SUCCESS STORY: Launched her own successful coaching business designed specifically for working mothers.

WORK SCHEDULE: Flexible yet full-time. I work 6 – 8 hours a day but around my daughter’s kindergarten schedule.

KIDS: Zoë, 6

SANITY VICE: Watching the show The Biggest Loser – I know it is sad but I find that show so inspiring.

Editor’s note: I’m excited to announce that Jennifer will be guest blogging with us on a regular basis, providing valuable advice to women as they navigate their careers and need help remembering and promoting their value. I’m grateful that we can all benefit from Jennifer’s smart, sensitive, and practical encouragement. You can read her first post with us, Journey to Rediscover Your Courage, today!

How she got here…

After graduating from college I moved from the Bay Area to New York city with $300 in the bank. I wound up working on Wall Street recruiting Investment Bankers. I loved it. I enjoyed the hard work, the hours and the satisfaction of getting the job done. I believed in working hard in order to earn respect.

After a few years in New York, I decided to move back to the Bay Area and transitioned to attorney recruiting for Skadden. The long hours and hard work in New York primed me to work for this firm. The office was new and, eventually, I began managing the day-to-day operations and administration for the office. Work was my life and I enjoyed it.

By my mid-30s, I was managing the Northern California offices of the firm and started thinking about the rest of my life. I decided to transition to a firm with a less intense work environment.

Two months after I changed jobs, I got pregnant with my daughter. Surprise!

When I first had my daughter, I was working full-time and pushing the envelope between family and work. Like many good San Francisco families my husband and I hired a nanny to take care of our daughter. I was tired and felt like I was constantly running around to get things done. I was running to get to work and running to get home. I was hurrying to get dinner done so I could get her to bed. I wasn’t really enjoying motherhood.

Then my husband got laid off at the end of 2008, when our daughter was almost two-years old — it was the best thing to happen to us. He embraced being the primary caregiver for our daughter and as he excitedly told me about their days together, I realized I was missing out. I became determined to leave the office by 5:30 pm everyday so that we could eat dinner together as a family, even if that meant working after my daughter went to bed. I started focusing on what I enjoyed doing at work and let go of the superfluous stuff I did because I thought I was “suppose” to. I began focusing on my genius work and made more money, got more recognition and more flexibility.

Many of my friends wanted to know how I managed to cook and eat dinner with my family nightly, so I started teaching moms how to create a family dinner ritual. After working with moms for over a year, I began to realize that the challenge wasn’t how to make dinner happen every night, the real challenge for working moms was learning how to manage their careers.

So last year, I quit my job and started coaching and mentoring working moms full-time. At the heart of my work as a law firm administrator, I felt that the success of the attorneys with whom I work was an essential part of my job. And now I feel that way about the women I support in my practice. The essential part of my job is to help working moms navigate their careers and the ever-evolving stages of motherhood.

I help working moms embrace and leverage their value. I see them asking their employers for what they want in order to define their success and build flexible, fulfilling and financially rewarding careers. The best part is that I get to do all of this while thoroughly enjoying my daughter’s first year of school.

Maybrooks Q&A

MB: What kind of advice/coaching do most working moms come to you for?
JMF:  The moms I work with are high-achievers, they want successful careers but their lives are leaving them out of breath. They literally find themselves panting their way through the day.  They are looking for a way to make good career decisions that give them the time and resources to enjoy motherhood. They want to figure out how to ask for what they want. 

I am amazed by the number of brilliant women who underestimate their value. They think anyone could do what they do. Whenever I hear a mom say that, I ask her to tell me three people she knows who does what she does as well as she does it.

When working moms realize how much value they bring to the companies for which they work, they can begin to get comfortable asking for they want whether it is more money, responsibility or flexibility.

MB: What’s the biggest innovation you’ve seen at the companies you work with in terms of their approach to hiring and retaining women? Are there any companies you particularly admire?
JMF: Honestly, I don’t think there has been enough innovation around retaining women at most companies.  Part of the challenge is that women are less likely to negotiate for what they want, so companies try to craft flex policies that don’t meet the true needs of working moms. Innovation comes when enough women feel comfortable asking for what they need and enough companies think creatively about supporting those needs. 

MB: What’s your best advice, as a career coach focused on working mothers, for women as they think about, and worry about their careers?
JMF: I tell all my clients to focus on their strengths. I have a client who digs data analysis and pays close attention to detail. We talk about how she can use those skills to build influence in her organization. For instance, her boss is not a detail person so we are concentrating on how my client can use her love of data and details to complement the strengths of her boss. She doesn’t need to learn how to be like her boss, she needs to demonstrate the value of her strengths to her boss. 

MB: What advice do you live by as a working mom?
JMF: The advice I give all my clients is to manage your energy.  Moms are consumed with productivity at work and at home.  However, we rarely stop and think about our production capacity.  Before I had my daughter, I was able to make things happen just by the force of my will.  If I wanted something bad enough, I would make it happen regardless of the cost.

Now I don’t fight for every detail, I had to learn to build and save my energy to fight for the details that matter.

- SD

Do you know another amazing working mom we should feature? Email Stacey: maybrooks@maybrooks.com

Nope. Not-for-profit group Catalyst, as we’ve noted before, has found that women do ask for raises and promotions just as often as guys do, but they’re less successful at getting them.

Now, research from Michael Morris at the Columbia Business School and Emily Amanatullah, at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, shows that both men and women find women who are aggressive negotiators to be “unlikeable.” Men don’t have this problem, needless to say. And it doesn’t bode well for your odds of success.

The researchers did uncover one situation in which female negotiators are not penalized for being aggressive. It’s when women are negotiating on behalf of someone else. If you’re trying to get a raise for your deputy, you have the same odds of success as a guy would. So even at the negotiating table, most people still expect women to be caring, nurturing, and taking care of others. Luckily, the researchers also have some ideas about how you can use this very persistent stereotype to your advantage.

