Cerena Loves Cosmo!

Cerena R. has been with Cosmopolitan since 2009. She started as a Customer Service Manager, and after returning from maternity leave decided to step down and assist the Customer Service Department to allow more time with her new family.  When asked to explain to us why she likes working here, here’s what she had to say: “I have been fortunate enough to work for Cosmopolitan over the past 2 ½ years. What I discovered at my job was by far more than I ever imagined would be possible. For the first time in my life, I was truly challenged, to learn and grow not only as an employee but also as a person. I have already been taught numerous skills that I will carry with me throughout the rest of my professional and personal life, but the one thing that stands out above it all, is how amazingly caring my employers are. My time at Cosmo began like everyone else, answering phone calls for our clients. Thankfully, there were mounds of opportunities available for advancement and after a short time I worked my way up through a few different positions and ended up becoming the Customer Service Manager.  Then about a year later, I put my employer in an undoubtedly hard position, as I became pregnant with twins!  With all pregnancies there are challenges and mine was no exception. During the beginning of my pregnancy I began having some breathing issues. When these problems occurred at work I was panicked, scared and guilt driven knowing I needed to miss work in order to see a doctor. But the guilt was purely my own doing because when I showed up in my boss Michelle Weiss’s office in tears and trembling, I was assured everything at work would be fine.  And at that very moment she cancelled a client meeting she was on her way to and drove me straight to the ER, where she stayed with me until a relative arrived. Thankfully, I was able to return to work the following day, even though she strongly encouraged me to take some time off. Then a little while later, at 25 weeks, I wound up on bed-rest. This meant I was no longer able to come into work. Instead of making me feel bad for the imposition I was putting everyone in, I was given a new opportunity to continue to work from home. Our IT Director, got me all setup with remote computer access where I was able to work on tasks right from my bed. Then I hit another bump in the road at 28 weeks when I went into pre-term labor. After a week in the hospital, the labor was stopped but I was simply no longer able to work. I didn’t know what this meant for my work life, and I don’t think Cosmo did either. Again, I was surprised when I wasn’t pressured in any way. I didn’t have to tell them what I would be doing with my job by any certain time, and was just told we would “work something out” and “not to worry” about it. More than just hearing these words, I really felt they were coming from a sincere place. This was extremely comforting, particularly because I didn’t have any short-term disability and was only able to utilize the 12 weeks of FMLA. The lack of stress from my work really helped; I didn’t deliver my twins until 36 weeks! When I was finally able to come back to work, I was greeted with an open door. Our President, Margo Soll Weiss, made it clear that if I needed more time at home, she was more than willing to extend the personal leave she had granted me. And when I still wanted to try and come back, she let me know if it ended up not working out just yet, to just let her know and we could figure something out. Once I was back, the pregnancy was over, but there were new challenges in my life.  I now had very limited work hours available, an incredibly difficult schedule that needed to be worked around, and the whole plethora of challenges two new babies comes with. But in the end, I was able to set a schedule that worked perfectly for my family, which includes the flexibility for all those extra challenges. I’ve been working again for about a month, and have been incredibly happy. There really isn’t anything better than working for people who exhibit how much they care about you and your well-being. I will forever sing praises about those at Cosmopolitan for the exceptional people they are!”