As a young girl, I dreamt of becoming a pilot of F16 airplanes. I was attracted by the adventure, the complexity, high tech and high speed of the planes. The fact that it was a male dominated profession only added to the challenge.  The ‘command and control’ environment of the army was less attractive to me. I settled my dream with a parachute jump at the age of 16 and moved on to dreaming about becoming a doctor, an engineer or a university professor in a STEM field.

When I was in my mid-thirties, I devoted a lot of time to my work and further career development. I loved it.  At the same time, I wanted to start a family. Several people in my personal environment (not in the company!) challenged me on this. How would I combine my career with a family? Would I be a ‘good’ mother? Was I ready to make that ‘choice’? With the strong support of my husband, we chose to have both: start a family and continue my career. After our daughter was born, we moved first to Norway and more recently to Switzerland for new career steps for me. It is a great journey for the three of us. We were also lucky that Norway was our first international assignment. Working and living in a country which is advanced in promoting gender equality at work and at home helped us to find our balance as a family.

When asked to make a choice between having a family or having a career, know that you can have both. And keep in mind that not only your work environment will impact your career opportunities; your support network at home is equally important.