If two things defined Elizabeth Perez, it would be that she’s creative and she’s intentional. As a kid, she would always play around with art and design, and even to this day, she still meddles around with photography and writing. But there was another side to her that was equally as practical and strategic. If she ever committed herself to a project, she would always see it all the way through.
She was able to combine her creativity and practicality at Duke University, where she worked as its director of strategic planning and development for the anesthesiology department. She spearheaded a project called the DREAM campaign that supplied bridge funding for pilot studies investigating anesthesia practices. The campaign was so successful that other high-profile Ivy League schools inquired about her, asking how she created her model to supply funding for anesthesia research.
But after working at Duke for 13 years, she and her family moved to Texas a few months before her oldest daughter, Abigail, enrolled in kindergarten. Now she faced a choice: continue juggling home and work life, or leave her job and stay at home with her children. Elizabeth decided to spend more time at home.
“I’ve been on both sides of that fence,” Elizabeth expresses. “Ultimately each individual has to decide: Do I stay in the middle? Can I juggle both? Or is there a time or a season that I need to jump off the fence and get on the other side?"
Elizabeth will be discussing her life, her career and her choices that brought her to the panel of Southlake Style’s 2019 Women’s Luncheon on Oct. 10. As a stay-at-home mom, Elizabeth wants to communicate to other women that is a choice they can make. It doesn’t have to be permanent, and even if it is, that's okay.
“I think as women, we want to relate to each other in our struggles," Elizabeth remarks. "The reality is we’re all humans, and we’re all flawed. There really is no magic formula. There are no limitations.”
Want to hear more from Elizabeth? Purchase tickets for the fourth annual Women’s Luncheon online at 817Tix.com.