In this episode, I sit down with the incredible Kim Gebbia Chappell, the former news anchor turned Chief Brand Officer at Bobbie, the revolutionary infant formula company. She’s sharing how she’s mastered the art of context switching as she juggles between managing a leadership role at a rocket ship startup and being a mom to three kids under age 6.
🧘♀️Prioritize and Focus
Kim emphasizes the power of setting priorities both at work and at home. By focusing on a few key activities, you can make a meaningful impact.
“So instead of saying yes to everything, pick one or two things and be really good at it and show up for that. People will remember that too.”
🤝Build a Reliable Support Network
Having trustworthy childcare help is crucial for balancing work and motherhood. Kim shares who she has hired to help with childcare throughout the week and to help relieve her mental load.
“I've had to build a really strong infrastructure of support around me in order to be able to hold down this job. I'm a really firm believer in stacking your bench with trustworthy people. And it's not one or two. I'm talking like six or seven.“
🎯 Don't Aim for Perfection
Embrace the concept of “polished, not perfect.” Pick your battles and focus on what truly matters to avoid unnecessary stress and burnout.
“The moments where it does matter, show up polished and perfect. And the times when it's just fine, just get on with it.”
🌎Continuous Evolution in Leadership
Kim stresses the need for continuous change and growth in leadership as a business expands. Adaptability is key to sustained success.
“You have to evolve and how you show up, not only to them [your kids], but to your team. How are you carrying the weight of where we're at and the gravity of what we're doing and making sure that people feel that responsibility along with you? And so I feel like I've somehow been able to evolve as this company has grown.”
⚖️Create Sustainable Systems
Building effective systems and processes is essential for maintaining a work-life balance. Kim discusses the importance of mindset in creating sustainable routines.
I have a full time nanny. She's amazing. And then I have this great babysitter that I try to bring in every other Sunday from eight to 12. And my husband and I get four hours a week to ourselves. And it's the only time of the week that is my time, you know? And so I've found a way to protect that.”
💻Normalize Work Challenges
Kim advocates for normalizing the challenges of motherhood in the workplace, promoting fluidity and transparency for moms.
“I find it necessary to empower our team, who are mostly mothers of young children, to normalize the normal. We have these crazy lives and there is fluidity in and out of any given day on having to deal with your kids and also showing up for work. And I think the more that leaders, especially female leaders, can do that, but also the dads out there, they should be involved in their kid's life, it's not just on mom, and they should have that fluidity too and be transparent about it so that we can all stop pretending like we don't have this whole other thing happening in the background at all times.”
💪Take Risks and Follow Your Gut
Kim talks about her career shift to a startup, highlighting the importance of taking risks and trusting your instincts when making career decisions.
“If you saw someone tomorrow on LinkedIn that said, ‘I just got the job and I can't wait to start tomorrow’ would you be insanely jealous? Would you wish you had taken that job? Would you feel territorial about that? Or would you be so happy for that person and say, best of luck? For me [with Bobbie], I would want that job. I would be mad if that weren't my job. And so, we're going to take this risk.”
🌪Embrace the Chaos
Kim shares her experiences of managing the chaos of work and motherhood fluently, emphasizing the value of adapting to different roles seamlessly, with some insight into how she makes the transition between her two worlds when working from home.
“I walk out of my office into my living room, 10 steps. That is my commute where I have to decompress from whatever just happened during that day and go into mom mode instantly. I don't have a transition time. So sometimes I sneak out and I just walk around the block so that I can have five minutes of just decompressing. I think about everything I need to get done for the next day or what I need to pack away for later after bedtime, and then walk into the house and put my mom hat on.”
Dive into the episode for some real-world strategies and heartfelt conversations that will resonate with working parents everywhere.
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[00:00:00]
[00:00:43] Hey guys, I'm so excited to have Kim Chappell on today's episode. She was such a must for me when we were building the show's lineup, because not only is she a C-level executive, which we need more females in C-level roles, period. But she's leading so much change at a [00:01:00] disruptive brand, drastically changing the formula industry. And she has three kids, three kids guys, six years old and under. I wanted to know how she made the leap from news anchor to tech, to CPG while having all of these kids and moving from San Francisco to Austin. I just can't think of anyone better that I want to know.
