My cousin's sister-in-law is an inspiration to me... and I've never even met her. Roberta Sobran is a wife, mom, interior designer and the successful owner of Delicious Designs Home in Hingham, MA.
I often like to connect with those who inspire me, so after reading a particularly gorgeous newsletter of hers, I sent her the following note:
Hi Roberta,
I just want to tell you I love getting these newsletters - I love your style and your portfolio. You are truly a great role model for me - so thank you for providing inspiration! Any tips on how to juggle it all - designing, business owning + being a mom, I'm all ears! You make it look easy!
All the Best,
Lindsay Saccullo
Soon after, I received the following response back which I'm here to share with you. It's not only wonderfully written but poetic, inspiring and soothing. It was comforting to hear this from a fellow mama/designer and gave me hope that the best is yet to come:
Advice/Words of wisdom (I think, I hope!)
Well, I wish I could say it was easy.
It’s a boat load of work but the thing is, I LOVE what I do!
I eat it up.
Seriously.
I’d rather be in my studio or store than most any other place. (Except home with my family! That’s definitely my happy place!)
I love and adore every moment with them so that’s why if you don’t find me at 88 North Street, you’ll find me at my home address which is only about a mile from my work. The lack of commute is priceless!
Thankfully this career allows me to make my own hours and work from home to my hearts content so I feel like I’ve been able to have my “cake and eat it too”.
That is, I’m home for breakfast with the kids, when they walk through the door from school and enjoy dinner with them every night.
(Half the time when they come home from school, they grab a snack and go up to their room to decompress and maybe do some homework but I feel it’s important to be a presence b/c there are definitely days when they walk through the door and can’t stop talking about their day-which I love!)
That said, I’ve spent more time talking about my family life than my work life but it’s how I flow.
That is, first comes my family and then work. Always.
I find if you have your priorities in this order, everything will work out.
I’ll never regret “too much time at home” but would definitely regret “too much time at work”.
Time flies and as much as it is a cliche, it’s true. They grow up so fast!
(My son is a senior in high school and my daughter is a sophomore and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wonder, “how is this possible?”)
RE: Work.
I find that the quote you see pinned everywhere is spot on-“ Work hard and be nice to people”.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Give it your all.
In life as in work, you get what you give.
So that’s about it.
Work hard.
Be nice.
And oh yes, hire great people and take good care of them.
And remember, “you get what you give”.
Good luck with holding it all together.
It’s not easy being a working mom.
Some days will be better than others.
(But that would be the case regardless.)
I hope you found this feedback helpful:)
My best,
Roberta
Yes. So helpful. It's something to aspire to.
I often find in our warped world, it's easy for our priorities to quickly misalign. I'm totally printing Roberta's email (once I fix my darn printer once and for all) and pining it on my bulletin board to remind me to come back to center. When I'm feeling particularly swamped with work + life, about to tear my hair out wondering how I'm going to do it all, with energy and success no less, I'll just take a look at the print out and remember to prioritize.
Although there's no real answer on how to do it all, I take solace in the fact that there are other momtrepreneurs out there who have built successful businesses and managed to maintain a healthy balance of work + family life.
I also find it therapeutic to simply just talk about and share this with you. Perhaps it will inspire you, mama or not, to keep your priorities in order so that the rest, whatever "the rest may" be, will fall into place. This is easier said than done, I know, but at least it's a reminder. Knowing that this is something I (and the rest of the Type A's out there - there's a lot of us!) struggle with, perhaps we can lean on each other and just know that we're all doing a good job. Figuring it out. Day by day.
Below, a round up of some of Roberta's most Delicious Designs. Bon Appetit!
~L.S.
For more info on Roberta (including her amazing photography) and Delicious Designs, click here.
