CEOMOM Magazine April 2016 | Page 6

DEFINE FOR YOURSELF HAVING IT ALL! By Vonna Matthews A woman's ability to be both professionally driven and a mother has been debated since women began entering the workforce. This discussion is underlined by three misconceptions. One - "having it all" means the same thing to every woman. Two - "having it all" represents an ends to a mean, a finite goal that is achieved at one given point rather than the fluid representation of a journey. Three - it can be narrowed down to one accomplishment that is solely defined by the "successful" merge of family and career. Who decides what "having it all" entails and when it has been achieved? Is the question, "Can a woman have it all?," the one we should be answering or should we focus on a woman's right to decide what is important to her and how she will manipulate her priorities? In our quest for work-life balance (a colleague once told me that it should be life-work balance), we must determine and explore our individual priorities rather than societal norms or ideas of success. I am a stay at home mompreneur. My typical day consists of attempting to manage a business while a 3 year old begs for peanut butter bites and a 10 month old discovers new ways to HER STORY - LET'S GET REAL NCOEMOAM D IOC M| 2| 4 6