Linda Chavez Thompson: executive vice president, AFL-CIO.(THE PIONEERS)

"You have to make a sacrifice somewhere," says Linda Chavez-Thompson regarding the choices she has had to make to advance her career. In this case, the sacrifices were in the home.

"I put in 12-14 hour days at work," she adds. "I was traveling. My mother helped raise my daughter for five years."

While Chavez-Thompson may consider her choice of work over family a necessary evil, the consequences did not come without some regret. "My daughter cried to me on the phone every night. I was not there for her. I sacrificed quality time, and I can't take that back."

But she must have been doing something right. By her accounts, there were no drugs, and she is "happy my kids grew up …