A Career COO’s Two-Decade Race Ends in a Quiet Wednesday Morning

For Cohen, a 52-year-old Boston-based operations professional, the climb to chief operating officer required a constant negotiation between professional ambition and family life. When her children were infants, she famously traded a full maternity leave for a four-day work week and a firm-funded night nanny, driven by a fear of missing out on major corporate transactions. Her husband, a dentist, remained entirely in the workforce during that period, leaving Cohen to navigate the relentless pressure of a high-pressure industry while raising two boys just 14 months apart.

That cycle of constant availability shifted this summer. With one son entering his junior year of college and the other beginning his freshman year, Cohen stepped away from her role entirely. She recalls a piece of advice from a senior colleague years ago: anyone can hold a baby, but teenagers require a different, more present kind of guidance. Now, instead of managing complex real estate deals, she spends her mornings in cafes, listening to her sons process the transition to adulthood. For Cohen, the freedom to sit for an hour and a half on a Wednesday morning without checking a calendar represents a success far more tangible than any quarterly report.