Praise

I heard about WLAM from a friend in town - she specifically touted Hilary as "the woman who totally helped me to get back to work." I've known for years that once my kids were a little older, I would want to find a job that was fulfilling, but flexible.

After two sessions in the reinvention course for stay at home mothers, I knew I was in the right place! Hilary's course offers practical advice along with exercises to soul search and find your fit. With Hilary's encouragement, I continued to see my volunteer roles as a way to refresh my professional skills. I continued my course work in personal branding and social media understanding which helped my confidence. I was fortunate that some networking amongst the WLAM community along with another connection introduced to me to company I am now working with. I am truly grateful to Hilary and her colleagues at WLAM!

When I read the content of your seminars, I cannot help think how wonderful it is that you are providing an opportunity for mother to rediscovet themseleves and begin a new, exciting phase of life. Without participating in your class, I whould not have had the confidence or skills to put my self out there and go after the career i wanted. I am thress month into my position and i am responsible for the implementatino of approximately 50 major projects, implementing cloud-based procurement system for the top hotels and restaurant properties globally, including jumeirah, Ritz Cartoon, Starwood, Marriot, Wyndham, and now, Google restaurants and cafes. Daily I manage these projects in the United States, Europe, South America, and the Middle Ease. It has been an amazing, humbling, and gratifing experience to rediscover a new phase in life.

Thank you Hilary for helping me rediscover my untapped potential and encouraging me to reach for the stars. When i told mysel i couldn't, you said i could. I'm glad i listend to you!

Reinvent Yourself and Your Career with Confidence

I participated in a Teachers College webinar with Dr Hilary Berger, "Reinvent Yourself and Your Career with Confidence." The webinar was thoughtfully constructed, addressed concerns and challenges in a relevant and authentic manner, and left me far more optimistic about my future than I was prior to the session. Intrigued by Hilary's approach, I sought her out for individual coaching, which has been remarkably effective.

Hilary brought interesting theories together in a fresh way (psychology, adult learning) and situated them in the context of current career trends. I am a doctoral candidate in Adult Learning and design professional development programs for executives. I am alert to a common pitfall among educators whose work reflects their own interests far more than the learners' interests and needs. Hilary's workshop rose above this in a few ways. First, she understands her audience well. She assigned a good reflection exercise to be completed in advance of the session to help us focus on our needs and opportunities. During the session she interspersedthe theory with additional reflective exercises, and gave us practical tools to capture our insights and create action plan.

When working with Hilary privately I found a thought-partner to take my reflection to a deeper level and support the changes I wanted to make. Just a few months later we're celebrating initial successes and we look forward to more. I'm now referring friends and colleagues to Hilary, wanting to share this wonderful resource. I trust your alumni will feel similarly.

If you need further information, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Hilary immediately understood my situation - a mother with 3 young children not wanting to let go of her career ambitions. She has truly helped me find a balance between mothering and work, and made me realize that it's okay when one has to take priority over the other. The whole process is a journey, and one that I am so glad to have Hilary guide me through.

I came to Hilary for help when I was stuck at a crossroads in my life. Hilary gave me validation – of who I was, of what I had experienced, of my own unique challenges. This was exactly what I needed to set me free. Hilary's compassionate intelligence gave me the strength and courage to start on the road to much needed change, and I will always be grateful to Hilary for helping me find my way.

After years of being a stay at home Mom I was struggling to find a greater sense of purpose and add meaningful dimension to my life. I was looking for "what to do next" but I was lacking vision and confidence.

Hilary helped me to identify my strengths and interests and I am now moving forward on a path from which I view both my present and my future with much greater optimism and enthusiasm.

My work with Hilary has been a wonderful exercise in personal growth. I am grateful for Hilary's wise and compassionate guidance as I continue on my journey.

I met Hilary on a recommendation from a friend. At the time I wasn't sure what I was looking for or what I wanted. And I'm 100% sure my first few sessions were all babble! But to Hilary it all made sense. To say I was a little lost was an understatement. But that's exactly why my friend recommended Hilary. It's what she does. She helps "the lost" find themselves.

Through Hilary's guidance, empathy and knowledge she gave me the tools I needed to discover my potential and set me on my path. Today I'm in school finishing my Masters in Ethics and Society at Fordham University, and through connections made there I've started a nonprofit social enterprise called TEAMed up↑ for American Refugees. And while this is still in its infancy stages, what I've learned from Hilary has given me a solid foundation and a concrete belief in my capabilities to "change the world". She is amazing! And will forever be the reason I'm moving forward!

