1.
Before I crystalized my dream of becoming the CEO of Edlong at a very young age, I thought I wanted to be a mom, a farmer, and a doctor. All at the same time. My mom must have giggled when I said this with earnest. She proceeded to say “Ok. If that’s the case and you want to have kids, you need to learn quickly what to delegate in life that doesn’t add value. For example, laundry. You can’t be a farmer and a doctor and a mom and do laundry. Your free time needs to be spent connecting with your kids. Not doing laundry.” Got it!
2.
My mom grew up in an era where there were no choices for women. Marry well, hopefully, and have many babies. She was Catholic so there was no birth control option. Her 5th pregnancy changed her religious beliefs. This daughter only lived for 2 weeks. My mom was hemorrhaging and dying in a Catholic hospital. A young doctor came in and saved HER life, delivering this baby early because he knew my mom had 4 kids at home who needed her. While the likelihood of saving the baby was slim, he knew he could save her.
A spark was ignited in my mom to find a path that was not solely around making babies. She enrolled in college when I, her youngest, was in 3rd grade. This was unheard of in 1979. None of my friend’s moms worked outside the home nor were degreed. But my mom felt trapped and knew she needed her independence.
She graduated, years later, from the University of Chicago with her master’s in clinical social work. She ran her own practice until she was 82 years old and touched the lives of countless souls.