Meet Jill Carter | Travel Blogger & Attorney

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jill Carter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jill, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
Here’s the thing: I don’t believe in work life balance. I think it’s a dangerous concept that sets us up to fail. Balance implies things must be evenly proportioned. As it relates to work and home life, that is rarely the case. Having spent the majority of my adult life as my own boss, it’s rare that I’ve ever had a cut off time that meant the remainder of my day was for my home life. As a wife and mother of two, it’s rare that the start of the work day signifies a hard stop on my home life until 5 p.m. The two areas are usually interchangeable. I often find my work life spilling into my evenings and weekends and then carving out space to handle home issues during the work day. Often as women, we especially struggle with creating this ever elusive “balance” between our both lives. This frequently led me to feel as if I was failing across the board. I remember doing an interview of two very successful women who co-founded a business and asking them how they created balance. They began to laugh hysterically. Puzzled, I asked what was so funny. Here were two successful business owners with beautiful families and seemingly perfect lives and who appeared to have it all together. They quickly explained that they had no concept of balance and that what they instead focused on was support. Rarely will your life be perfectly balanced, but the key is finding support and providing it to others. This conversation really caused me to expand my thinking. I asked them about balance because I was having a nearly impossible time finding it for myself and was hoping they could shed light on ways to accomplish it. Instead, that conversation helped me to realize I could stop chasing this evasive concept. I began to give myself grace on finding balance and instead find ways to create harmony between the two. There are going to be days when I’m so swamped with work (whether it’s my law practice or my travel business) that I can hardly look up when my kids get home. Alternatively, there have been plenty of days when I’m scheduling my work day around a 2:30 volleyball game for my older daughter or volunteering in my younger daughter’s pre school class (pre Covid-19). And that’s OK!!! Finding harmony for me is a more manageable way of commingling my two worlds in such a way that I’m not left feeling like I’m always coming up short. A big part of work life harmony means giving myself grace as it relates to managing my schedule in ways that are conducive to my life and not trying to conform to what works for other people. Specifically it looks like asking for help when I need it from friends and family, hiring help for my businesses, delegating tasks as I see fit, being clear on my priorities and managing my time well in all areas. The joy I’ve founding since focusing on harmony over balance is palpable and life changing.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
When I first began my blog, Fly Mommy Chronicles, I wasn’t necessarily looking at it as a business. Initially, it was a way to share my travel stories and hear the same from other moms. I knew my target audience was black professional women who found ways to integrate motherhood, relationships and career with travel, self care and being the best (and most stylish) version of themselves. Before I knew it, what started as a hobby, grew into a passion and then evolved into a business. Initially, my entire focus was writing. When the writing began to draw attention, I started brainstorming the creation of products. From products and writing the next transition was providing services such as group travel and travel curation. Eventually this began to catch the attention of other business and then creating content in conjunction with brands emerged. Throughout every stage, I’ve always been conscious of being true to my tribe of women and making sure that my brand was a reflection of that. Fly Mommy Chronicles encompasses the whole woman and this is where the emphasis on self care comes into play. And while self care is frequently the focus of the content, travel is what truly brings this community of women together. Essentially, we unite over our travel experiences which can range from complicated to exhilarating as we traverse a world that is often not used to seeing us. As black women, we sometimes find ourselves navigating spaces and places where we can go miles and/or days without seeing any other melanated faces. So another function of this community is normalizing and encouraging Fly Mommies to seek travel experiences that will change that narrative. I love that I get to do something that I’m extremely passionate about, but running this business is not without its challenges. Finding a way to co-manage my law practice with my travel business has been difficult at times. Ultimately, I chose to cut back my caseload to create a space where I could give the necessary amount of time to my cases and the necessary time to Fly Mommy Chronicles. This requires having people in place to help in both areas so as to avoid being overwhelmed by either one of them. The number one thing I’ve learned along this journey has been the importance of staying true to myself and my brand. Often opportunities will arise to work with brands that are not bad partnerships….but they’re not great or necessarily in line with my vision either. And each time, I have to pass. In creating a space for Fly Mommies, a refuge if you will, it is essential that my messaging is consistent. Fly Mommy Chronicles is a travel mom community, but more than anything, it is an unapologetic celebration of black womanhood through and through. At night when I scroll through my blog or my instagram account and see the carefully curated images of black women in all of their melanated glory, my only hope is that other women see our pictures and feel inspired, encouraged, empowered and supported to explore the world and have incredible travel experiences as well!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When friends and family visit, I am a creature of habit and tend to circle around to some of my favorites spots in the city for food, drinks, shopping and people watching. One of my favorite things about L.A. is all of the walkable neighborhoods with fun places to stop and explore. I love taking everyone to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, especially the MidCity location. Roscoe’s is a staple and has to be visited each time I have out of town visitors. I especially love this location because across the street is Queen Boutique….mostly a plant stop but with so many other fun things like masks, art, candles, etc. I always find something I love there AND it has the best vibe! In Culver City, I really like Janga by Derrick’s when I’m (or my guest) in the mood for Jamaican food! I love their jerk salmon. Cafe Vida is another favorite for healthy food and drinks. The sangria is my favorite. After lunch, walking around downtown Culver City is always fun. Plenty of photo opps and shops to pop in and out of. You can’t come to SoCal and not spend time at the beach – no matter what time of year. Manhattan Beach is my favorite beach city. Again, plenty of walking and shops and restaurants all around. I really like The Strand House for the epic views and great food. The glazed donut dessert is my top pick! Another neighborhood I enjoy exploring with friends is the Inglewood/Windsor Hills/View Park area. I love both locations of Hilltop Coffee & Kitchen! Possibly my favorite breakfast sandwich in the world is their Bangin’ Breakfast Sandwich!!!! Simply Wholesome is another staple. I always take people there for smoothies and patties – particularly the jerk chicken patty. Fiesta Martin is the spot for margaritas while the Serving Spoon and Rusty Pot are perfect for breakfast! My final mention for this area is Post and Beam. Since the weather is almost always nice, a rooftop or great patio are required destinations with guests. Rooftops: Perch (downtown), Mama Shelter (Hollywood) and Catch (W. Hollywood). Patios: A.O.C. (Beverly Grove), Ocean Prime (Beverly Hills), Nobu, Mastro’s and Moonshadows (all in Malibu). For shopping, I especially like Westfield Century City or the shops in the Santa Monica Promenade area as well. I also like both areas because they’re outdoors and the Promenade is just a short walk from the beach.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My tribe of women who fill me with support and encouragement is deep….DEEP! Starting with my incredible mother and on to my hometown friends, college forever friends, lawyer friends, blogger friends and mom friends, I am truly surrounded by a solid network of AMAZING women and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But…….I have to true to the first thought that crossed my mind when I read this question. No one, nobody, no person rides is more deserving of a shout than my husband #noIGByron! Byron has always been supportive of my dreams and aspirations. And this is no easy task because I’m a dreamer and I’m always obsessed with SOMETHING. He has a way of redirecting the flow of my energy to a calm and focused place where I’m most productive. He encourages me to no end! During this journey of growing my business while juggling a million other responsibilities, he always makes me feel like everything I want is within reach. I’ve saved so many texts he’s sent me out of the blue acknowledging my efforts and pushing me to keep going. In addition to all of that, I’m also encouraged by his success. Byron’s professional achievements, investment acumen and general knowledge about any and everything all contribute to him being the smartest person I know. I am blessed, fortunate and lucky to be his wife!

Website: https://flymommychronicles.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flymommychronicles/