Earlier this week, four powerful moms got together to talk building a business and raising kids as part of AOL Build’s “Working Mothers” installment of its live interview series. Randi Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media (and NYF’s March/April cover mom!); Zanna Roberts Rassi, Marie Claire Senior Fashion Editor and contributor for The “TODAY” show and E! News; and Shazi Visram, founder and CEO of Happy Family shared their insights–from the funny to the heartfelt– on life as mothers and entrepreneurs. “TODAY” producer, New York Times bestselling author (and NYF’s Jan/Feb cover mom) Alicia Ybarbo moderated the discussion.
We pulled together some of the highlights below, and you can see the panel in full at build.aol.com!
On balance…
“Work, sleep, family, friends, fitness: Pick three today!” – Randi
“No matter what, when you’re being creative and building, you’re sacrificing something, but the point is you get a stronger return later.” – Shazi
On guilt…
“I’m actually finding it harder to work now, because they are acutely aware that mummy’s away for four days… and Facetime’s fine, but there’s a certain punishment when you get home. Hugs for daddy, and the nanny, and that’s heartbreaking for any mom. But a few treats later it’s usually okay.” – Zanna
“Life isn’t actually perfect, and when you become a mom it’s not going to get more perfect, it becomes more imperfect. And you’re just going to have to roll with it and try to be happy throughout. If you spend time being guilty about anything it’s such a waste of time. ” – Shazi
“Hopefully this is their normal. Some kids go home to a mom who’s there, and some kids go home to a mom telling them stories from her time in Kuwait. And it’s just the normal they are used to in your household.”-Randi
On parenthood and productivity…
“Both my husband and I actually said that the year we had twins, both of us had never had a more successful year of our lives. -Zanna
“When you become a mom, I think you become so much more efficient at everything in life that you compartmentalize,..I think it made me a better business person because I could just get it done.”-Shazi
How they separate work from home…
“[If my phone’s around], I am not present. I am not in the moment with my kids, I’m looking at that.. even if it’s on silent I know things are there and happening. If I go put it in the bedroom, then at least I can be present and in the moment with my kids.” -Zanna
“There are days when I come home and I’ve got a little bit of a bitchy on.. I come home and immediately my 13 year old will say you know what mom, whatever happened to you at work you gotta let go.” – Alicia
On hearing “no”…
“Every no is just a next step to a yes. So you’ve just got to keep going.” -Shazi
“I love hearing no because it fires me up.” – Randi
