The Ambition Interviews
It wasn’t that long ago that we were ready to rule the world.
The Ambition Interviews: A Table of Contents
Seven stories about women who were all set to rule the world—and how their careers shook out
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Katie Martin / The Atlantic The Sexism They Faced
One colleague’s constant refrain: “When are you going to have babies and quit?”
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Katie Martin / The Atlantic Beyond Maternity Leave
For all the focus on parental leave as a barrier to women’s professional ascent, women’s real struggle with work-parenting balance grew—alongside their children—years after their maternity leave ended.
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Katie Martin / The Atlantic How Much Ambition Can a Marriage Sustain?
Power couples are a rarity. Instead, many high-achieving women have husbands who do their own opting out.
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Katie Martin / The Atlantic Rethinking What Success Looks Like
For women who left the workforce, their ambitions didn’t disappear so much as found a new target.
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Katie Martin / The Atlantic When Women Choose Children Over a Career
“I went to a job interview after my first daughter was born and cried the whole way home.”
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Katie Martin / The Atlantic Having It All—and Hating It
Some women prioritize career. Others prioritize their kids. It's those who try to juggle both who often feel they aren’t succeeding at either.
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Katie Martin / The Atlantic What Happens to Women's Ambitions in the Years After College
When we graduated in 1993, my friends and I had big dreams for ourselves. More than two decades later I decided to find out if anyone’s had come true.
