Today's episode is brought to you by Capital One spark business. Whether it's your first day at the new headquarters or another day getting payroll out by the First Capital One Work seamlessly as your partner credit card provider and Business Bank. Hi everyone its Rebecca, you're listening to superwomen today's guest is a very dear friend of mine Naomi Davis. She is the founder of the incredibly popular blog love Taza. She's a mother of five. Yes. I'm going to say that again a mother of five and has a very successful career. We talked about everything from becoming a working woman what inspired her to start the blog the fact that her family is also her business and the activities of that. So I hope you enjoy this episode. Yeah, I get real great. Yes, I shared recently a story. I forget who I was with but like we were at a park for Mother's Day. We were nowhere near a bathroom and I peed in a diaper. Oh my gosh. Oh my friends. My friends are like what is wrong with As a you don't understand have to have three kids you there is no holding it. So the bathroom in our apartment is so far away from our bedroom. Yeah, and the last month of my twin pregnancy. I like felt like I had to sit on the toilet all the time because it was like I would be three drops and I have to pee again, right? So, you know those little like pot etz that the kids have that you put in the stroller. Yeah. I put that next to my bet on it and Josh Mark. I am not I can't I can't sleep in here with you. I can't do this. He's like I'll be on the sofa because I I mean the room, you know the room smelled lovely but hey, you gotta do it. You gotta do it. I'm sure it's win. I know and then I can see and yeah, here we are. So I am with the lovely Naomi Davis the founder of Love Taza and we met through actually my sister-in-law introduced us Stephanie and I have watched you in awe of raised so beautifully five young children. Thank you and also have an amazing career. So I want to talk about all those things with you today. Cool. Where are you from? What got you started? I'm from, Utah. And I moved out here to New York when I was 18 for school. I was a dancer so I kind of dance I did everything. I mean I grew up doing ballet but modern dance and contemporaries what I love love love. So Juilliard was four years getting a BFA and in dance is what they have. But the emphasis is definitely more modern based or at least it was at the time so I came out here. I loved New York. Like I came out here with the for the first time when I was 14 for a dance program. I had gotten a scholarship for eight. Weeks in the summer and I got it at like a Dance convention or conference maybe a month before the program started. So housing was full the dorms everything in so my parents were just like to want to do on your own when I really really did so my dad flew me out here for the first weekend, but I lived on my own for eight weeks in the city upon. I mean there was a family that I was staying with that was from a friend of a friend but they just had a mattress on the kitchen floor and I just fell in love with New York for eight weeks and I was 14 and I was like, I have to find a way to get back here. So I came back and in between my Junior and Senior year of college. I got married to my husband and I met him here. I met him here in New York. Yeah, and I mean I was really young but I am really glad that I like the way everything has kind of unfolded with my story. I'm just really grateful for the big Milestones the way that they happened in when they did it was not what I expected. But yeah. It's two days after my 21st birthday. Like I gotta I gotta be 21 like we have to wait till I'm officially 21. So let's do two days after because that totally makes me older and I started my blog right after I got married actually just because I wanted to be able to share my wedding photos with my family back home and I was trying to find some sort of web domain or something that could host large files. And so that's kind of how it started. I've always been a big documentary. I really loved Journal keeping and I've done that since I was a little girl It was something I was getting into like photography videography all of that in a way to story tell digitally I guess and I think like I mean, it's love Tazza is the name and that was based off a nickname that my husband gave me a kind of as a joke with its tatsuta, which is Italian for tea cup. It's spelled ta zai, but at the time I was like, oh does alike ta Zai? Yeah, and I totally got it wrong and even the pronunciation everything else but and it's just kind of grown. Lee from there, I feel like four or five months and I started to get a couple of comments from people that I didn't know and I was so naive and I thought oh I have to give you the URL for you to be able to see this but I didn't realize that you know, it's out there right? So so yeah, and then I mean it's that was 12 years ago and I guess it's kind of organically grown over time. It was always kind of documentation of where I was, you know, I was a young newlywed and York City and having good time finishing up my last year of school. And just you know, very in love and whatnot. And