Keep on keeping on! Take that first step – find your potential!

Hilary Berger changed my life. I know, it's a pretty bold statement but I live in a community where I have never felt like I'd been able to share my feelings about staying at home in an open and honest way. I love my kids deeply, yes. I believe staying at home is the right choice if you have the choice. So I did and I'm so happy that I did… but 10 years later: "Where am I and why do I feel deep down that this is not enough?" ran through my head in some capacity daily for the last 3 or 4 years of my 10 year gap.

I registered with Hilary thinking it would force me to do the one thing that I'd been avoiding most: write my resumé. Most of us at home do not want a decade of what appears to the working world as eating bonbons and playing tennis.

Instead I found a group that was open under Hilary's guidance, to discuss this void in a warm atmosphere of acceptance, in fact of encouragement, to listen to those feelings. Hilary herself is a warm and strong, intelligent and guiding presence - knows when to speak, what to say and how to encourage without any pressure. Add the framework and exercises, testing and deep reflection and lo and behold it changed my life. I took Hilary on as a coach for my interviewing when I decided to reach high. We were role playing prior to the final round of interviews for my present position and I kept stumbling on the gap question. She summed it up perfectly after having seen me through the process. "My professional self is central to who I am". The light bulb went on and I handled the question perfectly real time, as it is true. Hilary understands from not only a professionally trained therapist's lens but as an experienced mom of four.

I am back at work full time as a Director of Business Development in Digital Marketing for a well-known research company. I am so happy to be engaged and learning and know I am where I should be. I find now a lot of women asking about my choice and never miss the opportunity to tell them about my amazing experience with Hilary. Her work is such a needed resource for those of us who just needed a guide back. I can't thank you enough Hilary!

Hilary Berger's "Work Like A Mother" course was pivotal in guiding me toward re-awakening my professional self that had been relatively dormant for 16 years as I cared for children and aging parents. The combination of group discussions with the exercises and activities Hilary encouraged us to complete on our own enabled me to better assess my strengths and interests. She provided incredible compassion, knowledge, and support as I went through the painful process of transitioning my mindset from weaker self-confidence to realizing the assets I could provide to prospective employers. Importantly, Hilary led me on the path toward balancing my desire to pursue personal interests with continuing to provide my family with nurturing and support. Always serving as a fine model "walking the talk", Hilary's key phrases would resonate in my mind when self- doubt would rear its ugly head. I highly recommend Hilary’s class to any mother who is looking to explore her identity and purpose beyond parenthood.

I took Hilary's 4-week course last spring. After an 8-year career break from corporate finance to raise my 3 kids, I was starting to lose hope about my ability to return to the workforce, and was unsure of my path. Thanks to Hilary's coaching, I've been offered employment at a large corporate bank in NYC.

Hilary helped me change my thinking process. From her course, I got practical advice and learned about valuable activities and small action steps to incorporate into my daily routine.

Her course is life-changing.

Thanks to Hilary she has given me back my confidence. Hilary gave me the tools and knowledge to leave my "stay at home mom" stigma behind and forge a new path. She has become a friend and mentor.

Last fall I had the honor of taking Dr. Hilary Berger's wonderful course: Work Like A Mother: Fast Track to Reinvention for Stay at Home Mothers at the Wilton Y. My initial obstacle in taking this course was scheduling the time and making the true commitment to take this class, but once I signed up, this six week course just flew! I was so empowered in taking this course that I even signed on for some extra sessions with Dr. Berger which helped me with job interview questions and how to perfect my elevator sales pitch.

I have been a Stay-At-Home Mother for almost 5 years. While I love what I do, with my daughter being in first grade and in school full-day, I was becoming increasingly disenchanted and frustrated with about what to do with my own life, which I very much had near forgotten about. As a a result of taking this course, I began to remember my professional self again, which had very much been stored on a shelf. I since have gotten my resume and cover letters in order, have reached out to my professional work references, and have been on several job interviews. Dr. Berger encouraged me every step of the way. I would not have done any of this without having taken the Work Like A Mother course. I have also attended several lectures at my local public library as well as a computer class on building websites.

