At Carla Calizaire's desk sits a 12-inch cast-iron swine with wings
and a sign that reads: "I can fly." It's a gift from a coworker who saw
it and thought, " 'That's so Carla. She's always saying anything's
possible." "That's right," says Carla. "Hang around me long enough and
pigs will fly."

Carla works in a consulting role as a manager in process excellence for
Johnson & Johnson. That means she helps various operating units
throughout the pharmaceutical giant streamline, focus and strategize to
be the best at what they do. If a sales department's procedures for,
say, hiring and recruiting are just so-so, Carla steps in to
troubleshoot. Like a forensic scientist, she goes back to the scene to
re-create and dissect the process and come up with a plan for improving
the system. "I'll follow up and ask new employees to retrace their
steps. How could the experience have been better?" Was there enough
training? Was HR clear about benefits? She'll then talk to the sales
trainer and HR director to get their takes. "Once I know what's broken,
I pull together a team to brainstorm solutions," Carla says. "Then we
test the new process with a small group to be sure it works smoothly
and roll it out to the department."

Her pursuit of excellence at work has a way of spilling over into
her personal life. For instance, she's streamlined the process for
school pickups and drop-offs with a pack of neighborhood parents. A
rotation schedule frees up time for everyone, she reasons. And she
instills her give-it-your-best philosophy in her sons. Both her boys,
9-year-old Jayson and 6-year-old Christian, have skipped ahead in
school. Recently, when Christian was afraid to go into the second
grade, Carla told him, " 'You can do this.' The rest of their lives,
there will be people who'll try to impose limits on them, so it's
important that I ingrain in them the power of their infinite
potential," she says. "In my house, the word can't is outlawed. There's
no easy way out. I don't expect perfection, but I do insist that we
give it everything we've got."

The youngest of three children born to an African-American family in
Manhattan, Carla also had parents who set the bar high for her. "If I
came home from school with a ninety-five, my father would ask, 'Where's
the other five?' " But they demanded a lot of themselves, too. Her
computer-programmer father switched to the night shift so he could be
home with the kids while her mother worked days as an assistant nurse.
"They never complained. But I do remember my dad walking around the
house singing, 'I'm Mr. Paul. I do it all,' " Carla says. "My mom
quietly did a lot of the hard stuff—the cooking and cleaning—behind the
scenes while we were sleeping. And when it dawned on me that my mom was
the one getting up at five a.m. to put pigtails in my hair, I was like,
'Hey, Mr. Paul, no one can really do it all.' "

So Carla doesn't even try. "I went through a phase of trying to be
Supermom, and I got over it fast. Now I pick and choose what I will and
won't do. Cleaning doesn't make the list, so I outsource it." She also
isn't shy about asking friends, neighbors or parents for help when she
needs it. To make time for morning-prayer meditations with her sons,
she wakes up early. And when she can, Carla clears her afternoon
schedule to cheer on the boys at their football games—even turning off
the laptop that she never leaves home or work without. As she explains,
no email in the world is worth missing your child's 86-yard touchdown
run. "They watch me watching them, and they want my full attention."

The boys also became the focus of Carla's full attention back in
1999 when her divorce was finalized. "I was facing a new reality as a
single working mom, and I knew I needed to look for a company where
working mothers were appreciated." So when a recruiter called to tell
her about a sales position at J&J, she left a secure and lucrative
sales job she really enjoyed to join the New Brunswick-based
pharmaceutical, health and consumer products company, a mainstay of the
Working Mother 100 Best for 20 years. Says Carla: "There was a line in
the company credo that convinced me: We must be mindful of ways to help
our employees fulfill their family responsibilities."

And Carla has seen J&J come through for her time and again.
"Soon after I started, my son was sick, and I had a knot in my stomach
knowing that I had to call my manager to say I was taking a vacation
day. She said, 'No, you're taking a work-family balance day. Don't
worry about it.' That's when I knew the company's philosophy was real."

Quickly advancing from a specialty sales rep of pharmaceuticals to a
senior district manager, Carla became a top performer, earning a trophy
case full of sales awards. When her current job became available last
April, Carla made the move, in part, she says, because it gives her
more time with her boys. "I've had advice from some great mentors," she
notes. One in particular, Jennifer Moreland, a J&J director who is
also African American and a single mom, told her, "Ten years from now
you won't remember the meeting you missed. But you'll remember the
recital you skipped."

Today, as the manager of process excellence, Carla can leave her
work at work—a luxury that didn't exist in sales. She's also able to
take advantage of the company's flexible scheduling. On the days she
wants to leave a little early to make her sons' games or school choir
concerts, she drops the boys off at their school's morning-care program
by 7:30 and gets to the office early. Still, there are days when work
and home collide. But Carla is learning to take imperfect circumstances
in stride. "All single moms will tell you some days you're ready to
pull your hair out and you think, Oh, my Lord, being on all the time is
so hard!" she says, adding, "especially when your kids just want
Mommy—funny Mommy who plays, dances and sings." On those days her
secret is simple: Eat out. "It's what you do with your kids that's
going to shape them, sculpt them and remind them what their lives are
about. Who cares if I paid a fortune to redo the deck and the kids set
up the blow-up pool on the wet varnish? There are worse things."

And there are better things, too. In 2001, she set out to earn two
master's degrees, one in divinity and the other in art and theology. "I
felt a calling to the ministry," Carla explains. "It was something I
needed to do." Her parents have stayed with her sons while she took
classes at night. "Knowing that my sons were with family was
tremendous," she says. Having completed her divinity degree (which was
earned with an academic scholarship), she's now an ordained minister.
And with her free time—weekends when her ex-husband has the kids—Carla
works 24-hour shifts as the volunteer chaplain at a New Jersey
hospital, teaches Bible classes and visits the sick. Carla's ministry
and her career aren't that different, she says. "The Bible teaches us
to do everything with excellence. My studies have enabled me to walk in
peace in the midst of a storm. Now, I trust myself and push myself
because I'm comfortable in my own skin."

The next push may be an MBA or a PhD in organizational psychology.
"I'm going to take a break from studying for a while. But J&J will
pay for me to earn the MBA, and it's something I've
always wanted." Carla's energy and ambition are enough to make you believe that anything really is possible.

Carla's Tips