Name: Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin
Title: CEO & Executive Director
Company: 40 Percent and Rising
Location: New York, NY
Follow us on Facebook, and follow Elizabeth on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ECMcLaughlin! “The Trump administration’s immigration policies and detention camps meet the United Nations definition of genocide crimes against humanity,” said Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin, lawyer, activist organizer लॉग इन करें.
Tell us your backstory. How did you came to be the primary breadwinner for your family?
When I met my husband, he was an actor and off-broadway director, and I was a Wall Street lawyer with a big firm. I think at the time I was making somewhere in the range of 10 times what he was, and I knew that that was likely to continue when we got married. Shortly after we wed, my husband decided to go to culinary school, and by the time our first daughter was born, it became clear that his salary as a sous-chef wouldn’t cover full time child-care in New York City. As a result, he became a stay-at-home dad, and I became our sole breadwinner.
What have been your biggest challenges as a primary breadwinner?
There are a few. The first is that I desperately miss spending more time with my kids. It’s very hard to feel like I’m not seeing their daily progressions and growth, and to only get an hour or two with them most workdays. The second is coping with the gender dynamics of being a sole provider and a woman. The impact that this has had and continues to have on my marriage and my working life is enormous, and I candidly haven’t figured out all the answers yet, though we’re working on it daily.
What are the most important lessons you’ve learned along the way?
That quality time with my kids is more important than quantity. That being truly present to them during the time that I have is the best gift that I can give to them.
How do you manage your home life so that you can pursue your career and still be the partner and/or parent you want to be?
We have a part-time nanny who comes in for three hours a day, and that really allows my husband the break he needs for exercise and self-care, which makes him a better partner and parent. I also am the one who does bathtime and bedtime for my kids at night, so that I get quality one-on-one time with each of them, and I have a ground rule that I never miss bedtime two consecutive nights in a row, no matter how compelling the work-related invitation might be.
Are there things you’re still working on?
Oh yes. Navigating the cutting edge of the primary breadwinner revolution isn’t easy for anyone. I continue to pay attention to some serious latent anger I have about being the sole provider, even though consciously, I chose this role and and I enjoy what I do immensely. I think it’s particularly hard for women like me who were raised with feminist parents, but still got the message that we should “marry well” and expect men to provide for us financially, to acclimate ourselves to the death of that myth. For that reason, 40 Percent is working on some dynamic programming about coping with anger related to culturally imprinted expectations on behalf of our members.
What advice would you share with women who are struggling in the primary breadwinner role?
Keep going. Know that every problem has a solution. Be proud of your accomplishments. And most of all, decline to play the victim in your own story.
What most excites you about being a member of 40 Percent and Rising? What do you think are our most pressing private and public concerns as primary breadwinning women? What do you hope to see us achieve?
My vision for 40 Percent and Rising is nothing short of changing the world and the lives of primary breadwinner women everywhere for the better. Let’s go!
Meet Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin. Elizabeth is a celebrated career coach, fearless entrepreneur, single mom, and Nasty Woman. She is the CEO of Gaia Project Consulting, LLC, and the Founder of The Gaia Project for Women’s Leadership. Elizabeth has a storied track record of success as a Wall Street lawyer, serial CEO and entrepreneur, and high-powered executive coach. After a fifteen-year career as a full-time Wall Street securities litigator and trial lawyer, Elizabeth founded Gaia Project Consulting, LLC, an executive consulting and coaching firm that serves senior executives across tech, finance, banking, law, fashion, healthcare, non-profit and consulting, propelling its clients to new heights of growth and professional alignment. Five years later, she founded The Gaia Project for Women’s Leadership, offering virtual and live programming to grow New Paradigm Women’s Leadership worldwide. Download & installimperial splendour.
It is Elizabeth’s mission in life to transform traditional paradigms of leadership so that all leaders, and women leaders, in particular, can lead lives that allow them to share their gifts, achieve epic success on their own terms, and lead lives in alignment with their deepest values– and to change the world as a result. She was a New Yorker for more than 17 years but recently relocated to Southern California with her six and eight-year-old children, and their crazy French bulldog, Sophie.
What makes you a Nasty Woman?
I fight for justice relentlessly.
Share an experience that shaped your views or helped get you involved in activism.
I grew up in a small, gay-friendly town in Pennsylvania sixty miles from NYC that was decimated during the AIDS crisis. My activism was shaped by watching people I knew and loved suffer because our government didn’t value their lives. I credit ACT-UP and the movement to divest from South Africa in the 80s as the primary forces behind my activism.
What advice do you have for people who want to help enact change and push progress but don’t know how to get involved?
Every voice matters at this moment in time, and every skill. Art, music, food, movement building-- every one of us has a unique skill set that can be applied to effect change in big and small ways.
If you could look into the future, 10 years from now, and see that real progress has been made, what does that look like to you?
An end to white supremacist patriarchy, full stop.
Share with us a favorite wine moment or memory, or pairing.
Elizabeth Cronise Mclaughlin Blog
I spent about five days in San Sebastian, in the Basque region of Spain, about ten years ago, where I was introduced to Txakoli-- a fizzy light wine that the locals eat with tapas. I spent an afternoon hopping from tapas bar to tapas bar sharing glasses along the way. It was one of the most rewarding food and wine experiences of my life.
The NASTY WOMAN WINE you appear on the label of is called Pave the Way Chardonnay. Please share what it means to you to pave the way.
Elizabeth C Mclaughlin
To me, Paving the Way means creating a light along the path in conjunction with others. We must be arm-in-arm right now as those who are creating a new vision of what this nation can and should be-- with equity and equality and freedom for all. I’m proud to do this work with so many amazing women-- and particularly Black and indigenous women-- who have shined a light on the path for all of us.
Tell us more about the Gaia Project.
My company, The Gaia Project for Women’s Leadership, offers virtual and corporate programming on advancing intersectional women’s leadership worldwide. Learn more here.
As well, I broadcast five days a week on law and politics, Resistance Live, over on Patreon.
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