Latest / Birth at Work / S2 EP15 | What It's Like Working in the Cracks
Transcript
- Krislyn Powell: Hi, welcome to another solo episode with me. I am excited to have you on today to chat about what it's like working in the cracks. I don't know really what this is, but working in the cracks of motherhood. So I am now a mom of two. I have a four year old and I also have a Seven month old, almost seven months. I think at this point we're past counting weeks, but it would be like in a few weeks he's officially seven months. But yeah, I think we're past that. So seven months, still breastfeeding, round the clock. He's tried a few solids. Yeah, I... I'm tired. But here's the thing, I think I would be absolutely exhausted if I had not chose the line of work that I'm doing now. And I think for different reasons. After my first, I did go back to work after six weeks and we had a traumatic feeding journey. Breastfeeding did not go well. I had started a new job and it was very difficult with all the meetings and the late night wakings and you know sometimes I would be so tired I would sleep through a feeding and then you you can infer what happened there. like mastitis, low milk supply, thrush, we ended up moving to formula. so around this time I was formula feeding. Baby wasn't as happy and healthy and I was pretty exhausted. I remember being really exhausted for like two years after having the baby. And I think for different reasons. I think like there wasn't a system at the workplace that I was at to properly support me in my return to leave and I had no idea what I was doing truthfully. and my body was going through a lot of changes for the first time. And this time around, it's my second time. I know what I'm doing. I also am dictating my time and my terms on my leave, which I'm officially back to work of sorts. so now moving forward, I am operating in a portfolio career and it's exciting. Let's talk about why I decided to do this because I want this to be a safe space for other working parents listening in. I want it to be a safe space for organizations that want to do better by their working parents. And I just want to have this conversation because I think some people don't have the luxury or the privilege of talking about it. So. I chose it because one, I didn't feel like at my current stage and place in my career, I wanted to keep going in that capacity. I just felt like it was limited as to what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life. And after having this incredible second birth experience with just an amazing pregnancy, a blissful birth, and a really supportive postpartum, I was like, hey, we're doing it wrong. There needs to be somebody out there clearing them up and telling people and guiding and showing the way that it can be better. And that is when I committed to continuing education and maternal health and having conversations weekly, sometimes daily with specialists with. mothers, with working parents, with organizations to make it better. And also in this capacity that I've chosen, I get to do... the things that I love doing. So I love community building. I love customer experiences. I love employee experiences and crafting those. I care deeply for the employee experience, having been one. I also love to write. I've always been a writer my entire life and I was originally a journalist major and I was a newspaper editor in high school and I just have always loved to write. I love speaking. I love interviewing other people, hence the journalism background. I have been able to do all these things with starting a podcast last year, with starting a birth coaching business, and coaching and empowering other women. having a consulting arm of that business and improving and fostering the employee experience with other organizations that truly care, helping build their communities by volunteering my time and my efforts and also offering paid services in my community and building online communities for said customers and organizations. and by writing about this journey on Substack, by talking about these topics that I'm passionate about on my podcast and interviewing others who know more than me. And I also love learning. My last role was... most recently an employee experience, prior to that I was in learning and development and I was a corporate trainer that traveled all over the country and I love teaching and I love learning and so with this focus in my career I now get to continue to learn and grow because I don't think we'll ever get to a point where we're like, yes. we're doing maternal health right. I don't think we're ever gonna be to that point. I even in like 100 years, we could be doing it better. So, but we need to be talking about it and doing it now so that when we get to 100 years from now and our kids and their kids and their kids are going through it, that it's better than what it is now. And I think it's so... A, inspiring, B, empowering, C, exhilarating, just because this is a topic that I'm really passionate about and it's one that I'm going through and it's one that I've felt like I kind of unlocked. And I get to do it in a way that allows me to... Right now, for example, I'm recording, it's a Tuesday, and we record on Tuesdays. That's when we record. That's it. Like, I don't have to worry about a Thursday meeting popping up because I control my own calendar. I don't have to worry about... you know, someone not getting my kid from school, I don't have to worry about if my kid is sick. I can create my social content and my writing and edit my videos virtually anywhere. I can take my meetings virtually anywhere. I can build client proposals virtually anywhere. And I can do all of that in a corporate setting as well, but I also have... committed in a corporate setting to be available at certain times and to meet with certain people. And though I like to say you have full control of your calendar wherever you're at, that sometimes is limited in a corporate setting. Companies are improving that. There are organizations that are allowing for four-day work weeks, for flexibility, for work from home. But we are seeing a mass return to office mandate in many companies and the layoffs that are happening right now across the board are concerning. AIs and lot of conversations and rightly so. There's a lot that can be done for good with improving tech, but I