Life and Work with Janice Stenglein

Today we’d like to introduce you to Janice Stenglein.

Janice, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Life does not always turn out the way we imagine. After being an insurance agent, teacher, and graduate student, I decided to leave the workforce and be a stay-at-home mom. I expected to be out of the workforce for a total of five years. Fifteen years later, I find myself still wearing the label of stay-at-home mom, but with a diverse and storied history of self-employment, volunteering, and public service.

I have been a lifestyle blogger for the last seven years, publishing Celebrating Family where I share family-focused content including recipes, crafts, movie reviews, parenting articles, and more. While it is non-traditional work, it does involve traditional business concepts such as public relations, advertising, product placement, and contracts as well as modern topics including SEO, social media management, and web design. I have also led scouting organizations, chaired a military family readiness group, ran for office, worked as a substitute teacher, and served on a public board. However, as I attempted to reenter the workforce, it seemed like my experiences were not valued.

I am currently several months away from finishing my dissertation focusing on female career reentry experiences. I am researching whether volunteer leadership experiences help professional women reentering the workforce after a prolonged absence. The modern stay-at-home mom is contributing to society, even if society undervalues her work. As a result of my study, I am hoping to develop strategies that women can use to make their time at home a period of professional development and skill growth.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
When I began hitting walls in my job search, I started to question the value of the contributions I had been making to my community. My advice to women of any age is to value what you do. Each role you play, each path you take, every experience you gain is powerful and valuable. Your career does not have to follow a constant trajectory to have value. Women need to start telling their stories without apologizing for not fitting into a mold someone else made.

Please tell us about your business.
Currently, my dissertation is my primary focus. However, I am still publishing my lifestyle blog Celebrating Family. My mission for Celebrating Family is to simplify family life. I share easy recipes, discuss parenting topics, publish movie reviews from a mom’s perspective, and share family travel and activity ideas. I have recently started writing about issues that parents of tweens and teens face. Moms with kids in this age group often lack support systems and can feel isolated. I feel blessed to be able to share ideas and strategies that might help families better enjoy their time together.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve benefited from using?
My reading list is almost exclusively filled with books on leadership and management due to my doctoral pursuits. My favorite recent leadership read is “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. However, I find that prioritizing time for pleasure reading makes a huge difference in my state of mind and helps me be more productive. I just finished reading “David Copperfield” by my favorite author Charles Dickens. I am a sucker for the classics. I also frequently listen to the “Dave Ramsey Show” podcast and too much talk radio.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://celebrating-family.com/
• Email: celebratingfamily.blog@gmail.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/celebratingfam
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/celebratingfamily
• Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/celebratingfam
• Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicestenglein/

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