In our second part of the chat with Gen Day she shares her difficulty accepting her new life after having her son.
And also how she struggled to find other women like her in the mothers groups, which is the reason she wrote her book The Juggle.
Plus how her and Tiff gain support from family, childcare and nannies so they can continue their career dreams and why we should remove the shame of getting help.
LINKS
CREDITS
Host: Tiff Hall
Guest: Genevieve Day
Executive Producer: Rachael Hart
Editor: Adrian Walton
Managing Producer: Ricardo Bardon
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Nova Entertainment acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we produced this podcast, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respect to Elders past and present.
Hi, and welcome back to Bounce Forward with me, Tip Paul. I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which I'm recording this podcast.
The were Wundry.
People of the Cooler Nation. I pay my respects to elders past and present. Welcome back to part two of my chat with Genevieve Day. I want to know what were your career goals before having Henry, Like, what were your big goals?
Yeah, I mean, I think I've always had big ambitions for the agency, and I, you know, want to work with the biggest and the best talent, but also grow the careers of the incredible talent we represent as well. And we've been really conscious about scaling that, like not just signing people for the sake of it, making sure people that we really align with. So we're definitely like on track to hitting those goals, and you know, we're achieving all these massive milestones of working with the brands I've always dreamed of and getting campaigns that were on TV and billboards and book deals and everything. So those were kind of the career goals, but I felt that I was fulfilling as well and getting to kind of step into that, which is really exciting. And the fear was almost not that I wasn't going to make them happen. It was like it's all going to be taken away if I'm not there with my foot on the pedal. And I think that was kind of where the pregnancy felt like it was almost getting in the way of those goals a little bit.
Yeah, right, that's so interesting.
Yeah, but I guess the irony is almost that if I could tell myself before and you know, time travel back to gen pre kids, I think we've actually had bigger months in the business. We've signed bigger names and done more amazing things after I've had kids.
Yes, And that was the same with me because I thought I put on a lot of weight in my pregnancy, like thirty forty kilos, and I thought, oh, I've put on weight.
I don't look like a trainer.
I'm going to ruin my business because the bodies are meant to be a billboard for my health and fitness business. Yeah, but what it did is I had I became more relatable, and then all.
The moms joined my program and they went on the.
Journey with me to get fit again, and it made my business boom after I had kids, whereas I held on so long to not having children and had them later than what I wanted. I've been with my husband for ten years, Like, you know, its just I held off thinking it would ruin everything.
Isn't that crazy?
And we never say that out loud either, do we never because it seems like a dirty word, being like, I have all these ambitions and I still want to be a mother and it's you know, just as important to me, if not more so, to have children.
Of course, who want to do that. But it's like, I don't have an.
Issue saying that out loud now that I was worried it was going to get in the way, but actually it became a superpower.
Yeah, that's that's gorgeous. I love that. So how have your goals now changed since you've been a mum?
Yeah, I think they've changed a lot, and I do feel like becoming a mom, it's almost like my edges have softened, and even I think you'd be quite similar. Like we've been taught to work like men, right, and you know we girl boss too hard. When millennials it was like you just keep pushing, you go for it, and I think that I've learned the beauty in softness and vulnerability, and I've become a more empathetic leader to my team, and then my goals have often I guess softened a little bit as well. It's less like all or nothing, and you kind of get to see the shades of gray a little bit.
More in that.
Yeah, and we're all guilty of the all or nothing attitude in everything, like everything we do.
That's really beautiful.
I think, you know, if you were to do it all again, and I don't know if you want to have more children or you know there might come a time, what would you change?
I think, yeah, that baby bubble.
I'd be a lot stricter on that, because even though we had this intention of it being this like beautiful sacred space, I broke my own rules a thousand times, and I'd be calling the team and I'd be telling my husband what happened at the office today, and so I kind of, yeah, I definitely needed to be stricter on that for myself and then for other people as well, just saying like this is my time because you don't get that time again. And I think as well, like trusting my team, who absolutely proved themselves. They did an incredible job when I wasn't there in the office every single day. So I think having the confidence to step away would definitely be something I do differently, and then just being kind to myself in that new mum bubble, like I had no idea what I was doing, and the second that Henry would like open his eyes, I would get a developmental book and be like black and white learning.
