Megan: My dear friend Sonia is joining us today for SheBoss, and I am over the moon, tickled pink—tickled purple, actually. One of the interesting things about this particular SheBoss episode is that this is the second time we have had a guest on twice. It doesn’t happen very often, but I think when there are amazing and interesting things happening in our world, when things change and life happens and we take different steps, there are beautiful stories to be told along the way. So I am so excited to share what you’ve got going on recently, because it’s a lot—and I’m just pumped, and you’re amazing. So I’m so glad that we’re here to tell your story again.
Sonia: Well, thanks for the invite to come back a second time, and it’s gonna be a blast to share all the details of what I’ve been up to—yes, and my second career pause.
Megan: I love it. I love it. We’re gonna talk about the pause in a little bit. But Sonia came on SheBoss when we— we had just launched post‑COVID as a way to engage with the community and really introduce these amazing women that I was so fortunate to meet, like you, to the community—because you have awesome stories to tell. There’s been a lot that’s gone on since then. So let’s start—for those who didn’t catch your initial episode—let’s just begin with a bit of background on your history. You started in marketing, moved into leadership roles, and now you’re at a transition point—which is very exciting. But let’s go back to the beginning. Tell us more about you.
Sonia: Perfect. I started my career in healthcare marketing and PR at Crestwood Medical Center here in Huntsville, and I spent eight years there. Absolutely loved it—loved the work. PR is my first love professionally, and it’s what my degree is in. I also have the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR).
Fast forward—after Crestwood, I earned my MBA. From my experience there, I grew very interested in leadership, largely because of my boss and mentor, Laurie Light. She taught me so much about leading people with empathy, respect, and kindness. We had an incredible team.
Once I had my MBA, I felt it was time to explore a new move. I joined a startup here in Huntsville and spent another eight years there. I rose through the ranks quickly into executive leadership. I had many failures—what I like to call “career bloopers”—which I think everyone experiences. Toward the end of that first tenure, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That knocked me back on my heels. I faced a salary reduction and a title demotion due to performance issues from chemo brain—chemo brain being the cognitive fog chemotherapy can cause. I would be in meetings, working on projects, and sometimes I couldn’t find words or form sentences. My performance was suffering.
Fortunately, it was only a salary reduction and title demotion, because at that time, I needed stability—income, healthcare. After chemo, I moved into long-term treatment, and eight years later, I’m still on that. I also wanted to preserve my home for my two boys; I was now the single head of household, having experienced a divorce 18 months before diagnosis.
I met with a trusted advisor after the salary change, and over coffee she gave me two words that changed my life: “Do nothing.” She told me: “For one year, do nothing. Don’t quit your job. Don’t volunteer for things you’re not ready for. Prepare.” She also cautioned me that cancer doesn’t just affect the patient—it affects people around you. I stayed for that one year, then resigned.
That led into my first career pause, which I funded completely with savings. I stepped out of the workforce for six months and took a few consulting gigs with nonprofit organizations in Huntsville to help buffer income. When I was ready to return, I accepted an Executive Director role at Bio Alabama—a statewide biotech association.
I spent 18 months there, and it was a blast. I traveled across the state, met with board members. Our board numbered 30, which is sizable for a nonprofit. But we were focused: our goal was simple—get the organization on the map. At that time, few knew of Bio Alabama or its work. We created a strategic plan. But six months in, the world shut down. Emails stopped, phones were silent. I wondered if I’d made a mistake. Then I leaned into my PR roots: we mobilized board members, launched aggressive social media campaigns, set up Google Alerts for pandemic-related work in Alabama. Slowly, the revenue flywheel began turning.
One day I got a call from someone I’d never met—an organization doing pandemic work. They asked, “How can we get involved with Bio Alabama?” That call sparked momentum. We started getting inquiries, memberships rose, and the board asked me to help resurrect the statewide conference. The challenge: we couldn’t meet in person. It was uncharted territory. But with resourceful board members, we delivered a three-day virtual conference full of national speakers, elected officials, and collaborative outcomes. It became a career highlight, and it’s part of my book story—how we did it with a 30-member board.
Megan: Moments of pride like that—was it ingenuity, reaction speed, or the board’s adaptability? Looking back, where did you see momentum come from?
Sonia: The momentum came from leaning into my marketing and PR skills. It was essentially a PR campaign executed over months, built from strategy and authenticity.
