Mompreneurs and juggling!! (Motherhood & Entrepreneurship) Everyone warns you that having a baby will change your life completely. Sure you will have less sleep (and money) and a lot more responsibility. But when the center of your universe shifts to your new baby, there’s much to celebrate too. You discover an inner strength you never realized you had. Seven years into our jobs as women entrepreneurs we trace its origins back to the times where we started working from home with one of us having kids and the other trying to figuring out whether having kids was all worth it. We gave up our full time jobs in the peak of our careers in the design field when design was at its budding best. Having held positions of lead communication designers in design companies that were leading brand and packaging consultancies we chose to open an independent creative studio called TAN-TA-DAN DESIGN based in Mumbai focused on finding interesting creative solutions for our clients while doing the thing we love doing best – DESIGN. Our journey has been a struggle but yet rewarding in every aspect. As a famous author named Linda Wooten once said “Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.” From working moms at home where we were working round the clock changing diapers on one hand and attending client calls, we realized that while we sat at home and juggled work along with kids, we lacked the interaction of co-workers that are crucial for any designer where we constantly talk about being inspired and therefore we create. So the next step after our kids were a bit settled we chose to rent an office space and register a company. The transition has been smooth as we being mommies were flexible with working hours and we would take shifts to work. Setting up a team today of almost 6 creative designers working under us, has been the most challenging as well as rewarding. It’s the same as bringing up your babies constantly nurturing, feeding them with ideas, moulding them into even better designers. Motherhood has led us to bring more focus and efficiency to our work day. The time between 9:30 and 4 slips by too fast so we try to make every minute count. We do our best to minimize (or eliminate) distractions that pull us off course; texting, Facebook and other fun but time robbing activities. we want to be truly present when our family is home and not worried about checking emails. Our studio is a huge part of our lives, so we strive to make sure that we’re all enthusiastic about it. Happiness in work and at home are all wrapped together. So, in the end it’s a juggle… I think we all can agree that it’s not easy to juggle work and family. But our passion for creativity, newfound resourcefulness, and support from friends and family gets us through. Tanya Thomas Fernandes Tanya is a Graphic Designer cum Entrepreneur who co-heads TAN TA DAN Design Studio armed with a design experience of over 12 years. She confidently juggles both her worlds - her creative work life and her 3 year old toddler.