many of us,” Goredema admits. “The ramifications of everything can hit in different ways at different moments. It’s something I’m learning how to navigate, and it’s hard.”
As she notes in Prep, Push, Pivot, the National Partnership for Women and Families states the racial wealth gap means that families of color have, on average, fewer resources than white families to plan for and absorb the effects of a serious personal or family medical issue, including the birth or adoption of a new child. Therefore, Black communities tend to experience greater health needs, coupled with more caregiving responsibilities.
“Yes, it’s a universal issue,” says Goredema. “But that doesn’t make it right. The unfairness of the systemic challenges makes me angry. The hard truth is, as a baseline, working parents and caregivers do not have the support they deserve.”
So how does a mom balance her career as a parent, caregiver, or both?
For those moms who are feeling overwhelmed or conflicted about how they will move forward at work, Goredema has developed a four-step approach to help create a career plan that best supports them:
Step 1: Set new career commitments. Instead of focusing on what your employer needs and what your role requires, take a step back and consider what can help anchor you and your life.
Step 2: Set yourself up for success. Ask for what you need and manage your expectations.
Step 3: Create your personal career care plan. Use Pinterest and create boards for visuals that fuel you. Foster relationships that support you. Think through crisis contingency support.
Step 4: Assess, acknowledge, and adjust. Check in on yourself every three months. Create a list of rewards that you will allocate yourself when you’ve done something that matters. Stay true to what you want and keep setting goals.
“We need to learn to take the best care of ourselves always. Not just when we reach breaking point. When we reach breaking point it’s too late. Learning how to say no to things is important. Learning how to create boundaries is important. Learning how to manage our own expectations is pivotal.” — Octavia Goredema
As she raises her girls, Goredema says, “I hope they will have the courage to ask for what they want in their careers and keep pursuing it until they get it. I tell them, ‘Don’t be afraid to use your voice. Your voice matters. And don’t be afraid to fail at something. We all make mistakes. That’s how you learn.’”
It’s time for a change. And with Goredema leading the way, that begins with women of color knowing their worth, their core values, and paying it forward.
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