[00:01:19] How do you do it? I think you're going to love this conversation.
[00:01:23] Welcome, Kim. It is so good to have you here. Hi, Barbara. It's so good to be here. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast. Kim, I have admired. What you've been building at Bobby since its inception because it really normalized combo feeding for me at a point in my life where I had a three month old baby and my milk supply was just Struggling and it really made me feel validated in the choices.
[00:01:48] I needed to make as a mother I think it is apparent in how you show up on LinkedIn, how you show up in work and just life in general, that you are an absolute powerhouse. [00:02:00] And I want to know how you've taken your professional superpowers and apply them to your personal life.
[00:02:05] So let's get into it. For those who don't know you, can you please give us your elevator pitch, include both personal and professional aspects of your life? Yeah, thank you. And thank you so much for that very kind intro. My elevator pitch. So I am a mom of three.
[00:02:23] I have a two, four and six year old. I joined Bobby in our CEO's basement. In 2020. So I was the first full-time marketing hire that, that Laura made and helped build this company and this brand from the ground up. I had just had my second baby. I previously worked in tech and prior to that I was a news reporter for 10 years.
[00:02:45] So when you say you're a marketer, I still have imposter syndrome. All the time about, am I a marketer? Do I, do I actually know what I'm doing? And maybe that's why we've shown up differently because I don't have a [00:03:00] background in growth and performance marketing. It's not my strong suit and it's not how I approach things.
[00:03:05] I approach things from a news reporter background, which is. What's the story that we're going to tell? How do we pull through the emotion of this? How does, how are we going to connect people to what we're doing? And that's really been the core of our brand since day one. And I live here in Austin, Texas with my three kids working remotely for Bobby, which I joke is my fourth baby, but it's also not a joke because it is.
[00:03:28] Beyond a full time job, working at a fast paced, high growth company that is non stop. Absolutely. As someone who has come from the startup world and tech world, I resonate with that so much and I can only imagine. You are a mom to three kids, two, four, and six. Very crazy, busy, high touch ages, and you're spearheading an incredible movement.
[00:03:51] So set the stage for what life looks like for you right now. It's, it's just depends on the week. And I know that sounds trite, but [00:04:00] because we're a remote company, I have the fortune of, Being able to not have a commute every day. Like I can take my kids to school in the morning. I can drop them off. I can come and sit at my desk because I don't have to hit that morning commute grind.
[00:04:15] I don't have that at the same time when the day is done and I walk out of my office into my living room, like my 10 steps. That is my commute where I have to decompress from whatever the fuck just happened during that day and go into mom mode instantly. I don't have a transition time. And sometimes I find that to be really hard.
[00:04:34] So I actually have this guest room in our house. I turned it into an office and there's little French doors right here. Sometimes I sneak out the French doors and I just walk. Around the block so that I can have five minutes or 10 minutes of just decompressing thinking about everything I need to get done for the next day or What I need to pack away for later after bedtime and then walk into the house and put my mom hat on That has been challenging and I think [00:05:00] sometimes if I've had a really stressful day or if something's on fire that we have to deal With it's really hard to compartmentalize those things when you're working from home And that's probably one of my biggest struggles is not bringing the heat of my workday to my husband or to my kids or finding the patients when you feel like you, you have run out of patients in your workday, you have to refill your patients cut for your kids and, and like proactively do so, you know, and I think like with that too, is, is, So I'm fortunate to be home with them if I have to go to a parent teacher conference or a pediatrician appointment or whatever it is.
[00:05:36] Not only do I share that with my team, but I have the flexibility to step out and go do that. And I'm really, really, really find it needed and necessary to empower our team who are mostly mothers of young children, same ages, to Normalize the normal, like we have these crazy lives and there is fluidity in and out of any given day on having to deal with your kids and also showing [00:06:00] up for work.
[00:06:00] And I think the more that leaders, especially female leaders, can do that, but also the dads out there, they should be involved in their kid's life, it's not just on mom, and they should have that fluidity too and be transparent about it so that we can all stop pretending like we don't have this whole other thing happening in the background at all times.
