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Marie Claire’s Money Feelings series profiles Monica Andreasen, a former executive recruiter who says she earned six figures for much of her career before caregiving demands, a relationship breakup and job losses upended her finances. By 2024, she was working at a Kansas grocery store for $11 an hour and seeking childcare assistance; the account is based on her interview, and some details of her later circumstances are not included in the supplied excerpt.
Monica Andreasen, a former executive recruiter who says she earned six figures for much of her career, was working at a rural Kansas grocery store for $11 an hour by 2024, according to a Marie Claire interview. Her account describes how caring for premature twins, leaving a troubled relationship and losing work contributed to a sharp change in her finances and access to childcare.
Andreasen, 45, told Marie Claire that she spent about 20 years in sales and executive recruiting, managing teams and divisions in Kansas City and Colorado. She said she typically earned between $125,000 and $150,000 in her better years, and received a division director of the year award in 2011. In 2017, she began working with a partner at a Denver-area staffing firm.
She had twin boys in 2019 after believing she might not have children. The babies were born eight weeks premature and, she said, required specialized feeding every three hours around the clock during their first year. Andreasen described leaving the boys’ father, who she said struggled with addiction, while also dealing with her own alcohol problems. She said she had no separate bank account, used up savings and retirement funds, and moved in with her father while she cared for the children.
Andreasen later resumed work with her business partner and paid for a full-time nanny, but said project work ended and the costs became unsustainable. After moving with her sons to Kansas City in June 2023, she took another corporate recruiting job with an $80,000 guaranteed draw and health insurance. She said the job lasted 90 days: the company had hired too many people, and workers without a placement in that period were asked to resign or be fired. Andreasen said she chose to be fired, then spent six months unsuccessfully seeking work in her field before taking the grocery-store job.
When Care Costs Outrun Income
Andreasen’s account shows how quickly a high salary can become less protective when income, childcare and housing costs shift at the same time. Her experience also illustrates the gap between having held a well-paid professional job and having savings or support available when work stops. She acknowledged that she had not been good at saving or investing, but described caregiving needs and employment changes as major pressures on her finances.
The story matters to readers because it documents a particular person’s experience rather than proving how often this path occurs. It also highlights the practical stakes of job loss for a parent who cannot readily pay for childcare: Andreasen said she could not make the available jobs work once wages, insurance and care costs were considered. She described lining up before sunrise at a government office for childcare assistance by 2024.
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From Recruiting to Caregiving
Marie Claire presented the interview as the first installment of Money Feelings, a series about the emotions and personal experiences tied to money. Its account follows Andreasen’s shift from executive recruiting to full-time caregiving after her twins’ birth, then back into paid work as she tried to rebuild her income.
Her employment changed in stages: she left the corporate path to work independently in 2017; paused work while caring for her premature infants; returned to recruiting projects; moved to Kansas City with her sons in 2023; and accepted a corporate recruiting role that ended after 90 days. The supplied report says that, after six months of unsuccessful job searching, she took a grocery job. It does not provide a complete financial history or a detailed account of her circumstances after 2024.
“I was a six-figure earner most years.”
— Monica Andreasen, speaking to Marie Claire
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What the Excerpt Leaves Open
The supplied source excerpt ends as Andreasen begins describing what poverty looked like for her. It does not include the rest of her account, so the full details of her day-to-day finances, current employment, housing and access to childcare cannot be established from the material provided. The account also does not state whether she later returned to recruiting or how long she worked at the grocery store.
The employment circumstances are reported through Andreasen’s interview; the source material does not include a response from her former employer or independent documentation of the hiring decision. Her experience should not be treated as evidence of a broader trend without additional reporting or data.
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Further Details Depend on Her Account
The supplied report does not identify a planned follow-up, a new job announcement or another upcoming milestone. Any fuller account of Andreasen’s circumstances would need to establish what happened after the 2024 grocery-store job, including whether she found other work and how her childcare arrangements changed.
For now, the confirmed development is the publication of Marie Claire’s personal interview and the timeline Andreasen gave in it. The next step for readers seeking a complete account is to consult the full interview, since the provided excerpt cuts off before her description of poverty is finished.
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Key Questions
Who is Monica Andreasen?
Andreasen is a former executive recruiter who told Marie Claire she worked in the field for about 20 years, including in Colorado and Kansas City. The interview profiles her financial difficulties after becoming a parent and losing work.
How much did Andreasen say she earned before her finances changed?
She said she earned $125,000 to $150,000 in many of her stronger years. She also described accepting a later recruiting job with an $80,000 guaranteed draw; these are figures from her interview.
What led to her leaving executive recruiting?
Andreasen described several pressures: caring for premature twins, leaving the boys’ father, the end of recruiting project work and the loss of a corporate job after 90 days. She said she could not make the available job offers work once childcare and insurance costs were included.
What job did she take after looking for work?
After six months of unsuccessful searching in her industry, Andreasen said she took a grocery-store job paying $11 an hour. The report places this by 2024, but the supplied excerpt does not say how long she stayed in the role.
What is not known from the report excerpt?
The excerpt does not establish Andreasen’s employment, housing or childcare situation after 2024. It also does not include the rest of her account of what poverty looked like for her or an independent response from her former employer.
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