felt like it was right for me and in my career where I wanted to move that I now shift. and take my decade plus of experience in customer and employee experience and community building and advise. So now I coach, now I consult, now I write, now I speak, now I interview and host. And it's really rewarding. It's also really hard, I'm not going to lie. I think sometimes people see what's on the surface and see the book deals and the SubSex launch and the community mentions and the awards and the LinkedIn followers and all of that and they think, wow, they've really made it or it must be nice to have the luxury to do that or, you know. Name your thought. I'll just say I saw other people doing this and I thought, you know, five, 10 years ago, that would be cool. Must be nice. And then it came to a place in my life where I just felt like this is the right time. I have the expertise and I really genuinely want to help people on my time and my terms. And I deserve that. And so I think if you're thinking about building it and you're thinking about doing it, then you definitely should. I mean, I got started in the cracks years ago and practiced and practiced and practiced and just kept saying, I can help. Here's how I can help. And that's just continuing to grow. And I think like one is like agreeing to conversations that energize you. I know I hear some people say like, You should take every conversation, but I don't, unless there's a purpose to the conversation or you're gonna find energy from that person, I don't think you necessarily need to take every call or conversation. I think that's just gonna burn you out, especially like, something that was really helpful for me was understanding my energy types. So I am a projector. could. get into all that. I've taken a million different personality quizzes and I'm, I'm, you know, yeah, I- We could talk about a bunch of different personality tests. I've taken Enneagrams, Myers-Briggs, you know, it all kind of comes up the same human design, astrology. I have a more introverted dynamic where I re-energize when I'm alone and so I need my own personal time and space and I also enjoy connecting with people and I really enjoy hosting and so that like host, coach, facilitator, teacher, like those all bring me joy to help see people improve and grow and develop. And then I need my time to develop training materials to rest, to be creative, to play. And so I also wanted to have time with my family. I admire stay at home moms. so deeply. I am taking on the lion's share of being the mother, being the primary parent right now. I have an amazing partner who is working so incredibly hard to allow me to chase my dreams and do what I want to do and feel called to do and allowing me to have time with my babies because that's what I want to do as well. And so I also want to say I thought about just being mom for a while and that was very tempting and I thought about it and I put that mom hat on for about a week. Only mom and pretended to only be mom and then I was like... I want like my own things, you know, I want to work my brain. I want to be able to have conversations. I want to be able to support other moms. I want to be able to take my talents and not have them, you know, buried under a bushel of sorts. I want to be able to be me and I think that that's important for my babies too, to see me creating things. you know, I did other things. Like I started a garden in our backyard. I planted trees. I started sourdough. I had like our home super organized and clean and all of these things and my babies we we have days that we have rhythms where we will go explore and see animals and go to farms and the zoo and Science centers and all these things and it's really rewarding and we get to Be sick and not have to worry about clocking in and clocking out and we get to go on trips with dad and it's amazing but I am a smart, capable, and strong young woman and I want to work as well in some capacity. But I want to do it in the way that I want to do it. And I think that... that's not uncommon. You know, I think that we... I think that we see that more often than not in women. It's like I want to have the choice. You know, I'm still the same person that I was before I had kids and I want to honor her and I want to still be her. I don't want to lose myself. And vice versa, I'm... a different person than I was before I had kids. And I want to honor her. And I don't want to lose her. And I don't want to just be forced back into a role and pretend like my kids don't exist. So this is why I chose to work in the cracks of motherhood, the cracks of life. This is building something. This is doing a bunch of different things that I enjoy. This is being multi-hyphenate. This is portfolio career work. This is worthwhile to me. And it's not a fit for everyone. Some people really enjoy having the ability to clock in and clock out and have that separation. And I do my best to have that in my own capacity. So I... have calendar blocks and I have set days for when I will and won't work and it's working. And this is. This is me right now. That's really all I had to share, just that. It feels really good. And so if you have questions about it, feel free to reach out. If you're curious, try it. And if you're not, then don't. But at least you know what it's like and why I chose it and what's working, what's not. I would say, you know, I've had to be, I've had to get, like, we have really reliable childcare, so I have... a couple days a week where I have the kids fully, which I love, and then we have a few days a week where my son goes to a preschool that we love, and then one day overlapping that where my baby is with a sitter at home, who we love, and during that time I really crank things out. And then we also have an amazing athletic club that we're a part of, and that's very privileged as well, I recognize. that has incredible childcare, so when I go to work out, sometimes if there's extra time, I might check emails or write a post or something like that. Sometimes I get up early. Just depends on the week, but I try to keep it pretty consistent so that my body knows the rhythms and I'm not like in fight or flight. And I am present without my phone or computer in front of my babies. So. With that, it's time for lunch and I'm hungry. So I'm going to take a break, but thank you for listening.