[00:06:17] Amen. Yeah. And like the other thing is like, I'd say because we're remote, it does lead to a lot of travel for photo shoots or marketing shoots or off sites with like little mini off sites with core team members or our C suite. And so that does drain me in a way where like I book. The latest possible flights or the earliest possible flights so that I can sneak in one more bedtime or be there for one more school drop off.
[00:06:44] Cause like those are kind of the moments that count in a day where you're helping out your spouse. You're there for your kids. They remember it. And then it's like, you haven't really been gone that long, you know, and maybe that's my own mom guilt in action, actually, as I'm saying it out loud, but it helps me feel just a little bit [00:07:00] better about having to leave.
[00:07:01] And I've had to build a really strong infrastructure of support around me in order to be able to hold down this job and to go on those work trips at a, you know, drop of a coin or, you know, I have three trips coming up in the next, like it is constant. And like, If I can be really honest with you, sometimes it's kind of nice, like sometimes it's kind of nice to have a reason to leave the daily grind, to get out of my house, to go be present with other adults.
[00:07:31] And it's a nice break from everything. I absolutely get it. I do agree on there being something very special about waking up and just worrying about yourself. But I want to go back a little bit to the topic of traveling for work and rewind back to a moment earlier in your career where you had this fresh little baby at home, brand new mom, and you needed to travel while you were breastfeeding.
[00:07:56] meeting. And it's actually wild to think about how [00:08:00] formative that experience may have been with where you landed at working with Bobby. But can you tell us a little bit about that experience and that story? I will never forget the palpable emotion, like the heaviness in my heart of feeling like, how am I going to leave this baby at home?
[00:08:16] I get almost makes me emotional just even remembering it because it felt like I was. Such a shit mom. Like how could you possibly leave your baby who needs you to feed, like to live? And you go on a flight to go to your job. How dare you, Kim, you know, but we were living in San Francisco at the time. I worked at, um, an amazing company that was very supportive of, of new moms and working parents called Weebly.
[00:08:41] And I had bills to pay. I had daycare bills. I had rent, which was insane. And like, it wasn't an option for me. I had to go to work and I'm really glad that I did go to work and I love my jobs, but I remember going back to work and I had to go to New York. And I was in San Francisco. So this is a big cross country trip.
[00:08:59] And there's a few [00:09:00] things that hit different for that. I'm breastfeeding her exclusively at the time. And I was like, how am I going to keep this going? Like I have to pump, I'm running out of freezer supply, which was like, you know, I now have a totally different perspective on this, like feed your baby, not the freezer.
[00:09:16] But I was running out of freezer supply. My milk supply was like up and down based on like stress at work and everything else going on. So I found, had just heard about, this was 2017, the service called MilkStork, which I think a lot of new moms have heard about at this point, but I didn't know about it at the time.
[00:09:33] And I had just heard about it and I emailed our CFO. Who was a woman. She was a mother of two boys, Kim Jabal, shout out to her. And I emailed her and said, hi, I'm going to New York for this trip. I really would like to continue to be able to send my breast milk home for my baby. I found this service called milk stork.
[00:09:52] It's going to cost me 500. Would the company be willing to cover it? And I think in that moment, I was so [00:10:00] scared to send that email because I was like, who am I to ask for more from this company? Like how, again, like how dare you, like you feel like you're, you have to tread lightly and not make anyone uncomfortable and not ask for anything more and just get along with it and be one of the guys.
[00:10:12] Right. And she replied within three minutes. And she said, absolutely, of course, have a great time in New York, just send us the invoice. And I remember feeling so overwhelmed in that moment of like empowerment, like I just advocated for myself and for my baby and damn, that felt good. And she said, yes, you know, and it was like, that was the moment for me.
[00:10:36] That was my moment of when you become a mother, you inherently become an activist because you are constantly advocating for either yourself. Or your baby and how the levers in which, like how strongly you do that, or maybe you don't even realize when you're doing it are different. But for me, that was like a, like a, a tangible one.
[00:10:56] And I was really proud of myself coming home from that trip. I actually have a [00:11:00] great picture. I'll share with you of me pumping in the New York stock exchange, shipping my, my milk store breast milk on like the streets of New York, like putting it in the UPS thing. And I was proud of myself for overcoming that fear.
