114 Letter from Liza Berdychevsky
Dear future women tourism researchers,
I hope this letter finds you well and full of joy, inspiration, and passion for an academic career in the tourism field!
As a reflexive scholar, I have to disclose that writing a chapter about achieved contributions and a mentoring letter to future generations of women tourism scholars was not an intuitive task for me (even though it was a useful reflection exercise). Unlike some of the more seasoned contributors to this book, whose contributions and advice span an entire career worth, I am only approaching my mid-career phase. Hence, I still have a lot to learn and I feel more excited talking about my research plans rather than existing outcomes, even though the former build upon the latter. Nevertheless, I have figured that if this letter helps even one person, it is well worth it. Let me share with you the principles that guide my professional and personal life, and I hope that you will find at least some of them useful for your own journeys.
Balance and flexibility
Women are often told that we need to choose between family and a successful career. Historically, this was true, and if you believe that it still is, I genuinely respect your opinion and prerogatives (whichever choice you make) and invite you to disregard this paragraph. Also, please consider the possibility that there might never be a right time for having kids, but if you wait for too long, it might be too late. I had my first child two years before going up for tenure. Having moved three times across the globe for career and education, my husband and I have no close-by family to help with childcare, and the juggling was (and still is) hectic. I was under atomic pressure and stress about the potential effects of my maternity on my tenure prospects. My fears were exacerbated by several well-meaning colleagues asking why I could not have just waited until after tenure. Maybe I could, and maybe I could not. My second pregnancy was officially declared as geriatric, and both pregnancies were high-risk with a whole host of complications (probably avoidable had I been younger). Worrying about my career during that time surely cost me some grey hair and prevented me from fully enjoying maternity but, looking back, I would not change a thing. Only after having sailed through tenure have I understood the futility of that stress. Please do not put your life on hold because life and the biological clock do not wait for anyone. Yes, you will need to become more flexible. Yes, you will juggle frantically to balance between family and academic career. Yes, you might have to juggle in a different, and perhaps more intense, way than many of your men colleagues with children or colleagues of any gender without children. You will work nights, and I mean pulling serial all-nighters. You will work in the most bizarre situations and contexts (e.g., while breastfeeding or serving as a mattress for your sleeping children). But,