Becoming a freelance court reporter helped this mom find herself

While six months pregnant with her second child, Kathryn Gordon of Spokane, Washington, began training to become a freelance court reporter.

“A court reporter is the person either in the courtroom or [sometimes] remotely over Zoom in legal proceedings, who is in charge of overseeing the transcript,” she said. “And as a freelancer, you can kind of pick and choose the jobs that you want, so it's very flexible.”

Before having kids, Gordon had worked a full-time corporate job in marketing. “Motherhood can just be so all-consuming,” she said. “I missed having anything for myself.

Now, Gordon typically takes on two to three freelance court reporting gigs a week. It’s part time — around 10-15 hours a week, but the knowledge that she could scale it up if she needed to has helped her feel more financially independent. She also makes social media content explaining what her job entails.

“I feel it's just kind of unlocked — this sounds cheesy — but this new woman who's capable of things that I previously never thought that I was capable of,” she said.

Click the audio player above to hear Gordon’s story.