Shannon Kobylarczyk’s story is about building a high level career while staying deeply rooted in family and values.
She grew up in Wisconsin in a big, blended family as the fourth of five kids. Sports, school and a love of reading shaped her early years. Those habits taught her how to work hard, show up for a team, and think for herself. She still calls Wisconsin home and remains a committed Green Bay fan.
Shannon moved fast in school. She earned her BBA in Accounting from St. Norbert College in just three years, then went straight into private sector accounting roles. That foundation gave her a strong grasp of numbers, risk and how real companies operate behind the scenes.
After 12 years in accounting, she made a big move. While working full time and raising a young son, she enrolled in the part time law program at Marquette University Law School. During those years, her family faced a serious health scare with her older child and welcomed a second son. She still finished her JD in 2009. It is a clear example of long term discipline and focus.
Her legal degree opened the door to a new chapter inside a global workforce solutions company. She shifted from accounting to the legal department, first as a Securities Attorney. Over time she rose to Associate General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, leading securities, corporate governance, ethics and compliance, and trademarks.
Today, Shannon’s path shows what it looks like to stack skills over time, bet on education more than once, and define success around both leadership and family.
When you think about success today, what does it actually mean to you?
For a long time I would have answered that with job titles and performance reviews. I grew up in a house where hard work and showing up were non negotiable, so it felt natural to measure success by how much I could carry and how well I could do it. Over time that definition broke down.
Today, success looks more like alignment. Are my skills being used in a way that fits my values. Are my sons healthy and moving toward the lives they want. Am I taking care of my own mental health instead of treating it like something to deal with later. Those questions matter more to me now than any job description ever will.
How did your upbringing in Wisconsin shape your view of success?
Growing up as the fourth of five kids in Wisconsin, success never felt like an individual sport. Our house was busy and loud. Three of my siblings were adopted, so I saw early that families are built in different ways, and that you adjust and make space for each other.
Sports reinforced that. Basketball, softball and volleyball taught me that you can score a lot of points and still lose if the team is not working together. The dance team forced me to be precise and in sync while people were watching. At the same time I was always reading. I would bring a book to family gatherings and have one eye on the room and one eye on the page. Looking back, that mix of team sports and quiet reading is still how I operate. I like being part of a group, but I also need time to think and analyze on my own.
You finished your accounting degree in three years and later did law school part time. What did those experiences teach you about achievement?
Finishing my BBA in three years at St. Norbert felt like proof that if I planned well enough and worked hard enough, I could compress timelines. Then life reminded me that not everything works on my schedule.
Law school was very different. I started the part time program at Marquette while working full time and caring for a two year old. On my first day of classes, my son was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I still went to class that night because my husband and the care team said they would handle the hospital for a few hours. That moment taught me that achievement sometimes looks like just putting one foot in front of the other. It is less about perfect plans and more about continuing, even when you cannot control the circumstances.
Finishing that JD five years later with two young kids at home did not feel glamorous. It felt like a long series of small, unglamorous decisions to keep going.
How did you define success in your corporate legal career, especially as you moved into senior roles?
When I moved from accounting into the legal department as a Securities Attorney, success at first meant mastering the rules. I wanted to understand every filing, every deadline, every expectation from regulators. My accounting background helped me translate between the finance team and the legal team, and that became a quiet advantage.
As I moved into the Associate General Counsel and Corporate Secretary role, the definition shifted. It was less about what I could do myself and more about the quality of decisions happening around me. Success looked like clear board materials, honest conversations about risk, and a culture where people felt they could raise issues early.
I also started to see success as protecting people who would never know my name. If we did our jobs well in securities, governance, ethics and compliance, employees and investors were less likely to wake up to surprises that would damage their trust. That felt meaningful to me.
You have spoken about mental health being a serious issue in your story. How has that changed your view of success?
My mental health crisis forced me to admit that carrying everything for too long has a cost. For years I prided myself on being the person who could handle it all work, kids, board service, travel, everything. I kept showing up for everyone else and treated my own wellbeing like an optional project.
When that approach finally broke, it was painful and public. It also made something very clear. If your definition of success does not include staying mentally healthy, it is incomplete. Now I pay attention to early signs that I am not doing well. I schedule therapy the same way I would schedule a board meeting. I build white space into my calendar and treat it as non negotiable.
It feels less heroic than pushing through everything, but it is much more sustainable. I wish I had learned that sooner.
What practical advice would you give someone trying to build a successful life on a nontraditional path?
First, expect your timeline to be different. I worked in accounting for 12 years before earning my law degree. That did not put me behind. It gave me a different lens and a set of skills that were very useful in corporate law.
Second, be honest about who supports you. I could not have done night classes, hospital visits, and full time work without my husband, my kids being flexible, and colleagues who trusted me. A lot of success stories leave out those people.
Third, decide what is non negotiable. For me, that has always been family. I missed events sometimes, but I also left meetings to get to games or appointments. Those choices do not always show up on a resume, but they define your life.
Finally, treat mental health like any other critical asset. You would not run a company on no maintenance. Do not run your life that way either.