Behind the Camera of a Working Mom Boss

I constantly find people commenting on how great my life is based off of what they see on social media. They long to live my life of adventure or get to work on projects that they are truly passionate about. Then I feel guilty and usually tell them how I only post the pretty pics and moments of sanity. That’s not completely true. I try to be transparent but social media still causes me to apply the imaginary filter of asking what effect this will have on public perception.

The truth is that being a working mom, and one that ones my own business, is nothing short of complete chaos most of the time. I’ve stopped trying to pretend i’m super human and just own the craziness. I openly tell my clients when it is Friday and I’m still sorting through emails from Monday. Or when I have to reschedule a meeting because my husband is traveling that day and I can’t physically be at soccer practice, guitar lessons and a work meeting all at the same time. Being perfect, or rather portraying the image that I am, is just too exhausting.

We haven’t talked about it publicly yet, until now, but Alyssa Sharpe and I are joining forces on a new collaboration. I will save the details of the project for a post on the Gökotta site, but it is something we are both super passionate about. I have realized that the reason we work well together is because we both embrace the chaos, unapologetically.

This week we finally presented our business idea to a potential client. It occurred to us late the afternoon prior that we should include a photo of the two of us together for the presentation. The only problem was that the meeting was first thing the next morning and we didn’t have a photo. Alyssa wouldn’t be home until after she picked her daughter up from daycare at 5pm and my husband, our photographer, had to take our son to soccer by 5:30pm. We had a a tiny window of opportunity to get our picture.

This is the scene that unfolded. Alyssa pulled up to my house and jumped out of her car with her one year old in tow. We assigned my kids, eight and nine, to entertain her daughter and prevent her from running into the street. It was now rush hour and we had about 30 seconds to get our places in the middle of the road so that Josh could set up the tripod and snap a few photos. About this time, Alyssa’s daughter started wailing. My daughter started shouting that the baby didn’t like her. My son grabbed my phone and played Baby Shark as loud as it would go. All of it was so insane that we burst out laughing. Before we could get set, cars were coming up behind us. The baby made a dash for the road and our 30 second photo shoot had to be over. Whatever was on that camera would have to do.

What you might see in front of the camera is two confident women being total bosses. But behind this image is really two women just trying to figure this whole thing out and giving others the best we can.