Use your voice. Share your story.
Thank you so much to everyone who messaged or called me, reposted and emailed your congressmen when I shared Evryst a couple weeks ago. I was blown away by the amount of people who responded and shared their story with me. The whole week I was jumping around my house yelling to no one about how I couldn’t believe how many Insta notifications I had.
One of my former PR colleagues even connected me with one of her clients, Kuli Kuli, who recently launched a campaign to give back to working moms. In just a few Instagram posts I was already getting opportunities to work with real companies helping moms! Is this real life? Social media is the worst time suck but sometimes it’s awesome.
Kuli Kuli is a women led-company that makes sustainable superfood snacks. The owner, Lisa Curtis, had her daughter in September 2020 and it became extra apparent how challenging being a working mom is and wanted to do something about it. She applied for a $10,000 grant to help working moms and she got it! So now she’s giving away $500 and a year’s supply of chocolate to 20 women!
To enter, share your story here by November 30. Twenty of you will win $500 and a year’s supply of chocolate!
I would LOVE if you would share your story because we need to use our voices. We need the government and corporate America to hear our stories, to take us seriously and to create change. But also this is kinda the first glimmer of hope that I might be able to some day turn Evryst into my job—a job where I can help working moms and get paid what I’m worth. I’m not getting paid to promote the SuperMom campaign with Kuli Kuli but if a bunch of you enter that will give me some street cred so maybe I can charge for the next one. Go enter! Thanks a bunch :)
And I’d love to hear your stories! So if you’re open to it please share your story with me after you enter. I’m working on ways to help you elevate your voices and stories so more people hear them. Hang tight! If the daycare waitlist to get my kid into school more than two days a week wasn’t so freaking long maybe I’d have some more time to work on it.
Here is my entry:
March 2020 started with Mai Tais under swaying palm trees in Hawaii. At the time I wasn’t sure if it was the worst or best timed vacation of my life. In hindsight, I don’t think we could have timed it better. The day after we got home, March 17, California went into lockdown. After months on the waitlist, my daughter’s first day of daycare would no longer be March 18. A few days later I found out I was pregnant. Morning sickness hit me hard and I didn’t get out of bed until late-April. I ended up telling my boss I was pregnant at five and a half weeks because I was taking all my video calls from bed. A mother of two herself, she was more than understanding.
Going through pregnancy during the pandemic was hard. My anxiety was through the roof, I went to all of my doctor appointments solo, and my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, but it also turned out to have some silver linings. My mom beat breast cancer and my girlfriend’s bachelorette party that I would have puked through (not because of the hangover) was postponed until my daughter was crawling and I was more than ready for a girl’s trip.
It was (is) still pretty freaking hard. Since daycare for my toddler was nowhere in sight and the beaches were closed for way too long our options were limited (as were everyone else’s). I worked during nap and after my daughter went to bed. Neighborhood walks became our daily go-to excitement.
Once the beaches opened up in May I forced myself out of bed and we headed down the hill to the sand. I remember seeing my daughter running in the surf, laughing with my husband while I watched them and the sunset, feeling the happy, warm, fuzzies flow through me. We were there just about every day after that getting wiggles out, avoiding crowds, picking up trash, and enjoying the fresh air.
After my second daughter was born in December 2020, postpartum anxiety and depression hit me head on. With the help of Zoloft and long beach walks I made my way out of the PPA/PPD fog. On the other side of the fog I saw a few things much more clearly. It seems obvious but I had to realize my daughters were my priority—not work. Even though I loved my job, taking care of two young kids while working throughout a pandemic became too much so I left. I know I’ll eventually go back, but for now we’re going to enjoy all the beach days and neighborhood walks we can. If the pandemic has taught me anything it’s to go outside and breathe the fresh air together. It gets wiggles out of three year olds and makes me feel the most alive.
