The Coronavirus has given many us an opportunity to pause and think about life, our purpose, and even the right work life balance. What’s your perspective and has it changed over time?

Tunai Anderson | Employed Entrepreneur- Faith Candles

I consider myself to an employed entrepreneur meaning, I have a full time job and run my own purpose driven small business. The balance of life that I have has changed tremendously since the recent pandemic of COVID-19. As a wife, mother of two school aged children, purpose driven businesses owner, and working full time- the home/work balance has been a constant area of growth. I am so thankful to have such a supportive and “hands-on” Husband and yet I also realize that this may not be everyone’s case so I am extremely grateful and appreciative moreover, empathetic to those who are are juggling the many duties and hats they wear without support. Even before the pandemic, this was an area of balance that I had to create for myself but moreso now than before, I am finding myself having to be creative with how I manage my time, where I spend my time and what I spend my time doing. Read more>>

Lorah Stone | Visual Artist and Textile Printmaker

My art practice has always been a part of my life. But due to moving around the country several times earlier in my adulthood, and going through big life changes once I landed in California, it was hard to keep a flourishing and consistent practice. Five years ago when I moved from Santa Barbara County to Los Angeles, I decided I wanted to start showing up in the studio as consistently as I could. I would make whatever I felt like making. I would be willing to start over and learn old processes agin or take the time to learn new processes. I would be willing to be frustrated and problem solve, and be a beginner again if I needed to be to move forward. Making good art takes time. Making good art takes consistently showing up. When you have to work a full time job outside of the home, or when you have a family, growing your art practice can be very challenging. Read more>>

Ami Gosalia | Wellness Advocate + Founder of Mondays Labs

One of our favorite cartoons at Mondays has the caption: “I can’t remember: do I work at home or do I live at work?”. In the drawing, you can’t tell if the person is at a home office or their work office. And that’s kind of the point. Corporations of all shapes and sizes have led many of us to approach work as our #1 priority. The rest of your life fits in when possible, if at all. At Mondays, we reject that completely. For us, the template for balance starts with you and the life you want. We encourage supportive workplace environments, positive mental health, self-care and nourishing relationships as the starting point for work-life balance, or what we prefer to call work-life integration. Building from that foundation of professional wellness, we want everyone to have a healthy relationship with their daily work. We firmly believe that this is the key to optimizing your professional performance. I personally learned through a diverse career and several startups to aim to have work fit into my life, rather than attempting to fit my life into my work. It’s a win-win for companies and people, and it genuinely has led me to many Happy Mondays!. Read more>>

Beverly Siu | Artist

I used to think the “life” in work-life balance was a nuisance, a weakness of being human. I admired those with the discipline to suspend their own living standards whenever such needs interfered with their work. Take Taylor Swift, who as a child practiced guitar such long hours that her fingers would bleed. Or Marie Curie, who was so engrossed by her studies at university that she frequently forgot to eat. I idolized that combination of bodily neglect and overwork as a rite of passage for the financially successful—and it did matter to me that the people I mimicked were rich (or got the chance to be) because I’ve always been very anxious about falling through society’s cracks. I joke with my friends that we are only as valuable as our bank accounts. While cynical, it’s true; we exist at the mercy of those who own the means to survive, insulated from painful, premature death only by the thickness of our wallets. I had money–for now. Read more>

Christy Conner | Author, Community Builder & Host

I used to be a person who regularly worked sixty to eighty hours a week. When you spend that much time working, you don’t have time to connect with others. As I advanced in my career, I learned that there were fewer opportunities the higher up you were (I was an executive), and it took longer to land them. When you finish a job and begin the transition to a new one, you will wish you had spent some of that time building relationships outside of it, because these days, a job is temporary, but a network is forever. It is something you are continually building on throughout your life and is independent of your job. I needed to shift from being focused exclusively on my job to also being focused on my broader career development and personal well-being. I began to understand that networking is just one pillar in that development, along with a career strategy and professional development that I needed to allocate time and resources to. There are three pillars to your career development. Read more>>

Jennifer Hsu | Black Jade [Music Producer, Songwriter, Vocalist]

