A Well Crafted Kid Archives – Page 7 of 32

Working Moms: Radio Host, Regional Sales Director & Mother of Twins

April 8, 2016 15 Comments A Well Crafted Lady

This post is a part of a blog series of stories of the working mother. I’m excited to share 13 stories from real working moms. I also really would like to hear YOUR story and I’d love to hear it. Keep the conversation going in the comments & on social media using #wellcraftedworkingmoms. A huge thank you to the women who volunteered to share their stories, Mary Boyden of Mamma Bear Magazine for her photography and Madeline Roosevelt for hair and makeup!

Missy Maki is a force of nature. I met her about two and a half years ago this month at a blogger brunch at a local restaurant. New mother to twins she was seriously just rocking life. I remember being in awe of her… and then she amazed me even more by being so kind and genuine.

Her story resonates with me because I identify with her ambition and drive. I’m very excited to get to introduce her to you today!

Meet Missy, a working mom

Missy Maki is an Advance Maternal Age mommy. She and her husband, a high school teacher and basketball coach, welcomed her 2 1/2 year old twins (boy & girl) into this world after a five year battle with infertility. She was 42 at the time. She worked before, during and after pregnancy.

Nailing down a single title for Missy would pretty much be impossible. She has several careers. Monday through Friday she is the regional sales director in the hospitality industry where she oversees seven properties, 14 sales people and over 200 employees. She has worked in her field for over twenty years. In addition to her sales director career she is a radio host for KPAM AM 860. “Simple Kitchen with Missy Maki” is a local food and lifestyle show that has been on the air for over four years and is currently one of the top downloaded podcasts in Portland. In addition to her regional sales director career and her radio host career Missy writes a blog (check out her website Mrs. Maki Cooks), emcees and stage hosts events and has been on several panel discussions in the food industry.

She puts her many careers into simple terms, “I love food. I love people. I love being a progressive employer.”

A typical work day in the life of a regional sales director, radio host and mother of twins

A typical work day for Missy isn’t so much typical as in the same thing every day. However, she makes efforts to abide by a schedule when possible and sets in family time.

“Every day is different,”she says.

On Mondays Missy tries to focus on projects at home if possible, while Tuesday through Friday she tries to be downtown by 9 a.m. She has an office in her home, in downtown Portland and a studio in Milwaukee for her radio show. She often attends new restaurant openings, host food related events and attend meetings. After 8 PM and weekends, other than Sunday mornings when she is live on the air, are family time.

When my kids are adults and look back at their childhood, I want them to know…

“This is an old one, and you hear it a lot. But I want my children to see that women do not have to walk away from their dreams, goals, and position in the marketplace to become a mother,” Missy explains.

” Yes, you CAN do and have it all. But you have to wake up every day with intention. Clear and focused intention.”

Maternity Leave, Childcare & Mom Guilt… oh MY!

I absolutely had to ask a few questions about some of the topics that often come up for the working mom such as maternity leave, childcare, and the challenges & joys of working. I love the answers so much that I felt it was best to just put it in their own words. Read on to learn about the ups, downs, ins and outs of Erin’s working mom experience!

Motherhood

Working Moms: Teacher & Mother of Two

April 6, 2016 8 Comments Motherhood

This post is a part of a blog series of stories of the working mom. I’m excited to share 13 stories from real working mothers. I also really would like to hear YOUR story and I’d love to hear it. Keep the conversation going in the comments & on social media using #wellcraftedworkingmoms. A huge thank you to the women who volunteered to share their stories, Mary Boyden of Mamma Bear Magazine for her photography and Madeline Roosevelt for hair and makeup!

I met Erin a few years ago through an acquaintance and was thrilled when she volunteered to be a part of the working mom project. Getting to read through her experiences has really been a joy. I hope you enjoy getting to know Erin and reading about her experiences as a working mom!

Meet Erin, a working mom

Erin Rhodes is a wife of eight years, a mother of two children and a teacher. Her daughter is three years old and her son will be turning three months old this week. She also has a fur baby of nearly five years, a Basenji. Erin and her husband had trouble conceiving and then experienced two high risk pregnancies. She considers her children true blessings.

She said that she is absolutely living her dream.

“I love that I am living my dreams everyday. Ever since I can remember I had three dreams, 1- be a wife 2- be a mom 3- be a teacher. Now that I have it all I get to live it all everyday!”

A typical work day in the life of a teacher and mother of two

A typical work day for Erin Rhodes begins at five in the morning where she gets a little ‘me’ time before the family wakes as she gets ready for her day. She likes to arrive to the school where she teaches third graders by 6 AM so that she can leave as close to 3:30 as possible. She takes advantage of her ability to work better in the mornings when fresh rather than later in the day when feeling drained.

“I try and get our dog out for a run before picking up the kids. This is great for her as well as me. I love this transition time, where again I get to just be me and decompress from being a teacher and prepare myself for ‘mom’.”

After her run she picks up her kids by 5 in the evening and begins the family dinner, play, bedtime routine. Steve, her husband, works three to four nights a week and on those evenings she does the night time routine on her own. She typically gets her daughter ready for bed first and then puts her son down for the evening while her oldest reads books. She then turns off her daughter’s light and calls it a day. At the time of this interview Erin had yet to do the work and nighttime routine for both kids as she was on maternity leave.

When my kids are adults and look back at their childhood, I want them to know…

“That they can have it all too.”

