Sheria Rainey thought she was doing everything right: climbing the corporate ladder in public relations, teaching and human resources while raising her son. But deep down, she felt drained. The turning point came at a seminar she attended in 2014. One of the assignments was to make a vision board.
“Something that I have always been passionate about is modeling,” Rainey says. “But I had stopped pursuing it years ago. And I said, ‘You know what, I have nothing to lose.’”
Within weeks she was at a casting call for Creme of Nature products and landed her first gig as a hair model. A decade later, Rainey is still going strong. “It’s fun,” she says.
Rainey’s pivot reflects a broader trend reshaping the workforce. In recent years, women have been leaving corporate life at unprecedented rates, driven by burnout, rising childcare costs and return-to-office mandates that erode flexibility. Between January and July 2025, 212,000 women aged 20 and over left the workforce, while 44,000 men entered it, according data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Many women are responding by pursuing entrepreneurship for more control, balance and fulfillment. Some women, like Rainey, call it a “soft girl career.”
