All Things at Once

Last night I was fortunate to hear Mika Brzezinksi, co-host of MSNBC's Morning Joe and mother of two, talk about her new book, All Things at Once. After hearing her banter with co-host Joe Scarborough, the two things I took away from her talk as keys to her success are humor and humility.

First of all, the banter, the eye rolls, the interruptions that you see on TV every morning, they're real. But most of all, she's funny. It didn't matter that she'd been up since 3:30AM, is in the middle of book tour that required nightly commitments across the country and probably hadn't seen her family in a day or two, she was smiling, cracking jokes and genuinely enjoying the very hard work she was doing.

Secondly, this is one of the most honest voices I've heard in the work-life balance world. She freely admits that it's hard, that she doesn't have all the answers and that she's made many, many mistakes. Rather than a "How To" succeed in your career while having a family or a Manual for Work-Life Balance, Mika simply tells her story. And what a story it is! Growing up with her father in the White House with two rowdy brothers and a very strong artist-cum-political wife of a mother, it's no wonder Mika is the way she is. But she is unapologetic, honest and shows for all the world to see how she gets it done every day.

And I can't think of a better way to introduce an upcoming series on the Blog, Real Momentum. Frustrated by only seeing major media coverage on how CEOs and Politicos "do it all," we wanted to highlight people we see every day doing the daily dance that is working motherhood. We want to hear tips, successes, even the funny and not-so-funny disasters from moms who are making it work every day. Don't get me wrong, we do want to see how the amazing women who reach the C-suite and floor of Congress do it, but we also want to see how everyday women achieve the same without a staff.

Know someone you'd like to nominate for Real Momentum? Email me at jennifer.folsom@mom-entum.com. Keep reading, learning and laughing.