I still think that asking nicely, being specific, and being willing to walk away form the basis of getting what you want. But, according to the researchers, it’s also smart to address the stereotypes at work here – and to hold your ground anyways. Here’s what they suggest:

1. Use objective measures that are hard to ignore. Showing that you’re paid less than other people in your position can be effective no matter what your gender. So if there’s any hard data that will help your case, make sure you know it cold.

2. Love your job. Have we mentioned how much you love your job? You do. Believe it or not, this is a key point in your negotiation. You love representing your company, you love working with your colleagues. You cannot make this too clear. Why?

• Emphasizing how happy you are in your work is another way of showing that you are embedded in a web of positive relationships in your company. By doing this, you are helping to keep yourself ‘likeable’ even though the act of negotiating may temporarily make you seem otherwise. By saying how much you like your job, you show that you fit in.
• By showing how well you fit in, you’re saying, in a subtle way, that what’s good for you, and what keeps you happy (More money! More flexibility!) is good for the company.

3. Show that you have internal support. If you can credibly say that someone higher up in the organization suggested you ask for a raise, do so. It’ll make you seem less selfish. (I know that no guy would have to worry about seeming selfish, but this is the real world. Do what it takes). Obviously, you don’t want to get the other person in trouble, so be careful.

4. Try not to make it all about you and your achievements. Yes, this sounds completely counterintuitive, and you certainly don’t want to ignore everything you’ve accomplished. But you also want to emphasize how much you team has done. Or show how your promotion will be good for the entire organization.

Ready? Take a deep breath. Go get ‘em! Then, email us at more [at] onethingnew [dot] com, or send us a message on twitter at @onethingnew, and tell us how you did. We’re rooting for you!

This article was originally published on onethingnew.com.

_________________________

About the contributor: One Thing New is a digital media startup that offers smart, original and relevant content to thinkers, professionals and parents who also happen to be women. Founded by veteran reporters and writers Connie Guglielmo and Kimberly Weisul, One Thing New. Sign up for their newsletter at onethingnew.com. 

WHO SHE IS: Kristin Flink Kranias, Co-founder Hipiti & SaleTally

SUCCESS STORY: Left position as Principal at consulting firm to take a big risk and start a company

WORK SCHEDULE: Just finishing maternity leave; plan to work 3 days a week in office and from home the rest of the time

KIDS: 3-month-old twins George & Angelina

SANITY VICE: Chocolate : )

How she got here…

I graduated from Harvard in 2000 at the height of the first Internet boom and was very intrigued to move to the Bay Area. I joined Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, in San Francisco, and before I knew it had stayed there for over 10 years with a break for business school at Stanford. While I never planned to be a career consultant, I loved the people and teams at Bain and the time flew by. My original plan was to stay there while having kids because they have great flexible working solutions for moms, but then the Hipiti opportunity came along and I knew that the timing was right to take a risk in my career. Hipiti (hipiti.com) is a service to aggregate the overload of retail emails in your inbox and show you only the best, most relevant offers and SaleTally (saletally.com – coming soon) is our enterprise retail data product that we’re launching soon. My co-founder Rama Katkar, a good friend from business school, had the idea for Hipiti and I jumped at the chance to join her – I had been focused on retail and ecommerce at Bain, so the industry fit was perfect and I’d wanted to do something entrepreneurial since business school. I also really identified with the pain point from a consumer perspective (retail email overload) and am addicted to online shopping, so it fit my personal interests as well.

MB: Congratulations on your twins! How is it going managing two babies and a company?

KFK: I’m hanging in there! My twins are just over three months now and I’m not officially back from maternity leave yet, but beginning to re-engage more every day. The only way this has been possible at all is because I have an amazing co-founder who managed everything while I’ve been out. We also made a couple key hires just as I was leaving, a VP of Marketing and a data engineering manager. On the baby front, they are doing great and I’m loving being a mom, but no matter how many people told me that twins are exponentially more difficult, I was not prepared for it! But every week seems to get a little easier and I’ve been lucky to have good support at home.

MB: What has been the best tool for you when it comes to navigating babies and work?

KFK: I’m not back to work just yet, but there are a few things that have saved me time already. First, I’m doing a lot of pumping and then bottle feeding which both require constant cleaning. The environmentalist in me would prefer to only buy and use the amount of bottles and pumping equipment that we need, but after spending hours washing, I just bought a ton of each and throw in the dishwasher at night. I also use the pumping time to catch up on email and messages. We’re in process of attempting to put the twins on the same schedule – when it works out, our day is so much more productive!

MB: What kind of flexibility do you build into your day or week for yourself?

KFK: I’m lucky to have some amount of flexibility working at a small startup – things just need to get done, but if it’s at 2 a.m. when I’m awake after feeding the babies, that’s fine! I’ve set up a home office so that I will be able to work from home some days and isolate myself from the babies. I’m excited that I got my husband’s old polycom so calls will be more comfortable!

MB: What’s the media missing about working moms, in your opinion?

KFK: I think it’s great that the media has really re-invigorated this debate in the past few months. We’d welcome more media discussion about how startups and freelancers in particular are managing maternity and paternity leave. As a very small company, Rama and I had to discuss what kind of culture we wanted very early on to figure out the best way to accommodate our families and professional goals. We found that lots of planning and communication was the best way for us to facilitate maternity leave in such a small company. Unlike larger companies that have people and resources to help pick up the slack when someone is on maternity, we needed to figure out how to best manage with just a few people. We hope that by living through this experience early on, we’ve created good building blocks for our company culture as we scale.

MB: What advice do you live by as a working mom?

KFK: I’m lucky to have working moms in the family who have been wonderful role models and sources of advice. My mom, mother-in-law, sister and sister-in-law have all shared tips to help me make the transition back. Here are a few that I’m planning to live by:

1. You can only be your best mom when you’re happy with your own personal and professional decisions – you can’t feel guilty about taking care of yourself, too!

2. When working, give 100 percent to work and when with your kids, give 100 percent to your kids. Don’t try to do both at the same time or everyone feels cheated and ineffective.

