Returning to work after a career break? Here’s what stay-at-home moms get told: the years home don’t count, you’ll come back at a lower title, and you should take whatever salary is offered. Leah Tilstra rejected all three — and walked back into engineering at Abbott with a senior title and a sign-on bonus after twelve years raising four kids.
How did she pull it off? She refused the apologetic part-time re-entry, used one old work relationship to land the right R&D team at Abbott, and walked into salary negotiations with a clear number and the willingness to be told no. The mantra she carries into every high-stakes room: “They didn’t know me yesterday, but they’ll remember me tomorrow.”
🎧 A NOTE ON THIS EPISODE: This is a replay of Leah’s original conversation — with a brand-new life-and-career update from Leah at the very end. Stick around after the interview for where things stand now, on both the family and career fronts.
ABOUT THE GUEST: Leah Tilstra is a mechanical engineer and senior R&D engineer at Abbott, working on artificial heart valves in the TAVI space. Early in her career, she climbed quickly through medical device roles at Abbott, Zimmer Spine, and Boston Scientific, then made the intentional decision to step away for twelve years to raise her four children and support her family’s move from Texas to Minnesota. During her career pause, she didn’t just stay at home — Leah ran a nonprofit preschool, built a sewing business, coached middle school athletes, and led a moms’ community group.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
[00:14:59] The pharmacy wake-up moment that pushed Leah from “testing the waters” to returning to work full-time
[00:22:18] The networking move — an old cube neighbor spotted in an org chart — that helped a stay-at-home mom return to engineering after a 12-year break
[00:38:03] How to negotiate salary and a sign-on bonus after a long career pause — even when the company offers less
[00:40:34] The one-line confidence script she repeats before any high-stakes room or interview
[00:27:46] The “Shit My Wife Does” Google Doc that names the mental load every mom is carrying
[00:54:53] Life update: dropping her oldest at the Air Force Academy, and a hard-won promotion to staff engineer
GUEST LINKS
Instagram: @illegallyblondie — https://www.instagram.com/illegallyblondie/ Facebook: @illegallyblond — https://www.facebook.com/illegallyblond LinkedIn: Leah Tilstra — https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-tilstra/
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