When I was younger, I thought that the more time I devoted to making music, the better my music would get. Not only was that an incorrect assumption, it’s also unsustainable. These days, I really value rest and spending quality time with people that I care about. When I’m well-rested, I’m more alert and productive when I am working on music. When I spend time with family and friends, I experience the connection and emotions that I want to communicate through my music. I’m still working on this work-life balance though. Like others, I grew up equating my self-worth to my work, and as a result, I feel guilty for resting and relaxing, even though that’s exactly what my body needs. Giving myself a hard rule to not work after certain hours and setting aside time to rest/relax has been really helpful. Read more>>

Xiomara Bernard | Actor and Filmmaker

I’m a Cuban, French, African, Native American actor and filmmaker, who is no label, and a huge hardcore fan of Sailor Moon, Kingdom Hearts, etc… I’m fluid in pronouns! This pandemic was a massive eye-opening journey. Never have I expected to see this in my lifetime. But as I mentioned once before, life is never as expected. Expect the unexpected. This time period of stillness has changed my personal life and my career life, and for the better. In spite of the unknown road that is happening around us, I’m learning to prioritize self-care and set boundaries in all areas of my life. I’ve been training a lot in my field with game-changing mentors. I also choose my battles based on my intuition, and whether or not my decisive action to get involved is a service to me. I always ask myself these questions as of late: Is this elevating me physically, mentally, emotionally, healthy, etc..? Learning new things with meditation and breaking down the enigma of my own mind and body is what helped me keep my balance. Read more>>

Lynda Martin-Lawley | Leadership Coach

I spent 30 year career in the highly stressful, wild and litigious mortgage banking industry. When you are facilitating the most emotional and expensive investment any of us ever make…it is a crazy roller-coaster of a ride! I had come from an artistic bohemian family and had never fathomed I would end up in a corporate environment, let alone a Fortune 100 company touching multi-million dollars of loans every day, I did know that my inherent leadership skills coupled with a mentorship mentality was a winning formula, which ultimately grew our teams and operations into the billions annually. The good news…financially it allowed a lifestyle that surpassed any dreams or goals I could have conceived of. The bad news…my stress levels and enjoyment of life were minimal. About 6 years into what most would perceive as an extremely “successful” career of record breaking accomplishments…it became clear that none of that mattered if I was dead under my desk ;-( Thus, my journey began on how to create the maximum quality of life/work balance every day. Read more>>

Oleg + Roxanna Mikhailik | Designers / Makers

We pride ourselves on being very connected with the work we do and the process of its creation. In a way I feel like we don’t actually have work-life-balance since the two are so tightly intertwined for us. It wasn’t always the case, but we always wished that it was. When we started project.rotate we kept our shop in a creative warehouse subdivision in Vernon, which was just far enough away to provide a buffer between work and home, but it actually wasn’t really working out for us. By its nature, our business relies heavily upon being able to flush out ideas and make prototypes quickly. And since ideas sometimes come to you in the middle of the night, having your materials and tools nearby really comes in handy. So around April 2020, we moved to a slightly bigger unit and were able to bring our operation under the same roof. We like to think that our shop is as much a fixture of our home, as the work we do is a fixture of our lives. Read more>>

Chandani Kaur Kohli | Founder of Biskut Bar

When I feel overwhelmed by content overload, family life, or even just my own grandiose ideas, I often find myself reciting the words “slow and steady” from the children’s classic tale The Tortoise and the Hare. Nothing revolutionary, sorry. But to embody the words “slow and steady” is a practice, a resistance to the humane propensity for instant gratification and the immediate need to make sense of things. Life is an unbalanced balancing of many moving parts leaning on the adage that you can have it all but not all at once. I’m naturally sympathetic to the ebb and flow routine of day to day but after becoming a mother, that fluidity is even more so important yet has become less of a natural state. To avoid frustration or disappointment in not completing tasks for my business or being stopped at the height of completing a task is to whole heartedly embrace my role as a “mother working” over the more common idea of a “working mother”. That will change as my children get older but I’m in the extremely delicate early years of child rearing. Read more>>

Vivica Menegaz | Functional Nutritionist

I am a very driven person, also an ‘A’ type personality, so I love working and always had a hard time setting boundaries with that. When I started my virtual practice I would easily put in 14 hour days, 6 days a week. After about 5 years I pretty much burned out, so I decided to start working smarter and do what I really wanted to do, which is working with less people in a deeper fashion. Now I might be making less money, but I love my work and I am deeply satisfied by where I am in my career. It’s not all about money, quality of life is very important, and as Italian I am lucky enough to have learned that right from the start. Read more>>

