Excerpt from “A Woman’s Work” Upscale Magazine, May 2009
The Planner
Andrea Arena, 41
President and CEO, 2 Places At 1 Time, Inc., (corporate concierge service)
Daughter, 7 months
Significant other lives out of town
4:20 A.M. I am awakened by Charlie Maria crying. I haven’t had eight straight hours of sleep in over five months.
9:30 A.M. Nanny is 15 minutes late and I have a 10 a.m. sales call. I know the pre-mommy me would not accept that as a viable reason for tardiness.
After getting ready for the day, packing a breast pump. lunch and a gym bag, Arena plays with her baby until the nanny comes. She uses drive time to transistion to CEO mode, where she manages 250 employees, oversees sales, meets with clients and often travels.
9:55 A.M. I arrive at the client meeting and walk confidently into the meeting, forgetting that spit-up may have fallen on my Chanel pumps.
12:50 A.M I have time for one quick story from the nanny about something cute the baby has done since I left this morning. I miss her.
3:00 P.M. I pump while sending documents to the printer for tomorrow’s lunch meeting.
“I use the drive home to decompress and make the transition. Then, I change clothes as soon as I get home,” says Arena. “It sounds like a simple things, but it is a way to mentally make that transition.”
7:00 P.M. I’m home hearing about the baby’s day and holding my little girl. When I come home, the nanny and I try to have a 30-minute overlap.
“I may be the final decision maker in my company, but I will seek guidance from the nanny about many aspects of the baby’s schedule,” says Arena, who also reads the journal her nanny keeps about her baby’s daily activities.
7:30 P.M. I realize that I accidentally left the milk that I pumped that day in the refrigerator at work – 10 ounces. That’s a lot of work. I can’t let that go to waste. So, the baby and I pack up and drive to the office.
In the evening Arena and her baby usually ready books, sing songs and play, talking and laughing. After the baby falls asleep, she gets in a few hours of laptop time until the baby’s up for her 11:00 p.m. nursing.
-Words by Joyce E. Davis