Reena Lebanan is a full-time entrepreneur mom who juggles parenting and running a business every day without a yaya. As a mother of a three-year-old son, this is her typical day.

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I am a full-time, hands-on mother and the co-founder of Happy Hive, a start-up company that offers administrative services such as business registration, bookkeeping, and tax compliance. It is also a co-working space for other professionals and startup companies. I often get asked how I do it and how I balance my time and attention between work and family without a maid or a yaya.

Setting up and sustaining Happy Hive meant that we could prioritize our family without giving up our careers as women entrepreneurs. Our business makes us feel like we are mothering the community of other professionals and companies by guiding them as they set up. We also help them enjoy their chosen field by doing the necessary tasks to sustain their business.

This is how I roll.

8:00 A.M. – 9:00 A.M. – This is wakeup time for me.

10:00 A.M. – Breakfast time. I usually cook big batches of food during weekends to save time during work days.

11:00 A.M. – We prepare to go to the office. I take a bath, pack lunch and/or dinner, and negotiate with my baby on which toys he could bring.

12:00 NN – 1:00 P.M. – It usually takes anywhere from 30 minutes to one hour to drive to the office. This is when my son takes a nap. I have to revolve my schedule around his sleeping schedule, Otherwise, he will be mostly uncooperative from the lack of sleep.

1:30 P.M. – We arrive at the office. Oftentimes, he continues napping on the hammock or on the sofa bed in the office. I use this time to settle down and catch up with coworkers. I also start working furiously while the little one sleeps.

3:00 P.M. – Feed my toddler.

4:00 P.M. – Resume work. We have a carpeted area in the office where the hammock and sofa bed are located. That is where my son usually scatters his toys whenever he’s not trying to bait (or bully) my coworkers into playing with him.

8:00 P.M. – Eat dinner at the office.

9:00 P.M. – Travel back home. This is my son’s cue to fall asleep again.

9:30 P.M. – When we get home, I put him to bed and catch up with my partner. This is also the time I continue to work if there’s any left for the day. I work until I get sleepy.

12:00 A.M. – Lights out for me. Tomorrow is another day.

Grit.

Starting up a business is not for the faint-hearted. We always have to look back and remind ourselves why we started it in the first place. We wanted a community where entrepreneurs and professionals help each other. Starting up a business while trying to desperately cling onto the fleeting moments of my son’s childhood makes it more challenging. There were a lot of times I thought of getting house help or enrolling him in preschool to focus more on my work. But as long as I’m not pulling my hair from trying to juggle several things at once, life is still good. At the end of the day, knowing that this is the life I’ve chosen makes it all worth it.

Live, work, and play.

Before we even came up with a name for our business, we made sure to establish the collective value and culture we wanted to emanate. The company is comprised of five strong and independent women, who are brave enough to gamble a portion of their lives to escape the traditional paths set out for women in our country. The shared experiences of women and mothers within the company makes the culture and values stronger and easier to implement as we continue with our daily work.

My son is already three years old now and we’ve survived with a lot of help from family, friends, and coworkers. If it takes a village to raise a child, we have a very supporting, loving, and happy village around us.

 

Did Reena Lebanan’s “Day in the Life” inspire you? Interested in sending your “Day in the Life” story? Join the Connected Women community now!

 

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