[00:11:14] Overcoming that guilt. And I knew that like, one, my husband is capable of taking care of our daughter and he can do it too. If she has to take a bottle of formula, it's not the end of the world. It's okay. 3. These services exist. Thank God for moms as CEOs. And 4. Kim, you can keep your job. You can keep doing this.
[00:11:31] You're going to be fine. And you've evolved. Like you have evolved to another stage of a mother. So it was a really, it was a really awesome experience. I love how you found the courage and the confidence to just unapologetically ask for what you needed. And I think so many of us as women working in like the corporate world.
[00:11:52] You're right, like, don't feel like we can advocate for our needs because we feel like we owe the company something, not them owing us anything, and we as, [00:12:00] as high achieving women, like, we need to take care of ourselves in order to do our best work, and I think finding an environment that appreciates that and accepts that is so important, and I think that's really important.
[00:12:10] I think on the topic of having a baby, working for a company, you've now had three, right? You just, two years ago, right? Somehow, here we are. Never thought I'd have three kids, but here we are. So, I mean, every maternity leave you probably, Learn something new on how to advocate for yourself. And so I'm curious, you know, what did you implement by the time you got to baby number three, that was extremely helpful for you in returning to work from maternity leave.
[00:12:39] Like, I'm curious on if you have any recommendations on how you structured your days to make sure you could fit in pumping or create those boundaries or create those moments still with your baby. What advice do you have? I think I have advice that I have, and there's advice that I also need to take myself.
[00:12:55] But one of my key things is like, it was really easy with one [00:13:00] kid to rely on family or your partner to help look after your baby. It's like very easy to do. On the second baby, I kind of leaned into my parents. We used Uh, some of the people that worked at daycare as babysitters and I trust them and I was so careful with who I would let into my house and who I would let look after my kids.
[00:13:19] Okay. By the time baby three comes around, I am desperate at this point because I have a newborn and if I need a babysitter, it was almost like I needed someone to look after the newborn and I needed someone to look after the two and four year old at that point. And I didn't have a stacked bench of help.
[00:13:36] And this is where my secret is. If you live in a town with a university or a college, there are sorority girls up in town who are, they have Facebook groups and they are more than ready to jump in and help look after your kids and go have fun with your four year old and play tickle monster at the playground and have the energy to wear them out.
[00:13:58] There are medical grad students [00:14:00] who are. Just looking for that extra money who you can trust and so I would say with the third That's when I learned that like this is not I can't ask my parents. They're getting too old to deal with this It's too much for my husband Who is on your roster that you can call and it can't just be two or three people because they're never gonna be able to help you on a dime like You need a list and a forum and a chat and a place to go where you can get that help Whenever you need it, just a group text of people that you trust to be like, I have a group text of ATX girls, ATX babysitters club.
[00:14:32] And I'm like, is anybody available on Friday night from blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'll get a reply. No, no, no. Yeah, I can make it. It's like, it has helped me carve out windows of time for myself, for my marriage, for my family. When you get invited to that last minute thing, you still want to feel like a human.
[00:14:49] It's like, I want to be able to go. You know, and if, even if you have a nanny, I think this is the other like misconception is like when you have a nanny and you're paying them for 40 hours a week, guess what? They don't want to help you on the weekend. [00:15:00] Like they're tired and they need to refill their own cup from watching your baby.
[00:15:06] And so who are the people that you're going to call? Like, I just, I'm a really firm believer in like stacking your bench with trustworthy people. And it's not one or two. I'm talking like six or seven. Yes. I'm taking note. I am going to go look for these Facebook groups because I've never, I've never thought about that.
[00:15:22] I have an au pair. So like I've leaned on the au pair circle, they're friends and friends and friends, but I love this idea. And get references, right? Like get good references from people. I mean, obviously you don't want a total wacko coming to your house, but I find that The university college girls are wonderful, full of energy.
[00:15:43] I've had a great experience. And then going through referrals for other people, it will help you a lot to relieve some of that burden of feeling like you have to be everything to everyone all the time, it's impossible to sustain. Definitely. And like you said earlier, you have a very demanding job. And [00:16:00] so, you know, you're traveling, you have all of these different events happening.
