Life happens. You can't predict the unexpected, and sometimes work and life responsibilities pop up without any warning. Or, you might have advanced warning, but simply can't get out of a meeting or business trip. Then, you might feel stuck. Enter: back-up care. For Kalahan Taylor-Clark, Sanofi's associate vice president and head of public affairs, back-up care is essential due to the nature of her job. Bright Horizons President Stephen Kramer sat down with Kalahan to discuss the benefits of back-up care and how it has helped her succeed ; in both work and life.

Why back-up care?

Kalahan's career requires her to travel quite a bit, and for one board meeting in California, she didn't know what she was going to do to ensure her son was cared for while she was busy. She would have had to miss the meeting, had it not been for back-up care. With no siblings, a spouse out at sea, and both parents passed away, Kalahan is often on her own with her two children. "It's really hard," she says.

Watch:

Before back-up care:

Kalahan looks back on the early days of working families, when employees might have had to make different choices about their careers ; perhaps pulling back or quitting in order to ensure their children had quality care. Back-up care has allowed both her family and her career to thrive. "In the past year, I've used it probably nine times in four different states ; California, New Jersey, Maine, and now Florida."

How has back-up care helped?

"It's allowed me to keep my job. It's allowed me to keep my career. And for somebody that's really moving up on the career ladder, that's extraordinarily important," says Kalahan. Bottom line, she says, "It's allowed me to have the access to care that I know will be caring, consistent, and it's also allowed me the peace of mind to be able to go forward in my career and succeed ! For me, it's definitely been a lifesaver." In short, she says ! it's been a game changer. Watch the full video, here.