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(finding solace, cont.) After Sept. 11, Noel-Ney called a counseling helpline American Express had set up for its employees. The person at the helpline emphasized that Noel-Ney needed to do what was best for her and Pierce. So when friends of hers living in Madison invited her to come out and stay with them, Noel-Ney accepted, viewing it as a safe haven of sorts. She had been to Madison before and enjoyed it. She thought it might be just what she and Pierce needed to overcome the lingering effects of Sept. 11. A friend set up an office for her to work out of in Madison and she and her young son made the journey. “Pierce and I got on a train and made a little trip of traveling from New York to Chicago. We stayed in Madison for 10 days at first and I saw a different kind of lifestyle here,” Noel-Ney says. In New York, Noel-Ney was used to a fast-paced career filled with long hours and a hectic schedule. She rarely ever picked her son up from school before 7 p.m. and mornings were a race to get to the office. Even weekends were often filled with work, with Noel-Ney frequently working Sundays to stay on top of her workload. Pierce couldn’t go to and from school by himself, and Noel-Ney was even nervous to let him play in the hallway of their apartment without supervision. In Madison everything was different. Noel-Ney had ample time in the evenings to spend with her family and her weekends were seldom spent at the office. Pierce rode a bus to and from school by himself and was free to ride his bike around the neighborhood and play with other kids outside. “One day I was just standing at the window watching Pierce play outside, and I started crying. It’s just a different way of life here,” Noel-Ney says. “That’s the appeal.” Yet while Noel-Ney’s personal life was gradually healing, her career at American Express was rapidly beginning to crumble. Noel-Ney’s managers became frustrated with how far she was from New York. Things finally peaked when, according to Noel-Ney, in a conference call one of the directors at American Express snapped at her, saying, “What the hell were you thinking to leave?” “I just lost it. I said that we all have different priorities, but my priority is my son and to feel safe. I am working and doing all the things I was asked to do and how dare you yell at me for leaving,” she says. “But the whole situation made me think about what is really important in my life.” Noel-Ney decided she wanted to stay in Madison and began looking for a new career. A friend put Noel-Ney in touch with Karen Crossley, the vice president of the University of Wisconsin Foundation in Madison. This meeting blossomed into numerous job interviews for Noel-Ney, who was initially hired by the UW School of Veterinary Medicine. When a position at the UW Foundation as a director of development for the College of Letters and Sciences opened, Noel-Ney applied for the job and got it. |
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