Growing careers while raising babies is as challenging as it is beautiful. Every working mom has a unique story to tell, and balancing work, life, and everything in between is a little easier with the power of connection. My dream at Freshly Brewed Mama is to connect with working moms in all phases of their journey to embrace this season, and support the incredible work that moms do every day. It is a privilege to hear your story and share it with this community. The first working mom interview in this series is my own! As a full time working mom in the corporate world, the feeling I have most often is lonely. I do not feel like I fully belong when I am in the working world and I struggle to find myself amongst all the noise of working motherhood. I want to fulfill all my dreams in parenting my babies while excelling in my career. It is my belief that every mom is a working mom. I cannot go a day without hot coffee, baby snuggles, and laughter. I am so glad you are here.
Please tell us about yourself!
I am a working mama bear to three girls under four! I am deep in the season of raising young children while simultaneously building my career. Being a wife to someone who brings me laughter everyday, and a mother to babies that I was meant to raise is my greatest joy. I hope to continue growing everyday and taking in all the small moments with my family. To me, the small moments and the ordinary days, are profound.
What do you do for work, and what do you enjoy about your job?
During my day job, I am a human resources professional. I have spent time in various aspects of human resources but always seem to land back in the areas where I work directly with people. My first career was in teaching, so any opportunity to lead and teach in my current job is right up my alley! Overall, I consider myself a human capital consultant making places to work better for employees. I was inspired to become an HR leader after a toxic work environment early in my career so I hope to pave the way for the workforce of the future. I love projects involving data analytics and strategy because I feel like that is where I have the most impact. On top of my human resources role, I am a blogger in my personal life. I was missing the creative outlet of my teaching career and feeling alone when beginning my working motherhood journey so Freshly Brewed Mama was the perfect solution! I have met some incredible mentors and readers that I love having in my motherhood tribe.
Does your work look differently after entering motherhood, and what changes did you make to your career if any?
Absolutely! I switched careers from education to the corporate sector when beginning the journey into motherhood. While I loved my students immensely, I wanted more out of a job when committing to raising a family. Making the jump from teaching to corporate was the best decision I could have made career-wise when starting a family. The corporate world offered more flexibility, protected family time, financial stability, and working parent benefits than any of my roles in education. I knew that my priorities would shift away from my job and towards my children. Teaching as a career was all consuming, and I knew that I wanted to find a career I could give my all to, while still focusing on my family first.
What parts of working motherhood do you love, and what parts are most challenging?
I love what working motherhood means to me and what it represents to my daughters. To me working motherhood makes me feel independent, confident, and whole. I like that I am able to show my daughters’ a side of myself outside of being mom that hopefully inspires them to pursue their passions as I have, no matter what those are. I also love that I am able to continue using my skills and experience in my day job in a way that makes an impact. The most challenging aspect for me is the overwhelming mom guilt and feeling of failure. I work hard every day to deal with mom guilt and feeling successful when so many balls are dropping. I still cry often when dropping my kiddos off, and I hate hearing all the things I missed out on during work. Working motherhood is a journey with ebbs and flows and I strive to find my middle ground most days.
What is your best piece of advice for other working moms who may be struggling with working motherhood?
Work hard to learn prioritization and give yourself grace when you do not get it right. With competing responsibilities at work and at home, you will not always be able to focus on everything at once. Always remember which things on your plate are most important at the time and start there. Every day is a new opportunity to fulfill your dreams in motherhood and in life. Take the start of each day to reset and try to find the joy in your everyday. Those small moments have a big impact and your kids will remember those small moments one day too.
With all the things we balance as moms, where does mom guilt most often show up for you and how do you cope?
Honestly, it shows up everyday and this is something I struggle with most. For me the hardest type of mom guilt is when I do not fill my own cup and I parent in a way that is not consistent with my intent. I know that when I ignore my needs I lose my patience, or struggle with showing up as a mom in the way I want to. Those moments are the hardest for me in terms of mom guilt. I try my best to utilize my support system and the routines I have in place to support with these moments. I intend to parent differently than I was raised through gentle parenting to build resiliency, empathy, and connection. This takes intention every single day, so coping with the guilt when those things slip can be a challenge.
What is one resource or success strategy that you could not be successful without?
The greatest thing I did in working motherhood was build my tribe. My partner and my friends that have become family are people I lean on constantly. Being a working mom means there are times my schedule changes quickly or meeting goes late. Traffic jams, project deadlines, sick kiddos, and mundane life events can derail our crazy schedule. I lean on my partner to balance our family when I cannot. I lean on my sister and my closest friends to support me and my daughters when it is needed. Also, I have worked hard to effectively use all my working time to provide flexibility when needed. By being efficient in my work and looking for ways to be maintain productivity, I oftentimes have the flexibility I crave when it comes to my family.
What makes you feel most fulfilled in motherhood?
I feel most fulfilled when I see my kids becoming individuals. I see them growing right in front of me into people that I am helping to mold. The toddler season that I am in is incredibly challenging but parenting is a long game. The work we are putting into our children now will shape their experience as they grow. I love when I catch glimpses of that raising in my girls during the small moments. The simpler answer, is that weekends are the most fulfilling because I get the chance to focus solely on the mom part of my life!
How do you make time to take care of yourself and what does that look like for you?
Self care is crucial for every woman, and especially for moms who are responsible for themselves and someone else. I did not have a strong model growing up of someone that cared for themselves. While selflessness has a place in motherhood, it is hugely important that I teach my daughters how to care for themselves physically, mentally and emotionally as they grow. For me, this looks like a lot of partnership with my spouse and my kids to ensure we all feel our best through self care that is needed. I also work hard to explain to my children that I have needs and what those look like. Showing my humanness to them helps our bond immensely and helps them to model self care as they grow. Right now my self care often looks like solo runs before the kids get up, hot coffee, and a consistent bedtime.
How can people connect with you and support you in your work?
Freshly Brewed Mama is my passion project, and a place that I flourish! My hope is that by sharing my experience, I will make working motherhood easier for the next person in my shoes. Our working motherhood journey looks different than it looked when we were growing up. I want to embrace being the mom of my dreams while tackling my career. The best support for me is staying connected to Freshly Brewed Mama through my email list, blog posts, and social media pages. I appreciate every single person that joins me in this space.
All the best,
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