now five kids later were five be five five children. It's been I really I really enjoyed having this platform, I guess in a way that feels very much community-based and I feel like I've gained so much from that online space that hopefully I can give a bit back and return but you know when you're going through a lot of things for the first time I'm which I've kind of done more publicly getting pregnant having babies raising them and doing a lot of those first. It's been really nice to be able to have a window in to somebody even on the opposite side of the world. That's doing something maybe even a little bit different than you thought you would do it, but it's helpful and encouraging insightful to be like, oh great. Like I didn't realize that I could do it that way. I'm going to try that, you know. Yeah, so well, I'm not trying to shine sunshine up your ass, but But I feel like you've always been honest and authentic about it and not in a way that's unachievable. Like you said that you there are some people that set themselves up at as examples. You're like that'll never happen to me or I'll never be able to be that way or that perfect or whatever and I've appreciated as a mom knowing the pitfalls that we all have right right the mess right that you show that you know in a in a way that's there's levity to it. Sure. Well, thank you. I mean I feel like Space has changed so much over the last I don't know how many years I mean when I started blogging in 2007, there wasn't even social media at the time like Instagram Twitter. I guess Facebook was around but I feel like Facebook was still kind of exclusive. So I feel like in this space and my family's in this space now because I'm sharing openly and I still try to make sure that I'm really respectful of what I'm sharing especially since there are stories or their pictures sometimes and videos and things that That involve all of us, but at the same time I've always wanted to make sure that I'm still really real about if I'm struggling with something or you know, this did not go well or whatever it might be and I mean, I think you learn as you go as a mom that the less you have an idea like how this trip is going to go or how the day is going to go, but you just really go with the flow and remain flexible and just the end of the day the goal is just to have a good time. You know, I think you will you will have a good time. It's just it's just better to The keep the bar a little bit a little bit lower what have been some of the unexpected challenges as you've grown into this space. I think one of the biggest things for me is I really want to share my heart and sometimes it's a little bit hard when obviously not everybody is going to be a fan of your heart and they're going to you know be mean if you really really mean people are mean he will ours. I mean, I sometimes I you know, I think where I was when I was 21 22, I mean even just a couple years ago to where I am now has been a really long journey of finding where I can cancel out all the white noise around me of you know, like the overly lovey dovey comments that are just like, oh hashtag goals. Like you're a Supermom. It's like no because you can't let any of that dictate how you feel about yourself just the same way that you can't let you know some troll who's like go kill yourself dictate. How are you? Day is going to go either. So I think that's been one of my biggest personal sort of not a trial but just it's really taken me a lot to kind of get to that point where I'm like, I don't care like I feel confident in who I am or I know I'm a good mom or you know, I know that I'm doing my absolute best and that I'm there for my people and at the end of the day like it's just noise and you we don't have the time and the bandwidth as women people mothers to invite that into our being it's just don't just don't I mean it's easier said than done but I guess being in the online space as I've kind of, you know gone through these chapters of pregnancy mothering breastfeeding why my child crawling on the floor in a museum and hearing that that's not okay. I mean, whatever it is you just you start you start to figure out like well, I think that that's okay. So that's okay, right? Yeah, so I think also people fail when they look at people who have made successful businesses in this space as you are a businesswoman their decisions that you have to make in order to keep it going how have you sort of learned the business side or or gotten better at it as the years have gone on and like what really helped you so you weren't just you have your content create side and then your strategy and and how have you made all that work so that you can continue bringing people the content because you can't just do this for a Oh dollars, it's kind of fascinating because when we got into it when I started blogging there wasn't this sort of monetizing side to any of it and my husband's a big, you know, he's very business-savvy he was doing financial services for many years, but he resigned from his job. I guess. Yeah, it'll be six years in the spring and he was always very helpful with being like, you know, I feel like I'm such a creative and it was