What I loved most about taking this course was the personal aspect of it. We got to examine our Professional Identity Versus Mother's Identity, rediscovered our goals, and re-wrote the script for a Mother's Career Development. We began in the class to re-create our identities and build a current work history. We were encouraged to "Skill Up" by taking courses and mastering technology competency. We determined how to Map Out Goals for Intentional Living- such as our career exploration activities, intellectual growth, building skills, health related goals, relationship goals, goals for fun and joy (hobbies and passions), creativity goals, civic or community oriented goals, and spiritual goals. We developed Action Sheets with goals for the day in which to meet and Professional Mapping Exercises to help us identify professionally relevant activities to help us dip our toes in new activities to help us with our goals. I found extremely useful the use of RET Worksheets where we learned to take risks and manage our fear in creating new lives for ourselves.

Other benefits about taking this course including the use of Career Assessments with the Meyers Briggs and Strong Interest Inventory to determine our personality types and which types of jobs would best suit us. I learned a lot about myself through the use and understanding of these particular assessments. We also worked on Resume Worksheets and Resume Language.

I would highly recommend the Work Like A Mother course to all stay-at-home mothers who are striving to see themselves in a new light and forge new territory for themselves, but may not know where to begin. This course has made such a difference in my life. Dr. Hilary Berger is a very warm and personable instructor who cares about each one of her students and she brings so much life experience and energy to what she does. Take this course. You will not be disappointed.

I had heard great things from friends of friends about the Close the Gap Work Like A Mother class but always felt that I was too busy to commit to it. I’m so glad that I finally found the time to sign up for it and to set aside just a couple of hours a week for six weeks. As a result of the class, I finally understood why I was feeling dissatisfied with being at home and started to clarify how to bring about positive changes that would result in my professional growth but also had emotional, social, creative and intellectual benefits as well. I loved the almost one-on-one consultation time that I had with Dr. Berger. It was an amazing opportunity to assess my personality strengths and weaknesses and to develop my professional (and personal) goals. Plus, Dr. Berger’s honest and humorous style makes the class a lot of fun. The class gave me the courage and conviction to stretch myself in a totally new direction and for that I will be forever grateful!

Hilary's program is wonderful. I participated in a six- week group seminar in the fall of 2014, and the experience was a powerful one for me. Hilary’s program guides women to think about their careers from both a personal and a professional standpoint. Hilary motivated me to think deeply about where I had been professionally and about where I wanted to go. Her approach allowed me to identify specific career goals and then to take the steps needed to achieve them.

With Hilary’s program I was able to move from a feeling of being to a sense that I had some clear professional objectives and that I had a way to accomplish them. I highly recommend this program, and Hilary's guidance, for any woman who feels like she is not fully satisfied with her professional and her personal life.

I just completed my first WLAM Career Academy with Hilary and I cannot say enough great things! She has developed a fantastic program which has helped me to move from a foggy-headed noodle brain (my words) back to a clear-spoken and motivated woman looking for my next professional challenge. The tools she uses are tools I can use forever, and they have helped me to identify which life path I will go down next. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you Hilary! We are all all very lucky to have worked with you.

The WLAM Career Academy was absolutely brilliant. Dr. Hillary Berger took a huge topic (re-starting or re-focusing your career) and broke it down into manageable modules. Dr. Berger is a gifted career counselor and I was blown away by the high quality and caring industry experts who led the modules. After completing the WLAM Career Academy, I feel I have the tools and confidence to embark on the next phase. Thank you Hilary!

Hilary's counseling expertise and uplifting personality combine to create a unique resource in helping women reconnect with their professional selves at all stages of their journey back into the working world. She inspires them, challenges them to learn new skills relevant to their target industry and to the ever-changing job search process, and supports them by offering them concrete resources to learn those skills. She has created a program where each participant uncovers a career focus that reflects her core values, and translates that into a structured, goal-oriented plan for progress. And most importantly, Hilary has created a community of accomplished women who support and inspire each other.

I signed up for the Academy at a time when I was at a serious crossroads in my career and deciding whether to pursue a new career or try to bolster the nutrition business I had grown over the last few years. All of the classes Hilary offered through the Academy were exactly what I needed: a well rounded mix of classes that included everything from resume preparation to social media training. This included a rare chance to have experts in their fields teach us in simple, easy to understand ways. The best part though was the networking that occurred. I didn't realize that I would be with such a strong group of like minded women, all in different stages of career. Hilary has a true vision for women who are in career transition want and need.

One of the most important gifts I gave myself this year was permission to be completely lost and admit it - without guilt and shame. Then I allowed myself to be “rescued” little by little by Hilary and her methods, by the patient coaching from a talented group of professional women who teach the skills I needed to acquire, and by the new friendships I made with women brave enough to show up and be vulnerable along with me. Thank you to all of them. Who knew what was waiting for me?”