What do you bring to your job from lessons learned as a parent?

Motherhood taught me genuine empathy and brought a very different perspective on what matters and counts in life (both personal and professional) in the long term. This completely redefined me as a leader of the team. We now focus much more on the impact of our decisions and prioritise what makes an actual difference.

What has been your biggest challenge as a working parent? Where do you find support to overcome obstacles?

For me, the biggest challenge is unpredictability. Being responsible for another human being means that so many unplanned things happen. In the middle of a very busy day you might need to drop whatever you’re doing to take care of the little one. On days like that, the biggest support one can get as an employee is to be trusted to do the job when you can, and to be assured that the little ones always come first.

What has hybrid work brought into your life?

Hybrid work allows me to see my daughter grow - for which I am grateful every day. Working from home gave me the freedom to combine my leadership role with the one of being the mother of a 2-year-old child. I feel I have the chance to mix some days at home with my daughter (seeing how she grows and learns) with the time in the office. This gives me the energy to deliver in my role at Mambu.

In which ways has Mambu helped you find balance between your personal and professional life?

I appreciate the company for not forcing me to sit at a desk from 9 till 6 just to “respect the rule”. As long as the work is done well, you can decide when. It’s not caused specifically by the pandemic or lockdowns; it’s always been like this.

What has changed and what has stayed the same in family life in this new era of remote working?

I can afford short interruptions for family during the day and catch up with work in the evening. With open communication with teammates, there is room to do this in a way that does not cause anyone inconvenience at work. Also, hybrid work taught me how to better manage my time - because otherwise neither work nor parenting would go anywhere!

What do you bring to your job from lessons learned as a parent?

Probably the most important lesson I've learned is that you cannot effectively do two things at the same time. You have to accept this, embrace the idea and be kind with yourself. The limits you have are to help you understand you better.

What has changed and what has stayed the same in family life in this new era of remote working?

Remote work gave me the opportunity to not miss anything from my family life. I can be there to greet my boys when they get home. We have a couple of minutes to chat about their day and to choose together what’s for dinner before we all embark into daily duties. Also, it allows them to see what I am doing in my job and how it is. This opportunity has been a huge change for the whole family. Being around to observe how things are going gave us all some perspective that we lacked before when we all headed to a different place.

What do you bring to your job from lessons learned as a parent?

Being a parent is making me a stronger professional as it helps me strive for balance, gain perspective and be empathetic. The biggest lesson I've learned is that patience and love from your family can be seen further in your work, in the way you address challenges and interact with your team. I feel that my negotiation skills changed drastically after I became a mum, as well as my management skills. Now, I no longer negotiate to get what the company wants in a stubborn way; it is more about understanding the other side and making sure that the company can live with that.

What has been your biggest challenge as a working parent? Where do you find support to overcome obstacles?

The biggest challenge as a parent is admitting that you are tired and you really love your baby, but you equally love your grown up life. I think there is a misconception about loving your children and your professional life. Many times they are presented as “conflicting”, when in all honesty, they shouldn’t be.

I think that finding a group of down-to-earth friends that allows me to speak openly about how I am feeling, my challenges and my fears, worked for me. So I encourage all the parents to find their tribe.