Raising Daughters & Raising Capital: The Chaos and Clarity of CEO Life

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to The Balancing Act. I’m your host, Sarah Sheridan, Director of executive recruiting and sales, and mom to three little ones. Super excited to welcome today’s guest, Kate Dohaney. Kate is a global CEO, and mom to two little ones. Kate, welcome. Thank you. It’s so great to be here. Thanks for having me today.

[00:00:22] Yeah, thanks for your time. Well, let’s just dive right in here. So, Kate, I know you started off in the music industry and now you’re the CEO of a company called Edisen (*Orb Group). Yep. How did that happen? Kind of walk us through how your career evolved from music to leading a global company. Yeah, it’s kind of an interesting story.

[00:00:44] I moved to New York City, you know, when I was like 20 years old as a traveling musician. My heart and soul was in the creative world of writing, music, recording, and performing. And I thought, you know, I’m coming to New York City and it’s going to be big dreams. Well, turns out I wasn’t good enough, so [00:01:00] I didn’t make the cut, which was all good. But I got obsessed with the production of music during that time, and I started my career

[00:01:10] pretty much interning at any studio that would take me. And I was doing all the things, serving coffee, you know, getting there at 7:00 AM getting the bagels, working with the leadership team, and just doing anything and everything they asked me to do. So I quite literally started from the bottom. So it was kind of a wild time, but I was so hungry, which I think so many young people are, to grow my career, figure out my path and move it

[00:01:35] forward, if you will. So through that experience, I ended up getting a job as a kind of junior producer with a music company. And that really opened my eyes, not just in the side of like live entertainment, but also to advertising. And so that was kind of my first step into the advertising world where for a 60 or 30 second piece of music you can make

[00:01:56] a lot more than performing at a nightclub in New York City. And I was [00:02:00] like, oh, you know, all of a sudden I got the itch. I was like, this is a business and an interesting business that I want to work in. So I moved up the ladder fairly quickly in my career as a young kid. Business, thankfully came naturally to me.

[00:02:16] I wasn’t necessarily trained in business coming out of school as a young person. I really thought I was a creative person, but all of a sudden, these chops started to show up and when I lecture, you know, at universities or give talks, I talk a lot about being open to the process and let your skills develop and follow that thread

[00:02:35] because you never know where you’re going to go. And that’s what it’s has occurred in my career. So, you know, I was in post-production in music and audio in advertising, mainly. From there, I moved into a WPP ideation called the Box that was with an agency called the AM Partnership and Hogarth. It was a joint venture where this group would go into big brands,

[00:02:58] they would assess [00:03:00] essentially the creative workflow, the team, the tools they’re using, the briefs from kind of ideation to completion to make it more efficient and more profitable for brands. And in 2013, 2014, that was a really interesting space. It just kind of grew my thirst for knowledge of content and creative efficiency and how you kind of join up

[00:03:23] the business and creativity. Mm-hmm. To work not just for the creatives, but also for the business because I think historically, brands have lacked a little bit of control in that dialogue where they’re like spending big dollars with traditional agencies and they’re not really sure how that spend is optimizing and market and they’re taking, you know, that was kind of the beginning of taking that power back and really understanding their ROI, which has really transformed our industry and continues to do so even today.

[00:03:52] And as you think about AI and new technology coming into the mix, it’s transforming even more, which is super exciting and a massive opportunity [00:04:00] from my point of view to win share, right. So from there, one of the boxes I was running was called The Wall Street Journal. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.

[00:04:09] No, never heard of it. Share. But I was so lucky. I was partnered up with some really great executives at The Wall Street Journal, who really saw my skillset, helped me develop my skillset, and also opened up a path for me to move into The Wall Street Journal as an executive. Mm-hmm. Overseeing kind of strategy and operations.

[00:04:32] And that’s the biggest thing, like surround yourself with people you want to grow into or be like, or get better, you know, with. So I moved into the Wall Street Journal proper. I was there for about eight to seven, eight years, and it was amazing. I mean, it was such an amazing ride. The cool thing about a big company like The Wall Street Journal, it was still very entrepreneurial.

[00:04:51] You know, you still, I used to joke all the time that you have to be ready to get the coffee and talk to the CEO at The Wall Street Journal. Like the [00:05:00] world of being precious kind of didn’t exist there. And I loved seeing that in a big organization because typically that’s what happens at The Wall Street Journal.

[00:05:07] It was still very hands-on. The executive team was fantastic and I touched a lot of different pieces of the business. At the end of that journey, I was running a project called The Future of Work, as COVID kind of came in, right. And we were thinking about the incoming workforce, we were thinking about how to create an environment within the office that felt dynamic and not just a queue of chairs and desks and things of that nature, and how to create collaboration spaces, how to think about at home working as well in the world of like remote and hybrid

[00:05:40] that we’re going see more and more of whether we like it or not in the future. And that was really interesting. At that same time, I had made the decision to go back to school with the blessing of The Wall Street Journal to get my MBA at Stern, which was equally amazing. And working with professors and thinking about the academics of the statistics and the [00:06:00] economics of business opening and all those tools that they kind of helped me put in my toolkit as I continued on my career, was super valuable for me.