3. Always remember that it is quality of time and NOT quantity that you spend with your kids. When you are with them, live that time up to its fullest!

Are you new to maybrooks.com? Learn more here! Know another great mom who we should feature? Email us: maybrooks@maybrooks.com.

A message from the Maybrooks co-founders.

Hello and welcome. We’re glad you’re here! We built Maybrooks.com through the lens of two working moms, for all working moms — as a tool to help you find the career flexibility that’s right for you. This isn’t just another job board — it’s a community. And it only works with you. Why?

Co-founder Stacey Delo with her two children on the left. Co-founder Debi Ryan with her two children on the right. Photo credit to Viet Hwang.

Maybrooks is about women helping women find flexibility: Over 95% of the jobs posted here have come from other women. Business owners, hiring managers, and individuals like you who have shared links to jobs they see come across their networks. It’s really easy to do: SHARE A JOB LINK

By sharing links to jobs, you will help us expand into your area faster: If you would like to see job listings in your area, please help us by sharing links to jobs that maybe aren’t in your field or even right for you, but that are well-suited for another working mom who seeks flexibility. Pay it forward. Read more about the kinds of jobs we’re looking for: FAQ

By joining our community, you join the national conversation: To join us, simply sign up for our newsletter. We send weekly updates on the latest news and discussions related to working moms and flexibility, and flexible job opportunities. The stronger our community, and the more we hear from you, the more we can help employers reach this amazing talent pool. SIGN UP BELOW.

Best,
Stacey & Debi

WHO SHE IS:

Success Story: Concepted, designed and launched a new tool for searching across all of one’s social media just after having my third baby and while living as an expat overseas.

Work Schedule: Currently living in Dubai where the work week is Sunday – Thursday. I work school hours and all hours of the night to connect with my team in Seattle.

Kids: One daughter (5 – going on 25!) and two sons (1 and 3)

Sanity Vice: Dance parties with my kids, keeping them on a good nap and sleep schedule, lots of coffee, and a bit of “me-time” throughout the week that helps me recharge and think more clearly.

How she got here…

MB: Walk us through how you got to this point in your career.
TWG: For anyone who knew me growing up, I think living as an expat in the Middle East would be the LAST place they would picture me. I was the girl that grew up in Chicago, went to Northwestern University (close to home) as an undergrad, worked in Chicago afterwards and then went back to Kellogg Graduate School of Management (Northwestern) for my MBA. I absolutely loved Chicago and never saw myself leaving.

After Northwestern, I was blessed to work at McKinsey & Company, where I was thrown into solving business problems on an hourly basis. It was another life-changing experience and an important step along my path toward entrepreneurship, as I tried to gain skills that would help me run my own business one day. I was exposed to so many different businesses, business practices, leadership styles, and ways of thinking.

Post business school I took a marketing role at Pfizer, but left for a smaller firm after having my first child because I felt I could have more autonomy over my schedule. This role further solidified for me an important lesson: even if you have autonomy at work and are able to set some of the schedules, that doesn’t mean you have a lighter workload. Yes, some days I could work from home if my child was sick, but I was still putting in 16 hour days. Or, I could try to make the 5pm train to be home for dinner, but I was still online from 7:30pm-1am.

Tindley Gilbert with her three children in Dubai (10/12).

After moving to Dubai for my husband’s job in 2009, I had multiple situations where I wanted to take information from Facebook (including the “rich content” of comments, likes, etc.) and be able to search, organize, save and share it.  Trips to Egypt.  The first time my son walked.  The first words my daughter said. All of this was on Facebook and at the time, it was difficult to find. Also, as a busy mom, I wanted to make this information VERY easy to find.  After doing a lot of research, my husband and I decided that this was the next problem I was meant to solve.

So, we found a development team and started working on Diggity in earnest in the summer of 2012.  The road has been great but it is A LOT of hard work. Given the time difference, my husband’s intense travel schedule, and living overseas, it makes it difficult to juggle it all. But, I am learning each day and continuing to evolve as an entrepreneur, working mother, wife and person!

How she does it: Diggity, Flexibility at the Helm, and Advice for other Moms

MB: You live in Dubai. What’s the scene like for working mothers there?
TWG: This is challenging because given the many cultures and nationalities living in Dubai, it’s hard to truly know every working mother’s experience. Some mothers are working here but in order to do so, have had to leave their children in their home countries. I can’t imagine how difficult that is. On the other end of the spectrum are women who have moved to Dubai with their families.  Some may have made a choice to leave their previous careers to move overseas as a result of their spouse’s career, and as a result may not be working here. However, I have many friends here who are working mothers, either working as entrepreneurs – like me – or for larger organizations in many industries, including consumer product goods, education, finance and hotel management, to name a few. There are many benefits of Dubai that make it very possible to be a working mother.

MB: Tell us about Diggity
TWG: Diggity is a free, personalized search bar for your digital life. It’s no stretch to say that these days, we live our lives online. We share, post, like and tweet our biggest and smallest moments with each other – momentous occasions like weddings, births, trips, even dinners and family get-togethers in Grandma’s backyard. But what happens when you want to rediscover these moments after a few months, or even a year or two? And even if you did find everything, what could you do with it? That’s exactly why I created Diggity, which enables you to search, organize, save and share your social media experiences and memories. You can save information to Shoeboxes to review at any time, create an electronic album to share with friends or family, and soon, turn everything into printed products. Most importantly, we’ve focused on creating an easy-to-use user interface that should make this information quickly and easily available to you.

MB: With three kids and an ex-pat life, why did you decide that this was the best time to launch a business?
TWG: In some ways this is the BEST time to do this. First, I know my target market because I AM my target market. Every day, something comes up in my own life (“Gosh, I wish I had saved that article to a Shoebox so I could go back and read it later”) and so I feel like I know what others may be looking for in a product like Diggity. Second, the time zone difference does allow me to try to balance time with kids and working, which was what I always wanted. It is true that you can’t have it all at the same time, though, so I do see that I am usually taking time away from myself. Third, being an expat has given me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and better understand where they are coming from and issues they face, which also helps me build Diggity to meet our users’ needs.

