Juggling Creative Careers and Motherhood
Plus How Covid Changed What We Prioritize and Helped Us Be More Authentic
Hi Hotties! I’m on vacation in Hawaii with my kids right now (and putting those solo parenting skills to the test!)…
…but I couldn’t wait to share our latest episodes that discuss some midlife revelations about “balancing” work and motherhood and how Covid changed the way we live and work (probably for the better).
EP88 Juggling Creative Careers and Motherhood with comedian Ophira Eisenberg
Ophira Eisenberg is a veteran comedian, writer, podcaster, host, storyteller and Mom (among other things). In her podcast, Parenting is a Joke, Ophira talks with other comedian parents in an attempt to solve the age-old questions of “How the hell am I supposed to do this?”, “Who is watching my kid while I go to work?” and “What is this mythical ‘me-time’ you speak of?”
Coming to motherhood later in life - after decades of insisting she would remain child-free - Ophira is honest about how little she thought it all through in advance. She assumed somehow she’d just go right back to work after popping the kid out, but she has learned (through interviews on her podcast) that people who can do that with ease have resources most of us don’t: sufficient money for childcare; responsible, loving family nearby with the desire to co-parent our kids; husbands (or wives) with big, fancy, stable jobs. As a former Canadian, Ophira has a fresh and funny vantage point on how little the USA does to support families and working Moms.
The amazing thing is that Ophira manages to make comedy from all of this real talk stuff, sizing up the patriarchy’s tricks with a critical eye and wry joke. One observation we discussed was how the powers-that-be create huge problems in women’s lives (no universal healthcare, no paid leave for freelancers, no subsidized childcare, unregulated addictive devices and more) and then tells us that the problem is OUR attitude - if only we’d THINK MORE POSITIVELY and BE MORE GRATEFUL we would be much much happier. Ophira Eisenberg is having none of it, and I, for one, am grateful for that.
Follow @ophirae on Instagram for more of her post-it editorials, tour schedule and standup clips!
EP89 4 - Ways That Covid Changed Absolutely Everything with Lori Hamilton
Lori Hamilton is just the kind of multi-hyphenate I like to talk to on Hotter Than Ever, because she, like all women, wears a ton of different hats and looks great in all of them. When she’s not writing one-person shows or directing short films, she’s sharing her data-driven insights with corporations so that they can speak more effectively to their intended customers.
After the Covid-19 pandemic Lori observed that the world had changed profoundly. But rather than settle for inchoate social observations, Lori set out to put her finger on exactly how two years of lockdown and working on Zoom and forgetting how to talk to people IRL had impacted our thinking and working lives. With access to 2000 respondents, Lori collected and crunched the data and learned that authenticity and living (and working) in alignment with our personal values are more important to us than ever, and we are now asking ourselves “Is it worth it?” about all kinds of relationships and experiences that we never questioned sacrificing for in the past. She says “Covid is to work as the birth control pill was to marriage” - when something is now a choice and not a foregone conclusion, what decisions do we make? Sounds like some women are about to get a little more free.
I hope you are all taking time to slow down, enjoy the summer and find ways to feel good!
XO,
Erin