Sahaja Douglass | CEO, SAHAJA Essential Oils, Licensed Psychotherapist & Actor

I think it is so important to have a healthy work/life balance and often I have had to redirect my energies to achieve this. I am a highly motivated, passionate and energetic person so there have been times in the ebb and flow of owning my small business when I was working late nights and away for weekends at sales boutiques or seminars and my family did not get the attention I wanted to give it. That being said, I did not start SAHAJA Essential Oils until my sons were teenagers and for their formative years they were my focus (in addition to my meditation and yoga practice, teaching meditation and serving on the Board of Directors for a local health cooperative), so by the time they were teenagers I think they may have been more than ready for me to put my energy into a creative endeavor beyond chairing events and committees at their school. Read more>>

Stacy Yip | Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor

My balance was off because I always helped everyone before I helped myself. As I have gotten older I realized the better I take care of myself, the more people I can help. Balance is like exercising, I need to strengthen my mind and body on a daily basis. I exercise, I eat healthy, and I read behavior science books to stay mentally and physically strong in order to tackle any task in front of me. Stress and anxiety will hurt my work so I try to manage my stress to be the best I can be. Read more>>

Serena Kashmir | Actress, Writer, and Director

When I was a dancer, I became accustomed to 8 hour rehearsals, 7 days a week, and regularly missing holidays, birthdays, and other social situations. It was part of the dance culture to be this committed and I convinced myself that this was the only way to be successful. Once I transitioned to acting, I applied the same mentality to my work. I took as many classes as possible, I drilled lines for hours at home, I created a rehearsal group with some friends, and I took to arts college for more long days. The result was a burnt out, uninspired actor. My work suffered as I became tired, less focused, and overwhelmed. Stress was a constant and the pressure I put on myself was cruel. I took a semester in New York that pushed me to a breaking point. It was there that I realized I needed to work a new approach and find a good middle ground. I attended class, rehearsal, and studied at home, but I also built in time to explore the city and hang out with my friends. Read more>>

Carmelisse Sanga | Los Angeles Based Wedding & Elopement Photographer

Naturally, I’m a Type B personality. So when I started a business, there were so many times when I would drown in work, miss out on a lot of important life events, have mental breakdowns, and was just overall a big mess. My lifestyle took a toll on my physical and mental health. I remember I got sick 4 times in one month and was desperate for change. I quickly learned that I needed to be more Type A and create systems, routines, and better habits. Doing this gave me more freedom for myself and I was able to spend more time with the people I love. I essentially became a productivity nerd so that I can work smarter, not harder. Overtime, I realized that productivity is an act of self-care. I always make it a point to block out days to map out my time and reflect on my goals. Since implementing these into my life, I have seen drastic improvements in my overall health. I am the happiest I’ve ever been. Don’t get me wrong, I still have those days and a work-life balance is never going to be perfect, but at least there’s progress. Read more>

Isabel Cooper | Dancer, Producer & Video Editor

With my moon being in Libra, balance is a very important aspect in my life. In order to feel fulfilled in my work and personal life, I allow myself the weekend to recharge and become reinspired by my surroundings. Pre-covid my life was always on the go. I would go to school downtown during the day, and then run and take the metro to North Hollywood for a night of dance classes. In present times, my everyday routine is completely different, however still very consistent. Monday-Thursday I have online school from 9am-7:45pm. On these days I structure my routine in a similar way in order to add structure to my life, which brings me comfort seeing as I am a Taurus sun! The weekends then, are a time to be spontaneous. To explore new places, try new foods, and go out in nature, bringing a much needed sense of inner peace to my soul. It also gives me time to create and collaborate with other artists, whether that be photographers, or fellow dancers, which I am extremely passionate about. Read more>>