really hard when businesses are Brands were approaching kind of saying like, let's partner. Let's go Right, whatever it was hard for me to kind of come to somebody and be like, okay. Well, this is my rate or you come to with this price because it was just so low, but I was just so it would make me sweat. I was just like I don't know and I would want to like over-deliver roll and you know, you just you just kind of just not the way I've been built and he was like, what do you think you're worth? Like what's your value? You know the time that you take the effort to put the put this here whatever it might be and he's it's been really helpful to kind of be a team in that side. He really does handle more of the business side then I do and that's another thing that I've had to really learn is to let go and not I'm very much like this is my baby. I want to do everything. I want to write the email send the emails. I want to do the business. I don't do the Creative side. I want to edit the pictures. I wanted like and to be able to say like, okay, you take these things you're good at these things. I'm going to delegate this to you and you run with that, but I have really enjoyed to kind of having more of a chance to develop that I guess businesswoman side of myself and and be a part of that but It allowing other people to help me has been huge because I can't do it all and for me, my biggest thing has always been my family and I really want to make sure that I can prioritize that and even this last year with my twin girls. They're just there 14 months almost 15 months and I was just like I really want to be present as much as I can in this chapter and if things fall to the Wayside, or I'm not able to like, you know, do these projects right now and kind of have to put a pause on that. I'm going to because I just I want I want to be here. It's important to me so allowing By allowing help has been big and beneficial. Yeah. Do you guys find it hard to because you're with each other all day. So like my brother and I are with each other all day. Yeah, but when we disagree we like go home at night to our spouses right howdy how have you guys evolved your relationship once he started working with you to either just navigate that I know it's so hard. It sounds so corny, but I love spending time like even when he's he's I mean he comes from this business side. He really wants to like sit at the desk at the computer and really he's like I need some space Naomi, please. Can you just slide over and I'm like, what are you doing? Like, that's our that our arms touched or whatever it is. It's just I understand that it would not possibly work for everyone but it's just somehow been fortunate in our case that we spend all day together, you know, we tag team it with the kids and with work we have a sitter come twice a week for a few hours in the morning so that we can really focus on things together. But besides that at least right now, we're just swapping back and forth. And so he'll take you know, he takes the five kids everywhere and people will always be like, oh my gosh, like you have your hands full. How do you do? I don't know. It's funny how he gets such a different sort of he gets home the sacrificial like, oh how nice you are watching your children children, you're babysitting your shoulder. It was always like what do you mean my heart my arms are empty because he always liked pulled his arms got baby in the year ago and one of the stroller and three scooting by because you hate he just hates that he's like, I don't get it. These are my children. What is this supposed to mean? Yeah, so we just we just flip flop back and forth and we try sometimes will be like, let's go on a date and let's not talk about work and not talk about the kids or anything like that and we're pretty good for a little while. But fortunately it's something that we really really love ya and so it's not really an issue. I mean, there's things we definitely disagree on when we're working together and I'm very much a perfectionist. Missed and that is something that I've worked really hard at not being so like has to be this way. It's like no that's good enough. Like Let It Go. Hi guys. I hate to interrupt this episode, but I have to do an ad and it's for myself. I love doing this podcast. I love interviewing these women. So what I'm asking you to do is support me if you are in the market for a beautiful bag or some wonderful apparel or Shoes by Rebecca Minkoff, and if you need to buy a gift for someone Think of me it always helps. It keeps the business going and I would love to see you wearing your beautiful Rebecca Minkoff products. You can hashtag by RM and thank you for the support has been an unexpected high and an unexpected low and your journey. I think one of the biggest highest for me is just the sense of connecting and having this sort of community with people all over the world like it makes my day when I get to meet somebody That and everyone's story is so different, but maybe you know when we are able to inspire each other like whether it's like having a big family or raising your family in a city setting or you know choosing to be open about breastfeeding