Happy (belated) Mother’s Day to all of you Marketing Mommas! I love this opportunity to celebrate moms who are building careers and families. The truth is that the balance is tough. The exhaustion that working moms endure has finally made some headlines over the past several months, (it only took a global pandemic for it to get some attention), but nonetheless – now that people are listening – let’s talk!
The expectation that women are supposed to parent like they don’t have a job and work like they don’t have a family is simply unreasonable. Early in my career, a female mentor told me that on no single day will I be proud of my performance at work and at home… that I would have to accept the trade off and simply toggle back and forth. That’s pretty uninspiring, right? Who wakes up in the morning wanting to be mediocre at anything? Not me. And I’m betting not you, either.
So, I reject that notion. And I hope you do too. Does it get messy? Sure. Do we need to lower our own expectations sometimes? Absolutely. Do we need to be more deliberate about time management or delegating at work? Definitely. Do we need to accept that sometimes, something just has got to go? Heck yeah.
But … if something really must go, how about this? Let’s stop selling the whole “working mom” thing like it’s easy – it’s not. Then, let’s shed the judgement and stigmas of past decades, and get comfortable asking for support when we need it – and extending it when others do. And most importantly … Let’s recognize and celebrate the super women who juggle so many roles and never feel like their work is done. I hope that all of you, on Mother’s Day and the other 364 days of the year, remember to give yourself some grace and a few high fives for the lives and the careers you are building –and for the example you are setting for generations to come – just by being perfectly, you.
Cheers to Celebrating!
Brandi Gangel is the VP of Audience Data & Marketing
Brandi leads the audience data, operations and insight efforts and teams for the company. She is the primary manager of the company’s audience intelligence assets and is responsible for audience data acquisition, organization, integration and activation. She also oversees the company’s digital strategies and execution. Read the rest of her bio here.
Contact Brandi at [email protected]
