ORLANDO, FL — Apr. 20, 2006 — Missy Ward, co-founder of Affiliate Summit, Director of Marketing of CPAEmpire.com and known for being one of the Affiliate Marketing industry’s superwomen, joins the ranks of this season’s celebrity moms including Katie Holmes, Angelina Jolie and Brooke Shields and announces that she’s taking maternity leave.
In a bold move hailed last night by maternity rights activists as extraordinary, Missy Ward, renowned workaholic, declared that she will take an unprecedented one-week leave when she gives birth to her second child, due to arrive by C-section on May 3rd.
This announcement squashes the unconfirmed reports that co-workers discovered Ms. Ward attempting to secure a private jet to get her to San Francisco for Ad:Tech, as no scheduled airline carrier would allow her to fly due to the proximity of her due date.
Further intelligence confirmed that she had no plans to give birth at the CPAEmpire booth as an extreme method to increase their booth traffic.
Ms. Ward, 39, who is married to Beaudon Spaulding, also in the online advertising industry, plans to stop working at the end of April and will return to work on May 8th, part-time for the rest of the month and will resume full-force on June 1st.
After much deliberation, Ms. Ward decided that she will take the 1-week of leave, even though it is more than what the “Affiliate Marketing Industry’s No-Worky, No Money Guidelines” entitles, which would have only allowed her to take off for the hospital stay.
“Having coverage for the week while I am on leave gives me the time that I need to pull myself together and completely bounce back from the 40 weeks of pregnancy and the c-section,” said Missy.
According to sources, Missy was deeply traumatized when she discovered that her Blackberry’s e-mail and Internet connectivity won’t work inside the hospital.
Ms Ward, said yesterday that she was planning to have her baby at the Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando, where she had her first son, Alexander, who is 5-1/2 years old.
“The staff was wonderful to me the first time around and helped me to arrange my AOL dial-up connection right after I came out of recovery,” said Missy. “I’m hoping that they agree to allow me to Podcast the entire birth this time!”
Affiliate marketers worldwide congratulated Ms. Ward for setting a good example to employees and employers alike.