A powerful reflection on how motherhood transforms resilience, ambition, and empathy in healthcare professionals, revealing the profound strength found in balancing parenthood with purposeful work.
Her Story
About Kaley
Kaley Nevin serves in healthcare communications for Tidelands Health, the region's largest healthcare system, which includes more than 70 outpatient locations and four hospitals. Her responsibilities encompass public relations, social media, internal communications, and related areas. She has been in healthcare communications for approximately five years and in the broader communications field for over a decade. Nevin began her career as a journalist before moving into conservation communication with a state agency in South Carolina, where her passion for nature and wildlife aligns with her personal interests as a birder and conservationist. Her personal experience navigating the healthcare system due to her own struggles with an autoimmune disease guides her patient-centered approach and commitment to advocacy.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kaley
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to remaining curious and finding ways to say yes to opportunities that challenge me. My career has taken me through journalism, public information, healthcare communications, and conservation, and each experience has taught me something different and valuable, both professionally and personally. I’ve also learned the importance of building genuine relationships and being someone people can trust.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I’ve received is to never be afraid to outgrow something. A career doesn’t have to follow a perfectly linear path, and what was right for you five years ago may not be right for you today. I’ve learned to pay attention to what energizes me, pursue opportunities that align with my strengths and values, and not let fear of change keep me in a place where I’ve stopped growing.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You deserve that spot. You deserve a seat at the table just as much as anybody else. Know your worth and always keep that. There is no one else in this world that can ever make you feel something without you giving them power to feel that way. Stay true to yourself, your passions, your heart. Always do the right thing and you will be successful.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity, authenticity, curiosity, and kindness are the values I try to lead with in both my professional and personal life. I believe in doing what you say you’re going to do, treating people with respect regardless of their position, and remaining open to learning from others. I also value purpose. I want the work I do to have meaning and contribute to something bigger than myself. Ultimately, I want to be someone who is dependable, genuine, and makes a positive impact on the people and communities around me.
Her Content Hub
Articles by Kaley
The first 60 days: What returning to work after becoming a mom has taught me
How Motherhood Redefined Resilience, Ambition, and Compassion in My Healthcare Career
There is a different kind of exhaustion that comes with returning to work after having a baby.
It's not the exhaustion that comes from staying up too late or recovering from an illness. It's the exhaustion that comes from waking multiple times a night, sometimes every 45 minutes, to comfort a tiny human who depends entirely on you, then getting dressed and showing up to work as if you had a full night's rest.
For many new mothers, those first 60 days back at work feel like living two lives simultaneously. I know they have for me. One life is measured in deadlines, goals, and performance metrics. The other is measured in milestones, kisses, cuddles, and hours slept.
And just when you think you've found a rhythm, the four-month sleep regression, teething, or a developmental leap arrives, turning nights into a series of wakeups and mornings into an exercise in determination. And yet, something remarkable happens during this season. You discover you are capable of more than you ever imagined.
Before becoming a mom, I thought resilience was pushing through a difficult project. I thought multitasking meant managing competing priorities. I thought empathy meant understanding someone else's perspective. Motherhood redefined all of those concepts.
During those first weeks back at work, I still had goals to meet. There were campaigns to launch, strategies to execute, and expectations to fulfill. The work didn't stop because I had a baby. What surprised me wasn't that I could still succeed professionally. It was that I could do it while carrying so much more.
I learned to operate on broken sleep. I learned to pivot quickly between strategic conversations and updates from the nanny. Most importantly, I learned that success no longer meant doing everything flawlessly. Success meant showing up, adapting, and giving my best in whatever circumstances the day presented.
Motherhood hasn't made me less ambitious. If anything, it has made me more intentional. My priorities are clearer. My time is more valuable. It's also given me a new appreciation for working mothers. Every day, women are leading teams, caring for patients, solving problems, and making meaningful contributions while carrying countless unseen responsibilities at home.
Perhaps the greatest lesson motherhood has taught me is empathy.
Our NICU experience at Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital changed me in ways I am still uncovering. Sitting on the other side of healthcare, not as an employee but as a mother uncertain of what the future would hold, gave me a deeper appreciation for the clinicians who care for families during their most vulnerable moments.
I experienced firsthand how a reassuring conversation, a nurse's compassion, or a physician's ability to explain the unknown can completely change someone's day. It reinforced something those of us in healthcare often say but don't fully understand until we live it ourselves: every patient and family has a story we cannot see.
Returning to work after that experience made me a better communicator and team member. It reminded me that every person who walks through our doors, whether patient, family member, or employee, may be carrying burdens invisible to everyone around them.
In healthcare, empathy is not a soft skill. It is essential. It shapes how we communicate, how we care for others, and how we build trust. Motherhood has taught me many things, but perhaps the most valuable is the ability to see people more completely, to understand that strength often exists alongside struggle, and to lead with greater compassion.
For someone working in healthcare, I can think of no more important lesson than that.
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