From left, Christine Malafi, partner at Campolo, Middleton

From left, Christine Malafi, partner at Campolo, Middleton & McCormick; Neela Mukherjee Lockel, CEO of American Red Cross on Long Island; and Christine Riordan, president of Adelphi University, during a panel discussion with women CEOs at the HIA-LI’s 6th annual Women’s Leadership Breakfast in Hauppauge, December 2, 2016. Ā Photo credit: Ed Betz.

Panel: Women Should ‘Outsource’ to Achieve Career/Life Balance

by Ken Schachter

Conflicts between advancing in business and maintaining a family life can be overcome with the right tactics, women executives said at a business breakfast panel sponsored by HIA-LI on Friday.

ā€œThe things I don’t want to do, I outsource,ā€ said Judith Heller, assistant vice president of physician recruitment at Northwell Health. ā€œGive yourself permission not to do the things you don’t want to do . . . Find a service that will do your laundry for you.ā€

Speaking at the Hyatt Regency Long Island in Hauppauge, Heller said that although she is willing to cook, ā€œpeople don’t want to eat my food.ā€

Fresh Direct, the grocery delivery service known for its prepared foods, ā€œwill save your life,ā€ she said.

Another panelist, Christine Malafi, a partner at the Ronkonkoma law firm Campolo, Middleton & McCormick LLP, acknowledged there are times when she serves a family meal ā€œand we look at each other and say, ā€˜We’re going out.’ ā€

In a similar vein, Karen Davis-Farage, president and co-owner of the Pole Position indoor electric go-kart tracks in Farmingdale, Jersey City and elsewhere, said that her children understood that she would not be coming to all of their events.

Davis-Farage said she hired nannies who shared her ā€œcore valuesā€ and she ceded parental authority when she was absent for business. When a school called because one of her children had hit pupils at school, she told the educators that her nanny was ā€œthe mother during the week while I’m at work.ā€

Beyond family issues, Christine Riordan, the president of Adelphi University, said that women need to overcome their fears and learn to take risks.

ā€œYou have to face what you’re afraid ofā€ by gaining skills and crafting strategies, she said. ā€œWomen are more afraid to put themselves out there than men are.ā€

Riding the inevitable career dips also may require women to ā€œbe able to rebound and do it gracefully.ā€

But in the end, Riordan said, ā€œsuccess comes in many, many forms, particularly for women.ā€