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0Balancing career and motherhood can feel like you’re always behind in one or the other. Not because you’re doing it wrong, but because the idea of “balance” often doesn’t hold in early motherhood.
In this episode, we look more closely at what balance actually looks like when you’re raising a child and working. Zarina shares her experience of returning to work five weeks after birth, and the beliefs that informed that decision. Zarina and I explore how our relationship with our own mothers shapes how we approach work, responsibility, and motherhood, often without us realizing. We talk about the pressure to be present at home and committed at work, and what happens when those expectations sit side by side. And we look at the reality that balance isn’t something you achieve in a day, it shifts across seasons, depending on what your life is asking of you.
If you’ve felt split between your work and your child. If you’ve questioned whether you’re doing enough in either place. Or if making decisions about work feels heavier than it used to, this isn’t just about managing your time better. It’s about the expectations you’re holding, where they came from, and whether they still make sense for the life you’re in now. Because when those expectations go unquestioned, it can feel like you’re constantly choosing one part of yourself at the expense of another.
Key insights
- Balance doesn’t happen within a day—it changes across seasons
- Your approach to work is often shaped by what you saw growing up
- Guilt can come from trying to meet two competing standards at once
- What worked before motherhood may not work in the same way now
- Defining success for yourself changes the decisions you make
If this resonates, look at what you’re measuring yourself against. Not everything you’ve carried into motherhood still fits. And when you adjust that, your decisions, and the way you experience them, can start to feel different.
About our guest:
A global citizen, an avid traveler, a proud daughter and mom, Zarina Lam Stanford is a recognized growth catalyst and a strategic advisor and investor for technology-based start-up and steady-state businesses in the US, Asia, and UK. Zarina is passionate about design thinking, compelling storytelling, agile leadership, inclusion, and being purpose driven.
About your host:
Mandy Cai is an early motherhood coach helping intentional women find their way to becoming great mothers.
After spending close to a decade helping the world’s leading brands find their identity, communicate their meaning, and translate their intention into action, Mandy now uses those skills to help new mothers learn to trust themselves, nurture their children, and become the mother they want to be.
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This episode was produced by Six-Two Studio