Robot Koch | Composer, Music Producer

I used to be all about doing. Over time i learned it`s also about just being. Meditation helped me, as well as getting a good sleep routine, yoga etc. I learned that resting and self care are just as important for my work as the working part itself. I have better ideas when i`m more rested and grounded. A day in nature can spark an idea that can be a breakthrough in my work process. So i consciously include things that i deemed to be lazy in my daily routine and find that i`m even more prolific because of that. rest is part of work, I think my career has always been a steady slow burn on a low flame, rather than one overheated rocket launch moment. I’m in it for the long haul and I think this way is more sustainable. I sometimes think I took the long way subconsciously, it´s a lot more beautiful but I do take time to stop and smell the flowers. Read more>>

Colleen Steckloff | Dog Behaviorist/Small Business Owner/Mother & Wife

I love sharing about the idea of Balance! It seems to be what we all strive to achieve. Funny thing about the topic of “balance” is that it is the focal point of my specialized industry. In the dog world, I am known as a Balanced Dog Trainer. This means that I use a balance of tools, techniques and human education to achieve a strong bond and communication between an owner and their dog or dogs. I also bring balance to their relationship. Many of my clients come to me thinking they need a human/human baby relationship, which is completely out of balance. I guide my clients into understanding the importance of a human/dog relationship. It would seem odd to have a horse and want to treat them like a fish, right? That is the same principle as teaching your dog like a human baby or your significant other! Professionally, my work life balance has changed significantly over the last 20 years since I founded LAK9s in 2001. Read more>>

Ali Prosch | Artist

I would describe the balance between work and life as tricky. Since my daughter was born two years ago, the reality is I cannot dedicate as much time as I’d like to my studio practice. Add to that the limitations of a pandemic, my teaching job, freelance projects, and my 80-year-old mother who recently moved in with me; making art sometimes feels nearly impossible! I cobble together slivers of time, maybe an hour between meetings, a stint after the baby’s bedtime, or hiring someone to babysit when I need longer stretches. The structure is different, but I am adapting. In a way, it’s helped me sift through the mundane and prioritize what’s important. My house is definitely not as clean as it used to be. And I know my time in the studio accumulates and helps me build momentum. For me, it’s all about sustaining that momentum, however that looks. On some level, my work always connects to personal experience. So this “balancing act” and new closeness with my mom is becoming a source of inspiration/material for my work. Read more>>

Stina Faye | Brand Stylist & Founder of Faery Essence

When I initially started my business, I was still in a 9-5 type of mindset which required a great deal of unlearning to transition out of. I held myself to very high standards, was hypercritical of my output, missed a lot of meals, worked from morning until late at night, and ultimately ending up becoming the worst boss I’d ever had. I felt like I had something to prove so I was operating on a very accelerated hustle-mode. I would typically be in front of a screen from the moment I woke until the moment I went to sleep, had little boundaries with my clients, and made zero time for personal projects or anything that wasn’t money-motivated. Of course, this did help my profits in the beginning but I quickly learned it was not sustainable. After a couple of years of this, I was downward spiraling into a deep burnout. I stopped loving my work as much and quite literally attempted to burn down my entire business. I pressed pause and decided to make a change and start to prioritize my self=care. Read more>>

Dhaujée Kelly | Educator and Wellness Consultant

When you think of balance, what comes to mind? Is it a yogi in tree pose, a cyclist on a tightrope or young children on a seesaw. Over time, I have accepted that balance is relative. That is the scale must tip at some point, so achieving what we call a work-life balance is relative to where your attention must go. This wasn’t always my point of view, I used to attribute how much ‘life’ time I was awarded by how much ‘work’ was produced. From denying myself periods of rest or socializing, to missing meals and rescheduling dates with my fiance; work-life balance was about earning something only after  I had felt productive.  As I’ve matured in entrepreneurship and aligned myself with holistic studies and practices, I’ve embodied an understanding that the scales will tip and I should be mindful about how much pressure I put on either side. Being mindful is key to having a healthy work-life balance. Read more>>

JiLLi | Singer/Songwriter/Producer

Routine is medicine but so is spontaneity. I think the best way to find a balance is to bring awareness into your daily life and do the things you enjoy often. Use a planner, stay organized and don’t expect more from yourself than you would from someone you love. Life gets so busy sometimes! I maintain inner peace by prioritizing the things that help me show up as my best self every day. Waking up early, meditating, eating a plant based diet, and running with my dog Brady are a few ways I stay centered. I’ve found that I work most efficiently in the mornings so my daily schedule revolves around what’s best for my creativity! Getting into a flow state and working for 10 hours straight every day would be ideal… but unfortunately that’s not realistic! I try not to push myself to create when I feel resistance. Having interests outside of music is the most effective way for me to stay balanced, avoid writer’s block / burnout and stimulate creativity. Read more>>

