By this point in the pandemic, parents are running on fumes. Amy Gallo introduces two HBR editors who want to help lift spirits and keep careers advancing through a four-episode series we’re presenting called Family Management.
Erica Truxler and Kevin Evers will talk openly about moving in with their parents to get help with childcare, hiding from their toddlers during Zoom calls, and feeling like bad parents when they’re overwhelmed with work and their kids are crying for attention. They’ll also interview other parents, parents-to-be, and management experts. In every conversation, they’ll share tips and lessons for strengthening self-compassion and resilience.
Email the series team: [email protected]
Email the Women at Work team: [email protected]
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A complete transcript will be available by April 5.
AMY GALLO: Hi, it’s Amy Gallo. This spring we’re going to put our regular programming on hold while we do some special projects. We’ll be back in the fall with a regular season. In the meantime, I want to introduce you to two of my colleagues who are hosting a series that we’re going to be running in the Women at Work feed very soon. Kevin, Erica, tell our listeners who you are and what this series is all about.
KEVIN EVERS: I’m Kevin, I have two kids: Maisie, who’s 4 years old; and I have Willie, who’s 15 months old, and I’m an editor at HBR. Right now I’m struggling to balance work and life, which is exactly what this show is about. Erica?
ERICA TRUXLER: Hi, I’m Erica Truxler, and I am the mother of a 3-year-old, Claire, and an 8-month-old, Mark. And I too, I’m right there with you, Kevin, I am trying to figure out how to work and parent at the same time.
AMY: As a fellow working parent, I am really excited about this series, called Family Management. You know, as you both know, and as many of our listeners know, I have a teenage daughter. And working parenthood, I’m sorry to say, doesn’t really feel like it gets easier; it just continues to get more complex, especially at this moment in time. Kevin, why are we tackling this series right now?
KEVIN: Well, I think as working parents, we don’t always have honest conversation about our struggles. That’s really our aim for the show: we really want to have real and honest conversations about what it’s really like to be a working parent.
AMY: Yeah.
ERICA: Working parenthood has always felt like a lonely endeavor. And right now, with the social isolation and people not being able to have grandparents come to visit and everything, it just feels like every working parent around the world needs a bit of a pick-me-up, and that’s what we’re hoping to accomplish with this show.
AMY: Yeah, I mean, that’s something we’ve talked about on Women at Work a lot. I mean, this past season, you know, we had a guest who talked about how the system feels rigged against working parents, and that was pre-pandemic, right? And it’s just gotten worse and worse. But this show isn’t just about how hard it is, right? You also are giving solutions?
KEVIN: Oh, without a doubt, yeah. We don’t want this to be an exercise of commiseration. As Erica said, we really want this to be a pick-me-up, and so we’ll share stories of our joys, and we’ll also bring in conversations with other working parents so they can share their joys as well.
ERICA: Yes, and we’re really hoping people will identify with the stories and hopefully laugh a little bit along the way. And I also hope we help people feel more resilient and able to be a little bit kinder to themselves as well.
[Toy train whistle]
TODDLER: Chugga, chugga choo, choo…
AMY: One of the things that makes these episodes so delightful is that we hear what your home life sounds like.
ERICA: Choo choo! Yeah, there’s never a dull moment over here; there’s a lot going on, as you can hear.
[Children’s laugher]
KEVIN: Yeah, same over here. There’s a lot of crying, but there’s also a lot of fun moments too.
TODDLER: Oh no! Woo woo woo!
AMY: Yeah, you both are brave for bringing the mic home, I have to say.
KEVIN: I think it may get to our daughters’ heads though. I think they may negotiate for a separate contract laughs.
AMY: Laughs They’re celebrities.
ERICA: They’re little divas already laughs.
TODDLER: Ladies and gentlemen, ready for a show?
AMY: We’re doing four episodes in this series. And Kevin, our producer, Amanda, let me listen to your interview with Amy Su. Amy is a leadership development coach who’s been a guest multiple times at Women at Work. I have to say, her insight on the complexity of being a working parent, I found so useful.
AMY JEN SU: Becoming a parent, I think, brings the full paradox and wide range of human emotion where, how is it this joyful, wonderful being in my life, which is also true, is equally true that I’m more stressed, more frantic, you know, more upset than I’ve ever been as well. And I can remember, you know, when I became a parent, and even now as a parent, trying to hold all of that and to realize that I’m not alone in holding that, is so important.
KEVIN: So spot on.
AMY GALLO: Yeah. I remember, when I was pregnant, thinking, I’m just going to be tired all the time, right? That’s what it’s gonna be like. Laughs. But I don’t think you realize, it’s tired plus every emotion you could possibly feel. Speaking of being tired, I would love for you to talk a little bit about how long these episodes are, just because as a working parent, one of the things that’s totally fallen off my regular schedule is listening to podcasts. So, how are you thinking about length for our listeners?
ERICA: We are keeping them short. We know nobody has time right now, so we’re aiming for about 20 to 30 minutes and no longer than that.
AMY: Erica, Kevin, thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to make this series.
KEVIN: Thanks, Amy. It’s been really fun and rewarding to work on the show.
ERICA: And I’m excited to hear what people think.
AMY: Me too. I’m excited to listen. Family Management starts right here, in the Women at Work feed, on Monday, April 5.
[Marble drops on wooden floor]
KEVIN: Oh, wow, the people downstairs love us, don’t they?
TODDLER: Yeah. Who loves us?
KEVIN: Well, I was just joking because you and Willie drop things all the time, so they probably hear it.
TODDLER: And they love it?
KEVIN: Probably not.