Beth Levine's presentation skills and media training business is called SmartMouth Communications. The name came to her in a flash, but the company itself is a culmination of years of experience in financial and corporate public relations in New York, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City. Shortly before the birth of her first child, she left the full-time workforce but continued to consult part-time. After two more children followed, she threw herself largely into volunteer work.
SmartMouth was born when a professor on one of Levine's boards asked Levine if she could prepare a group of finance students for a scheduled appearance on CNBC. She did and eventually decided to make a business out of it but had some lingering concerns about going to the next level with corporate clients. She was concerned she'd been out of the loop too long. "I needed to know the buzzwords, what people were talking about." Back in Business, she thought, would provide that knowledge.
Levine entered the program with the sole intent of growing her business, only to learn about a "perfect" job opening during the program's Career Cafe: a vice president position for a presentation skills coach with a Wall Street firm. Two problems: it was located in New York (not really a problem because her husband's job leaves him free to live anywhere), and it was not flexible (more of a problem because her children are still quite young).
Levine is torn. SmartMouth involves work she loves and can do flexibly until her children are older. The perfect job would bring her back to where the action is, back to where she started her career. Regardless of which way she goes, "the true gift of Back in Business is that I have choices, that doors are open, and that I feel empowered and ready to make things happen. After years of motherhood, volunteering, and a smattering of part-time work, Back in Business has been a transforming experience for me." Stay tuned.
