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| Real Mom Stories - Michelle Swittenberg | |
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| 40, vice president of marketing and sales for
Verizon's New York region, Maplewood, NJ
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By: Lisa Armstrong, Photo: Michael Brian
With 2,400 employees and $250 million under her charge, Michelle Swittenberg is unabashed about her choice to be a working mother. "I'm one of those moms who, though I love my son to death, couldn't wait to get back to work after he was born," says this VP of marketing and sales for Verizon's New York region. "Reese has been in day care since he was about eight weeks old, and some women might judge me for that, but it's important to me to work. I like the challenges and sense of fulfillment, and it allows us the freedom to do things as a family that we might not otherwise be able to afford."
Michelle's professional drive in no way sidelines her commitment to making sure Reese, now 4, gets plenty of quality family time. That's because both Michelle and her husband, Lamont, VP of advertising promotion and planning at Virgin Mobile, make togetherness a priority.
While this two-MBA duo have put their degrees to good use on the job, they've also discovered that they come in handy at home. "We've always had a practical way of making things work," says Lamont. "We took our business backgrounds and applied them to managing our household. It's almost as if we run a corporation."
Swittenberg Inc. is indeed a smooth-running operation, one that amply
fulfills its mission statement—caring for Reese and keeping him happy. The couple split child-care duties 50/50. Michelle dresses her son in the morning and gives him some milk, while Lamont covers breakfast and day-care drop-off. Later, he picks Reese up and gives him a bath; Michelle cleans up after dinner and reads Reese his bedtime stories.
The family tries to spend a few hours together each evening, just playing, watching TV or shooting hoops. "Even if we have to bring work home, we make a point to shut down for those two or three hours of family time," Michelle says.
Michelle cherishes the time she spends with her son. As a working mom, however, she knows that sacrifice is a part of life. Every so often, she gets a glimpse of what her son's day is like when she's not around. Once, when she dropped Reese off at day care, she was taken aback to see him instantly reach for his teacher, Ms. Claudia. "It broke my heart," she remembers. "I wrote her a note that said, 'You're the first woman my son has loved besides me.' But she's a wonderful teacher. He couldn't have picked a better first love."
Despite occasional pangs, Michelle can't imagine things any other way. Having a career has always been part of her plan. She and Lamont were married for eight years before they had Reese, and during that time they developed a system of mutual support. "I've known since Michelle was in business school that she was very career-oriented," says Lamont. "I knew that once we were married, we'd have to have each other's back in order to make it work."
Michelle finds it ironic that she met Lamont just when she'd given up looking. "I was going through one of those phases when I said, 'I'm never dating again!'" she says. When a mutual friend felt that she and Lamont should meet, Michelle put the date off for about a year. "Then I met him, and you know how people say you just know when you meet the man you're going to marry? Well, I just knew!"
The two dated while they finished up their MBAs, he at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she at Duke in Durham, NC. Lamont says Michelle's drive and knack for planning were clear even then. He couldn't figure out why he was struggling with his coursework while Michelle always appeared to have free time. "She never seemed to be doing any work," he says. "I asked her how that was possible, and she said, 'Oh, I'm done with my work.' At the beginning of the semester, she got her textbooks, read them cover to cover and did all the problems so that she could basically coast for the rest of the term!"
These days, the couple that works hard also plays hard. They enjoy traveling and, in keeping with the UNC vs. Duke, Verizon vs. Virgin Mobile rivalries, have turned it into a competitive sport: "We're in a race to see who can visit all fifty states first," says Michelle. "Lamont and I are tied at thirty-six each, but I think I'm going to pass him with an upcoming business trip to Michigan."
The Swittenbergs also plan family nights every Friday. Reese is usually in charge of picking the restaurant, so they often go to his favorite pizza place.
More hit-and-miss is the time Michelle and Lamont try to carve out together after Reese is in bed: "Depending on our work schedules, Lamont and I might both end up on our laptops. We're the stereotypical working couple."
Michelle's career with Verizon started in New Jersey in 1989, when she joined the firm (then GTE) as a marketing associate. She left three years later to get her MBA, then returned after stints at a consulting firm and a dot-com. Her efficiency has helped her advance over the past 16 years. "Michelle's a quick thinker. She's extremely focused," says Elaina Mango, director of New York regional marketing at Verizon. "She cuts to the chase—it's 'Let's find a solution to the problem' rather than worrying about it."
From the outside, Michelle's approach seems foolproof, but she says it's simply a good system—not a perfect one. "She knows she's doing the best she can, and making the right choices in terms of dividing her time," says Lamont. She's also aware of what she can and cannot manage. "She knows her limits," explains Elaina. "If Lamont is traveling or Michelle needs to be home with Reese, she'll ask her team to cover for her—and she does the same for us."
 | Michelle Swittenberg with son Reese
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Thanks to the support she gets from her coworkers and to her own ability to plan ahead, things generally run smoothly for Michelle, both personally and professionally. "I'm naturally organized, which allows me to handle things that might otherwise throw me off," she says. In anticipation of a snow day last January, for example, she picked up the babysitter the night before to make sure someone would be home with Reese. She also packed his lunch so he could attend day care if it didn't snow.
Of course, everything doesn't always turn out as planned. When Reese was 2, he came down with pneumonia and was in the hospital for four days. "I dropped everything," Michelle recalls. "I left one voicemail for my boss and one for my key team member. And then I was completely out of touch for about a week."
Despite her busy schedule, Michelle knows that sometimes she just needs to take a break. Whenever things start getting too crazy, she schedules a day to catch up—or to do nothing. "In fact," she says, with a big smile of anticipation, "I'm taking a day next week." And relishing the words, she adds, "All to myself."
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| rpomeroy |
2007-08-16 |
You people are unbelivable! Year after year you tout Verizon as a great place for women to work. Year after year you are also featuring Verizon Executives.
At what point do you plan to interview women and women of color who are service representatives, consultants, operators, technicians or clerks?
Ambulances take women ... |
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