or co-sleeping or I mean, whatever it is traveling with kids, you know, and when when I'm able to see how that can change somebody else's perspective for the better and they're able to really take advantage of their own situation. However that It's just it really makes me happy. It really does because I think at the end of the day, I don't claim to be an expert in any area. I don't like being like this is how you should do it. But you know, like I didn't even for breastfeeding for example, like I had no idea what I was doing eight half years ago with my first like I would get sweaty. I'd go into a bathroom stall when I was out in public and feel like I had figure out what I was doing there and it wasn't until I saw somebody like, I don't know in California just breastfeeding on the beach and I don't even know her but that just gave me so much. Such kind of encouragement or hope or that was okay. So if I can give that back, it's just it's always been a high when I've been able to kind of see that play out totally. Yeah, and then you're asking about a low and an expense and expected low. Mmm, where do we start he can give me a hit list. No, I think for me last summer was a really big low spot for myself at the baby girls had just been born my daughter's they Born full-term. They're healthy. They are thriving it was great. I'm a big believer in like getting back to life with with your babies once they're born and not you know hiding away I have and so we would go out and go to the park. We'd you know carry on with life. My other three kids were, you know still or my older two were still in school. So we were doing school functions, whatever it was and one night one of my baby girls came down with a really high fever and we ended up taking her into the hospital because I just wasn't sure what was going on. It was just a fever there were no other symptoms, but I was really concerned and everything was fine. Everything ended up being fine. But we were in a two day Hospital stay where they have to do all the tests just as a precautionary measure and I was at a you know you a rock bottom low to see your baby like that first of all, but then I shared just that we had been at the hospital for a couple of days online and that things are looking good, but that that's what had happened and I just got flooded with these comments about How is a bad mom and how if I was the one that did this to her because I taken her out into the City and if it weren't for the my mothering, I don't know. I mean it just you know, hey it just the amount and I wasn't in a good place to read any of that and I just remember I crumpled up on the hallway floor like 2 a.m. I just it was just I couldn't deal I could not do it. I felt it. I felt like I really am a bad mother, you know, it's like it's one thing to To I mean when you hear that in your in a good States different, but when you you know, you already feel like your mom because your daughter wasn't feeling great that was really hard for me. And I kind of wanted to shut everything down. I was like, I don't think I'm strong enough to move forward because this really rocked me and it was kind of the first first time I feel like in years that I really let the negativity of the online World get to me and it took me several months to pull myself out of that spot where I didn't really feel right, you know where I could Feel once again that I am capable that I am deserving of my children that I love my children that they are a gift and that I really am. I'm a good mom, right but it took me a minute and how did you get through that? How did was it just you know, I think it's just sometimes when you're in a really vulnerable place. There's not much you can do besides like I really shed a lot of layers. I feel like I kind of had a some walls up that I let down because I felt like there wasn't really anything else that they could attack me from if that makes Sense, so it was kind of like well, this is me. And yeah, I'm not a perfect mother I make mistakes daily. But I love my children. I'm trying my best just as I hope every woman out there that has little ones is his doing so and I think the idea of a perfect mother like what is that even I mean, I don't know definition is so different for it's hard for every woman. We all have like what our own version of that is and so for me, I always just try to say like I want to be the most That mother Tony and I get that that can be tricky in this day and age with our phones and whatever else but like even if you only have 20 minutes with your little ones like you've got to make them count, you know, it's like getting on the floor. It's playing it's being affectionate. It's loving them. It's letting them know how much they mean to you and it's not just after you know, they do something really sweet or they scored a goal on the field, but it's in all of those in-between moments where you're just together that you want them to to feel. That and know that and I think for me just really diving into just being with my family and sometimes even setting the phone down or the camera whatever it is and just really being present gives me that totally yeah. I feel like I need