E-business Consultant, AT&T; Hamburg, NJ

Child: Connor, 6 ♦ Husband: Matthew O’Brien

Why We Love Her Denise has more letters after her name than in her name. With a BS in finance, a BA in philosophy, an MBA, a CPA, a PMP (project management professional) and a graduate degree in project management, she could have taken one of many consulting jobs that would have involved fatter paychecks but lots of travel. Instead, she chose to consult from home so that she could spend more time with her family. her decision was all the more validated after she and her husband, Matthew, were involved in a serious car accident last year. Denise has since made some big life changes. She now does yoga, eats healthy and makes playing with Connor a priority.

Q: What’s your best advice for a new mom returning to work? A: Time Management. Since I work from home, there are specific rules on interacting with my son during “work hours.” He knows that there are certain times when he cannot interrupt me. Outside of those hours, he knows that my time is his. He'll come up to me and ask, "Are you all mine yet?" Likewise, family time is not meant for work. I leave work at the office, or wait until my son is in bed before resuming. But most importantly, I make sure that I put specific time aside just for myself. I use this time to decompress by doing yoga, or reading, or just catching up on my TV shows. Q: What’s your biggest working mom confession? A: When I go on vacation, I have a difficult time not checking my emails. And normally, that means I get pulled into an action item that I wouldn't normally do on vacation. On the other hand, I don't like returning to work and seeing 400 emails waiting for me. So checking on them for a few minutes each day enables me to spend a minimal amount of time managing what's coming in. That way on my first day back, I'm only focusing on action items and not email clean up. Q: What’s your best tip for keeping your home life running smoothly? A: Well-chosen compromise. I like having a neat house. My husband is comfortable living with a greater level of "mess" than I am. Instead of fighting with him to meet my standard, I accept that I need to do more of the chores to keep my inner peace and my peace with him. It's a compromise I can live with. If there's a situation where it feels like the "compromise" is unfair, then that's when we sit and talk.