Parenting Through the Unthinkable: Paula Edgar on Cancer, Work, and Resilience EP 74

Hey, working moms.

Hey, working dads.

Hey, aspiring working parents.

And allies of working parents.

Are you in search of your pillow? Does it take you 24 hours just to get out the door in the morning? Are you the family ATM? Or the family Uber driver? Are you on a Zoom call for work while carpooling while also watching a practice? If so, welcome to our world, the Parents at Work podcast.

I'm Laurie.

I'm Jason.

We are married.

And we have two wild and crazy redheaded boys.

We're here to shine a light on the rollercoaster ride that is working parenthood.

I'm a healthcare lawyer and founder of a working parent community called Mindful Return.

And I'm an

executive coach with Ready, Set, Launch, LLC.

I wrote a cool book called Relationships to Infinity.

And I wrote a cool book called Back to Work After Baby.

Well, hello, everybody.

Jason Levin here with my lovely wife, Lori Mahalik Levin.

We're back for another episode of the Parents at Work podcast.

And today we have the very talented Paula Edgar.

who is an award-winning attorney, keynote speaker, and CEO of PGE Consulting Group, LLC, where she helps organizations and professionals develop leaders, strengthen workplace culture, and build powerful personal brands.

She's also the host of the Branding Room Only podcast.

and a nationally recognized voice on leadership, professional development, and inclusion.

Paula is a working parent of two whose personal and professional journey has been deeply shaped by her family's experience with childhood cancer.

And that's what we're here to talk about today at the Parents at Work podcast.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

And the way that I know Paula is through all the wonderful conferences that we get a chance to interact with.

And as I've gotten to know her as a leader, as a parent, and as someone that uplifts others, she came to me.

She said, Jason, I want to be on the podcast.

I said, Paula, you can talk about all these different kinds of things.

What do you want to talk about? And she said...

I don't know if you know that one of my kids at one point had cancer.

I didn't.

And so I'm deeply grateful that you've chosen this topic to be with us.

We're going to go deep, I imagine, today.

And I can't think of a better person to go deep with.

So Paula, thanks for being with us.

Thank you for having me.

I'm so excited to be in conversation with two people who I've had on my podcast and on your podcast to talk about something that is truly so important to me.

So, yes, thanks for having me.

Yeah.

Go ahead.

Oh, I just wanted to say, like, thank you for being willing to talk about this topic.

I know that People who listen who might be going down a similar path themselves or who might be supporting friends or family who are going through it are going to find so much insight and comfort in your words.

So thank you for being willing to talk about it.

Of

course.

So for those that don't know you, I think let's first start with your working parent story, and then we can layer in when you got the news and all the different kinds of things.

So tell us a little bit about your working parent story, Paula.