Megan: That’s awesome. So you looked at things through that lens, treating it as survival mode.
Sonia: Exactly. That mindset was foundational. When I joined, I was upfront—“I don’t know biotech. I know marketing and PR.” That transparency resonated with the board.
Megan: That’s awesome. So after you left Bio Alabama, what happened next?
Sonia: Leaving Bio Alabama was a surprise to a lot of people. I loved the work we were doing, and it aligned perfectly with my personal mission—to support cancer researchers and support patients. I wanted to better understand how I could support that community.
After the conference, I received a phone call from my former boss, inviting me to come back to the organization I had left before my first career pause—to be CEO. Of course, I had to go through the board interview process, but to receive an invitation of that level is something I don’t take lightly. Not many people receive that in their lifetime. I also felt like it was an opportunity to redeem myself and take my career to the level I really wanted—to lead a team.
At Bio Alabama, it was just me and a board—and a small team of interns. But this opportunity would present new challenges, new problem-solving experiences that I craved to take my career into the next phase.
After consulting with my parents—two of my most trusted advisors—and my two sons, who are also top advisors and mentors (my 16-year-old and 12-year-old mentor me and they do a phenomenal job at it), I talked to all four of them. We discussed the pros and cons, the stress, the cadence, the workload, and what that would mean. They all supported me in the decision, so I chose to interview—and I got the job.
I returned to a workplace where I had experienced a salary reduction and title demotion, but I had also worked with my team through that. We came up with a solution that allowed me to recover fully from chemo brain and still contribute to the team in a meaningful way.
I think that’s an important point to make, because at face value, when someone hears you stayed at a company after a salary reduction and title demotion following a health crisis, the knee-jerk reaction is to assume it was all negative. People ask, “Why did you stay?” But I want to share that story more broadly to say: sometimes taking a step back is not a negative.
Sometimes if your boss or superior sits down and says, “We can no longer justify X,” you have to remove the emotion, seek counsel from trusted advisors—people who’ve maybe experienced this themselves or have been on the side of delivering that kind of news—to fully understand the scope of what’s going on. Because it’s not all about you.
Honestly, the salary reduction and title demotion was probably one of the best things that could have happened to me. It gave me the time and space I needed to do the hard work that only I could do to prepare.
Megan: I want to stay there for a second. You are very courageous—and I’ve always admired that about you. Whether that’s because you’re a mom of boys, your upbringing, your life experiences, or the punch-in-the-gut moments you’ve had to get back up from—there’s something there.
You intentionally and purposefully put yourself back in an environment that might have felt uncertain. To go back there and recognize the opportunity—that’s powerful. I’d be curious: when you talk about “doing the hard work,” what did that really look like for you? What did you discover? I think that’s a life lesson everyone can benefit from.
Sonia: Stillness is sometimes the strategy. And to your point, we as individuals may be the problem—or we may be contributing to a broader interpersonal dynamic within a workplace in ways we don’t necessarily realize.
I wanted to be on the path to executive leadership. And as an executive leader, you’re required to have a high level of emotional intelligence—paired with disciplined emotional control.
So leading up to my first pause, I started getting feedback from peers and colleagues—people I had worked closely with. I asked them for candid feedback and created a safe space for them to share it.
Megan: Was that hard for you?
Sonia: It’s hard. But you have to understand—at that time, my hair was just growing back. I had just walked through fire. There was nothing anyone could say that would penetrate my skin. I craved the feedback because I wanted to be an exceptional leader of people.
It required hard work on my part—to sit down with peers and hear their constructive criticism. Everyone was very gracious. It didn’t come from a malicious place. It came from love and support. They shared openly, and I took notes.
Once I exited for my first pause, the first thing I did was hire an executive coach. I’ve worked with the same coach on and off for six years now. I gave her the feedback I had received, and she helped me catalog and inventory my goals and objectives for the next phase of my career. We talked about pros and cons, non-negotiables, things I was willing to negotiate—salary, culture, work-life balance.
We spent a lot of time on emotional intelligence and emotional control. We did scenario planning—where we’d talk through real situations and what the ideal response would be from a leadership perspective, to align with organizational goals and help move both the organization and the individual forward.
Megan: What stood out most from those conversations? What surprised you about yourself?
Sonia: A few things. One colleague told me, “Sonia, I mean this in the nicest way, but sometimes you can be a bull in a china shop.” And I knew exactly what he meant.