Erin had a fantastic example of a working mother and she feels that that example has helped share how she hopes her children look back on her working.

“I remember my mom worked a full time job my entire childhood, even traveled for several years. Because of this she we were able to go on vacations and live in a nice house. I also remember that she made time to take me to soccer practice and came to all my band concerts and plays. She made time for the special assemblies and field trips.”

Her working now has helped her understand her mother a little better as well, “I never understood why she hated the question ‘What’s for dinner?’ right as she walked through the door at night…now I totally do.”

Erin continued,”I want my kids to remember me working how I remember her working. That it is possible to follow a passion and provide a great life for your family, while still being there for the important moments. I want them to know that my passion for my job doesn’t take away from my passion for them.”

Maternity Leave, Childcare & Mom Guilt… oh MY!

I absolutely had to ask a few questions about some of the topics that often come up for the working mom such as maternity leave, childcare, and the challenges & joys of working. I love the answers so much that I felt it was best to just put it in their own words. Read on to learn about the ups, downs, ins and outs of Erin’s working mom experience!

A Well Crafted Lady

A Portrait of Working Moms Series

April 4, 2016 13 Comments A Well Crafted Lady

This is the first post in a series of stories on working moms. While I’m excited for the amazing variety of women that have been interviewed for this project, I know it isn’t a drop in the bucket of the stories of working mothers. Hopefully there is something in at least one of the stories that resonates with readers. However, the best story is YOUR story and I’d love to hear it. Keep the conversation going in the comments and on social media using #wellcraftedworkingmoms. A huge thank you to the women who volunteered to share their stories, Mary Boyden of Mamma Bear Magazine for her photography and Madeline Roosevelt for hair and makeup!

Why post about working moms?

Because I said so. That works, right? No, well, it doesn’t for my toddler either. So, here it goes:

A few years back, after several upsetting and tiresome months, I decided that I was spending too much time and effort on things that really didn’t matter. In that low period of my life I decided that I needed to focus. I wanted to live a life of purpose. In that time I really examined each area in my life in which I spend my time, money, and energy to see if it helped me live my life with more purpose. Those items that didn’t fit my goals got removed (when possible) or adjusted to fit better within my goals. This blog was one of the items that needed to be adjusted from something that was just a hobby I enjoyed to a place of purpose.

Over the past few years, my mission within my blog is to inspire, educate and encourage readers to take joy in the everyday and celebrate the many moments that make life a party. I believe whole-heartedly that we should celebrate the moments of the every day. All of this is to lead in to why I am doing a series on working mothers…

Highlighting the triumphs and trials of working mothers, for me, is a way of celebrating the incredible journey that I and many other mothers are going through. This is not a series to say one way of being a mom is better than any other way. I believe the best thing a mother can do for her children is to decide what is the best situation for her family, whether it be to work or to stay home.

Series Intro

Sometime after going back to work after my short maternity leave with my second child I decided that I wanted to hear what working was like for other mothers. I put out a volunteer request and had several mothers sign up to share their story and pose for photos.

Mothers are often the last to get ready for the day and are typically the ones behind the camera. I wanted to make these women feel pampered a bit and receive some great photos of themselves, so I contacted Mary Boyden of Momma Bear Magazine to help me host a photoshoot to feature the women. Hair and makeup pro Madeline Roosevelt volunteered her services to really make these mommas feel as beautiful as they are! (Check out a video made from behind the scenes at the shoot!)

Nearly everyone of the volunteers were able to make it to a day of photos, food, and chatting with other working mothers. Over the past month or so I’ve been collecting interviews with each of the women, including those who were unable to attend the photoshoot. I cannot even begin to say how joyful this whole process has been. I’m super excited to share these stories with you between now and Mother’s Day.

I’ll post stories of working mothers every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from now until Mother’s Day 2016. In between those posts you can look forward to posts that will hopefully make the balancing act of life a tad easier for those who are parents and who are not.

Open Your Eyes!

I teased this series with graphics saying “Open Your Eyes” because I truly hope that this series helps open the eyes of those who read it. If becoming a mother wasn’t hard enough, one thing that many mothers experience when moving into this new phase of life is that there is a lot of judgement and “shoulds” that happen from other mothers, non-parents, friends, family, complete strangers… you get the point. While the saying goes “it takes a village” for good reason, often we need that village to be one of support rather than unsolicited advice.

These stories will hopefully show that new mother who loves her career that there is someone out there experiencing a similar situation. The mother of young children struggling with balancing her home and work responsibilities may know after reading these stories that she is not alone. The non-parent who happens upon these stories may open her eyes to more of what her co-worker with children deals with each day. I hope that these stories resonate with people. However, at the lack of that, they are entertaining and moving stories worth reading.

Missy Maki, one of the working moms I interviewed, said it best:

My big thing about being a working mom is that it is not easy for anyone. We all have to scotch tape and safety pin things together at one time or another, and it’s okay. We need to smile at each other, to wink at each other when our kid is losing their shit at Safeway. We need to swipe our debit card when another moms Oregon Trail card is declined. It is our responsibility to step up, smile, help, and make it clear that we all know it is hard, and offer helping hands to each other.

Missy Maki

Follow Along & Join the Conversation

I’m excited to be posting these stories of working mothers every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from now until Mother’s Day 2016. I’d love to hear how you enjoy the series and about your stories of working in motherhood. Share with me via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. Use the hashtag #wellcraftedworkingmoms so I, and others who are following, may see your story as well!