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How one mom is making tough career decisions as her family grows

“I actually did have to drop down my hours,” said Julie Yang, a nurse and a mother of six. “Now I'm feeling kind of anxious about it.”

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Daniel Thao and Julie Yang (top right) with their first five kids and Thao's parents.
Daniel Thao and Julie Yang (top right) with their first five kids and Thao's parents.
Courtesy Daniel Thao

For the last several months, Marketplace’s Kristin Schwab has been working on a series called Lived Economies. She’s keeping up with a dozen different people and families across the country, from steel workers to pharmacists, from adults just entering the workforce to people in retirement, to get a better sense of what Americans' financial lives are like and how they change over time.

Among those families are Julie Yang, her husband Daniel Thao, and their six kids in St. Paul Park, Minnesota. When Kristin first started chatting with the couple, they were still expecting their sixth child, who arrived in June. But, even for a family of this size, a new little one brings new challenges.

Julie joined Kristin to chat about what it’s like to support a family of eight, and her own recent career decisions.

Use the audio player above to hear the conversation.

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