Kissa

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Kissa* felt very fortunate that her family could afford for her to transition from working a career outside the home to a stay-at-home mom and caregiver of her aging mother. 

In the years that followed Kissa loved the extra time she spent with her daughter, but in the Fall of 2023, Kissa was keen on returning to the workforce. Even though she earned a college degree in sociology and had years of experience in customer service, Kissa wanted a new challenge and set her sights on the finance industry.  

“I wanted to go back to working, and at the same time, learn about the banking industry. I just didn’t want to take the wrong path, so I was Googling jobs with the key words for banking, tellers, and entry level loan. During my job search, Fresh Start Women’s Foundation showed up on my screen.” 

When Kissa found the Women in Finance cohort through her research, she loved the fact that Fresh Start offered so many short-term programs and free resources.  

“I was looking for training, free training especially. I didn’t want to spend five years going back to college and I thought this course would give me a broader spectrum of opportunities.” 

Kissa was determined to get back into the workforce quickly and applied to the February 2024 edition of the Women in Finance cohort at Fresh Start.  

“I want a career. I wanted to kick the door open and get a job in the banking industry.” 

She was so excited to be accepted into the Spring cohort and to begin the six-week journey with other women looking to break into the same industry. As the cohort began, Kissa kept an open mind regarding which sector of banking would ultimately work best for her long-term.  

“Fresh Start gave us a different perspective. It helped me find exactly what I wanted to do. At the start, I knew I wanted to get into banking, but I had no idea what exactly to focus on.” 

While learning the foundation of the banking industry through the Women in Finance cohort, Kissa also received help from Fresh Start on her resume. She was surprised that in the years she was a stay-at-home mom, the industry standard of resume formatting had changed so much.  

“I had to change my resume, and I was shocked because it looked different than four years ago. I wasn’t questioning Fresh Start, but I just wasn’t sure, then I realized that Fresh Start shares the industry standard. I just missed the change when I was a stay-at-home mom.” 

With help from Fresh Start staff, Kissa was excited to put her new resume to the test.  

“Before the cohort, I submitted two applications for jobs, and I got rejected because I was doing my resume the old way. Then I updated it with the help of Fresh Start and when I revamped my resume, even though I didn’t have that working experience yet, I got interviews for those job openings.” 

As she began to venture out of the home for her career training at Fresh Start, Kissa did, and always would, prioritize her role as a mother. She was challenged during the cohort by the unpredictability of issues that popped up with her daughter.  

In the last year, her daughter had been the victim of bullying at her high school. The verbal and emotional badgering got so bad, that her daughter’s performance in class was declining. Teachers started reaching out to Kissa and wondered if her daughter had a learning disability. Kissa was adamant with school authorities that the bullying was the reason for her daughter’s classroom struggles, but to no avail.  

“The challenges during the cohort were a lot of things that were out of my control, my daughter’s school calling me, my daughter calling me, it was constant. Every day I would have to deal with something new.” 

During the middle of the Women in Finance cohort and the height of the spring semester, Kissa made the decision to help her daughter move high schools.  

Amid those hard times, the sisterhood that Kissa had found at Fresh Start rallied around her.  

“When I missed a few days because I was helping my daughter move schools, a few of the women reached out and asked if I was okay or if I needed anything. I felt glad that we had this class of women, and I’d love to keep in touch with all of them after this cohort.” 

With her daughter at a new school, Kissa faced the approaching completion date for the cohort, and she was resolute in her decision to finish so she could work for a company that valued its employees and invested in their professional development.  

In many of her previous positions, Kissa found herself getting comfortable within her role and eventually felt stuck with no upward mobility.  

“Being comfortable isn’t bad, but I’m in a stage in my life where I want to do more things. I want a career, but I lost myself along the way. I was in a hamster wheel. Now, my daughter is about to become an adult, and I can do other things. There’s great opportunity in this moment of my life.” 

Kissa valued the importance of leading by example and especially wanted to show her daughter all that life has to offer when you have the courage to jump at opportunity.  

“For her to see that I’m going back to the workforce, looking professional, getting home on time and doing everything every day. I think it allowed her to see that I want to go back and have a career. And children may not say things, but they can see it.” 

When she arrived at Fresh Start, Kissa felt like she had lost a bit of herself and her voice along the way. The Women in Finance cohort helped her find her voice again. Thanks to Fresh Start, Kissa had a new sense of empowerment and could see a new future ahead of her. 

“I have this amazing picture frame or movie in my mind that I can see myself doing. I don’t have any difficulties. I’m a citizen, I speak English, I’m fluent in Spanish, I have the skills, I’ve worked with the Hispanic population, so I’m going to use that. Now, it’s about claiming that part of me. I’m doing my own path.” 

For other women looking to return to the workforce, she hopes they find a community of people who will support them like she did.  

“If you have mentors and surround yourself with people that will educate you, you can realize your goals and dreams, and that’s what I did at Fresh Start.”