Yes, and he's like four days old. Yeah, And so.
It's kind of like that pressure. I was like, I'm responsible for building his brain. I have to do the best job at this whether Like really, I could have relaxed a lot more.
Yeah, And I found that I was super freaked out with Arnold, and then with Vader, I relaxed a whole lot more. I was like, Ah, she'll eat when she's hungry, Like you know when they don't eat and they're throwing their food on the floor. And I used to get proper anxiety over her not eating, and now I'm just like, she'll eat when she's hungry. Like feeding toddlers is a full time job. It is just so difficult. Yeah, So what does a day look like in your life? Like, you know, juggling Henry juggling work, And I'd love to know what you do for your own mental health and your own physical health, Like what do you do?
Yeah, I mean our day's start probably like six or six thirty in the morning, when Henry wakes us up.
He's a little human alarm clock.
And if it's too early, we try and bring him in the bed with us, being like, please a little bit more time, but he's at a demanding stage. He's like, no, we have to get up. We have to listen to the Wiggles straight away.
Oh I love the Wiggles.
Yeah, on repeat, on loop constantly.
So we start a day with him, and we try and spend that beautiful like morning as a family, So doing like breakfast together and being all together. A couple of times a week, I'll like go for a morning walk with a girlfriend or a try and go to ll Ploot his class.
I've been very sluck recently, but I.
Find mornings is the best time for movement because it's kind of like nothing else can get them the way in whether as soon as your day starts and the phone starts ringing, everything's out of the window.
Yeah, sets that healthy intention for the day. It's good.
Yeah, And I used to get into the office so early and like smash things out, but now our childcare, if it's like our parents arriving, they don't come until like nine o'clock, so we kind of get to the office just before ten, and we just know for meetings they start like from ten onwards, which again is such a luxury to have that flexibility. We go into the office three days a week, which is great. I personally love having that like separation from home as well to kind of like feel like myself again. And then occasionally I'll have like a work event or has to travel to Sydney to do meetings and everything, but I'm pretty fortunate that most evenings get to spend as a family. And yeah, I try and have that feeding a toddel, like you said, which is crazy, so lots of thrown food and rejected food, a few screaming bath times, but yeah, we just try and do like bed, bath and book together.
And then he's down at seven.
So then after that I can jump back online if I have to do any more work, yeah, move my body.
Then if I can do like an online class, and that's kind of it.
It's definitely took a bit of acceptance becoming a first time mum that my life isn't like as exciting as it used to be. And that sounds so silly because it's like, what a beautiful, balanced life that is. But you know, it used to be filled with like sparkly, premier work events and going.
Out with my friends all the time.
But I think, to me, this is kind of like the era that I'm in, and that's kind of my juggle.
So what advice would you give to women who are thinking of having kids but I just really worried about their careers?
Yeah, I think obviously by the book, which is the biggest takeaway.
Yeah, I joke, but I.
Tell us and tell us about the book as well, like, yeah.
Well, I think that question is the perfect framing for it, because that's kind of where I was sitting when I first thought of the concept of it. Is because I was pregnant running this business, and I was having all these catchups with women around me in my kind of corporate circle, and I would see their lives on Instagram and I'd read about them in the paper and I'd be like, how the hell are.
You doing this?
And again to if you sit in this camp too, where like you have this beautiful family in this empire, and everyone's like, how are you doing this? And so I was just very fortunate that the people I was able to speak to in my circle happened to like Stepway Smith from Kick or like you know, Jess Hatters of Frank Body and Phoebe.
From the Memo.
And so these women, firstly, all of them makes it said to me, oh my gosh, Jen, I cry all the time, or like I do not feel like I'm nailing it, And I think I needed to hear that to take the pressure off myself as well. And then they were all kind of sharing their regrets and what they would do differently, and the fact that they are less stressed the other side of it now that they've been to that experience. And that's kind of when I saw this recurring theme in this universal thread that.
Had to be shared with people.
So I kind of felt like if these women who have, you know, one hundred million dollar businesses had the same thoughts and concerns and fears as I do, like that just makes me feel so much less alone. So I think all of them kind of felt the fear into it anyway, and I know it's just I think it's just crazy to really I sat in the mother's group and I went through that as well, and I didn't really feel represented in that scenario.
