Suzanne Oaks

Illustrations by Ray Vella

Suzanne Oaks

Public relations specialist, Temin and Company Tampa, Fla.

"I've developed a greater appreciation of the preciousness of my time [since starting to work from home]. I feel like I've gotten so much better with deadlines. I try to file things early. I have the ability to focus when I'm sitting here in a room surrounded by books and I don't have the phone ringing. [But] now I find my evenings are not necessarily my own. When I should be reading, or asleep, or spending time with my husband at midnight, I find myself checking my e-mails. I'm glad I'm conscious of it."