What Linkedin Doesn’t Say About Elizabeth Rago, a breadwinning content strategist raising 3 teens

Liz, 48, is in the midst of building The Modern Domestic Woman, raising an autistic child, and starting to save for retirement.

This senior marketing and content strategist specializes in RFPs, women's lifestyle content, and career coaching

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Elizabeth Rago, 48

St. Charles, Illinois

Let’s connect: Linkedin • Instagram • Facebook

File under: Entrepreneurship, grant writer, teens, mental health, recovering people-pleaser

How I earn a living: By day, I work full time as a grant and RFP writer in the out-of-school time space. By night, I’m building a lifestyle brand and safe space for the whole woman called The Modern Domestic Woman.

Previous locations: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Oak Park and North Aurora, Illinois

Relationship status: Married 23 years to a man who supports all of my whacked-out business ideas. We have three kiddos together who are 18, 16, and 13 — a lot of hormones in this house.

Partner’s age and profession: He’s 50 and likes to kick, stretch, and kick #iykyk. We recently swapped roles so he could take a sabbatical to discover a new career path.

Income: Just enough to pay the bills

Expenses in a nutshell: Trying to feed three teenagers, I feel like most of our income goes toward food. It would seem that we could get by easily with my pay, but we are still recovering from our financial past. When the kids were little, both my husband and I were in car accidents, which turned into epic amounts of medical bills that broke us.

We also have a child with special needs, who requires a variety of mental health, OT, medications, and medical expenses — which is 100% worth the investment in our child. But it’s also a major challenge.

BUT, we have a roof over our heads, are able to pay our bills and buy food, so we are very thankful.

Primary personal debts: Mortgage, one car loan, my school loan

Retirement savings as of December 2024: Ugh, I hate this question, but I’ll be transparent. We just started rebuilding our retirement. The complicated life events I mentioned caused my husband and me to use our retirement to recover from a myriad of medical bills and lack of pay due to job loss.

It plagues me at the moment and I have a loop of shame going through my mind every time I think of money. I am working on that with my therapist.

Work remotely or onsite? For my day job, I work remote. Side convo: as a freelance writer, I was working remote before working remote was cool. I started freelancing almost 20 years ago and that helped us avoid childcare expenses because I could work from home and be with the kids.

With The Modern Domestic Woman, I work both remotely and in person for outreach and events.

A typical weekday schedule in a nutshell:

• I start my day listening to a 15-minute “devotional” podcast while I make my tea. I believe in a higher power and need all the help I can get to act right during the day. ;) Then I write in my daily mental health tracker.

• Work on MDW and any freelance clients from 5–7 a.m.

• My husband and I tag team school dropoff, so sometimes I do mornings.

• Work from 8 a.m.–5:30-ish for Right At School, my day job. We’re deep into our busy season right now, so that 5:30 turns into 6 a lot.

• Once I get off work, the husband and I catch up, and we complain about who’s going to make dinner. Then we tag-team dinner, too, while watching a movie that has a good soundtrack like Lord of the Rings.

• 6–8 p.m. Hanging with the kids, laundry, tidying up, helping with homework

• The husband and I like to watch some kind of show at night. At the moment it’s a carousel of true crime docs, Severance, the Dune series, Silo, and American Primevil.

• 9:30–10:30ish Check my MDW social and email to see if anyone left messages for support services and message them back.

• Go through my daily mental health tracker.

• But my work week doesn’t stop there! My weekends is where I build out my content for MDW and do any freelance work. I don’t mind working on the weekends but long for the day when I can truly take weekends “off”.
  

  

  Check out the mental health tracker

Ideal schedule: I honestly have no idea and I’m almost laughing as I consider this question. I’ve been building MDW for 12 years, so I have always worked two jobs side-by-side. Maybe just a 40–50-hour-a-week schedule?

I don’t mind working at all as long as my work reflects my values and fills my cup (and my bank account, let’s be real). My dream is for MDW to be able to support my family and focus on building that empire.

How much my career is tied to my identity: 50%

My happiness meter: I lean to the happy side of the spectrum, but only if I get enough sleep. I’ve learned that getting enough rest is crucial for my well-being. I would say an 8/10 because I’ve been through a good chunk of stress with my family over the years. The combination of knowing what’s important and 20 years of therapy helps boost my happy meter on a daily basis.

My career trajectory: I LOVE coming up with new ideas, so over the years I’ve tried to launch a few businesses. Most failed but one stuck and that’s The Modern Domestic Woman. BUT, because we’ve always needed insurance and a predictable paycheck to pay for the expenses of life like all those medical bills and therapies for my kiddo with special needs, it’s simply been about survival when it comes to my career trajectory. Just now, at 48, I feel like I have a little more control over my career trajectory and I’m excited to see it bloom!

My superpower: I have resting nice face and an innate ability to make people feel at ease, connect with them, and get them to tell me their stories.

I also have never-ending ideas when it comes to content.

Available for: Hugs. LOL, at this time, my schedule is packed and I am building the MDW empire, so I have no bandwidth for any more freelance clients. I am, however, available as a content and career consultant for virtual coffee.

I have virtual “Tea Time” multiple times a week with women who are looking for a sounding board, considering changing careers, need support services, and don’t know where to start.

I’d like to connect with: Female investors and women who have experience running a non-for-profit. There are two sides to MDW. A lifestyle media company and the support services side. I already have an LLC for the media company, but I’m applying to be a non-profit for the women’s health and mental health support services entity. As a grant and RFP writer, I know there is so much money available on a local, state, and federal level. Being awarded these grant monies, I will be able to help women pay for crucial services like therapy, and medical and legal expenses.