Rafael Ning | Co-Founder of FAYD & Student at UCLA

My work-life balance is best described as an interleaving of long-term states of “flow,” frequent procrastination, occasional bouts of work, and periods of rest. By flow, I mean the term coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to describe a mental state of concentration and intrinsic motivation while doing an activity—a state characterized by the feeling that time flies. Thus, I distinguish between the work in which I feel a state of flow and the work that I do only because I must, since that distinction is central to the ideal balance that I have consciously chosen to strive toward. As both a co-founder of FAYD and a computer science student at UCLA, my work-life balance certainly skews toward the work side. This has been the case even since middle school before I ever thought about the concept of work-life balance. But as much as I cherish the time I spend relaxing and recharging, I always prefer my long days and late nights of flow. Flow is when I start work on a pitch deck for my entrepreneurship class, and six hours pass by without me even standing up. Read more>>

Alisa Yang | Interdisciplinary Artist, Filmmaker, and Activist

Burnout can have real consequences. I didn’t realize the importance of prioritizing my body and mental health until after my chronic illnesses got bad enough to be debilitating. When capitalism convinced us that we are only as worthy as our labor, it takes a lot of de-conditioning to return to our natural state of being. It’s hard. It wasn’t till I was forced to rest that I started learning how to rest. Balance for me is knowing my boundaries, honoring them, and not being afraid to say no. Although I’m mourning that I can no longer be as productive as I like to be, re-purposing my time in healing is what I need right now to survive. Read more>>

Roger Bussell | Digital Media Company Founder

Balance is really important. I found value in taking a little time away from the grind of making it happen, to reflect and recharge. Finding time to appreciate what is really important to oneself or what was the catalyst that inspired the start of the venture may be somewhat beneficial. I am still learning and hopefully evolving in my self discovery of Balance. Read more>>

Stewart Tuttle | Recording Studio Owner, Engineer, Producer, Guitarist, and Artist

My work life balanced has changed so much throughout the years. To me this balance is one of the hardest things about what I do (Balance in life in general is tricky). I have been in a long term relationship for over 15 years and have always done my best to make time for my significant other. the best thing for me at this point in my life is to take weekends off. During the week I will go all out. 60-70 hours a week is not uncommon. I have learned over the years that this time off helps me recharge and help me be at my best when I am working with artists. Its very easy to want to work 7 days a week but it is just as easy to burn out. My heart and brain fight each other all the time with the concept of this balance. I constantly have to reevaluate how I am performing and the direction that I need to take regarding balance. Read more>>

Katherine Dudley | Cinematographer and Film Producer

The biggest revelation I ever had about work, and the work-life balance, was asking myself, ‘WHY’. Why was I working, aside from the obvious answer of money. Was it for me? Who was really benefiting, from my hours of labor, spent energy, and hard work? Was I really doing myself a service by working nonstop? I’ve worked for years on film sets and live event productions, and on-set, I would often see people trying to outdo each other with how ragged they were running themselves. I would see people brag about how little they’d slept, talking about how they were running on three hours of sleep after finishing one gig, then dashing to the next one, desperate to say ‘yes’ to any gig the company offered them. People were constantly getting injured, or overextending themselves out of pride, trying to push, lift, or set up heavy things on their own. I knew one supervisor who would laugh at the suggestion that he should sleep more, and would tell me he’d been up for nearly 48 hours. Read more>>

Eddy McGilvra | Football Coach & Trainer

Balance is one of the most important & yet toughest parts of this football industry. When I first started back in 2014 getting into coaching/training, I drove in deep and there really was no balance. I found out immediately about a year in that doing it this way was not sustainable. Mentally it’s almost impossible to keep a clear mind while only focusing on my career. Losing touch with close friends, family, etc. After the 2nd and 3rd year I was able to find a better balance with my time. Focusing a lot on myself & my family, that really is where I found the most balance is with my family. They kept me in the moment and it definitely helped me grow through the process. Being here now in 2021 7 years into the industry I have a great hold on how to balance life/work situations. Still no master of this as we all should aim to be. But I would say having a great balance is the key to having a long and successful career. Along with keeping the other people in your life & not drifting into a twilight zone of just work and nothing there for you when you finish your day. Read more>>