MB: Do you think that being at the helm provides you the kind of flexibility you need?
TWG: Yes, without question. That is one of the greatest benefits. It was one of the main reasons I knew I wanted to be the leader of an organization. But, you also set the tone for the entire organization, so it comes with a great responsibility. As I always say, I wouldn’t ask any team member to do anything (or work at a time) that I wouldn’t also do. I also think that although you have more flexibility, you are likely working longer hours. I tell people that whether or not I’m “working,” I am always working. When I’m in the car, in the store, at a function—I’m always thinking about work. To help me, I carry post-it notes with me everywhere to capture all of my thoughts.

MB: One of the hardest parts about running a business is knowing when to shut it off.  How do you manage this?
TWG: This is the hardest part for me. I have 3 kids under 5, so the fact that I have conference calls, strategic plans, and marketing meetings to contend with doesn’t resonate with them! As a result, I’ve made it a priority to learn “how” to shut it off.  Otherwise, I’m not living up to my own desire to balance work and motherhood. Being able to “shut it off” is also complicated by the 12 hour time difference, because I could technically work all night, as that’s when my team is working. I think you should always strive to achieve work/life balance at all times but I recognize that it ebbs and flows. Here is how I try to achieve the best work/life balance:

1) Understand my business: Some weeks, my work/life balance will not be great. Maybe we’re working on a new feature or in the midst of financing, but then when I recognize an opportunity to take a break, I try to take the time to relax.

2) Listen and respect my body’s messages: Sometimes, I just have to fall asleep at 8pm after my kids go down and I know that any work I would have tried to do wouldn’t have been fruitful.

3) Pre-plan down time: I have finally figured out that certain nights of the week, I should take time off.  I know it’s my team’s weekend (Saturday morning) and it’s my time to catch up, if I need to. If I don’t need to catch up, then I allow myself the opportunity to relax. I either go on a date with my husband, have a girls’ night out, watch TV or read. This is important refueling time. I find if I schedule it and have it planned, then it’s easier to follow through on taking a break and I’m more energized when I get back into the thick of work.

MB: What advice do you live by as a working mom
TWG: There are so many idioms, sayings and words of advice that have guided me in my career. Here are some of mine:

• Know thyself. If you are meant to have a job, outside that of being a mom(!), that’s great!  Don’t feel like you have to make excuses for yourself and don’t beat yourself up. There are so many lessons that your children can learn from your experience. You can involve them in your work as well—it’s wonderful for children to see their moms in different settings.

• Make sure to have someone with whom you can communicate your successes and fears. We all need someone to talk with. Your partner. Your friend. Your parents. A stranger.

• Balance in all things. It’s not healthy to either a) work 100% of the time or b) be with your kids 100% of the time. It’s okay to find a happy balance that works for you, your kids and your family and again, to not have to make excuses about it.

• Find time for yourself. Whatever it may be.

• Be kind to yourself. At the end of the day, tell yourself, “I tried my best today and tomorrow I’ll try harder.” This is especially helpful after a tough day with one of your kids. You may not have handled a situation as you would have liked, but It’s important to be “kind” to yourself and know you will try differently tomorrow.

• It’s good for your kids to know that others (outside from their parents) love them. Someone told me this right after I had my first child and knew I needed to hire a nanny. It’s okay to seek out people to help you while you’re working (nanny, daycare, etc). And, it’s okay if they spend time with your kids. Your kids will learn that they are loved by many different people.

• Find ways to outsource aspects of your life. Birthday parties are a great example. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but there are ways to again ask others for help.

• Know what you’re good at. This is good for business, and important for healthy relationships.  If you’re good at doing the dishes, then do the dishes and let your partner do something else around the house that they are good at. But (and here’s the important part!), don’t get angry when your partner doesn’t do the dishes. You are both working with your strengths.

• Hug your kids at least 10 times a day. This is something they’ll always remember.

Do you know another amazing working mom we should feature? Email Stacey: maybrooks@maybrooks.com

Who She Is: Amy Heinz

Using Our Words founder and chief wordsmith, Disney Baby contributor, freelance writer, mom of 3

Photo Credit to JennyLeePhotography.com

SUCCESS STORY: Turned her experience running Yahoo’s relationship marketing with top-tier mom bloggers into her own popular slice-of-life parenting blog

WORK SCHEDULE: Monday & Wednesday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., naptimes, evenings, stolen moments in the bathroom

KIDS: “Big” (6-1/2), “Little” (4), “Pink” (20 months)

SANITY VICE: Wine & family dance parties (not necessarily together)

How She Got Here: Turning a Lay Off into an Opportunity (in her own words)

All it took was a few episodes of Melrose Place for me to decide that I’d leave home in the Bay Area to become an LA ad exec one day. As luck would have it, UCLA accepted me, and I moved into an awesome apartment complex with a pool. My first job was at the hottest agency around doing the most thankless work imaginable. At night, I attended Bookshop, a portfolio-building class, and worked my way onto the creative side as a copywriter.

After deciding agency life wasn’t nearly as hot as my boyfriend, I moved back to Northern California to get married. I joined Yahoo’s in-house creative team and enjoyed writing award-winning print, collateral, web, radio, online advertising, and event copy. Right around the time “Big” was born, I was promoted to run the creative team. It didn’t take long to realize that this career move wasn’t working for my family, so I asked for a demotion and transitioned to a 4-day work week. When “Little” came along, I worked 30 hours a week, and went to the office 2 days a week.

During this time, I started contributing to a Yahoo blog called Yodeling Mamas that was open to any mom who worked at Yahoo. Something clicked. I loved it, so I changed roles within the company to run the blog, as well as a blogger outreach program called the Yahoo! Mother Board. Inspired by the 80+ influential moms I was working with, I started my own blog, Using Our Words. Then, while six-months pregnant, I was laid off.

