Our community is filled with hard-working, high achieving entrepreneurs and creatives and so work-life balance is a complicated, but highly relevant topic. We’ve shared some responses from the community about work life balance and how their views have evolved over time below.

Keri Steward | Human Resources Manager & Model

The most important thing I’ve done as a parent was work on my work life balance. Before children, I was a slave to a job and worked on their terms. After children, I took more control of my work life balance and began negotiating the terms of my work life balance. I wanted to ensure I did not miss out on critical years of my daughters lives. My goal has always been to create memorable experiences for them. My daughters have been traveling locally and internationally since the ages of 5 and 6 years old. We’ll spend school breaks, family vacations, quick weekend trips and holidays out of town. We are not traditional when it comes to how we choose to spend our time. I’ve always wanted my children to expand their minds through diversity by embracing other cultures, places, languages, etc. I believe that opens more opportunities for them to grow but also gives them a sense of empathy towards others that are different from them and that is what is needed in this world today. Read more>>

Madeleine Cruz | Professional Dancer, Choreographer, Student & Author

My workload has changed drastically in recent times. I am still in school working to obtain my Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education before I move into getting my Master’s degree in Social Work next year. Outside of that, I am still dancing. I have been teaching classes on Instagram live as well as private lessons through the platform SuperProf, which has been an absolutely amazing experience thus far. I’m currently plotting on hosting. a MasterClass on that platform, so be on the lookout for that! Outside of dance and school, I have picked up a new venture that I can’t reveal the full details on that, but I can say that it will be released to the public late October and I will be giving a few sneak peeks on my instagram, @itsbdoll, so also be on the lookout for the release of that pretty soon. I have also started a shop on Depop to sell a lot of items, so that has been doing fairly well and I have been having a lot of fun with it. Read more>>

Marc Baldwin | Musician, Producer & Educator

I remember when I was 18 years old I decided I wanted to be a full time musician. I was seeing a girl at the time and I remember her saying, “how are you going to have a family if you are a musician?”. I told her, “that is my goal to support a family while pursing and living with the job of my choice.” As I have gotten, lets say, marinated in the music business, the work/life balance has gotten more intense. Being in the music industry is a 24 hour a day job. You are never done creating, building and perfecting your craft. When you are younger and single and have no kids time for the most part is not a problem. The issue when you are younger is time management and for me at least, making enough money. When you have too much time it can be a task to manage because it is easy to be distracted. I am older now (42) with a wife and two kids. I run my company Musical Mindz productions, play in several bands, teach at two schools, am constantly creating content, marketing and pursuing opportunities for my company. Read more>>

Tarryn Hoff | The Traveling Trainer

For the last 3 years, my work life balance has revolved around family, work, and academics. My wife and I have been raising our 5-year-old and 3-year-old sons; I have been continuing to operate my personal training business of working with over 50 clients per week; and I have been pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Sports Psychology. The balance has definitely been a great challenge, but although life can be overwhelming and stressful at times, managing these unique priorities has been a blessing filled with fun and excitement. Read more>>

Carley Sibley | Founder

Having a full time job + a side hustle can be quite the challenge when it comes to time management and overall balance. I find it helpful to write down my weekly priorities and narrow down the list to what’s most important. For me, these priorities include my full time job, spending quality time with family, growing my side hustle (Evergreen Home Goods), exercising, getting quality sleep and having one day of rest. These priorities look a little different for everyone and I definitely think they can evolve over time, but writing them down and scheduling them out each week makes balance seems a little more attainable! I used to work late into the night on my side hustle, but I would oftentimes find myself exhausted and stressed the next morning, so I’m currently in the process of switching my side hustle work to early in the morning when my mind is refreshed and ready to learn. Read more>>

India Williams | Culinary Chef

Time management and balance go hand in hand. With me being a chef, it is a non-stop around the clock job. Some catering events require me and my staff up and working at 3/4am with the day ending at 1-2am, so balancing your schedule and day’s are paramount to the success you want your business to have. With me being a business owner i have sacrificed my weekends to work and cater to other’s events and festivities. At first i was sad like dang I really work Friday-Sunday non stop but the reward on Sunday night knowing me and my team have executed every vision our clients throw at us is amazing and i wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world! Read more>>

Tori Tinsley | Artist

Before I had my son in 2018, I devoted much of my day to thinking about and executing my art ideas. I would wake up thinking about what had to be done and then would spend most of the day in the studio and then think about what needed to be done the next day before I went to bed. My mind was wide open to making connections between disparate experiences and I could translate these abstract ideas into cohesive forms quickly. After my son was born, many things changed. For some reason, I had planned a solo show 6 months after his birth. This meant lots of time in the studio, but I found my mental focus had shifted away from the work and onto him and making sure he was a happy and healthy baby. After that show, there was a mental block to creating new and meaningful work and I honestly thought it had gone the way side until this past January when the ideas came flowing back. Read more>>

Jason Snape | Designer, Illustrator, Maker & Teacher

The biggest impact on my sense of balance was staying home with my children when they were small. Sue’s work had the benefits and I was contracting, so I got to disengage from the hectic career race and just be for a few years. It was a hard adjustment, but I’m eternally grateful for it. Being on our own organic schedule and pacing things for a small person’s interests and point of view fostered a different type of creativity in me. I also started creating things just because – as artwork. I had never done that before, and it was a blissful release after the constant contextual aspects and rationales of design. When I talk with my students about this work/life balance, I tell them that I’ve learned that this balance simply changes over time as priorities have changed, and that it is nourishing if I step into it. I find now that I’m better attuned to when I need to shift gears. My work (design, illustrating, writing, making things) does not always feel like work, which can throw my balance off. Read more>>

Dontavius “Dante” Linwood | Skateboarder & Artist

I’m the type of person to overwork myself. I had to find a balance between work and relaxation, especially once my daughter came into the picture. I feel like I have to work 1,000x harder, but can’t forget that I’m only human and I need breaks too. Once I found that balance it helped me a lot mentally and physically, because that can take a huge toll and you if you don’t stop and breathe. Read more>>