[00:16:04] And so you kind of need that roster, which, which brings me to my next question for you, which is, You went from like kind of larger tech company to like this tiny little startup that was likely probably pretty risky at the time, unproven. For sure. While you had very young kids, can you kind of talk me through, cause I feel like most people once they have kids, you know, they're like, you know what, I'm going to look for a stable job.
[00:16:28] I'm going to look for a bigger company with all those benefits. So like walk me through how you navigated landing in this new role. So I. I knew Laura Modi, our CEO and co founder for through mutual friends in San Francisco. We were not best friends or anything, but we both had our daughters around the same time in a time in SF when people were not really having kids.
[00:16:50] So we kind of found each other because we were moms and there was not a lot of moms that were our age and in San Francisco. And so she asked [00:17:00] me to join this company. She said she's starting a formula company. She wants me to join and I, and lead marketing. And I said, Laura, I'm a marketer. I don't know how to do that.
[00:17:08] I'm a comms person. I'm a brand person. Like I don't know how to run marketing. That spooks me. I had immediate imposter syndrome and said, no, she goes on, she like starts to get it together. She's like, please come join Bobby. I said, I just don't know. She had like a more of a formal courting of me to, See if I could do this job.
[00:17:26] And she's like, I love that you haven't done marketing. Like that's going to be your superpower. Come join Bobby. And these conversations continued and I had just had my second baby Hughes and he was about five months old. And I was in the throes of my own feeding journey and my supply going up and down and all the things that happened.
[00:17:44] I was buying formula from Europe. Because that's what we felt that we needed to do to get a high quality formula. And I saw the gap, I was experiencing it. And I was like, you know, there's something that we could do here to make a difference. So here's what it came down [00:18:00] to for me. I walked away from a job with great benefits.
[00:18:04] Equity in a publicly traded company. Okay. Great snacks every day. Okay. There's like all the benefits of, of working at Square. It was great. And I really loved my boss at Square too, Demetra. She was incredible and a woman and it was wonderful. And I kind of thought to myself, Isn't this why you're in San Francisco?
[00:18:24] Isn't this why people move here to get not, not at the company that's already successful, not the company that's already IPO. The one that's like in the basement, that's like on the cusp of something great that you can get your hands in the soup and like make the soup. And that just excited me. And then I, the, the thing that sent me over the tipping point, and this is what I tell the people all the time of like, are you thinking about taking a job?
[00:18:47] And they're like, umming and ahhing about it is if you saw someone tomorrow. on LinkedIn that said, I'm so excited. I just got the X, Y, Z job and I can't wait to start tomorrow. Would you be so [00:19:00] insanely jealous? And would you want, would you wish I should have taken that job? That was my job. Like, would you feel territorial about that?
[00:19:08] Or would you be so happy for that person and say, best of luck? Good for you. And for me, I was like, I would want that job. Like I would be mad if that weren't my job. And so I, I just was like, all right, well, we're going to take this risk. And of course had the support of my, of my husband too, to go do that.
[00:19:24] And I'm, you know, very, very grateful and very fortunate it's worked out to date. Not all of them do. And I respect that, but I do think no risks, no reward. I love it. And clearly you were looking for that excitement. And I love the framing of, if there's an opportunity in front of you, what does your gut tell you?
[00:19:41] Right? Yeah. That's what you were just referencing. It wasn't like, what does the data tell you? No. The reviews say, it's like, what does your gut tell you? And I think as moms, something we all develop after becoming moms is that innate sense of like knowing. Yeah. To trust your gut. And it's not always, I completely agree and I think people, when they want [00:20:00] to go and move to a new job or they're unsure, they want it to be such an even trade.
[00:20:04] They want to make the same money. They want it to feel like not as much of a risk and they um and ah about it. I took a massive pay cut, okay, to join Bobby. I'm going to be totally honest with you about that. And it was, and I knew that I was going to have to make some life changes, but if I could build this, I could get back to where I was.
[00:20:21] And so I think you also have to be willing to know that like, of course, you're going to have to give up something. Of course, like that's the, that's part of the risk. But on the other side of it, it's been the most rewarding career experience of my life. And I feel eternally grateful and blessed to be a part of this company.
