Gina Shorthouse has been with Aspen Dental for seven years, and currently serves as the Territory Director of Operations for Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio. Outside of the office, Gina is surrounded by boys. Her family is quite the bunch, with her husband, two crazy energetic boys, two male dogs, one male ferret, one male African Dwarf Frog… and a partridge in a pear tree.

“Because I travel during the week for work in my territory, my weekends are dedicated to my family,” says Gina. “I love and appreciate that my work/life allows that.”

Both of her boys play baseball during the spring and fall, where her husband is the team’s coach and she takes the role of assistant coach and team mom. They spend Monday and Friday evenings as well as all day Saturday at the ball fields.  

“Our youngest is only five, so coaching a field full of five-year-olds has challenges in itself for sure,” says Gina. “But it is rewarding knowing we are helping in a small way to shape important values like team camaraderie and sportsmanship.”

Finding Work-Life Balance

“You have to make it a priority,” says Gina. “I’ve spent seven years watching other strong women and moms at Aspen do it. I’ve grown in this business with leaders telling me, ‘If you’re not effective at home, you won’t be effective at work.’”

All the leaders she’s worked with – male and female – who have given her grace to make sure she’s able to be effective at home so she CAN be effective at work. Having peers who are in similar work-life balance situations as herself has also helped Gina to figure out how to manage it all.

“Build your network! Some of my best friends now are my peers within Aspen Nation,” says Gina.