Menopause journey:

“I’m deep into the throes of perimenopause. I noticed a difference in my body right around 42, and by 45 I was in my gynecologist’s office saying “something’s off.” However, her suggestion was to join Weight Watchers and start running because I was ‘too young’ for menopause.”

It makes my face hot to think about this conversation. I’ve spent the last 3 years researching my various symptoms, educating myself about perimenopause, and discovering valuable resources like The Midst to help me feel less alone.

Healthy habits:

• Keeping a daily mental health tracker has been a game changer. It’s the way I purposefully check in with myself in the morning before the chaos starts and the evening, when I can quiet my thoughts and reflect.

• I switched from coffee to tea about three years ago and it’s been wonderful for my gut health.

• Remember when I said I work remotely? That means HOURS in front of a computer. I have a walking pad that I’ve been using for four months and now I walk about 5–6 miles a day, five days a week! Plus, I’m down a full pant size and my sleep is so much better.

• My digestive system has been a challenge for me for years. After going through colonoscopies and getting the diagnosis of “everything’s fine” one too many times, I took my diet into my own hands last year. For the most part, I only eat fruits, nuts, vegetables, and some lean meats. No dairy (crying) or processed foods, unless it’s a special occasion, and then I have to go straight back to my diet. This is difficult but the more I practice this way of eating and get creative with it, the better I feel.

• Tapping into my higher power is definitely a healthy habit. I know people feel uncomfortable talking about this topic, but I think it’s OK to be transparent. My higher power embodies love and compassion — full stop. And taking time to reflect on my values and the intention behind what I do on a daily basis connects me to a being greater than me and keeps me grounded in what matters most. My family, helping others, and making a positive impact on my little corner of the world.

• I’ve recently embraced a sober-curious mindset and I am 12 days in. I feel absolutely fabulous in my body and mind so I’m going to keep this habit up.

Bad habits:

• COVID really presented the idea that having cocktails during the week was a good choice and I fell right into that way of thinking. I hated feeling sluggish and gross the next day after a glass or two, so I recently cut this habit and know it’s a good choice for me.

• Mulling over conversations in my mind hours (and sometimes days) after they’ve happened.

• Overcommitting. Where are all my people pleasers at? I LOVE helping and sometimes love helping beyond my own physical capacity. I needed to establish boundaries and redefine my values over the last six months to help me from over-committing and burning out.

Career timeline in a nutshell

2001–2003: Customer Service and Sales Rep, Sanford Corporation

Straight out of college, I applied for any and every job I could — and took the first offer I got because I had bills to pay and I didn’t have the luxury of waiting. I started working for the Sanford Corporation (think Sharpie markers and Papermate felt-tips pens) and worked in customer service in the call center. Shortly after, I transitioned to inside sales.

Takeaway: Sanford was going through a rebrand as they had been acquired by Newell-Rubbermaid, and I was assigned to collaborate with our e-commerce department to create internal/external product information tools during rebranding. I was fortunate that both of my bosses saw my writing as an asset and assigned me projects like editing, creating product copy, and a variety of customer communications.

Why I left: I wanted a career where I was making a difference in someone’s life instead of “just selling pens.”

2003–2006: Admissions Counselor at Aurora University

I loved being an undergraduate admissions counselor at Aurora University. In this role, I was responsible for recruiting full-time undergrad students, which involved a lot of one-on-one counseling, application reviews, interviews, and campus tours. I also walked students and parents through the financial aid process.

On the marketing side, I collaborated with the communications team to create materials for the university and made sure the website was error-free and consistent with the brand.

I interacted with diverse groups, from students to alumni to faculty, and enjoyed representing the university in a positive way. Another part of the role was working with student ambassadors, training them, and helping foster relationships between them, faculty, and staff.

Takeaway: I was really good at this job and could have made this my career if not for the fact that I was emotionally immature at the time. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I was not a nice person to some of my co-workers. In fact, I was a workplace bully. I hate that I was mean to others as this is the polar opposite of how I live my life today.

“It’s completely embarrassing to admit, but I was not a nice person to some of my co-workers. In fact, I was a workplace bully. I hate that I was mean to others as this is the polar opposite of how I live my life today.”

Why I left: My husband and I relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for his career.

Late 2006-early 2007: Six-month career gap

We moved to Wisconsin and had just given birth to my son. After writing in my last two positions, I felt confident that I had solid writing samples to start freelancing. I started writing press releases for a Federal Bank and reaching out to small businesses asking them if they needed help writing web copy or creating their newsletters.

Elizabeth Rago and her son in 2007

2006–present: Freelance writer and content strategist (the timeline from here on out will be a rollercoaster because freelance)

To say I was driven to be a writer and make a living is an understatement. My dream was to write for a women’s lifestyle magazine, so I started pitching to all my faves — and received no responses. …

I shifted to building more of a lifestyle resume and got my first client, a yoga studio and soon after, a vegan restaurant. I created marketing material and copy for a variety of projects, and I loved it.

Nineteen years later, I’m still freelancing and helping people with their content strategies.

Other freelance highlights:

• I’m proud to say that over the last 19 years, I’ve freelanced for small businesses, ad agencies, newspapers, and large corporations, providing health, wellness, and women’s lifestyle content. I was also a syndicated columnist but was laid off due to Covid.

• I worked several part-time jobs to supplement my income when my freelance work dipped including working the front counter at Two Wild Seeds Bakery in St. Charles.

• In 2013 I was in the cast of “Listen to Your Mother,” where I read a piece called “Under the Big Top” at the Athenaeum Theater in Chicago and was part of the Illinois Farm Families “Field Moms” reporting on agriculture in Illinois.

With Amy Guth

• Freelancing has led me to meet so many amazing people and writers like Amy Guth, above. Amy is an amazing film producer, screenwriter, journalist, and speaker. …