[00:20:37] Yeah. And also like you as a professional, like you have multiple young kids, you've built this incredible brand and you've gotten promoted to a C level title like in the process, which I just think is, is so incredible when we need more C level female executives in general. But I would love to know what some of your strategies were for like [00:21:00] navigating this big jump with a young family.
[00:21:03] And also I think with. With more responsibility, right? Comes the need for more resources and supporting your team. And like, how did you advocate for all of that in the process? Oh, wow. That's such a loaded question. I have felt like at every, every six months at Bobby, since we've started, we are a different company because of how we change, how we grow the funding.
[00:21:26] We bought a manufacturing facility. We have new head count. We are doing a new product. Like there's. Always something. And how are you able to not do what got you here, but do what's going to get you there and constantly evolving what the business needs from you, not how you started. If I were still doing the same things I was doing two years ago, or even a year ago, we wouldn't be.
[00:21:51] As successful as we are, and none of our C suite would be, you know, and so I think there's this, this, the ability to [00:22:00] continue to change how you show up when the business scales up. And all of a sudden you're a series C a hundred million dollar company with a hard asset manufacturing company. And you have a board of very intense investors who I, I love, I love you all, but you know, you have to answer to that.
[00:22:15] Like. You have to evolve and how you show up, not only to them, but to your team, how are you carrying the weight of where we're at and sort of the gravity of what we're doing and making sure that people feel that responsibility along with you. And so I feel like I've somehow been able to evolve as this company has grown.
[00:22:36] And I have to say like, it is not, it is not me. It is the marketing team that is. Incredible. It is 18 incredible mothers and women who never ceased to amaze me in what they can get done in a single week. The amount of deliverables, the ideation, the creativity that comes out of this team, is insane to me.
[00:22:57] And like, I think I've been very fortunate to [00:23:00] make the right hires along the way and going with my gut, going back to that gut call of like, okay, maybe they don't have the perfect resume, but I really feel like she's going to be right for this brand. And hiring these people along the way that have, Helped us get to where we are and helped me as a leader during tough days or rough months or whatever it is.
[00:23:21] I rely on them too. And so there's a really great, dare I say, sisterhood in a way on our, on our marketing team of how we show up for each other as moms, as empathetic leaders and help to kind of carry the responsibility and the weight of what we do. Hire the right team. That is so, so true. Hire the right team.
[00:23:40] And I think to that note, like the right team. It doesn't always look like it should on paper and that's okay. Like that's okay. Do you get excited to have a one on one with that person? Like are you jazzed to jump on the zoom with them? Do you want to hang with them all day? Do you want to go on three night trips with them to wherever you have to go for the [00:24:00] marketing shoot?
[00:24:00] Or are you like, Oh, this person is a drain. Like this person is draining me. They need too much from me. Like, yeah, they're great on paper, but it's like, Whoa, like everything has to be so processy and like, that's not our style or, you know, like it's okay if it looks different, if you get the good vibes. I'm a good vibes person.
[00:24:18] I love it. And some of my fondest memories are, are, I was just like reliving like my work, my favorite work trips with like my now friends. So I don't even work with anymore, but I know the contact with the dream team, right? Yes. Yes. I tell my kids this all the time too, of like, are you a fountain or are you a drain?
[00:24:36] Are you giving, are you enjoyable to be with? Are you pouring out or are you spilling? Sucking people's energy. Are you draining people? And like, I'll call them out. I'm like, you're being a drain right now. Like, stop it. Be a fountain. And so I feel the same way about people. You can tell very quickly, I think who is going to be a fountain in your company and in your team and for you as a leader and who's going to be a drain.
[00:24:57] Don't be a drain. Absolutely. And how, how has [00:25:00] that translated to your systems? It's in processes at home. You mentioned child care being a key pillar, like who else is part of your home system that makes just like the chaos a little calmer? Okay, I'm going to tell you, I'm going to be totally honest with you.
[00:25:14] I have a full time live in nanny. She's amazing. We, she used to babysit for us. And then I was like, do you want to move in to my guest room? And the reason why that happened is because my kids, because of their ages, they're at sort of three different schools, if you will. My little two year old just does like two days a week, mommy day out for socialization, but the schedules and like what they needed, it was all over the place.
