How Did She Do It? Lisa Borowski, Operations Manager

  

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Name:  Lisa A. Borowski

City/State:  Newtown Square, Pennsylvania

Family: Married with two children – Ryan 13 and Justin 11.  Husband, Mark Borowski, an executive with IBM

Education: B.S. in Communications from Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Summary of your professional experience: I posses over 20 years of experience as a Public Relations/ Marketing/Special Events/Media Relations professional with specific experience in the non-profit sector.  I have also worked in Community Relations and Development roles as well.  I began my career with WHYY TV12, the Philadelphia PBS affiliate as a Viewer Services Representative.  I then worked for Dynamac, an environmental subcontractor that worked with the EPA.  There I worked on community relations and outreach for the SuperFund environmental cleanup program.

I spent the majority of my career with Mercy Health System, a not-for-profit health system in Southeastern Pennsylvania, working as Director of Media Relations & Special Events.  In addition, coordinated marketing and advertising campaigns, coordinated physician and community relations activities and assisted with major fundraising events that raised thousands of dollars in support of the system’s healthcare mission of caring for the poor and underserved. 

After leaving my full-time position, I continued to work as a consultant in Special Events and Development.  I worked with several non-profits in the Philadelphia region to design and implement donor recognition events, fundraisers and “friend-raisers”.  These companies included The Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition, Mercy Vocational High School, The Sisters of Mercy Regional Community, West Oak Lane Charter School and Mercy Health System.

Currently, I am an active volunteer in my community and the schools where my children go to school – Radnor Township School District.  I have served in many roles with the Parent Teacher Organizations at the elementary level (secretary, vice president, president) and am currently president of the Parent Teacher Organization at Radnor Middle School.  I serve as a member of the District Communications Committee, Key Communicators and participated as a member of the Superintendent Search Committee.  I am also an active member of the Radnor Educational Foundation, a non-profit funding arm of the school district, where I serve on the Executive Board Committee and have chaired their annual Casino Night fundraiser.

Why you turned to Mom Corps?  If there was a defining experience in your personal or professional life where you realized you needed flexibility, please describe it here.

I heard about Mom Corps from a friend of mine who had been seeking employment using their services.  I had stopped working full-time when my youngest was two years old due to circumstances with childcare and my husband taking a job that required 60% travel.  I felt that my boys needed me and that my career could be put on hold.  Now, with the boys being 11 and 13, I felt that I was at a point in my life where they were a little more independent and I could start to make the transition back into the working world.  I still wanted to maintain my involvement with my volunteer activities so I felt that part-time employment might work best.  That is when my friend told me about Mom Corps and how they specialize in assisting moms’ transition back to their former careers and have many part-time opportunities.  This would allow me to still be actively involved with my children and get my feet under me as a member of the workforce.

If there was anything exceptional about your experience with Mom Corps’ sales team or recruiters that stands out in your mind, please describe it here.

Nicole Torsella Harris in Philly is amazing!  She gets what it is like to be a mom transitioning back to work, it helps that she is a mom herself so she understands the need for moms to be there when kids get off the bus, have some flexibility to attend school functions, and still be a professional.  She got to know me and my experience really well and would call me about jobs that came up before I even had a chance to see them and post my resume.   She also offered great insights into what employers are now looking for in a resume, during an interview, etc…this was very important for me to understand as I had been out of the workforce for about seven years and knew that a lot had changed in that time.

Please describe the type of position or contract that Mom Corps placed you in.

I am currently the Board Operations Manager for the Philadelphia Police Foundation.  I have been working with them for about two months.  It is a six-month contract position.  The team I work with is wonderfully flexible and enthusiastic about the Foundation and the expertise I can offer them.  So far it has been a great experience and I am very glad to have this opportunity.  It is a virtual job so most of the work I do is from home but I also have the opportunity to attend meetings and functions where I get to put on non-mom clothes and interact with business professionals who share my passion for non-profit work.

Please summarize how having a flexible job through Mom Corps affected/improved your overall work/life balance and your professional and/or family life?

I am thrilled to have the flexibility to maintain my involvement with my children’s school district and schools.  I believe that it is important for parents to be involved as much as possible especially as children get older.  My husband still travels extensively for his job so my position gives me the flexibility to get the boys where they need to be, when they need to be there.  I can help with homework, have dinner ready and be involved in their lives.

Working has helped my self-esteem.  It is great to earn your own money and I can use those funds to take care of home projects that we have been putting off.  I feel more productive and am learning to organize my life in order to manage all aspects of career, motherhood and volunteer.

What is your go-to stress reliever?  Venting with my girlfriends over dinner and drinks!

Please give a one sentence summary of your overall experience.

Mom Corps has helped me to gain back a part of my life I thought I would never be able to get back to.