Beyond the To-Do List: Mental Load, Caregiving, and What It’s Costing Women at Work
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET
Beyond the To-Do List: Mental Load, Caregiving, and What It’s Costing Women at Work
Mental load is often invisible, but its impact is not. The constant planning, anticipating, organizing, remembering, and managing that happens behind the scenes affects how people show up at work, how they experience leadership opportunities, and in some cases, whether they stay in public accounting at all.
For many women and some men, caregiving responsibilities add another layer that doesn’t pause during the workday. Responsibilities at home and expectations at work frequently overlap, creating pressure that influences focus, availability, energy, advancement, and long-term career decisions.
This session explores how mental load shows up in everyday ways, why caregiving expands it, and how workplace norms can unintentionally increase the burden. We’ll also discuss practical strategies individuals and organizations can use to better recognize, redistribute, and reduce mental load.
The conversation connects to broader workforce challenges facing many in public accounting firms today: retention, leadership pipelines, burnout, and whether firms truly understand the factors that shape advancement and sustainability over the course of a career.
NOTE: While the discussion will cover the impact of caretaking on women in the workforce, everyone can benefit from the content presented. This one-hour presentation will be followed by a one-hour discussion for participants to ask questions and share ideas on the information presented.
- Define mental load and explain how it uniquely impacts women in the workplace
- Recognize how caregiving responsibilities intersect with mental load and influence women’s career experiences and advancement
- Identify how workplace expectations and gender dynamics contribute to the uneven distribution of mental load
- Apply practical strategies to better manage, redistribute, and reduce mental load for themselves and other women
- Evaluate ways organizations can better support women, particularly those with caregiving responsibilities
CPE CREDIT: 2 hour
FIELD OF STUDY: Personal Development
PREREQUISITES: None
LEVEL: Overview (appropriate for all experience levels)
DELIVERY METHOD: Group Internet Based
Speaker Bio
Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
bbr companies LLC
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Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk (like “rustic” without the “t”) is the founder of bbr companies LLC, where she provides CMO-level marketing strategy for professional services firms; owner of the Accounting MOVE Project, the accounting profession’s leading source of data and guidance on advancing women and underrepresented talent; and co-owner of Rally Rounds, which facilitates mastermind groups for accounting growth professionals. Across all of these roles, Bonnie helps firms uncover and communicate their differentiators, build inclusive, high-performing cultures, and create the support structures professionals need to grow and lead. She holds an MBA with a marketing concentration from Georgia State University, a Bachelor of Arts in journalism, public relations, and French from Troy University, and a Diversity & Inclusion Certificate from Cornell University. Bonnie quite literally wrote the book on digital marketing for accounting firms, Take Your Marketing Online: Proven Ways to Grow Your Firm in the Digital Age, published at the request of the AICPA. She also contributed to Bridging the Gap: Strengthening the Connection Between Current and Emerging Leaders and is a frequent contributor and source for industry publications. She has been named one of Accounting Today’s Top 100 Most Influential People six times (most recently in 2025), is a Hall of Fame member and former Volunteer of the Year for the Association for Accounting Marketing, and was recognized as one of CPA Practice Advisor’s Most Powerful Women in Accounting. Before launching bbr companies in 2009, Bonnie held leadership roles in Silicon Valley and global media, including Sportbrain (a precursor to Fitbit) and Turner Broadcasting, where she helped launch TNT and Cartoon Network in Asia. These experiences shaped her expertise in growth strategy, branding, and culture within professional services. She is also a board member of the Accounting and Financial Women’s Alliance, a founding member of the Atlanta Independent Women’s Network (AIWN), a former board member of the Association for Accounting Marketing, and a member of the CPA Consultants’ Alliance. |
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AGN International – Americas, LLC is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org
Texas CPAs: AGN International – Americas, LLC is also registered with the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. (Sponsor ID: 010173)
Questions and comments can be directed to AGN Programs Manager Misean Reed.