[00:25:37] She is. It's mostly in charge of the two year old and then some afternoons. And then I have somebody that helps me for a few hours a week and helps me do grocery shopping, helps me do birthday party planning, helps me make sure if I ping her and say, I need 16 Easter eggs with some organic snacks shoved in them for school tomorrow, or like, what are all of like the mental load things as a, as a mom that at the job that I [00:26:00] have, I just don't have the capacity to do, but has to get done.
[00:26:03] And she helps me get that stuff done. And then I have this great babysitter that I found that. I try to bring in every other Sunday or whatever it is from eight to 12. And from eight to 12, the kids love her. They have the time of their life. And my husband and I get four hours, four hours, okay. A week to ourselves.
[00:26:22] And that could mean anything from sleeping until noon. If I'm absolutely dog tired, which sometimes happens, it can mean going to brunch with my husband and enjoying our time together. Sometimes I go to a workout and sometimes I just like literally walk around anthropology in a total daze, but it's my time.
[00:26:40] And it's the only time of the week that is my time, you know? And so I, I, I've found a way to protect that. It's like my new thing that I'm on my mountain of hire a babysitter for Sunday morning, even if it's just three hours. Yeah. Like, for you to know, even if you have nothing planned Saturday night, like, if you know that that's going to happen for you on [00:27:00] Sunday morning, you, you know that a break is coming, the mental, like, relief that you feel from knowing that on Sunday morning you're going to have a break to yourself, it like, gets you through.
[00:27:09] a marathon Saturday and three birthday parties and all the things, you know what I mean? Like it's just, yeah, I'm going to plus one to that Sunday morning ritual. Like that is one of my favorite things to do. We do it about once a month, but it's like we get a hot yoga together and then we go to brunch and then we'll go home and do nothing.
[00:27:28] We'll just hide from the kids, you know, like it is. Kind of life changing knowing that you have that to look forward to for the weekend I know and then it's like we come back and we have the whole rest of Sunday with them They're excited like you still feel like you're spending adequate time with your kids over the weekend and you're not entering Monday Completely burnt out because that what was happening to me.
[00:27:50] I would wake up on Monday and I'm like, oh my god I'm so tired from this weekend. Like how am I gonna get through this week? And I, it's not sustainable, you know, so. No, it isn't. [00:28:00] So you've built these systems that are creating sustainability in your life. And I love that. And I think the other component to it as well is, is mindset.
[00:28:07] I think mindset is such a huge part of being effective when you show up to work. And there's this one quote from you, this is insider feature. You said, there are no zeros in the season of life as a mother with a job, except the zero fucks I no longer give with pretending I can do it all. Yes. Talk to us about this evolution of getting to a place where you could let that go.
[00:28:33] Yeah. I just feel, that's such a good question. I feel proud of my job. I feel proud to be a mother of three and proud to be a working mom at a great company that is changing lives. And that means I'm not going to be the mom that hosts the Easter party and the mom that's able to go to all the soccer games.
[00:28:59] And [00:29:00] that's okay because I'm also the mom that like can show their children. What it means to have a job that you love and that work doesn't have to be awful and that you can make a difference in the work that you do. And I'm really proud of that. And part of being proud of that and being a great mom to my kids means having to give zero fucks about the things that you're going to miss out on.
[00:29:24] And now I will say this. I am so grateful for the stay at home moms because they make the world go around. They make the class parties amazing. They text me and remind me about the Easter eggs. They help make things so special. And I'm so grateful for all that they do for our kids in our community too.
[00:29:40] But like, you cannot be everything to everyone. I can't tell you how many times I have to say no to my friends here in Austin who are like, we're going to brunch on Friday. Can you come? Hey, we're getting happy hour today at four. Can you come? I'm like, no, I can't. I'm really sorry. And you have to just not care because you have to be excited and proud of the work that you're doing.
[00:29:59] I [00:30:00] think all of us could take that as a lesson to start saying no to more things more confidently. And I think it kind of goes back to what you're saying, right, is like, what is your priority and how can you focus your time where you've set that priority? Absolutely. Can I say one more thing on that note though, because I do think it's important.
[00:30:19] I have found in Austin, the community is very involved here, more so than it felt like in San Francisco where everybody was heads down on their career. Like that, it's not the same vibe here at all. And so there's all these opportunities that come at me all the time to give back and get involved in. And I think that you can't say yes to all of the, all of those things.
