Moms: The Modern Day Superheroes 

By: Lauren Whitfield 

 

Ashlie Hagemann has worked her way to become one of the very few women to run a financial crime investigating team in Dallas, Texas. Hagemann has made waves in a male-dominated work field all while being a mom. When asked about her career Hagemann expressed, “A woman being in charge of a fraud team would have been unheard of twenty years ago.” 

 

Although this is an amazing accomplishment for her, Hagemann claims that one of her proudest achievements to be her 11-year-old daughter, Savannah. 

 

Like Hagemann, women who have careers on top of having children have taken on the title of a ‘working mom.’ This term is quite ironic because being a mother is a full-time job itself. 

 

Hagemann is constantly running her daughter to and from sporting events, doctors’ visits, school activities, and anything else you could imagine. Having the time to relax and unwind is a luxury that most moms don’t get to enjoy, as they are tasked with so much in their day-to-day lives. So when given the chance, Hagemann enjoys treating herself to massages or spa trips. She also claims to be a huge book nerd so she loves finding the time to sit down and dive into a good book. Hagemann shared that she strongly believes in the importance of taking care of yourself as a mom. 

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As a child, Hagemann did not have a typical childhood dream job, like becoming a movie star, a superhero, or an astronaut. Hagemann desired to become a pediatric neurologist when she grew up, a pretty impressive aspiration for a child. Following high school, Hagemann attended Texas Women’s University in hopes to pursue that dream. 

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Her path soon changed during her third year of college, after getting promoted to a financial security job at Compass Bank. She immediately fell in love with this line of work so decided to change her major to criminal justice and later received a master’s degree in criminal psychology.   

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After beginning her new job, Hagemann had the opportunity to go through Quantico, the FBI Training Academy, in hopes of becoming an FBI agent. After finishing Quantico, Hagemann was left with a tough decision after learning that having a family while being an FBI agent was going to be extremely hard. Hagemann knew that she wanted to have a family of her own so decided to continue her job at the bank. 

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Once Hagemann had her daughter, she immediately felt the pressures that come along with being a working mom. “I would get really stressed and mad because I constantly felt like I had to explain myself,” Hagemann expressed. 

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Hagemann explained the hardships mothers face while working around men. 

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“The adversity that I faced as being a working mom was really at work because I was in a man’s world. They didn’t understand when I had to leave and go pick up my sick kid, because they didn’t have to do that.”

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If she could go back and do anything different as a new mom, she wishes she could go back and tell herself that “everything doesn’t have to be perfect, the house doesn’t have to be spotless. Give yourself some grace and enjoy the little things”

Over time Hagemann has learned to balance her career and her family. She strives to be as involved as she can be in her daughter’s life and is thankful for the decision she had made early on in her career. Hagemann hopes to teach her daughter kindness and to love others as well as be strong. 

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Her daughter, Savannah, embodies those aspirations and is thankful that her mom is always there for her. “She helps me grow to be a better person,” Savannah said gleefully in regards to her mom.

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Hagemann understands the pressure firsthand that working moms experience so she works hard to provide a very healthy and family-like work atmosphere for her team, said Laura Ross, one of Hagemann’s employees. Ross is a mother as well, so she is grateful to have Hagemann as her supervisor on their fraud prevention team. Ross commented, “ I know with her (Hagemann) being a working mom, she can understand the struggles of working full time and parenting. Compared to previous supervisors who had no kids, it definitely makes a huge difference!” 

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Hagemann is one of the many women who are working to transform the traditional work dynamics in our country. Her main goal now is to mentor and assist the future generation of female fraud investigators.

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She admits that there are gonna be days when you can’t be superwoman and that it’s completely fine not to be.

“If you’re tired when you get home and you just want to order a pizza, do it,” Hagemann laughed.

 

Ashlie Hagemann’s Five Favorite Things:

• Books

• Rabbits

• Roses

• Snow

• Coffee