TO MOTHERS OF BABIES AND BUSINESSES

The qualities we celebrate in mothers – nurturing, selflessness, wisdom – are qualities we should develop in business to the benefit of all

As women, we are often expected to answer the call of motherhood, irrespective of our own dreams and desires. And , in my own experience, I’ve learned that there’s no right or wrong with what you decide to do – so long as it’s a decision that is true to you.

While there are many significant differences between raising a child and being an entrepreneur, I want women – and the world – to start to see that the skills we praise in mothers are the same skills well worth developing in business. And that rather than using calendar occasions like Mother’s Day to celebrate women within a single context, we need to add seats at the table to celebrate all women and the diversity of opportunity, choice and legacy, increasingly available to them.

Around Mother’s Day, I usually find myself looking back at the progress that’s been made as a result of the versatility, resilience, and adaptability of women. I have always been acutely conscious of the different caps women have to wear and the different ways in which the world tries to undermine or reinforce various gendered traditions – irrespective of its impact upon a woman.

In my own journey, I’ve made choices that weren’t always easily understood by others because they went against the societal expectation of what a woman should be and do. But the good news is that I don’t regret a thing.

I’ve been an entrepreneur for many years. My first real job was in an advertising agency, which eventually led me to launching and working in a corporate clothing business. Never one to sit idle, when I eventually sold the clothing business, I qualified as a Pilates instructor and started to educate myself on healthy food for a healthy lifestyle.

Dogged by the idea that I wasn’t doing enough, my husband’s offhand suggestion that I write a cookbook set me off on a new path that has brought me to where I am today – an author of several highly successful recipe books.

From the very beginning of my professional life, in my clothing business’ factory, I was attuned to an all-encompassing concept of motherhood. At the factory, I often felt as if I was fulfilling a motherly role when it came to the care and concerns of my employees. In a literal sense, my mother actually worked with me and she still does, although in a different capacity. I also employed a number of mother and daughter employees which enhanced the sense that we were working together, like a professional family, towards a shared common goal. With the theme of (somewhat non-traditional) motherhood as a foundation upon which I built my businesses, I quickly realised that this ethos greatly benefited the business and the people with whom I worked.