Olga Yanul | Fashion Director, Creative Consultant, CEO On The Map Creative, Animal Lover, Vegetarian, Traveler

when I was just at the begging of my career – I was obsessed with idea of making it, and to be honest incredibly inspired by what I was doing. Fashion was my full time life and for some exciting projects I could literally stay up for 24 hours, with basically no personal life. I think that was one of the main reasons to get into Vogue Ukraine, when it was launching few years ago. Of course, working for Vogue was always a dream, but the level of dedication to the magazine and fashion rose up tremendously, mixed up with deadlines and work trips. Three years ago I moved to Los Angeles and realized I have to priorities and structure my life. I think the main factor was the time difference, as I kept working with Europe – here in LA I realized I cant be on line 24/7 as I did before. The first step I took – just to put do not disturb mode on my phone, that way I’m not having anxiety attacks during the night when the phone is active all time. Read more>>

Geneva Stone Hodges | Cake Decorator & Small Business Owner

When I was younger I had zero concept of what it meant to have balance between work & life. I started working when I was 16 & from then through to my days at culinary school & beyond I worked full time at multiple jobs & attended classes. Back then I thought I was doing great but looking back in retrospect, man, was I a hot mess. Honestly it wasn’t truly until the pandemic that I began to reflect & realize that I needed to slow down. I realized how emotionally & physically drained I was. My mental state was suffering which meant my business was suffering. I now know that in order to successfully run my business I have to take care of myself. For me that means taking Sundays off when I can, starting my mornings with a nice breakfast, generally just slowing down. You know when you’re on an airplane & the instructions if things go bad is to put your oxygen mask on first? That’s how I tend to think about balance now. Read more>>

Jorge Corante | Composer, Producer & Founder of ibeatz.com

Work life balance is a daily practice that I aspire to constantly achieve even though I fail at it sometimes. During my early 20’s I was constantly in the studio working with artists burning the midnight oil as they say and proud of it. Sometimes working straight through the summer into the winter months without ever taking a vacation or even a short break. Even though I loved and still love what I do, I feel I missed the chance to enjoy more of life but I was also driven by fear of missing out on opportunities if I took a break from the scene. Now my entire work-life balance has changed to where I work what I call bankers hours; I start early in the morning at around 7:00am and close my creative shop somewhere between 5 and 6pm. The only exception where I may break from my schedule is if I have a hard deadline to meet, which happens from time to time. I also try to take breaks from social media, and I mostly use these platforms for communication and or promotion. Read more>>

Jesse Springer | Sound Designer & Voiceover

Throughout most of my 20’s, I had this crazy idea that creativity could be leveraged with brute force. If something wasn’t clicking, I’d pound away at it until it did. Burnouts? No such thing. Creative block? Just another way of saying you’re lazy. Around the time I turned 30, I started to realize that creativity is coy. She’s a playful Muse, and she doesn’t like it when the creator isn’t aware of himself. “Work-life” balance for me ought to be quite simple. In my line of work, there are true biological limits. Sound design and audio mixes require fresh ears, and they can only remain so within an 8-hour window at about 85 decibels. On the voiceover side, my agents usually have me working first thing in the morning, and I’m typically wrapped by 9am. Any agony or irritation throughout my day is always self-generated. As Eckhart Tolle so eloquently put it, “The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation, but your thoughts about it.” Every day, no exceptions, I spend at least 90 minutes outside. Read more>>

Erika Mugglin | Photographer/Videographer

I cannot claim to have mastered the elusive work life balance. Quarantine has made me realize that especially when stressful situations arise, I can be a bit of a workaholic and instinctively pick up addiional work to focus my mind on tasks I can do, rather than have time to stew on things I cannot control. But I offer you this perspective as someone who is in the process of balancing. I have come to realize that there are few things more important than your work life balance. When I first started working as a photographer it was very easy to balance my inconsistent freelance work with my part time job, as it fit seamlessly in the days I had off. However, as my work started to pick up this became much more of a challenge. For the past four years I have balanced having a full time job (currently in creative marketing) with consistent additional monthly photo/video freelance. I enjoy taking on the freelance work in part because working with multiple clients helps me think from many different angles and pursue different styles. Read more>>

