Canadian Ad Insider

Harriet - I tend to thrive in the chaos if I have my ‘creature of habit’ pieces in my week fulfilled. If I’m able to get my workout in, know what I’m eating for lunch (I hate buying my lunch – too much choice pains me), watch some basketball and/or Bravo and go to bed early, I’m pretty much down to tackle anything. Sometimes I feel like the more I have on my plate the easier it is for me to manage but I do need those moments alone to recharge – an extroverted introvert, I guess. I say this as I’m 30 weeks pregnant with a two-year-old and a fur baby – it’s my body more than anything now that’s making me slow down and focus on making sure I keep my little routines.

Can you share an accomplishment from your career that you're proud of and how motherhood has influenced your work approach?

Harriet - I’m proud of being a big part of creating Canadian Tire’s Christmas Trail. We were in the first year of the pandemic and aiming to solve how Canadians would be able to celebrate with their families or simply take a photo with Santa. The 1.5km drive thru filled with oversized gingerbread houses, nutcrackers, hundreds of thousands of lights, elves and Santa brought joy to over 20,000 guests a year and was my first project designed for customers rather than just influencers and media. It was one of the hardest projects physically and mentally since we worked 90 consecutive nights in the colder months of the year and aimed to one- up our own programming for three years straight. In our last year of producing the Trail, 2022, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter. Though I was still doing morning broadcast shows at 5:30AM outside in November, it was the first time in my career I started to actively pull back from certain aspects of a project where I would otherwise be so hands on. I started to be more open and honest with myself and my team about what I could and couldn’t do – becoming a mom has helped me keep that honesty alive, I strive to set a realistic example for my team about boundaries and self care.

What is one key takeaway or skill you've gained from being a mother that you find invaluable in your professional life?

Harriet - That not everything is SO urgent. Coming from an agency background and working on a team in corporate that very much operates like an agency, we always feel that tasks need to be completed now. Since becoming a mom, I’m forced to prioritize what requires mine or my team’s immediate attention and what can wait. We operate on all cylinders when it matters most but have also adopted the attitude that something can be a “tomorrow problem” when it makes sense. Whether team members have kids or not, everyone’s time is equally valuable, and I feel we’ve become really good at prioritizing our tasks since I’ve come back from mat leave.

How do you prioritize your life?

Harriet - I really manage my relationship with my phone(s). This means all my group chats are muted and I have a separate work phone and personal phone. When I’m with my daughter I barely have either phone on me (which drives my husband crazy). She’s so little and I just want to soak up all her attention. At work, I love working from my laptop – I’ve never been a good at emailing from my phone. If I’m in a meeting, I don’t take notes EVER. I love being so present and taking in the information in real time. I have a lot of trust that if someone needs me urgently, a good old phone call will do the trick.

What does a typical (or perhaps not-so-typical!) day look like for you?

Harriet - My favourite part of the day is breakfast with my family – it starts the day so happy. My husband and I drink our coffee at the table while our daughter eats breakfast likely singing baby shark/happy birthday and our dog is jumping for scraps. We then do daycare drop off together if I’m in the office or when I’m working from home, I take my dog for a long walk as soon as everyone else is out the door. Mondays and Tuesdays are in-office days full of in person meetings where Wednesdays and Thursdays are work-heavy days doing a ton of computer tasks if we’re not activating on site. Lunch workouts are my favourite to break up the day and reset for the afternoon. Fridays both my husband and I work from home, so we usually walk and grab lunch together (the one day I’m happy to not make something myself). 5PM-7:30PM are all hands-on deck for our toddler and then most days I check in on emails/answer anything urgent around 8:30PM. Bed lately has been early 9-9:30PM if I haven’t fallen asleep on the couch - the third trimester fatigue is slowly setting in.

Who has been a significant source of support or inspiration for you?

Harriet - My former VP has always been a source of inspiration for me. We’ve worked together for the past seven years, and she has two daughters. We think very similarly and work so well together. I always remember seeing in her calendar “girls’ swimming” or “skating/soccer” and she’s always been upfront about how important school pickup is for her. Her example of boundary setting has given me the courage to not feel guilty one way or another about the desire to be passionate about work and have a family.

Any advice for other women?

Harriet - Mat leave is really a blip on the radar in terms of your workplace/career but so pivotal in changing you for the better as you become a mom. I had all the fears of leaving for a year and the feeling of “falling behind” but once you’re back in the workplace it’s like you never left (and not much changes in a year). I found that the challenges of becoming a new mom actually helped me to be even better at my job and a better leader for my team. As I’m about to embark on mat leave again and turn our entire homelife upside down, I’m much more ready than the first time because I now know I’ll be able to bring even more new skills and different perspectives/energy once I return to my career.