to buy a camera for that reason because if I feel like if I document with a camera versus my phone my presence will be there more than interesting than like my kids see the phone and they equate it with work. Yeah on Instagram or whatever, but I feel like if I had a camera and I was actually tricky when there's so much of what we do. Will with work is revolved around the phone. I feel like it's always been really I'm like Oh, my kids play think I'm just playing like a game on an app or something because that would be known as right. So it's like I'm trying to make sure I'm talking through if I'm if I'm doing something that's work-related or I don't know, you know, but yeah putting it down more. I think the camera does help. It's heavy its bulky. It's a mess to take out but I swear whenever I do I come home and I'm just so glad I did totally those photos just being able to capture a memory and such a beautiful waist nice, but actually A I take that back a little bit because I do feel and I always tell us to everybody when it comes to documenting that whatever camera you have is the perfect camera like if the phone is all you have. Yes. The phone is great. Totally. Yeah. So two questions, I'd like to ask all my guests. What would we be surprised to know about you? You might have answered that with the Ping in the oh sure. Yeah, and I did is there anything else and I anything else? I'm still wearing a nursing bra right now, even though it was my girly girly but you're still nursing. I leaned them last month. And I've just not pulled myself together to go to brush. I need to get bra fit again because everything has changed and shifted and kind of disappeared almost so I'm trying to work up the courage to go in for a bra fitting. So I've I've got a old very faded bra. That's a nursing bra. I know I hear you because I bought a nursing bra for the first time since my son so I have seven and I was Like it's okay to buy a new bra like what is wrong with you? Just invest its $40 by 3. I know I'm rotate three of these things now that I had now that I've invested a hundred and twenty dollars and three bras. I refuse to just not where it finally are making great ones. I feel like it's going to that point where there's you no good options totally and my other question, I like to ask all my guess is What is a piece of advice you'd like to leave our listeners with it could be along the lines of anything motherhood breastfeeding not business. Whatever. That's a really good one too. I mean, maybe I kind of said this but I feel like it's just so important at the end of the day, especially when it comes to being a woman and being a mom to just know that there's no one way to do it and that obviously when you've I mean you obviously can't just be like Oh, I'm going to do a however, like whatever feels good you obviously need to research all the options or I mean even consult a doctor if it's something that's more. Or medical but whatever it is. Like I really just trusting your gut and doing what you feel is best for you and for your little ones like at the end of the day, that's all that matters. It doesn't matter what your mom or your mother-in-law or your best friend or your husband. Whoever is says do it this way like you have an inner voice that's for you and for your babies and trust it love that. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. That was a me Davis. You can follow her at Tazza ta zai or heading to her blog love Taza.com. Today's review is from RL M TX Game Changer. This podcast is saved. My commute inspires me on the way to work and lets me reflect on the way home. Rebecca truly is something special here with this podcast and I always look forward to listening for insight and wisdom from the other women. Thank you. You are so welcome.
This episode is sponsored by Capital One Spark Business. Being a mom is hard. There’s no other way around it. It’s beautiful and amazing too, but it comes with challenges. Everyone has an opinion on the right way to parent, and sometimes that advice comes uninvited. It takes a special person to share their family life with the world, knowing they’ll receive positive feedback as well as criticism. Naomi Davis has created an artform by way of documenting her family life. What started as a way to share wedding photos with family morphed into a blog that first illustrated life as a young couple in New York, and then grew as her family did. Now, 12 years and five children later, Love Taza covers family life, recipes, and kid-friendly travel guides to NYC. Naomi mixes entertainment with practical advice, and best of all injects her personal experience into the lesser-discussed aspects of parenting that all moms could probably use more support in. Thanks for listening! We love our listeners! Follow Superwomen on Instagram. Big Ideas   The challenges that come with documenting your own life on a public platform, and the necessity of remaining neutral to both overly negative and overly positive reactions from the public. [07:39]  Becoming comfortable with negotiating and valuing your time and worth. [10:01]   ---   Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/superwomen/support 