This week I’m hosting my friend, Rebecca Michael, the Head of Marketing for Google Search & Maps. As a mother of two and a seasoned professional with an impressive tenure at Google, Rebecca shares how striving for perfection can lead to burnout and why being "good enough" is well… enough.
If you want an authentic, heartfelt, vulnerable, insightful look at being a working mom, this episode is for you.
Rebecca shares the intricacies of raising two young children in a two-parent executive household. From the challenges of infertility to the importance of a supportive partner, Rebecca opens up about her experiences and the systems she has put in place to manage the chaos of her daily life.
TLDR
Tune in to hear Rebecca’s lessons on…
👶 The Journey to Motherhood: Rebecca talks about her initial uncertainties around having children, and how she finally decided it was the right time to start a family.
🧬 Navigating Infertility and IVF: Rebecca shares her deeply personal experience with IVF, the challenges it brought, and how she managed her responsibilities at work during this period.
🏡 Building a Support System: With her family located in Europe, Rebecca discusses the importance of creating a "village" around her to ensure a well-rounded support system for her and her children.
🛠️ Division of Labor at Home: Insights into how Rebecca and her husband manage their household tasks. From finances to cooking, they have found a way to leverage their strengths.
🌅 Morning Routines and Family Time: Rebecca emphasizes the importance of family cuddles in the morning and how starting the day with her children helps set a positive tone for everyone.
👩👧👦 The Concept of the "Good Enough" Mother: Drawing from Donald Winnicott's theory, Rebecca discusses how striving for perfection can lead to burnout and why being "good enough" is beneficial for both parents and children.
💼 Balancing Work and Personal Time: Rebecca explains how she integrates her professional skills into her parenting style and the importance of setting intentions without rigid schedules to prevent burnout.
🧘♀️ Taking a Reset Week: The value of taking time off to reset, reflect, and recharge. Rebecca shares her approach to taking a week off just for herself and the benefits it brought.
This enlightening conversation not only proves the power of introspection, support, and the courage to prioritize yourself amidst the demands of career and motherhood.
Bonus tools and takeaways
As a community member, I ask each of our guests to share with us some tangible tools, tips, links and personal stories as little extras for you.
What is your professional superpower and how has it shown up in your personal and family life?
Integration: meaning effectively bringing together separate things or people towards a goal or purpose.
One thing that I really love about marketing as a profession is that it requires you to integrate a breadth of different disciplines and mindsets - from left brain analytical and logical thinking to right brain intuition, insight and creativity. I love stretching my brain in these different directions, and running full stack marketing teams that combine these skillsets to solve a business challenge or opportunity
The ability to "integrate" also helps me in my home life - maybe it's an interior design project that requires me to flex both my spreadsheet and creativity skills, or it's a parenting decision on sleep training or antibiotics that calls for data as well as intuition....It also applies to how I think about my support network - and doing my best to assemble the right mix of influences and experts that I can draw on for input and help at different times.
The ability to integrate is a subtle but important muscle for working parents and it can feel stressful and overwhelming at times, so I like to remind myself that I’ve been doing this my whole career... my whole life really, and to own it as a superpower!
What are you cooking these days?
I'm constantly trying to hone my meal planning and have tried a bunch of different approaches and services. Right now I'm mixing Factor meals with some Good Eggs groceries and meal kits.
What are you reading?
My father passed away recently, so I'm finding it soothing to read about experiences of grief. I just finished The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion and am reading Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - both of which I highly recommend. For my work I try to stay on top of perspectives around AI particularly as it relates to Big Tech - for that, I like Ben Thompson's Stratechery Newsletter and Benedict Evans' newsletter too.
What are you listening to?
Joan Baez singing Bob Dylan is the ultimate #feels album for me right now. Again, for AI x Big Tech, I love Hard Fork (Casey Newton and Kevin Roose) - insightful journalism and an entertaining listen!
What are you wearing - mom uniform, for work, for weekends?
I'm obsessed with Nike Air Force One Shadow shoes, I have multiple pairs in different colors. In fact, finding the link to share with you just now, I got very close to buying another pair! I'm also really into Ace&Jig dresses and jumpsuits as my dress up/down, day/night outfit of choice.
What are the products, services or rituals you can’t live without in your daily routine?
I switch all the time, but January Labs Night cream is a constant in my routine - super exfoliating and moisturizing - my skin always feels super soft the morning after.
Favorite accounts to follow?
Brene Brown; New Modern Mom of course!
Where are you traveling?
Cyprus, London, and Tokyo are the places my heart aches for most outside of sunny California...I've visited each twice solo in the past 12 months (mostly for work) which is good for the soul but tough on the body clock!
Ready to listen to Rebecca’s episode?
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I would be grateful if you left a review on your podcast platform of choice (links below). It takes 20 seconds from you, but makes a massive difference to me 🙏
🎙️The "Good Enough” Mother: Embracing Imperfection with Google's Head of Marketing for Search & Maps