Workplace sabbaticals are not common in Iowa or even the United States. But they happen. For weeks, or maybe months, an employee who signs up for one takes leaves of the workplace to recharge his or her batteries, take stock in life, maybe take some professional seminars or perhaps just sit on a beach, if that’s in the cards. For Olesya Holker, it was a little bit of all of this.

Holker lives in Cumming, had a decent job at Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and was rising through its ranks. She rotated through several jobs and spent eight-plus years in audits and risk management. Appointed to the company’s inclusion council, she struck upon the idea of making a short video, for internal use, about talent development.

“I was passionate about employee well-being,” she said. The video morphed into an independent project, and she recruited her sister, Sophie Vlasova, to come from Russia and help produce “The Truth About Happiness and Well-Being,” an award-winning documentary that debuted on Amazon in 2022.

This was not exactly in a risk management slot, and in mid-2023, Holker decided to request a sabbatical so she could take time to assess her life. “It gave me time to reflect on what brings me joy,” Holker said. “Sometimes we forget. We’re on autopilot.”

Take your time, said Wellmark, which gave her 6 months away while keeping her benefits. Holker eased into her sabbatical with a true vacation. She went to a bachelorette party in Mexico, then a wedding in Texas. She welcomed her mother, the Russian stage and screen actress Olga Khokhlova, to Iowa and together they visited Branson, Missouri.

Holker joined the Des Moines Storytellers Project last June and talked about her upbringing in Siberia and her travels to Turkey and Las Vegas (where she met Jered Holker, a Des Moines-area home contractor who proposed to her two days after they met). She also joined the Association for Talent Development and is now vice president of operations for its Iowa chapter.

In Holker’s case, the enlightenment she earned through her sabbatical made her realize her passion did not lie with insurance audit services. So she parted ways with Wellmark and struck out on her own. “The sabbatical gave me the opportunity to get my head up and see what’s going on in Des Moines,” she said.

The Business Record recently honored Holker as part of this year’s Forty Under 40, and she is busier than ever. She is a business consultant for a major financial institution and is working on a second documentary film that dovetails with an inspirational book she is writing about finding life’s purpose.

“I know my ‘why,’ so every day is better for me,” she said.

So, yes, Wellmark lost a valued employee. But the community it supports will gain a coach for its mental and corporate well-being.