Having the blog paid off. I was invited to become a Disney Baby contributor. But I really consider myself a stay-at-home mom. Having a successful blog and other high-profile writing gigs has helped me feel like I can be at home, but still have a strong resume when the time comes to re-enter the workplace — in whatever capacity that may be.

How She Does It – Q&A

MB: Why is your blog called “Using Our Words”?
AH: I truly consider myself to be the mom next door. Our family is pretty typical, and what typical parent doesn’t spend the day telling little ones to, “Use your words!”? As a copywriter I use my words to build brands, but as a blogger, I use my words to share personal stories and build a community that engages in great conversation. I love that we’re all using our words to talk about how we feel, and make this parenting journey that much more fun.

Photo Credit to JennyLeePhotography.com

MB: You told me on the phone that the blog is a way for you to stay engaged with the working world. Can you explain what you mean by that?
AH: When I got laid off, I originally planned to freelance the same hours I’d been working. I was offered different freelance jobs, but I landed on bed rest for a couple months, had a new baby (3 kids is no joke), my father passed away, and life just sort of happened to lead me to being at home. I had always hoped to have the opportunity to be at home with the kids, and I’m so grateful for the time I have with them. But having personal success is also important to me. My blog is helping me stay on top of important skills like writing and social media, and I’m continuing to build a resume by working with companies like Disney, Coca-Cola, and LeapFrog.

MB: What skills, beyond writing, have you learned in order to build a successful blog?
AH: While my job at Yahoo helped me learn a lot about social media, I’m continuing to learn as it grows and evolves. I’ve also learned (and have a lot more to learn) about sales, negotiations, marketing, and putting a value on my time and expertise (which is extremely difficult in the blogging world).

MB: Are there any blog resources out there that you have found particularly useful?
AH: I’m a huge fan of WordPress (self hosted) as a blog platform (though I have hired an awesome expert who helps me with the more technical side of things). PicMonkey is my new favorite (free!) tool — you can do all kinds of amazing things to turn simple iPhone pictures into art. It’s especially great for the slideshow posts I tend to write for Disney Baby. Feedblitz is a great email service as I’m building my subscriber base. I used to be a total Facebook loyalist (it’s where I see the most engagement from my readers), but now that their algorithms are impacting the number of “fans” who see the posts I share in their feeds, I’m  trying to make nice with Twitter and Google+, too. They’re both so powerful, and I’m enjoying learning more about how to maximize their potential.

MB: What have you learned the most about yourself with this endeavor?
AH: It may sound funny, but I’ve learned I’m a writer. Not just a copywriter. Not just a blogger. A writer. I absolutely love to write and I feel like there’s real potential for me and my future. It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.

Follow Amy @usingourwords

- SD (@staceydelo and @maybrooksjobs)

Do you know another fabulous working mom who we should profile? Email me! stacey@maybrooks.com

**Help us grow into your community! Give a job, get a job. If you see links to job posts you know are well-suited for another working mom, simply paste the link here and we’ll load it to the site. This is how and where smart moms truly help each other find flexible careers.

WHO SHE IS: Co-founder, publisher, and author of RookieMoms.com and 510families.com

SUCCESS STORY: Moss and her co-founder quickly turned blogging success into book sales with The Rookie Mom’s Handbook

WORK SCHEDULE: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m, plus some erratic laptop time during evening television watching hours

KIDS: Julian, 8, and Scarlett, 5

SANITY VICE: Dark chocolate chips, eaten straight out of the bag

How she became her own boss…

Before catapulting RookieMoms.com into a veritable force in the powerful world of mommy blogs, Whitney Moss turned a full-time marketing gig at the educational toy company LeapFrog into a 30-hour per week role after having her first baby. “I chose Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. so that I was available to my colleagues every day of the week, but had afternoons with my baby,” Moss said.

On the side, Moss and her business partner, Heather Flett, were writing and growing their blog–a popular destination for moms looking to for activities to do with their kids. As new moms, Moss and Flett craved fun things they could do with their babies, so they began making a list of achievable activities. ”I made a list of things I like doing — some as simple as ordering fresh lemonade at a cafe. And then I would plan my day around my mission. I’d pack up the baby and stroll to the cafe,” Moss said. And RookieMoms was born.

As the blog gathered steam, Moss passed up a promotion at LeapFrog and left the company to freelance and work on the duo’s first book (The Rookie Mom’s Handbook), and “be more in control of my hours without feeling like I was disappointing anyone. Although I had a great job, I was more excited about being a mom, and wasn’t willing to let my job compromise my access to my son.”

Seven years later, RookieMoms.com is one of two successful blogs that Moss and Flett run, and they recently published their second book, Stuff Every Mom Should Know.

So how does she manage her time and family now that she runs her own business? Maybrooks.com asked Moss for some tips:

MB: How do you organize your day to fit in work and and your family? 

WM: My kids are school-aged now, so I work within the hours they are at school. Ever since they were born, however, I pay for a little bit more childcare than I need, so that I don’t feel stressed out when I do need to use it. For example, when I was working outside of the house, and had one young baby, I gave myself an hour to get home, even though my commute was 12 minutes. That way I could stop for an errand on the way home if I needed to. Now, I pay for aftercare that goes until 6 p.m., but I pick them up at 3:30 or 4 p.m. every day. I pick them up early because I want to have that time with them and that’s the length of work day that feels right for me, but if something comes up, I don’t have to scramble to find childcare. I get stressed out by scrambles, so I’m better off protecting myself against them.

MB: Your husband works full-time as well. How do you work together when it comes to your children? Any advice for other moms on this front?

WM: I think he would agree that my having a flexible schedule benefits him tremendously. Most of the daytime home responsibilities are on me. Sick kids and doctor’s appointments are things I can work around. If I have a conflict that’s important to me, I let him know. He’s pretty much always going to cover what I ask for because I prioritize my asks. Mostly he says he wants advance notice. TIP: We share a Google Calendar with family appointments. They show up on both of our phones. Not only does it help keep us organized, but frankly I feel more appreciated because I know he’s aware of random school closures and volunteer duties that I’m covering on behalf of our household.

