#MakingTime: A Day in the Life of a D.C. Founder Who's Making Working Motherhood Work

Who: Chloe Bass

What: Founder and Life Coach for Moms at Making Working Motherhood Work; Technical Advisor for Women’s Economic Empowerment at World Vision US; and mom of a toddler

Where: Washington, D.C.

--

I wake up and grab some coffee. I meant to wake up at 4:30 today but I hit snooze a couple times… Depending on what I have going on in the day, I wake up between 4:30-6 a.m. so I can start my day with quiet, coffee, journaling, and prayer. I like to journal three things I’m thankful for, my favorite memories of the day before, things I’m thinking about, and prayers for the day ahead. Having this time really helps me feel ready for the day.

I have a call about a proposal for additional funding for a project in Bangladesh. They are 10 hours ahead of us, so the calls with that office have to be early in the morning or late at night. I’m more of a morning person, so I go with the 5 am option! When it’s done, I respond to a few work emails, then shower and get dressed. 

I nurse my son. He only nurses once a day now and it’s a nice time to connect before the busyness of the day. I then get him dressed, we eat breakfast together, and we read stories and play while my husband gets ready for the day. 

I post my “Monday Working Mom Wisdom” on Facebook and Twitter. It’s a quick weekly working mom mantra that I post. I aim to spend at least 30–90 minutes a day on my coaching business. That might include coaching clients, social media posting, working on the weekly newsletter, responding to inquiries, and/or participating in events. After I’m finished, I say goodbye to my husband and son, we all say a quick prayer together, and then I get ready to leave for work. 

I leave for work. I live in D.C. and take the metro. I love using public transportation because it lets me get other things done during my commute. I love being intentional in how I spend my time. Lately I’ve been reading for fun, but I’ve also used the time to do work, pay bills, etc. 

I have a review of project guidance that I have to get done by tomorrow, so I’ve blocked off my morning to work on that. My focus area is women’s economic empowerment in food insecure counties and contexts (places where people don’t have enough food to eat), so I work to bring women’s empowerment principles and approaches to our work. My organization is focused on the well-being of children, so it’s important to promote solid options for young women and for the mothers of the children in the communities in which we work. We work to build women’s livelihoods skills and agency while also promoting an enabling environment where they can thrive, so they will be able to earn income to meet their needs and the needs of their families.

Lunch with a work colleague! I like to try and have an hour lunch out of the office with a colleague from work at least once a week. It’s nice to have good food to look forward to, to connect with people, and to get some fresh air and clear my head after working for a while. There are a lot of great options within walking distance of the office. After lunch, I check my email and respond to a few things that came in that morning.

I usually have afternoon coffee or tea around this time. Since I’ll be doing a coaching call later, I opt for coffee today. I have a few in-person meetings and then review a project report. I provide technical support for our work in food security and livelihoods in multiple countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, so there’s always a lot of work to do.

Leave work to pick up my son from daycare. I metro to the daycare as well, but I’m feeling a little tired, so I just listen to music and scroll through Facebook and Twitter on this ride instead of reading. At daycare, I talk with the teachers to see how the day was, and then my son and I enjoy our 20-minute walk home. Well, I walk and push my son in the stroller. He would love to walk but it would take us way longer!

Arrive home. My husband is already home and has cooked dinner (yes!). Generally, whoever gets home first cooks dinner, and he made it home before my son and I did. My husband and I catch up about the day. 

My son and I eat dinner. (We live in an apartment building with a gym in it, and my husband has a personal trainer that comes to work out with him twice a week. On those nights we don’t eat dinner together.) 

Bath and bed time for my son – my husband and I alternate nights on who does this. After we get his PJs on, my son sits in my lap in the big rocking chair in his room. I read him two or three books, I say a prayer for him, and then we rock for a few minutes while we listen to a song. I cherish this time because he’s almost two and I know that before I know it, he’ll be too big to rock in my lap!

I have a coaching call with a client. In my coaching business, I work with pregnant women, new moms and moms with young children to develop personalizes strategies to make the transition to working motherhood a little smoother and to make working motherhood work for them, their families, and their careers. 

My husband and I chat and eat “celebratory popsicles” together. This year we started this practice to bring more gratitude, joy and celebration to our lives - if one of us has something we’re excited about or has accomplished something we are proud of, we eat popsicles together. He plays bass guitar as a hobby and we’re celebrating his EP album being on Spotify!

This day was good but long! It’s time to sleep! 

--