I brought that to my executive coach and asked, “How do I throttle that?” Her advice was, “Sometimes you have to be the bull in the china shop—especially as a leader. But sometimes you don’t.”
Another piece of feedback came from a young woman I had the opportunity to manage and work alongside. She shared that sometimes she didn’t feel supported by me.
So with my coach, we talked through how to set healthy boundaries with the people you manage—so they feel supported, while still being held accountable. That was huge.
As we transitioned into talking about my career path and goals, my coach helped me narrow it down to the industries I was most passionate about: healthcare, biotechnology, and nonprofit work in the human services space.
Knowing that helped shape the types of roles I started seeking—and that ultimately led to my role as Executive Director at Bio Alabama.
Megan: Yeah. That’s awesome. And to think—you don’t know what you don’t know, right? And to ask for feedback and then be able to work within that… I think life is a constant learning journey, and we’re on this ongoing evolution of learning about ourselves, other people, and different perspectives.
I don’t know about you, but I actually enjoy getting older—minus pulling my back out when I sneeze—because I feel like I have a greater appreciation for certain things in life. Truly. And to your point, I’ve never used similar words as this, but I totally get what you’re talking about—how your sons are your trusted advisors.
Jack, my youngest, has obviously been side by side with this business the whole time. The other day he gave me a piece of advice. He said, “Mom, sometimes when I mess up at football, the coach just tells me to get right back up. And you’re going to do better and be better.” He said, “That’s what you gotta do.”
Sonia: To that point, Megan—to use a sports analogy—we should incorporate that into the business world. It’s not my expectation of anyone that I lead that every single day they perform at a Patrick Mahomes level.
It’s just not possible. Our brains and mental capacity aren’t designed to operate at a high level every single day. That’s why rest and recovery are critical components of your professional life. Setting healthy boundaries allows time for that. Even in sports, just like Jack’s coach said—his coach isn’t expecting him to be flawless every play.
If he’s a receiver, he’s going to miss more balls than he catches. If he’s on defense, he’s going to miss more tackles than he makes. It’s not realistic to hold a player to the expectation of flawlessness. So why do we, as high-performing professional women, hold ourselves to that standard?
Megan: Sometimes you just need to relax a little, right?
Sonia: Sometimes you need to kick off your heels, relax your shoulders, and go for a walk. Do a meditative walk. Listen to music. Sit in silence. Journal. Get it out of your body—get it out of your head in a healthy and productive way. Allow yourself rest and recovery.
If you talk to an athletic trainer, they’ll say for their athletes that nutrition, hydration, and rest are key. Recovery helps prevent injury, improves performance on the field, and leads to the team achieving their collective goals.
Megan: We have a lot to learn from our young sons. Let’s continue with you coming back and becoming CEO. What did that outlook and clarity look like for you in this role? You’d had time to rest, reflect, and do some work on yourself. What did that look like when you came back for the second time and stepped into that leadership position?
Sonia: I came into an organization that had a solid foundation and an incredible team—many of whom I had worked with before. They had seen me fail miserably as a young manager. So the first thing for me was: I have to build trust with everyone on my team—because I needed them more than they needed me.
That looked like holding routine one-on-ones with every team member. We talked about where their head was at—because they were also coming out of the pandemic. Then, I asked them, “What do you expect of me?”
They gave me three things: communication, transparency, and support.
I took those three things to my executive coach and said, “How do I deliver these?” Because this is what my team said they wanted. It wasn’t anything flashy. It wasn’t fancy coffee or office perks. It was those three simple things—and I worked on them all year.
The first year I returned as CEO, I removed all noise and distractions. I was CEO and I was Mom. Those were the only two titles I wore. I focused on my team, building trust, and coaching them to problem-solve and collaborate effectively.
There were a few “paper curtains” between departments that we tore down to improve communication. I also watched for unproductive behaviors. Slack, for instance, can sometimes derail business goals.
Because our team was fully remote, they missed the in-person social time. I encouraged them not to problem-solve over Slack. Pick up the phone. Have real conversations. Our Slack usage dropped, and they started using more effective communication tools.
Megan: That’s great. And it helped your team become even more connected. I’d love to hear about how you transitioned into your second pause and this next exciting phase.
Sonia: Leading up to my second pause, the board had commissioned me with four big goals. Within 18 months, my team and I had accomplished the first one. That quickly led to achieving the second. I won’t go into detail out of respect for the organization and confidentiality, but within 24 months, we had reached the third goal too.
