For the past two years, I worked full time with two different school districts in Washington.

Now, with Riyaan here, I knew I couldn’t do something full time. So I’ve been working with recruiters to find something part time. Because, y’know, a resident’s salary + two kids + living in Chicago means it’d be nice to have a little more income flowing in.

I interviewed with a school district yesterday. The way this position would work would be that the school psychologists AT the schools would be doing in-person testing and in-person meetings. They’d utilize my position to help score rating scales and write up record reviews. All the things that are easier to do as a remote school psych. (Which, also, works for this phase of life I’m in. Because I can’t predict when the baby’s gonna wake up from a nap. And I can’t quite be mid-testing session if he needs me).

I thought I’d be able to put Riyaan down for a nap prior to logging on for the interview.

10 minutes to time, I knew this kid wasn’t going to fall asleep.

So, I swaddled him, held him in my arms, and logged in to Zoom.

I had him tucked below the laptop during introductions. So all they could see was my face. And then when it was my turn to talk about myself, I said something along the lines of, “I wanted to be completely transparent here and let you know that I’ve got my 2-month old with me.” I lifted him up so they could see him. “If this is a distraction, I’m happy to reschedule but he’s nearly asleep here and I don’t think it will be disruptive for me.”

The two women smiled at me.

One of them said, “Should be no problem at all,” and then proceeded to explain what the role would entail.

She then introduced the other woman, who was the lead school psychologist.

The lead psych said, “Divya, I’ve had to do an interview with an infant on my lap before. I get it. We’ve all been there at some point!” And then we moved right along to discussing rating scales and their software system and all the things.

The baby cooed a couple times and then eventually fell asleep in my arms.

And, all I gotta say about that experience is…

…women kick ass.

I mean, not only did they gloss over this situation (when I’m sure there are several people that would have been like, “NOPE, NOT QUALIFIED. SHE WOULD BE TOO DISTRACTED TO GET THE SHIT DONE!”). But they also wanted to work with me – despite it. They thought I was a great candidate for the position. Even with an infant on my lap.

I say this all the time, but every time something like this happens, I just wonder why women aren’t in ALL THE LEADERSHIP ROLES ALL OVER THE DAMN PLACE.

So grateful I was able to show them – with my mama hat on – that I can wear a lot of other hats too.

And even more grateful that they were able to see that. Genuinely see that.