CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte banker and mother of triplets used COVID-19 to launch a whole new career. And she did it all in her 50s.
Meredith Ritchie is a banker at Wells Fargo, a mother of college-aged triplets, and now a published author.
Ritchie said COVID-19 was the kick in the butt she needed to finish the project she’d always had on the back burner.
"I decided something good needs to happen out of this and it would be really cool if my kids saw me do it, saw me write it," Ritchie said.
So at 51, she embarked on a new career. She finished the book she’d started years before while still working full time at the bank and dealing with three college kids suddenly back at home.
“I just became really stubborn about my kids were losing college experience," Ritchie said. "It felt like everything was just falling apart and I just became stubborn about having a routine."
Her book, Poster Girls, is a fictional story based on real historical events with strong women at its core.
"I stumbled upon this piece of forgotten history of Charlotte," Ritchie said. "The US war machine came in in 1942 and built a 2,200-acre facility."
Most of the employees were women. And now fans of the newly published book, are posting pictures of themselves dressed as the female empowerment icon Rosie the Riveter, from the World War II era.
Charlotte mom writes book during pandemic
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"It feels great, very surreal," Ritchie said.
Ritchie is especially proud of her own second chapter.
"I love it," she exclaimed. "I never planned to have triplets. The whole time I was raising them I thought everything has to be on pause."
"I always said I’m going to be young enough when they leave that if I want to carve out a brand new life, I can," she added.
Now that she has. It’s sometimes hard to believe.
"I would stop and look around, 'am I really doing this? OK, let's take the next step,'" she said.
The triplets are all back at college and Ritchie is still at Wells Fargo, but she is already working on her next book. Another story of female empowerment.
Contact Michelle at mboudin@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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