[00:30:36] But what I have found is value in picking one or two things a year. Where I'm going to carve out the time where I'm going to block time on my calendar to go be a part of this board, or I'm going to chair this event for my kids preschool. So instead of saying yes to everything, pick one or two things and be really good at it and show up for that.
[00:30:55] And people will remember that too. And so finding that balance, I think is [00:31:00] important as well. I think that's such a transferable skill that you likely really honed in on at work and then transferred into your personal life. And so I think my last question for you, I would love to know what your professional superpower is and how you've seen that show up in your personal and family life to manage the chaos of motherhood.
[00:31:18] I have a saying that I want to put on a mug, which is that every day is a day at Bobby. You just never know what cards you're going to be dealt. Expecting the unexpected, being able to put out many fires. Being able to celebrate big or small wins in the moment and, and every single zoom call. If I'm on, I'm sometimes on zoom from literally nine to 6pm bouncing around from meeting to meeting the headspace is finance.
[00:31:42] Then it's brand marketing that I'm going to growth. Then I'm like talking with retail, I'm brainstorming for babies only, which we just bought last summer. I'm thinking about hiring. I'm doing a one on one like the way in which you're able to context switch at work throughout your day. The same goes for at home.
[00:31:58] It's like, again, like how am I there [00:32:00] for my daughter? All of a sudden, I'm like, I'm laser focused on learning the alphabet with my two year old. I then have to go move to my six year old. She had a bad day at school. So emotionally she needs me in a different way. How am I switching and gear shifting? My four year old is my little softy sweetheart.
[00:32:15] He needs extra hugs and one on one time. So I'm like, okay, I'm like shifting here and going here. And it's like the ability to constantly context switch and be what that person needs from you in that moment. I feel it all day long at work and then it's like all day long at home and then it's like my husband too.
[00:32:30] Like, what does he need? Does he need a little snuggle or does he need like alone TV time? What do we need to catch up on? It's like, so we're not just talking logistics in our life. And so I would say that like that is the superpower of work and that's how it kind of comes to life for me at home. I love that and I'm smiling because I feel like at work as female executives, context switching is the name of the game, right?
[00:32:58] Like that's part of the [00:33:00] job. And I've never thought about it in the sense of being at home. And I think it's one of personally, one of my struggles has always been like thinking about work still when I'm with the kids. And if I kind of put that mindset back into where like, no, I'm going to be laser focused on this for the next X amount of time.
[00:33:17] Like I know personally, that would help me a lot. So I'm going to try that. Thank you for sharing that. I have one more thing. Can I say one more thing about this? Because something else just came to mind for me. I have this saying where it's like, look, it has to be polished, not perfect. Like, and there's times where things need to be polished and perfect.
[00:33:35] Like you need to write size, what you're working on and how much energy and effort you put into those things. And I think sometimes on the home life, it's the same. I've ever showed up to a birthday party a couple of weeks ago and I was like 15 minutes late. I'm so tired. I was there on a Saturday and the wrapping paper is like falling apart.
[00:33:51] The tape didn't stick. It was like old tape. And I was like, here you go. Happy birthday. And she just laughed and I'm like, it's the best we can do today. And you [00:34:00] know, it's fine. Like she got her gift and went to the birthday party and it was fine that I wasn't like the perfect mom with the perfect bow and the monogrammed tag on the gift.
[00:34:07] And it's like, no, the moments where it does matter to show up polished and perfect. And the times when it's like. It's fine. Just get on with it. Amazing advice. Kim, how can our listeners keep connected with you after they listen to this episode? That's a great question. I, I would say go to LinkedIn. That's where I probably fire off the most, especially on topics like this.
[00:34:30] My Instagram is quite boring. Actually, I got hacked a few years ago and I lost all the followers that I just haven't cared since. So find me on LinkedIn. Well, I can agree. LinkedIn content is strong. I'm following you there, Kim. Thank you so much. I loved our chat today and I really appreciate you being here.
[00:34:49] Thank you for leading this conversation and I hope to connect with some of the moms that listen. I appreciate you.
[00:34:54] [00:35:00]
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