Gwen Shuster-Haynes
The Write Stuff
When last we spoke with Gwen Shuster-Haynes in 1988, a layoff from her job as a financial analyst at the United Bank of Denver had provided her with an unexpected opportunity to try out stay-at-home motherhood with her then 21-month-old daughter Alexandra and to explore her ambition to write.
Today, Shuster-Haynes is the proud mother of three children and the proud author of four novels. Her intense satisfaction over these accomplishments is heightened by the fact that neither has come easily.
"My original - and very ambitious - plan out of HBS was to have a mail-order business, kids, and write a book every three years," says the lively Denver resident. "But the loss of three pregnancies and thirteen years on the infertility treadmill made me doubly committed to motherhood."
The determination of Shuster-Haynes and her husband, Mark Haynes, eventually led them to Nepal, where in late 1994 they adopted Bobby, an undernourished 20-month-old whose birth mother could not afford to care for him. Less than six months later, a tip from HBS classmate J. Thomas Kolepp (MBA '84) led to the adoption of American-born Sarah, a premature infant who needed round-the-clock attention.
Given her husband's busy career as a trial attorney in corporate litigation, Shuster-Haynes has been the primary caregiver for their children. She maintains a disciplined writing schedule, as well, by carving out time while the children are in school and by working late at night. "Twice a year, I also lock myself in a hotel room for three days straight in front of a computer," she laughs. Although she hasn't yet been published, she is busy creating a new mystery subgenre - the business mystery - in which a gutsy MBA protagonist encounters murder and intrigue in the corporate world.
Looking back on the attitudes she expressed in her first Bulletin interview, Shuster-Haynes notes, "I find it so arrogant that I said, ŒMy husband and I will have the good fortune to afford quality child care.' Assuming everyone naturally wants to put kids in child care! That didn't turn out to be the case when I was faced with the reality of what I'd sacrifice with my children by doing so." Although she admits to feeling "a twinge of envy" when she hears classmates talk about work projects or travel plans, she says she has no regrets. "On the happiness barometer, I'm way up there," she says, noting proudly that in the fall her children entered middle school, kindergarten, and preschool. "Now I've also got a little more time to write," she adds.
Shuster-Haynes says her experiences in Nepal have helped shift her perspectives on wealth as well. "I may not have the net worth of some of my classmates, but after having witnessed such extreme poverty," she says, "I realize how incredibly rich I am." She and her husband also support the care of their son Bobby's siblings in Nepal, and Shuster-Haynes is helping raise funds to build a pediatric wing for a hospital in the Kathmandu Valley. "Success to me means maintaining balance and making a difference in the world," she says. "By that count, I definitely Œhave it all.'"
by Marguerite Rigoglioso
How flexible is the worklplace?
* Forty-five percent of employees report having some say over their scheduled work hours.
* About 19 percent spend at least part of their regular workweek working at home.
* Two-thirds of workers can easily take time off during the workday to address family or personal matters.
* Half are able to take a few days off to care for sick children without losing pay or vacation time.
Source: The Families and Work Institute's "1997 National Study of the Changing Workforce."