CityView Magazine

Photograph by Katie Gard An early focus on career goals is common among many successful women. Unfortunately, it���s a lesson many of us have to learn, er, on the job. ���You can���t just be a jack of all trades,��� my college career counselor once sighed during a conversation with me. His frustration at my refusal to write a paper detailing my career goals was evident in his flabbergasted tone and the two vertical creases that had implanted themselves between his frowning, bushy eyebrows. ���Why not?��� I whined. As a twenty-four-year-old undergrad who���d lived a bit more than your average freshman, I still couldn���t grasp the merits of defining what it was I should do with my life. Well, in the years and mistakes that have passed since that discussion, I���ve learned how to answer those questions. It turns out that taking the time to assess my personal goals ��� to really evaluate what I wanted in a career ��� could have saved me years of misguided professional decisions, and a decidedly damaging lack thereof. As a woman in the workforce, I had done myself a serious disservice by floating haphazardly through a mishmash of post-graduate startup careers, each more dismal, unsatisfying, and soul-crushing than the last. Every time I donned black pumps, every time I stopped for coffee on my morning commute, and every conference call I suffered through reminded me just how far I was from the woman I knew I could be. But, for some, single-minded focus comes more naturally. Dr. Cara Wadon Neurosurgeon, Carolina Neurosurgical Services Colonel Kirsten Brunson, Judge Advocate General officer, Fort Bragg Photograph by Sandra Strickalnd Goal-oriented Captain Mary Katherine Schuster, an attack helicopter pilot for the U.S. Army, was first introduced to the military while living in Belgium, where her parents worked at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels. The first in her family to pursue a career in aviation, she said, ���My family has a long established history of government service and it was important to me to do my part to serve.��� The same focus was true for Dr. Cara Wadon. ���I dreamed as a teenager of becoming a neurosurgeon,��� said Dr. Wadon, now a successful surgeon practicing at Carolina Neurosurgical Services in Fayetteville ���I was very fortunate to have my dream come true,��� she said,��though ���fortunate��� doesn���t seem to account for her years of hard work, scholastic study and hands-on training. Colonel Kirsten Brunson, a JAG (Judge Advocate General) officer at Fort Bragg said she saw a court room show on television at a rather young age and knew that the law was her calling. She started her career off in Hofstra University���s ROTC program before transferring and graduating from the University of Maryland. CityViewNC.com | 53

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