Interesting, Yeah, I didn't even do mother's group.
I was like, with Arnold, I was so busy with the business, I just ditched it completely, and.
I regret that.
With Vader, I was like, you've got to do it more like, but I still didn't. With Vader, I was one thing on my list. I just said I don't have time for. But I did make an effort with my friends that had kids, but I just didn't even do mother group. Like, I mean, it's terrible. And so you say you didn't feel represented, you didn't. Yeah, all with the working moms, they're like they.
Were all kind of had the twelve months off or were deciding to be so at home parents at that time, which again is it's a completely valid choice, and I think women that choose that are incredible because it's such a huge undertaking. But I kind of sat in that room and was like, well, no one here seems to be in the position that I'm in. But then I went back to the stories in the book and I was like, these women have the same ambitions that I do. With these women are the ones in the same you know, stressful situations that I have. And it's not just about running your own business, but anyone in the career who you know wants a return to work or has to have a necessity as well. It's yeah, I think it's just nice to have those stories and have a place for them.
Yeah, it's beautiful. Oh, it's an awesome book. Now, can you tell me who are your role models?
Like?
Like, my mum was a working mum, right and she had my sister and I very close together. Then when I was sixteen, she felt pregnant accidentally with my brother and we had a newborn in the house when I was doing my BCE and so she was then had a baby on a hip while she was running a big business. So she's always been my role model for juggling. Who are your role models for juggling?
Oh, that's such a good question, because I think we kind of came up in this Yeah millennial like girl Boss era, who've had people you know, held up in these pedestals and yeah, hustling, which is awesome, and I think there's so many of them. I do really look up to Jess and Bree of Frank Body as you know examples of that, and they, you know, have two kis each, and even you know, Chelsea Marley's also in the book that runs the agency Tiny Disco, has two kids, this incredible career, and you know Rachel Corbett, who single my choice friend of the pod. I think they're all kind of role models to me and just people who managed to seem to kick these huge goals in life, but it hasn't stopped them from having a family or having a personal life at the same time.
And I think as well, like my mom kind.
Of wore both hats, which I loved growing up because she was a stay at home mom for the first ten years of my life, and then she returns to her career and got to kind of climb that corporate lade in her field a bit later in life. So I got to kind of see that you can also do both in that capacity too.
But I think.
Everyone is douggling it and for a long time, no one would really say how hard it is or that they have help. And that's also a big chapter in the book. Aron Jeering is another example where you know, She had Triangle Swimwear and has just launcher and fashion label Deering, And she says, yeah, I've got three nannies. Like if people ask me how I'm doing it all, I don't.
Yeah, that's amazing, And like, I think we have to take the shame away from having support and help. And you know, I chose not to do childcare because my thinking was they will get sick. I can't afford to have a sick child at home. I can't take days off. So I have a nanny, you know, And you know that was my choice, and she's my Nanny's been with me for nearly eight years now, and she's always helping me to do everything. And you know, I couldn't do it alone. It does take village. It absolutely takes a village. And I didn't have my parents are still running their big business, so I didn't have a lot of grandparents' support. So it's it's amazing once you dig deep into those stories and actually see the villages that you know are supporting these amazing careers one hundred percent.
And also because imagine if someone's comparing you know, their life to these other women doing incredible things and thinking, oh, I'm not good enough because I can't do that. It's like, yeah, but you may not have the same level of support, You may not have that village that this other person has, and I think it just Yeah, by shining light on it, it makes everyone kind of more of an even playing field, and yeah, debunks any shame that's there because also it shouldn't be shameful to have help if you choose to have it.
Yeah, exactly.
Well, thank you for shining a light on the juggle, Jen. I loved what you said about becoming a mum is your superpower in business and I'm going to take that with me today.
So thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.
Thank you so much.
I think it's so beautiful having this community of mother and we all look out for each other. It's like, you know, a secret language we all speak now together.
Yeah, it is it is. Thank you, Jen.
Thanks so much for listening to Bounce Forward. I love having your company. So please d m me on Instagram at tip haul Underscore XO and let me know what topics you'd love me to cover. Don't forget to rate and review me on the podcast. Out Speak soon.
Happy Days,