Photo by Joselyn King The Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday hosted its “Community Catalysts: Women Driving Change” luncheon in the Capitol Music Hall ballroom. Those participating in a panel discussion were Stephanie Paluda, community relations manager for Expand Energy; Joelle Moray, founder and CEO of Integrate Wellness; Sharon Campbell, executive director of the Wetzel-Tyler Chamber of Commerce; and Olivia Litman, marketing director for the Wheeling/Ohio County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

WHEELING – A panel of local professional women pretty much agree that there is no such thing as a work-life balance.

The Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday hosted its “Community Catalysts: Women Driving Change” luncheon in the Capitol Music Hall ballroom.

Offering their thoughts on a number of issues facing professional women were a panel of local experts – Stephanie Paluda, community relations manager for Expand Energy; Joelle Moray, founder and CEO of Integrate Wellness; Sharon Campbell, executive director of the Wetzel-Tyler Chamber of Commerce; and Olivia Litman, marketing director for the Wheeling/Ohio County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Jennifer Materkoski, president of the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce, served as moderator.

Among the questions posed to the panel was one asking them what they do to maintain a work-life balance.

Moray said she thinks it is important her young children see her working.

“I get asked all the time – because I travel all the time – how do you manage that and be a mom?” she said. “You know how many times my husband has been asked that question? Zero. My husband has never been asked, ‘How do you manage your busy life with being a dad?’ I get asked that question six times a week.”

She doesn’t believe there is such a thing as a work-life balance.

“I think we have different domains of life,” Moray said. “There is a part of you that’s a professional. There’s a part of you that’s a daughter, a spouse, a parent, a friend. Gen X was raised to believe that we’ve got this. We just get it done.

“You can do it all – maybe just not at the same time on the same day in the same way,” she added. “We’re never going to have balance. But it’s about what you can give and where can you give it on any certain day.”

Litman defined a work-life balance for her as “who else is going to do it?”

“It’s about my day and what it looks like,” she explained. “It’s what my work looks like, and what my kids’ days look like. I even keep my husband’s schedule on my calendar because he forgets about stuff.”

Litman said often she will be attending a gathering, and someone begins a phrase with “I need someone to ….” She finds her hand automatically goes up.

“I’ll do that. I don’t know why. I don’t know why I do these things,” she continued. “I don’t know why I volunteer myself so much to be on a committee, to bring the cookies, or bedazzle your outfit for the stage.

“I guess I can do those things, so I’m going to do them … Nobody else raised their hand. Who else is going to do it? When I think about the balance you are supposed to have – I really don’t think you’re supposed to have it. You just do it.”

Campbell indicated she also didn’t think there was such a thing as a work-life balance.

“You have to figure that out on your own – what feels right for you,” she explained. “You’re going to find out what that is for you. ‘Work-life balance’ is just a phrase that came out and everybody felt they had to do it.”

Campbell noted she only sleeps about four hours a day and her phone is always on – mostly because family members are scattered about the country and there is always a chance she will get a call about them.

“Life goes on 24-7, and I try to make myself available for that,” she continued. “I work around that and on top of that sometimes. That’s my life-work balance.”

Paluda, a native of Washington, Pennsylvania, spoke of the path she took to her current position. She noted she was the first in her family to go to college, and she changed her major five times during her course of study at the University of Tennessee.

After competing successfully in a speech competition, a professor convinced her she had the skills to make communications her major.

Later, fate landed her a job in the oil and gas industry in which she went out and explained the fracking process at county fairs and public gatherings.

“I didn’t know anything about anything,” she said. “I just really listened to the experts who knew what they were talking about and always put myself out there.

“The lesson for me was being comfortable is discomfort. I was a communications major surrounded by gemologists and engineers, and I was just always comfortable saying, ‘I don’t know, but I’ll be back’,” Paluda said.