Nick Goldston | Music Producer/Songwriter

Training and racing triathlon allows me to find homeostasis in my work/life balance. Making music professionally requires direction, growth, and purpose in a world of subjectivity. For the most part, there is no right or wrong in music, and what one person detests, another adores. Although at first, this lack of formula can feel freeing, there comes a point where I crave an objective measure of progress. Playing scales faster doesn’t make better music. Especially in the world of songwriting, it becomes very difficult to measure what is good and bad. A songwriter may have their worst song be their biggest hit, and their best song be their biggest flop. This kind of uncertainty was wearing away at me, and I was thirsting for something that would allow my effort to dictate my success. Training for triathlon allowed me to implement structure and measurable progress into a life where I otherwise lacked it. My training plan has set metrics I have to meet every day, and if I stick to them and continue to grow my fitness, my race times will get faster and faster. Read more>>

Jamika Carter | Prayer Warrior | Entrepreneur

I recently threw balance out of the window after listening to The Blessed & Bossed Up Podcast. My new friend is PRIORITY! Balance had me over here trippin’ daily. I was feeling inadequate and all over the place because I would plan to give a balanced percentage of time and attention to my husband, kids, career, self and family but the reality is every day is different and even with my amazing calendars and beautified planners, I cannot control how things will unfold with each new day. So now PRIORITY is my bae. Prioritizing helps me take a daily assessment of what’s necessary for the present day and how can I manage what’s in my control. I still plan and have calendars everywhere but I don’t let the unexpected stop me from having hope in getting things done. Read more>>

Tyler La’Cole | CEO/Owner of Embellished By Tyler

You take your brand with you everywhere you go. You become self representation of what your brand means and what it was founded on. Embellished By Tyler has become a major part of my lifestyle and I’ve learned to balance; family time, home life, motherhood and as well as continuing to work in my career. Time management is vital in my day to day and I’ve learned that time is the only currency we don’t get back. Read more>>

Itika Grimble | Floral Designer and Floral Shop Owner

It can be very difficult to have a true work life balance when you are launching a new business. The success of my business consumes me daily. I am constantly checking emails, responding to inquiries from clients, thinking about new and fresh designs to create, paying attention to what is happening in the market place, making sure deliveries are out in time and arrive as scheduled. It is a never ending check-list. But, it has been so rewarding to watch my business grow, to get the flow of positive feedback from my clients and to see our satisfied customers return or refer us to others is what makes it all worth it. Read more>>

Ariel Kramer | Public Relations, Communications and Content Marketing Expert

Work life balance is something that is extremely hard to achieve in general but it is especially challenging when you work for yourself. Your business is what you put into it which makes it very hard to disconnect. I am always asking myself what I could be doing better and how I can provide the best quality possible to my clients. These are constant thoughts that consume you when you work for yourself but you need to make it a point to take a mental break to give yourself the rest you need to succeed. I have now made it a point to never work on Saturdays. Mental health is so important and making sure you create the right work life balance for you is imperative to success. Work life balance looks different for everyone, it’s up to you to figure out what you personally need to achieve the results you’re looking for. Read more>>

Keika Yamaguchi | Assistant Art Director and Children’s Book Illustrator

When I came to America from Japan at 5, I couldn’t speak or understand English, so I had no choice but to work extra hard to keep up. And I was surrounded by other hard working and talented people as I grew up and went through college. I thought putting in extra hours was the only way to achieve your goals, and improve your skills. But during college I pushed myself too far. I would pull all nighters for 4 days in a row for 3 weeks almost once a year, sleep in my car, eat only junk food from the cafeteria out of convenience, and neglected my friends and family. I eventually injured my neck and my back, and couldn’t walk comfortably for 3 weeks after I graduated. 11 years later, I still have to be careful not to aggravate this injury. After injuring myself, I learned the value of a good sleep schedule, eating well, and regularly exercising. My parents also helped me realize that though I was putting in a lot of hours, I wasn’t working efficiently because I was too fried, even falling asleep at my desk sometimes. Read more>>