Your Voice Matters

Working Mother, Oct 2009 by Riss, Suzanne

On a dark, windy, rain-soaked morning, Jane Dunning bundled up her beautiful 3-week-old baby, Lauren, and toted her to our midtown Manhattan offices. Excited to participate in our Reader Breakfast, Jane wasn't going to let a dank day or a sleep- less night get in her way. "I wanted to see the behind-the-scenes workings of a magazine and also to meet with other working morns," says Jane, who's on maternity leave from her job as a research scientist at Columbia University. "I rely on Working Mother for ideas about how best to juggle work and family and to be reminded that I'm not the only person dealing with these tricky issues."

We love our Reader Breakfast Series for the face-to-face time. Topics on this particular morning ranged from how great bosses help us succeed and easy ways to fight fatigue in the evening (changing out of work clothes can do wonders) to the advantages of stay-at-home mom friends (especially when a meeting runs late and we need help with school pickup). One of the best parts of my job is helping build a community of working moms who rely on us - and on whom we rely. Here are some of the many ways you can be part of our community:

Reader Breakfast Series To participate in these intimate meetings in our offices, please send an email to Samantha.Marte@workingmother.com.

Reader Panel Partner with us by responding to our reader polls, story queries and more. To sign up, email Reader.Panel@workingmother.com.

Smart Moms Panel Members of this larger panel participate in our surveys and help us take the pulse of real moms throughout the country. To join, go to smartmoms.workingmother.com.

Momblog Contribute to our blogs by going to momblog@workingmother.com.

Sign up for either of our panels and you may win a great prize (see page lz). And to those of you who already email us, respond so promptly to our polls, send us beautiful family pictures, share terrific mom-to-mom tips, express yourselves on our Momblog and drag yourselves out of bed to visit our offices - I thank you. You teach me so much, and I can'r wait to hear from you again.

Suzanne Riss, Editor-in-Chief

Suzanne.Rissaworkingmother.com