The SAS Talk with Kim podcast is back with Episode 35 on navigating careers, motherhood and the climate crisis with four KLA clients and partners
Being a working mom in the climate space just hits different. Sure, there are the same pressures that all women who juggle raising kids and a job face and that have been well documented. But it’s next-level when your job entails fighting for solutions to the climate crisis and pushing for choices to ensure your kids actually have healthy communities and a livable planet.
It’s hard enough getting our kids into the right daycare, dropping them off at baseball on time, and helping them with homework or prep for a job interview—let alone leading the charge to advocate for clean energy, air and water, electrify our homes and cars, develop structures and systems that are resilient to climate impacts, and foster thriving communities for everyone.
It’s this dual mission of raising kids while working to secure their future that our CEO Kim Lundgren has embraced for 15 years. And, in the years since launching KLA, she has partnered with many fellow “working climate moms” as colleagues and clients. During countless meetings, phone calls and post-work dinners, the conversations would inevitably shift to kids and how work was impacting their families and vice versa.
For Mother’s Day, Kim invited a few of these incredible women to join her in a discussion about this dual mission—and all the struggles and glories it has provided as they’ve navigated careers, motherhood and the climate crisis.
Listen in as Kim, KLA’s Founder and CEO and mom to Charlotte (14), talks with Joyce Coffee, Founder and President of Climate Resilience Consulting and mom to Andrew (19); Marci Henson, Director Environment and Sustainability for Clark County, NV, and mom to Trevor (16) and Zach (21); Madeline Khair, Environmental Programs Manager for the City of Sunnyvale, CA, and mom to Carter (8 months); and Michele Paul, Director of Resilience and Environmental Stewardship for the City of New Bedford, MA, and mom to Zack (34), Katie (29) and Tim (27).
Their career paths, maternity leaves, number and ages of children, and geographic location vary greatly, but their immediate camaraderie and the enthusiastic head nodding trace back to this shared experience of being passionate and driven in their parenting and climate work.
Here is a sneak peek at some of their best advice, tips and resources, though you should definitely listen in to all of their anecdotes and lived experiences:
- Your kid will need you more when she’s in high school than in kindergarten.
- Don't spend your time with your child mourning the time that you aren't with him. Be present.
- Really take your vacations off. Your work will survive without you, but the kid will not ever see you relaxed and young and carefree and will think you are incapable of these things if you insist on checking emails, editing reports, etc.
- Really ease back into working after becoming a mom (if you can).
- Get good at delegating and letting go—both in work and as a mom. Stuff has to get done, but it does not always have to be you, and it does not have to be perfect.
- Try to find balance. Your work does not always have to be A+. Sometimes it does but sometimes a B is OK. If you burn out, you won't feel successful at anything.
- Science Moms (Watch their Super Bowl ad, “By the Time”)
