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

Hi Elena, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
That’s a good one. My thought process for starting The Innovative Mom was first off, I’m a single mom of 5, the second is that I realized by talking with moms around the world that we have many similarities even though culturally we were different. I wanted to become a bridge for moms from all cultures and create a space where we can respect and learn from our differences as well as celebrate our similarities. We want what’s best for our families, we love intensely, and we give out a lot without thinking about ourselves most of the time. I wanted to create a space where moms are SEEN, Supported, Educated, Empowered, and Nurtured, kind of like being a mom to the moms. haha

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The Innovative Mom is a little different, I think. I struggled with focusing just on the mom for a while and then I realized that there are so many resources available for moms that I could do just that, not just here in the states, but globally. Whatever advice or resource I give is meant to impact the moms’ life so that she can take better care of herself, identify her goals and dreams and begin to implement them into her life while she’s raising her family. I noticed most moms will say “after the kids leave”, and while that’s such an appropriate statement for some areas of life, complete self-care or being “SEEN” isn’t one of those areas. I work on finding workable solutions for moms providing resources that will allow them to make sure that they become just as important as anyone else that they care for. Starting The I.M. was easy, but the process of getting to where it’s functional (still in progress but I’m ok with that) is another story. I had several health setbacks that caused me to pause and work on it in tiny bits and as frustrated as I was, I realized that it was ok, taking care of my health and having a better quality of life comes first. I’m 100% committed to self-care in its entirety, and that’s not just physical health, but mental, financial, adventure, career, education, whatever keeps me above water and in a good space to love and be loved. If there’s anything that I want people to know about The Innovative Mom is that at the heart and center of it all is bringing cultures together through motherhood. There’s so much beauty in cultural differences that we can accept those while celebrating our similarities and changing our world one mom at a time, or multiple, I’ll take that as well. 🙂

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m an explorer by nature so I love things off the beaten path, but here close to home, Post COVID and social distancing of course. We would grab a tea from Cafe Intermezzo, Eat at Rumi’s, visit Amicalola Falls, Hit the strip on Pleasant Hill, and visit all the Bakeries Tree Story, Coffee By Hand, Paris Baguette, Choong Man Chicken, grab Pho at Super H Mart, walk the bamboo forest at East Palisades, Bike on the Beltline, Karaoke, Ride through different cities to see what we can find, and by all means sip and chill at home.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shout out is to my kids Victoria, Lauren, Kathryn, Justin and Aaron for believing in me blindly for so many years.

Website: www.theinnovativemom.com
Instagram: theinnovativemom
Linkedin: Elena Taylor-Bagger
Twitter: t_innovativemom
Facebook: The Innovative Mom
Youtube: The Innovative Mom