MB: What advice do you have for working moms (or moms considering going back to work) when it comes to managing your job and family?

WM: I think it’s important to remember that there’s always room for change. Every time you take on something new, you have to allow yourself a learning curve. Just like you don’t know how to do everything on your first day of a new job, you don’t know everything about making your home life a success either. Establishing routines takes patience, trial and error. Give yourself permission to feel frustrated and overwhelmed. And give yourself permission to celebrate successes, even if they’re trivial.

- SD

Know another great Mom out there who we should spotlight? Email us at maybrooks@maybrooks.com.

WHO SHE IS: Lindsey Gladstone, Editor and Director for DailyCandy Kids

WORK SCHEDULE: Full time, 5 days a week,
from home
KIDS: Nora, 4 ¾ (and that ¾ is very important)
and Lila, 3
SANITY VICE: Who has time for a vice?

MB: Walk us through how you got to this point in your career.
LG: I graduated from Northwestern with a theatre degree and a three-day-a-week sales gig at Banana Republic. Yes, I owned a safari-inspired two-piece belted suit. You did, too. Admit it.

But a few years out of school, I realized that my true passion wasn’t performance, it was the written word. Through luck (and a friend in human resources), I landed a job as a copywriter at a consulting firm that did back-end computer systems integration. Businesses were just beginning to launch websites with e-commerce, and this company was complementing the backend build with a front-end design team to express brand and voice. With a very unimpressive portfolio of “Sex and the City”-style essays and no real “writing” experience, I managed to convince the creative lead that I was a digital copywriter. And that’s how my writing career began.

I hopped over a year or so later to a digital advertising agency and spent the beginning of the aughts writing banner copy, concepting interactive experiences, and learning how to speak the emerging language of digital brands. But the whole time, what I loved most about the Internet was an email I got to get in my inbox every morning from DailyCandy. When I heard the company was launching a Chicago edition, I sent a blind, earnest note to the founder professing my love for both her brand and my city—and she bit. When her reply came into my inbox, I wept. Not kidding. I was hired as the Chicago editor and stayed in that position until I left to host a television show, The Shopping Detective.

After having my first daughter five years ago, I returned to DailyCandy to oversee its Kids content—local to national. All of it from the comfort of my home office. A reason to weep again.

MB: From an outsider’s perspective, you have such a fun job. Is it as fun as it looks?
LG: That is a loaded question because it’s still work. And work isn’t always supposed to be fun. But the fact that it’s my responsibility to explore, discover, and connect with emerging designers, brands, and businesses is awesome. And yes, very fun. I am aware that not everyone can say that about their jobs. I consider myself lucky.

MB: You work from home. How long have you done this, how did it come about, and what are the pros and cons?
LG: I have been working from home since I joined DailyCandy in 2003(ish). The city editors all have remote, home offices. When I returned in 2008 to oversee Kids it was just natural that I would continue to work from home, since the main office is in NYC and moving wasn’t in the cards for my family. I’ve been doing it so long, I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to go into an office. The pros: I can wear whatever I want, I don’t worry about pimples anymore, I can schedule the phone/cable/washing machine repair visit for the middle of the day, and, of course, I get to see my kids right at closing time—or whenever I want if I can swing it. There’s no commute to daycare, no rush to make dinner, no compressed quality time at night, I can easily duck out to be the mystery visitor at school or attend a midday recital. However, believe it or not, there are cons. I miss human interaction. I feel like I have to work twice as hard to stay involved with what’s happening at the office in NYC, and because my office is my home, I never really leave work. My computer is always on. I have to pull myself away from email on the weekend. Although I suppose with mobile technology these days that is something we all struggle with. On a personal note, my husband and I have had to figure out how to balance our roles. We both work full-time jobs—mine just happens to be at home. We have to work hard to make sure we aren’t abusing the fact that I’m here and even out the responsibilities when it comes to the kids and managing our home and lives. Not easy, but we try to maintain an awareness about it.

MB: How did you react to Yahoo banning all work-from-home-only employee situations?
LG: My first reaction was one of disappointment. While I understand Marissa Mayer is not the poster child for all women/parent workplace issues, it was so disheartening to have that mandate come from a woman in a leadership role. But then came all of the articles – and the comments – and it was, I think, an incredible silver lining. We are starting to have a national discussion about making work work – for parents, for families, for women. I have been so fortunate at DailyCandy to work for managers that never questioned my ability to produce, lead, or grow despite the fact that I work from home. I am so fortunate that when I say I can’t travel on certain dates because my husband is traveling and there needs to be a parent at home it isn’t seen as a mark against me. The key in my mind is flexibility – and the Yahoo decision felt like it left no room for that.

MB: I remember Lisa Belkin (former NYT, now Huffington Post) telling a crowd that she would dress up to go to work in her home office as a way to communicate to her kids that she wasn’t available to them, even though she was home. Do you do something similar?
LG: Oh, Lisa Belkin is so smart. I adore her writing and insight. Before kids I used to leave every morning to get coffee and then re-enter to start my day. Sadly, since kids I’m not as disciplined about that. And I certainly don’t get “dressed” every day. I love me some sweatpants—not going to lie. I do find though that as my kids get older, it’s getting harder and harder to get them to respect my work space. The other day I was on a video conference call with the edit and marketing team and my boogery 3-year-old walked in, jumped in my lap, and curled up in my arms. At first, I thought, “Oh, no!” And then I remembered that fantastic image of the Italian MEP attending a European Parliament session with her baby in a sling sleeping on her chest. Yes, we can! She needed a hug; mom needed to work. The only disruption was an “awww” from a co-worker on the other end of the video call.

MB: Working from home can be so productive but also isolating. What steps do you take to ensure you are part of the team?
LG: I agree. I find it to be incredibly productive. My co-workers often say they can’t get over how quickly I produce content. I remind them that there is no water cooler chat in my home office. Then again there is no water cooler chat, so I do get lonely, no doubt. But I have also found that with video conferencing (thank you Google Hangout!) and rapid-pace instant messaging I can still feel incredibly close to many of my remote co-workers.

