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Carol Fishman Cohen and Vivian Steir Rabin are the co-authors of the acclaimed career reentry strategy book Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work, and the co-founders of iRelaunch.com, a company producing career reentry programs, events and content for employers, universities, organizations and individuals. Carol and Vivian have presented their career reentry strategies to more than 4,700 people at over 85 events since 2006. Both Harvard Business School graduates and relaunchers themselves, Carol and Vivian understand every phase of the relaunch process first hand. Between the two of them, they have nine kids, and they each returned to work in very different ways after multi-year career breaks before writing Back on the Career Track and founding iRelaunch. They are regularly quoted in the national press including TIME, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Fast Company Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Family Circle Magazine, NPR, and MSNBC. Carol is the subject of a Harvard Business School case about returning to work after a career break. iRelaunch's signature products include the Career Relaunch Forum, a one day, multi-employer sponsored, return to work conference held at educational institutions around the country, Relaunch Circles, a four session, small group, coach led program with a curriculum based on Back on the Career Track, and the Back on the Career Track Webinar series. iRelaunch publishes the iRelaunch Comprehensive List of Career Reentry Programs Worldwide and the Back on the Career Track blog which is a weekly feature on Yahoo Shine!, Yahoo's women's portal. iRelaunch also designs customized career reentry programs, events, and content for employers, organizations and universities. iRelaunch was awarded the 2007 Workplace Innovations Award by Bentley University for "outstanding commitment to creating innovative workplace policies that help women achieve professional success."
- Relaunched at a major investment firm after 11 years out of full time workforce
- Mother of four children ages 14 to 20
- BA from Pomona College, MBA from Harvard Business School
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The book that Business Week called “The definitive rebuttal...to those who say you can’t go back.”
 |  |  - Relaunched by joining a small executive search firm after seven years out of the workforce
- Mother of five children ages 12 to 20
- BA from Harvard College, MBA from Harvard Business School
|  Elisa Joseph Anders, Director, Special Projects
Elisa is responsible for iRelaunch special projects ranging from developing existing products to exploring new market opportunities. She brings to this role her strong background in product/program development and client management.
Elisa has been an independent marketing and management consultant since 1993. During the first part of her career, Elisa worked as a consultant for two consulting firms and as a marketing manager for several consumer information and interactive services companies. When her three children were young, she stepped off the traditional track and cut back on her consulting business. She took on occasional consulting projects, worked part time as a musician, and did community service work during this time.
She relaunched her career in 2006. Recently Elisa produced a documentary for the Arlington Academy of Hope, a non-profit that brings quality education and basic health care to children in rural Uganda. Her documentary From One Village: A Story of Hope in Uganda can be seen on arlingtonacademyofhope.org . Elisa received her Bachelor's degree from Wellesley College and her MBA from The Wharton School. |  Betsy Blagdon, Technical Director Betsy directs "all things technical" at iRelaunch, ranging from website development and design to advice on webinar creation and on line purchasing.
Betsy spent 11 years in software engineering and management at electronic imaging and educational software companies before taking time off to be with her two children. She relaunched her career as a website designer nine years ago. Through her website design company, http://www.glissadedesign.com/, Betsy has helped many small businesses and non-profit organizations, primarily in the Boston area, develop and/or expand their web presence.
Betsy has a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from MIT. |  Elizabeth Hansen, Forum Outreach DirectorElizabeth is responsible for developing relationships with universities and organizations interested in helping their constituents on career break reenter the workforce. Elizabeth has successfully relaunched twice, so she remains keenly aware of both the valuable benefits of and urgent need for career services for professionals returning to work after some time away. Elizabeth most recently built a service business from a concept to a thriving company serving thousands of customers, by establishing strong relationships and fostering a culture of exceptional customer service. Prior to that, she took a 10 year career break from her work as an attorney. Elizabeth has a BA from The College of William and Mary, and a JD from Suffolk Law School. She lives in Virginia with her husband and children. |  Julie Holunga, Director, Business Development
Julie brings to iRelaunch a strong background in relationship building between corporations and universities. At iRelaunch she is responsible for developing relationships with employers interested in educating, recruiting, and reintegrating those on career break back into the workforce.
Prior to joining iRelaunch, Julie served as the project manager for Alumni Career Services at Harvard Business School focusing on the careers of female alumnae. She advised alumnae who were in transition and built relationships with corporations leading the efforts to advance women into positions of leadership. Julie also spent four years with the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College where she was responsible for developing and managing relationships with the Center's 320+ Fortune 1000 members. Julie received her Bachelor's degree in French Literature and Economics at Union College, and her MBA from Boston College. She spent seven years living and attending school in France, India and Hong Kong. Julie is a relauncher, having recently taken a career break to move and settle her family in Calgary, Canada, where she now resides
|  Meghan McCartan, Event Management Director
As the Founder and Managing Partner of Detours&OnRamps, a conference created to address the issues of working mothers, Meghan McCartan brings the perfect background to direct the marketing and event management requirements of the Career Relaunch Forum. Meghan started Detours&OnRamps as a result of her own experiences in seeking out jobs that would allow her to balance work and family. Having worked full-time, flex-time, as a consultant, and “not at all” Meghan had tried out a number of options and found that the “perfect job,” allowing a working mother to make a significant contribution and use education and skills—while still being able to spend time with children—was elusive. More importantly, the search process for such a job is exhausting in and of itself. Meghan started Detours&OnRamps to bring together companies, recruiters, support groups and working and non-working mothers in an atmosphere of practical learning and positive networking.
Prior to Detours&OnRamps, Meghan was the AVP of Marketing for a major financial institution. She holds an MBA in Marketing from Tulane, as well as a BA in Government/History from William and Mary. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, 5 1/2 year old, and 4 year old twins. |
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