Two Weeks In
Chapter Leadership Brief 10.18.24
By Melissa Gomez
Vice President of Philanthropy at the NY Hall of Science
Starting a new job is never easy. After six years at my last organization, the thought of leaving gave me mixed emotions. The excitement of new challenges and higher pay and title were enticing, but the anxious feelings of having to make new work friends, learning new systems and operating procedures (including using a Mac as my work laptop after a lifetime of PC?!), and the general questions of “Will I like it there...” made my job search remain a thought for almost a year before I committed to a job search.
Saying goodbye to the people who helped me survive the pandemic was also hard. In 2020 I was single and lived alone. The isolation I experienced was unlike anything I ever encountered in my life. My few lifelines existed in my work, where at least I could Zoom call my colleagues, have regular meetings, and get through as best I could during working hours. And they were there for me— from bringing me groceries and masks when they were scarce during my own bout with COVID during the first week of the shutdown, to running our first virtual gala and virtual summer camp— we harnessed our creativity to meet both program participants and donors where they were. And we were successful on several fronts.
I’m not sure if it’s even healthy for work to play this significant of a role in your life, but for me, my employer and the people I worked with were the center of my universe.
And then, pretty unexpectedly, I met my husband in the fall of 2021.
Our relationship was a whirlwind and we were engaged after only 6 months! And suddenly working late more often than not wasn’t my cup of tea. Sacrificing the opportunity to make more money out of some pseudo sense of loyalty didn’t make sense either. I wanted to travel, build a life, and look to the future with him… my job was a means to that end and no longer needed to be the center of my life.
And that’s when the shift began. I knew that I wanted to grow not just in title but in salary and responsibilities; I wanted a new challenge and most importantly, I wanted to feel good about my work, but also to be able to hang it up at the end of my work day and go home to my husband. I could no longer work somewhere that consumed more of me than I wished to give.
It was finally time to start looking!
It didn’t take long for me to source opportunities, and I found myself on a few interviews until I finally connected with my new organization. From the folks I met throughout the interview process, I could tell that they were passionate about the organization and its mission. I could also tell that this was a place where I could do great work, build new relationships, and make a difference, and still have enough left in my cup to pour into myself and my husband.
So, two weeks in is a short amount of time to assess whether this feeling will remain, but it’s not necessarily about my current employer, it’s about me. Now that my priorities have changed, regardless of the employer, I know who and what I want to exist in the center of my universe. And after a long time, I think I’m finally starting to get the work/life balance thing right.
Melissa was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and holds a bachelor's in Sports/Entertainment/Event Management from Johnson & Wales University, and a master's in Public Administration with a concentration in nonprofit management from Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus. She has been a successful fundraiser for seventeen years and currently is the Vice President of Philanthropy at the NY Hall of Science. She is an alum of Youth Inc's Rise Academy for Leaders of Color, an award-winning ten-month-long program for BIPOC leaders in the nonprofit sector. She currently serves as a board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals NYC Chapter where she co-chairs the Professional Advancement Committee, and is a member of the Audit and IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) Committees.
In her spare time, Melissa is a long-suffering NY Knicks fan and enjoys music, travel, writing, watching WWE & AEW wrestling, and is a proud member of the Bey-Hive. She currently resides in the northeast Bronx with her husband, Cecilio.