MB: What’s the media missing about working moms, in your opinion?
LG: I don’t know if it’s what they’re missing as much as it’s where they seem stuck. Get over the mommy wars, people. Stop pitting working moms against stay-at-home moms. And really, let’s evolve the conversation so that we are talking about working parents—both moms and dads.

MB: What’s your biggest challenge as a working mom and what do you do to address it?
LG: Balance. I say that and I mean it, but I’m not really completely sure what it refers to. Does it mean time for work and my kids? Does it mean time for me separate from my work? Does it mean time for me and my spouse versus me and my kids? It means all these things at once, I think. I try to address it by being conscious of it. By not beating myself up if I miss something—either at work or with my kids. By talking about it—a lot. Maybe too much. I think awareness is the first step to achieving it. I’m not sure if I’ve made it past step one, but I’m hopeful someday I will.

Do you know another amazing working mom we should feature? Email Stacey: maybrooks@maybrooks.com

Search Flexible Jobs on Maybrooks!

**Help us grow into your community! Give a job, get a job. If you see links to job posts you know are well-suited for another working mom, simply paste the link here and we’ll load it to the site. This is how and where smart moms truly help each other find flexible careers.

One of the great things about being a reporter is that, quite literally, I learn something new every day. Here’s what I learned while researching this story: My LinkedIn profile does not rock. In fact, it may stink.

This is partly because when I filled out my profile, I didn’t care. I was a busy freelancer, and wasn’t looking for work. But now that Connie and I are running One Thing New, all kinds of people may be checking me out on LinkedIn – potential readers, partners, reporters, advertisers, anyone. Time to step it up.

Here’s how I’m going to do it. And how you can do it too, whether you’re looking for a job, trying to find new partners or clients, or heck, running an email newsletter.

1. Customize your URL. This is just common sense, and takes almost no time. Left to its own devices, LinkedIn will assign you a long and incomprehensible URL. To change that, click on “Edit profile,” then, “Public profile.” In the right-hand column, select “Your URL” and type in a URL that actually has something to do with your name.

2. Personalize your Web site. LinkedIn lets you link to other Web sites or blogs from within your profile. I chose “Web site” and then included the link to One Thing New. Wrong! Instead, choose “other.” Here’s why: Choosing “other” lets you ‘name’ your blog or Web site. Instead of a link that just says “Web site,” it can say, “Awesome resume help,” or “World’s best bakery.” I simply chose “One Thing New.” Whatever works for you.

3. Know your keywords. Recruiters use keywords to search for job candidates on LinkedIn. So why doesn’t your profile reflect this? Like me, you probably didn’t think about it.

Time to start thinking. Ask yourself: Why am I on LinkedIn in the first place? If your first answer, like mine, was, “I’m on LinkedIn out of some dull but undefined sense of obligation,” try asking yourself what, ideally, you would like to get out of LinkedIn. Need a hint? Some 98% of recruiters say they use LinkedIn to find job candidates, compared to 33% who use Facebook, according to a survey from Bullhorn Reach.

If you want a new job, then find a few job listings for your dream job. Pay attention to the keywords used to describe that job. Write them down. If you’re looking for new clients, think about the services you offer and how your clients describe them. Look at a few job descriptions, too. Again, write down your keywords.

4. Choose your headline. This is trickier than it sounds. This can be your current title, if you like. But if you’re active in an industry association, you might want to use that instead. Ditto if you sit on a board. Get your most important keyword in the headline.

5. Write an ad. This is also known as the summary, and to me, it’s the hardest part. Your LinkedIn profile is not your resume. It’s marketing, period. The summary is your chance to demonstrate your passion for your work and to tell the world what separates you from everyone else who shares your title. Explain what you do for clients or employers, why do you do it, and how you do it. This summary, from Rene Shimada Siegel, is a great example. Read her summary, and you’ll know instantly what she does, professionally. But just as important, her enthusiasm shines through.

Yes, you want to incorporate your keywords. Liberally. But as Jeff Haden writes in this piece about LinkedIn profiles, “Keywords are important but are primarily just a way to help [people] find you. No one hires keywords; they hire people.”

6. Edit your work history. The “experience” section doesn’t need to be all-inclusive. If you had jobs that don’t support your current business goals, just include titles and dates for those. For more relevant experience, go into as more detail. This can be more than a collection of bullet points. You can write a narrative about one of your many triumphs. Or you can plug in a short testimonial.

7. Sleep on it, then re-read it. Does it make sense? Is it coherent? Have you eliminated any typos? Do you seem like someone you’d like to get to know? Excellent! Pleased to meet you.

On some level, we almost expect resumes to be boring. A LinkedIn profile can’t be. You’re not listing your qualifications. You’re writing an advertisement — for yourself.

- KW

If you liked this story, you might also like these stories from One Thing New:

Three Steps to Getting What You Want: These three steps can help you reach any goal – in my case, a part-time job with benefits

Remember to Exhale: Do you suffer from so-called email apnea? Expert Linda Stone shows how to combat this hidden stressor

When Size 6 is Fat: Supermodel Amy Lemons want to set healthier standards for all women

_________________________

About the contributor: One Thing New is a digital media startup that offers smart, original and relevant content to thinkers, professionals and parents who also happen to be women. Founded by veteran reporters and writers Connie Guglielmo and Kimberly Weisul, One Thing New takes an innovative approach to reaching this underserved audience of 43 million educated, professional women who are 33 years old or better by offering content that assumes they are intelligent, competent and interested in general topics. Our readers are busy woman who want great reporting and advice on everything from careers and parenting to food, music, books, art and science. Sign up for our first initiative, an email newsletter, at onethingnew.com. (This article was originally published on onethingnew.com.)

SUCCESS STORY: With loads of tenacity, hard-work, and a bit of luck, I have been able to be entrepreneurial within an academic setting.

WORK SCHEDULE: Full time with lots of evening and weekend work, but I get time off each Friday afternoon to take my kids to their soccer practice!