My team was phenomenal. We made some tough decisions along the way—that’s part of being a leader. But we did it.
As we approached the fourth and final goal, I knew it would be the hardest. We had the support, and I had verbally committed four years to this role when I returned. Some people asked why I set that limit, and it’s simple: I’m a breast cancer survivor. I didn’t know what my future would hold, and I wanted to leave room for other life experiences.
As we entered year four, we began succession planning. We hired someone to eventually step into my role—my right hand. She excelled in areas where I was weak, and together we formed a dynamic team. We took on the fourth goal together.
Unfortunately, we didn’t reach that goal. We failed.
That was a moment where I had to ask: “Am I the right person to accomplish this?” I believed I was. I was ready to take another stab at it.
But in the end, the decision wasn’t mine.
I was offered severance and released from my duties. And I walked away proud.
That severance funded three months of my second pause. It preserved the six months of savings I had set aside, giving me the ability to take a longer pause and really prepare for what’s next.
Megan: And I’m so excited about what’s next. Sonia has been quietly working on something that’s been brewing for years—eight years, to be exact—and we’ve had the honor of watching it come together behind the scenes. Now it’s ready to launch: Mamie Ruth & Co. Tell us everything!
Sonia: During my second career pause, I founded my own company called Mamie Ruth & Co. I’ll explain the name here shortly, but it has been percolating in my brain for eight years. Ever since I received my cancer diagnosis, I witnessed and observed things that I had no clue were challenges or barriers for professional women. A health crisis is one of those. I wanted to do something. I wanted to have impact. After you receive a diagnosis, you’re in a very emotional state—so that’s never the ideal time to launch a company. I did blog a little and share parts of my story; writing was very therapeutic for me.
With a high-demand career, I worked full-time through my cancer treatment—so my boys saw their mom getting up and trying to live a normal life. I was a mother of two small children. I was under tremendous demand. I couldn’t stand up a business or push forward impact in the cancer, healthcare, or medical crisis spaces at that time.
As my career continued evolving, the idea remained in my mind. But when I entered my second pause, I finally had the time and space to dig deep and do the hard planning. I began putting my business plan on paper, talking with you and others, and leveraging resources through Flourish. I consulted trusted advisors to find the right path.
As my plan took shape, writing a book became a key pillar of the business. I thought it might be a year out; I wasn’t sure I could finish it on the timeline I hoped. Working with Flourish, we began curating the Mamie Ruth & Co brand. “Mamie” honors my great-grandmother Mamie Fowler, “Ruth” is from my grandmother Ruth Simmons, and “& Co” honors all the women (and men) who have helped me along the way. It’s not exclusive to women—but to those whose stories will benefit from exploring tough topics, navigating life, and returning focus to work only we can do for ourselves.
Megan: That’s so powerful. One thing we talked about offline was your LinkedIn headline: On Pause. To people who don’t know you, they might miss the significance—but to those who do know you, it carries weight. You’ve spoken about stillness as strategy and the power of pause. You also said you were in very high demand in life. That phrase struck me—especially for women, we tend to pile on tasks. We overwhelm ourselves. It’s worth pausing to assess: what direction are we headed? Are we even in the right place before marching forward?
So tell me about the book. What can people expect?
Sonia: The title is Pause. Sometimes Stillness Is the Strategy. The book is in three parts:
- Family — a historical deep dive into my upbringing, the influences of my great-grandmother, grandparents, and parents, and how their stories shaped me.
- Hard Work — I share experiences, observations, and lessons from my career journey.
- Faith — not in a prescriptive or religious way, but how I source strength, purpose, and grounding.
I wrote it for my sons—so they will know where they came from. People have said, “Sonia, you’re too young to write a memoir.” But being a cancer survivor reframes that. I don’t want to wait until 70 to write it—what if I miss the chance? The message is there now. I’ll always have the option for a second edition.
Megan: That’s beautiful. So when is it launching? What’s next for Mamie Ruth & Co.?
Sonia: The book releases October 20—my 45th birthday. It’s a birthday gift to myself. I’m not buying flowers; I’m gifting my memoir.
Megan: That’s incredible—happy almost birthday!
Sonia: Thank you. It’s not easy. It’s been hard, painful, layered. But the resilience is there. We learn how to pivot, how to reflect, how to refine our ability to become our best selves. I admire how you’ve poured yourself into this next chapter of your life.
