Working for someone else made it hard to care for my daughter. So I quit

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

Chasing a career in law was a surprise to Niti Prakash — and her family.
"I come from an Indian family background, anyone who knows a lot of Indians knows there is always a push for engineering or being a doctor," says the 44-year-old from south-east Queensland.
"But I was horrendous at maths … and really enjoyed legal studies."
Eventually specialising in property law, Niti enjoyed the "boring document stuff".
But having her daughter changed how she felt about the work she was doing.
Niti's daughter was born with multiple disabilities, which has required a lot of her focus.
"Working as a lawyer in private practice, you don't always get the understanding you need to take time to go to appointments.
"I couldn't do a lot of things my other colleagues could, like attend evening networking events.
"That was really tough."
That inflexibility, along with her growing passion for the disability sector, is why Niti recently made the decision to leave law and her work in the disability sector, and focus full-time on her own independent disability consultancy.
We spoke to Niti about a career change in her 40s, and what taking the leap into self-employment has been like, while also being the sole carer for her now tween daughter.
These are her words.
Every milestone with my daughter has had challenges.
She is my everything and as a single parent, I have walked every step of this journey with her; navigating those complex systems, fighting for every inch of support.
And learning firsthand how daunting the NDIS [National Disability Insurance Scheme] can be for families like mine ... juggling that with work hasn't been easy.
My husband and I separated when our daughter was three.
That separation threw my world, because I originally wanted to drop down to part-time work to manage all her appointments.
Suddenly I had to maintain all the finances, so I went back to full-time work.
COVID forced a lot of law firms to realise people can work from home, and they're not watching Jerry Springer. But back then things weren't as flexible.
And medical specialists don't work according to your schedule — you take the appointment when it's on offer.
I had to ask for a lot of unpaid leave to manage those.
Even though no-one would tell you that is the reason they are annoyed, you just felt the heat: "Oh, she's taking another carer's day off."
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I've been a lawyer forever and a day. I went from big firms, to small firms, to in-house and government.
In one of my jobs I was working as property lawyer, and was advising on specialist disability accommodation.
I felt really passionate about it because of my daughter, so I decided to see if I could step into the disability sector.
I was successful getting a role in that space and on the side started my own consultancy.
Just recently I've gone full-time with my business, and I've been loving it so far.
At the start I felt sick about it. I had — and still have — imposter syndrome.
And I do have fears about making enough money to make ends meet.
I am keeping in the back of my mind that I may have to accept going back to employment part-time or full-time, but am giving it a few months and seeing what comes from that.
One of the biggest shifts is I don't feel guilty anymore.
No-one ever made me feel that way, but I always felt like I wasn't giving 100 per cent to my job.
Just recently I took my daughter to get a new hearing aid, and it felt so freeing.
I wasn't going to have to explain the situation to anyone. I just took her out of school early, and simply didn't answer any business calls during that time.
This morning, I was able to make pancakes for my daughter, and she was so happy.
That's one of the benefits of working for myself, I can do more things with her.
That gives me a lot of joy.