Climbing Down the Ladder

About Laura:

Laura Black is a retired attorney and award-winning businesswoman, turned author and speaker. She conceived and co-founded one of the first temporary legal staffing companies in the U.S., moving on to become its CEO after it was acquired by a public company. The company emerged as the largest in the nation of its kind. Laura sits on numerous boards including The Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and was a past president of Network 2000 (now called Executive Alliance). She helps later life women embrace their 2nd (3rd or 4th) acts through her speaking and writings. Her essays have appeared in The Baltimore Sun, Next Avenue, Kveller, Hadassah, and others.

About the book:

Growing up in image-conscious Miami, Laura with her double chins, frizzy hair, and the inability to squeeze into “regular” sized clothing, was an embarrassment to her beguiling, jet-setting mother, and prominent, successful father. She climbed out of shame by focusing on brains rather than beauty, becoming a child entrepreneur, and rushing all the way to the top ranks of business.

Her ascent up the ladder as a mother of three forced her to make often painful choices as she navigated the myth of “having it all.” Yet, she climbed those rungs with quantifiable goals measured by market-share and profitability.

In stark contrast, when she chose to end her career, her descent was marked by loss and marginalization. She no longer possessed CEO status, her children fled the nest for lives of their own, and she had to cope with the decline and eventual deaths of her parents. She also had to come to terms with the telltale markers of aging, from the mundane – think bunions and lubricants – to a life-altering, near-death experience, all the while searching for relevance and purpose.

In the same way a generation of women lacked role models on the way up the career ladder, they lack them on the way down. Laura had to delve into her past for clues on moving forward and finding contentment and purpose without that all-encompassing level of productivity and achievement. In so doing, she uncovered a richer, different kind of happiness.

Laura validates challenges of women with humor and affirmation.

This is her story. This is our story.