We go way back—our first time meeting was when you worked at a nonprofit and I was at Crestwood. We’ve grown a lot since then. From the sidelines, I’ve watched your courage, grit, tenacity. You take on big things—and you do them well.
Megan: I believe Mamie Ruth & Co is going to help women in so many ways. As you age, wisdom takes root—not because we’re more intelligent, but because perspective matters. That’s something I hope we teach our kids too.
Sonia: Absolutely. In stillness, we find insight. When we pause and ponder our experiences, we see how they shape our goals moving forward. Life is hard work. No one gets an easy ride. We get dealt situations we never saw coming, but every time they do, we have a choice: respect, empathy, kindness… or apathy, disrespect, brutality. Both require effort. I’ve always chosen the first path.
Megan: I have a question out of curiosity—thinking about tangible ways to “execute the pause.” I’ve found, through therapy, that writing and journaling can be very helpful. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy reframes memories from childhood so that emotions can be redefined. That concept is mind‑blowing and therapeutic. So that’s one tactical thing—a journal. But what are some other practices that come to mind for you when you think of pause as strategy? Meditation? A hobby without agenda?
Sonia: Regardless of whether a listener is pausing their career or not, you can move through a systematic approach rooted in business principles. First and foremost, when preparing for my pauses, financial stability was number one. Lifestyle creep impacts all of us—you need to inventory your life, see where your money is going, and cut what you don’t need.
As you plan a pause—whether it’s for a month, a year, or even a breath—you have to adjust your spending to match changing expectations. That’s Step 1: managing lifestyle creep and financial risk. I cut unnecessary expenses: TV subscriptions, unused gym memberships, etc.
I once purchased a beautiful Lexus GX. Going into my second pause, I couldn’t justify that payment, so I sold it and bought a 1977 Ford F‑100 Ranger for $5,800. I own the title (though with a truck that old, a title isn’t always required). It matches me better—makes much more sense than a luxury car under constraint.
The financial piece is big. Stabilize finances. Get rid of debt. Offload risk. Sell what you’re not using. Don’t buy the toys you think you “need”—they only add stress. Minimize, minimize, minimize.
Second: plan your narrative. If you’re pausing your career, consider how you’ll frame it. You’ll likely get three responses:
- “Oh my goodness—are you okay?”
- “I wish I could do something like that.”
- “I wish I would have done that.”
Prepare your messaging. My first pause was about recovery, chemo brain, and being with my boys. When I was diagnosed, they were eight and four—they felt cancer alongside me. After diagnosis, we traveled a lot, but I later had to reduce travel because of budget and timing. As they entered formative years, peer time became more important than vacations. We have the memories, the photos, the conversations. Investing in each other was always worth it.
Third: think about reentry into the workforce. Whether your pause is caregiving, a sabbatical, or a forced break (severance, layoffs), you must consider how you’ll return. Build your narrative. Maintain and activate your network. Apply. Be open to roles you didn’t imagine. Sometimes you’ll need to start your own venture—like Mamie Ruth & Co. Or you’ll be invited into a leadership role because of your reputation. The opportunities exist—you just need to go after them leveraging your strengths in marketing, PR, or whatever skill set you have.
Megan: Yes, exactly. I love how you solicited feedback from peers early on—that’s crucial. Many people listening may face job reductions or transitions. Using that time to gain clarity, find peace, and chart your path forward is so important.
Sonia: If I may close with one thought: as high-performing women, we often form very intimate relationships with our careers. Careers support our finances, our healthcare, our families. But we must reframe that relationship. We can hold big goals, but we can also own our career without being beholden to one organization. The workplace can change, but your career belongs to you. Develop your own strategy and goals outside organizational constraints. Be responsible in your role, but don’t ignore your own ambitions. That’s how you build confidence and emotional control—especially amid unpredictable workplace dynamics.
If you strip away title and role, who are you? That’s worth exploring. Don’t let your job define your identity.
The book comes out in October. My first keynote is then, too. I’ll announce the book tour soon—hoping for up to 10 stops by year-end.
Megan: That’s amazing. Sonia, congratulations. It’s been such a privilege to watch this journey unfold—and I’m so proud of you.
Sonia: Thank you. And thank you for helping me bring Mamie Ruth & Co to life. It’s beautiful to see it come together.
Megan: Thank you so much. We’ll see you all next time.