KIDS: Jackson (13), Jade (11)

SANITY VICE: BE FLEXIBLE!!

How She Got Here…

Ever since high school I have known that I wanted to build a career in an academic setting.  I was fortunate to have attended a wonderful all-girls prep school in Baltimore for my formative years which shaped my deep interests in serving in leadership roles, organizing school-wide spirit activities, and applying to Boston College’s Lynch School of Education.   Empowered and excited to learn more, I embraced my college years at Boston College where I graduated with honors and received a Creativity and Leadership award at my commencement in 1987.

Immediately after college, I spent two years teaching English in Kyoto, Japan and studied Japanese, Calligraphy, and Ikebana (the art of flower arranging). Living and traveling abroad exposed me to amazing cultures, people, and ancient history and helped to develop my global perspective.  This experience sparked my interest in working for international education and cultural exchange organizations.  Upon return to the United States, I worked in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco for two of the leading international education organizations (USAID affiliate NCIV and The Asia Foundation).  In 1994, I secured a position at the Haas School of Business in the alumni relations office and have been building the momentum at UC Berkeley for more than 40,000 business school alumni and donors ever since.

During my time at Berkeley-Haas, I’ve managed to create a variety of work arrangements over the years to balance my family needs.  When my children were young, I created a job-share which allowed me to continue to foster and build my career while also juggling the demands and pleasures of parenting.  When the job-share came to an end after two years, I was able to create an organizational structure that allowed me to work 60% and slowly over a few years I ramped back up to 80% and then ultimately back to 100%-plus.

I’ve been back at work in a full-time capacity for over six years now, but as I hire, train, and retain talent on my team, I am proud to share with both the women and the men the history of my work-life balance and I encourage them to consider what will work best for them.  UC Berkeley has invigorated me professionally and supported me personally over the years.

Maybrooks Q&A: Flexibility in Academics, Transparency, & Tenny’s Tips (in her own words)

MB: What is it like being a working mom at an educational institution?

THF: UC Berkeley-Haas is very supportive of working moms and I am surrounded by women juggling interesting, demanding careers and young families. There are opportunities to grow as well as mentor other working moms.  The university also offers access to exceptional infant/child-care facilities as well as a teaching preschool environment.  My children flourished in these environments while I continued working at Berkeley-Haas.

MB: What advice do you have for women who feel like they are struggling to get the flexibility they need to make work work for them?

THF: If you are having trouble getting the flexibility that you need, I would encourage that you check-in with each of your key stakeholders (or partners) and discuss what the best solution is.  Have a heart to heart with your boss, husband/partner, child-care provider/school, parents, siblings, and neighbors, and figure out if there is any wiggle room or support that they can provide. Brainstorm with them and ask them for advice and input.  People want to help you… if you invite their feedback, I can guarantee that you’ll come up with some clever and interesting solutions.  Brainstorming can lead to some great innovations!

MB: What’s your best time-management or work/family management tip?

THF: TRANSPARENCY & COMMUNICATION!  My work calendar is visible to my work colleagues and husband so that everyone knows where I am, what I am doing, and what I am working on at all times.  I use the calendar to manage my work flow, project deadlines, meeting schedule, and doctor appointments!

MB: What advice do you live by as a working mom? 

THF: BE FLEXIBLE!  “Whatever you do, remember, that the most important thing is to always be flexible….” This was the sage advice my very wise and insightful 102 year old Baltimore Grandmother always gave me whenever I visited her.  She would always weave this comment into our conversation at some point. It would ring in my ears for days after our special visits.  That magical phrase “Be Flexible” became a core principle for me after I became a working mother of two beautiful children.

Juggling a full life with kids, a spouse, volunteer duties, and an active professional career simply requires flexibility.  If you are not flexible you can miss out on a lot of things.  I would get very frustrated with myself when I got too rigid or stuck in my ways.  The solution was to simply relax and try to look at the situation differently.  As a result, I truly believe that this core value, being flexible, has allowed me to be successful at work and at home.

HAVE A PLAN: At work, making strategic decisions and managing priorities for myself and others is a daily requirement.  At home, the same skills are applicable.  I have discovered that the more I plan, the easier it is to build in options and time so that I can be flexible.  Now, by default, I find myself planning my work projects with built in “what if moments”… this extra thinking and planning allows me to be more adaptable when things go off track at home or work.

And, as working moms know, things never go as planned.  Kids get sick, but they never seem to get sick on the days that could work well for you! They always get sick on the days that you have a major presentation or event, or, god forbid, a flight out of town for business.  I’ll never forget the morning my 3-year-old daughter threw up all over herself and her bed as I was on my way out the door for a major work event and a long weekend out of town. My husband and I had planned a trip for our 10-year wedding anniversary.  We were leaving the kids behind with the grandparents so that we could jet off to Mexico for a few days (our first major break / vacation since the birth of our kids).  My heart sank as my daughter become more and more ill.  Luckily, I was able to shift a few things around and reached out to my staff for help so that I could take it a bit slower that morning at home.  I did get to the event and it went fine.  We also got on that plane for Mexico later that night and enjoyed the long weekend together!  But, slowing down and being flexible made that horrible (and oh-so-guilty) situation, well, not so horrible anymore.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE: Another critical part of this guiding principle has been to create a staff environment that embraces flexible work styles and arrangements.  Not only do I personally need, want, and desire a flexible work schedule to accomplish my work-life-family balance, but I think it is a very healthy thing to offer every one (whether or not they have kids!) With today’s technology and communication tools, flexible work arrangements are vital to the success of teams and individuals in the workplace.  Productivity, respect, and teamwork is on the rise in my work place as a result.

GO WITH THE FLOW: At home, I have found that as much as I try to map out and plan out the week or weekend activities, they are bound to change for the better, and, well, sometimes for the worse.   A new idea for fun or family bonding might arise, so “going with the flow” is a theme I try to follow.

I am definitely not perfect at this “being flexible” thing.  I certainly know that using this as my mantra has kept me focused, happy, and successful over the years!!

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