Erica: Hey, girl. By now, you know I have Her Collective, my online community for ambitious women who are done doing it alone. Her Collective is for the women who are smart, capable, and driven, but they find themselves stuck on the sticky floors like self doubt, burnout, and waiting for permission that quite honestly never comes. Inside HER, you get more than motivation. You get real support, real strategies, and real momentum.

Erica: We work on things like clarifying what you want now and what's coming next, building confidence without burning yourself out, navigating hard conversations, career moves, and leadership moments with clarity, and surrounding yourself with women who actually get it. This isn't about hustling harder. It's about moving intentionally with the right tools and the right people in your corner. If you're ready to stop spinning, start choosing yourself, and build a career in life that actually feels aligned, I'd love to welcome you inside her collective. You can learn more and join us at www.joinhercollective.com.

Erica: Because honestly, girl, you were never meant to do this alone. Hey. Hey. Hey, everybody. I am so glad you're here.

Erica: Today, I wanna talk to you about something that I'm very passionate about, and I just wanna share a little bit of this with you. It's gonna be a quick stepping stone, but it is my top tips and tricks to being a working mom. So I just wanna start it out with being a leader is hard. Being a mom is hard. But being a working mom, y'all put a fork in me.

Erica: I am done. When COVID hit, the tremendous pressure and the rising expectations for working parents, moms especially, went freaking all the way through the roof. Many left the workforce in droves. And according to an analysis done by the National Women's Law Center, from January 2020 to February, nearly one point one million women who have left the workforce have not returned. This accounts for sixty three percent of jobs lost.

Erica: It's no secret that women took the brunt of caring for their children and teaching kids when schools remain closed. I'm not saying dads didn't do it. They absolutely did, but it is for a fact that women took the brunt. God, I even started a new executive role on 04/01/2020, thinking that this stay at home rule would only be in place for two weeks. Right?

Erica: But then the kids' school closed, and that's when shit really hit the fan. And I remember thinking, how the hell am I supposed to navigate this? So I was always the parent who left work to pick up a sick kid or juggled meetings to stay home. I was one of those fortunate ones so that I had the capability to do so. Right?

Erica: I'm also super fortunate because my very involved mom lives right around the corner from us. But during the pandemic and during those first few months of my new executive career, she came over literally every single day to watch the kids while I locked myself away in my bedroom because that was the only room that had a lock at the time and a place for my computer because my husband at the office. But on those days that she could not come over or the day she needed a break, the weight of their care fell mainly on my shoulders. And I did what any working mom would do. I threw snacks at them all day long out of the view of the Zoom camera.

Erica: IPad time was a thing of a past. It was anything goes. You can watch as much as you want because it is easier for me. And now we're back to quote, unquote normal. Kids are in school.

Erica: I still work from home. My company actually pivoted and became a work at home remote first company, but I also still carry the weight of the kids' lives. Now I wanna say I like it this way. It's not because my husband isn't involved or doesn't wanna be involved. I just want it to be this way.

Erica: And while it is mainly my choice, only another working mom truly understands how heavy the responsibility is. From remember remembering all of the appointments and activities to the school schedules and the parties, my brain is like a browser tab with 50,000 tabs open at all times. Because let's not forget, I gotta have one for my husband. I gotta have one for the dog. I gotta have one for all the things.

Erica: But, again, kids are back in school. Work travel has resumed to some degree, and life is back in full swing. So I had to make some adjustments to this work mom life that I have, right, so that I could be the best mom and the best leader I can be. And I wanna share with you some of those top tips and tricks that make this whole working mom life thing not just work. Right?

Erica: But as easy as it can be. So the first thing is schedule, schedule, schedule, and schedule some more. So we have to keep to a schedule from homework time to bath time to bedtime. We keep it tight. Keeps the kids from being grumpy in the morning.

Erica: It makes their little attitudes a lot easier to deal with, and it gives me the time to to focus on me. Gym time, workout time, quiet time, my quiet time are all very important. Second tip I have, and it shouldn't be a surprise to any working mom, but Amazon. I Amazon literally everything straight to the doorstep. From school clothes and supplies to gifts for friends, when I get a notification or an invite that I need to buy something for someone, I do it right then and there for my phone.

Erica: Boom. Done. Don't feel like you have to go above and beyond and get this super cutesy present. Of course, do it if you want to, but what? Amazon is great.

Erica: The third one, and this is probably the biggest one, is I don't do the extras. Y'all, I don't sign up to bring breakfast to school for the last day of track out. I don't sign up to be a field trip chaperone at the school. Now they inevitably want me to always do something fun for a dang kid every single day. Right.

Erica: But I leave that up to the other moms. I rely on them. I thank them. Those ones that do get to stay home, that want to stay home, that have to stay home, that have the time to do the extras, I leave it to them. But I don't do it, and I don't feel guilty for it.

Erica: The next thing is I manage my schedule. So I put all my big important meetings at the beginning of the day, and I get it done before the kids come home from school so that when they're home, I can focus more on them. And I save all of the afternoon for things like emails, casual ten minute chats, things that pop up. Right? Easy projects where I can easily switch from being logged in into my computer to answering a homework problem.

Erica: So this is something that I'm fortunate enough that I have the capability with my job to do, and it's something that if you do too, I would absolutely recommend. And then my last tip and trick is Lunchables. Ladies, I am not kidding you. I literally started packing wholesome, healthy homemade lunches when my kids started school. And now I just, like, toss a Lunchable in a bag and I call it a day.

Erica: If they eat a healthy dinner, I'm good for it. And last but not least, with all of these and they're these are simple tips and tricks, guys. I'm not saying it's rocket science here, but the last one, the hardest one, is giving myself grace. I know that these tips and tricks are great, and they also don't always work out. And when they don't, I try my best to go with the flow.

Erica: I don't be myself up. I don't critique myself. I don't hate myself for not being present at every single baseball game. And when I'm feeling particularly stressed out and riddled with the mom guilt, I ask myself, will they remember this in five days, five years? If the answer is no, I take a breath.

Erica: I remind myself of that, and I move along with my day. Then I ask myself, what is the value add? And I'll tell you a story about this one. I had a day where literally everything was going to shit, and I had to get my daughter to swim at 05:30. My day ended with a pretty tense meeting right at five, which is right when I need to go get her.

Erica: I hadn't packed her swim bag. Let's tuck on another five minutes. And I go to run out the door. And as soon as I back out of the driveway, my boss calls me to have that meeting after the meeting. So we debrief what happens.

Erica: Did I have to take it? No. Did I? Absolutely. So then I'm sitting at the daycare, and it's 05:20, and there is no way that I am getting inside, getting my kid, getting her changed, and getting to swim in ten minutes.

Erica: But I still walk into daycare swimsuit in hand, open her classroom door, and she runs up to me, and she stops dead in her tracks and just goes, I don't wanna go to swim. And in that moment, my brain literally took everything in and I thought, you know, do I really need to rush her into the swimsuit race across town just to have her to be late, just to say we went to swim and that we did all the things. Or would it be more of a value add to both of our lives if I just took the l, picked up some Chick fil A, and go home and play with her? And I think y'all know the answer. Now that night we enjoyed some crispy chicken nuggets and French fries, and I even got a milkshake because why the hell not?

Erica: Because sometimes you rock out being a leader and you fail at being a mom because sometimes you rock out being a mom and fail at being a leader. And sometimes you strike a balance. And that is what that night felt like. It felt like balance.