[00:06:09] And then from there, I ended up moving into News Corp and running the Future of Work as well for all of our organizations. So News Corp owns several organizations globally, realtor.com, you know, Harper Collins, The Wall Street Journal, obviously, Dow Jones, Barron’s, The London Times, et cetera. And so I was working with different executives across those different organizations on how we were thinking about, you know, the in-office experience, the statistics around behavior and benefits, and how we thought about the future of the workforce just overall, which was really interesting at a big company like News Corp, to kind of have that dialogue internally. And that was also great, a great experience, but I knew I was kind of like itching for something a bit more entrepreneurial at that point. Mm-hmm. And. You know, luck would have it that I got a [00:07:00] call from an old colleague of mine from way early in my career and they said, “Hey, you know, I’m at this company Edisen (*Orb Group), they need some muscle.

[00:07:08] Would you take a lunch?”. And I said, sure. So I always take a meeting. That’s my role and my recommendation for everyone. Like always take a meeting. You never know when that’s going to come back into play for you later on in life. And you never know where that meeting could lead in the future too, you know, or in the present.

[00:07:25] So I took a meeting, understood a bit more about the technology and the creative that was going on at Edisen (*Orb Group). Got a background of the company itself, which was two separate companies. One heavy tech, one heavy creative post-production, award-winning, you know, beautiful work and this, the heavy tech side is like a massive, you know, content distribution company.

[00:07:48] And they were trying to find the collaboration between the two when you think about creative platforms and adaptations and creative, you know, AI support overall. And they were struggling a little bit on [00:08:00] finding those touch points and how they could really work within the market that was transforming in real time and still is today.

[00:08:06] And I thought, okay, that’s an interesting problem to solve and I like solving problems and optimizing. So I made the move over to Edisen (*Orb Group) about a year and a half ago, almost two years now. Mm-hmm. This summer. And I started out as the Chief Client Officer. And when I got into the business, I identified very quickly that there was, there was room

[00:08:32] to grow, if you will. And you could tell operationally they had a lot of great thinkers, a lot of great creatives, a lot of great visionaries, but maybe lacked in the operational sector a little bit on like, okay, how do you take that great idea and build something that there’s going to be a buyer or a market for?

[00:08:53] Right? And so I thought, okay, that’s an interesting thing that I could help with is come in and partner with these great [00:09:00] thinkers and makers on how we’re creating products that can actually move the market in a way that create a lot more value for our stakeholders and our shareholders and our board.

[00:09:08] And so I quickly kind of identified a lot of areas for growth for us as a business. And through that work early on at my time in Edisen (*Orb Group) our investors and our, you know, our board kind of approached me and said, “Hey, would you be open to taking the CEO role?”, which I eventually took. So I’ve been doing that role for about a year now, and it has been a total roller coaster, learning busy.

[00:09:32] Mm-hmm. But we’ve transformed, we took 2024 and really transformed this business into an EBITDA positive business within 10 months. We’ve, you know, built and grew existing relationships, built some new relationships with new clients. We’ve reallocated kind of our go to market communications and how we’re representing ourselves in market, and we really identified, you know, on what we do really great and what we can solve and market and how we’re [00:10:00] connecting those dots in a real way.

[00:10:02] It has not been easy. It has been very busy, but it’s been super fun and exciting. I just may have a few more gray hairs, you know, and that’s all good. Love it. Love it. Well, no, that’s awesome. I mean, thank you. It’s never easy to summarize your journey into like five minutes, but always love hearing each person’s unique path.

[00:10:23] Now, let’s pivot a little bit. Would love to, you know, obviously working mom. Mm-hmm. Tell us more about, you’ve got two younger daughters. Mm-hmm. Would love to hear more about them and kind of just what your family dynamic looks like. Yeah. The best, I guess. It’s the perfect family. We joke all the time, like I’m not a wine mom and that gets me some

[00:10:46] flack sometimes I think where I don’t sit around and like complain or feel a certain way that I have to do things for my kids. And it is probably because I work so much and I have that balance of being a mom and [00:11:00] working. Mm-hmm. But you know, it’s the air I breathe. I mean, that’s all I can say. Like becoming a mother,

[00:11:09] it’s interesting because I didn’t think I wanted kids. Initially. Oh, okay. I was like, I am a worker. Career, career, career. That’s going to be my baby. And I ended up having my first daughter and it changed everything inside of my body. Like I was just like, I was born to be a mother. Nevermind. Yeah. And

[00:11:33] finding my balance of being a career oriented, ambitious woman and a mom is a daily battle. You know, because some days you’re killing it over here, you’re killing it less over here, or vice versa. And I have to again, make peace with that and you know take it easy on myself sometimes and ask for help where and when I need help.

[00:11:58] But my kids, I have two daughters, [00:12:00] Parker and Tate, and they’re five and nine and they’re literally the lights of my life, like in every capacity. You know, watching them figure out life and think about their communities and watch me in my career to understand like anything’s possible. Like that’s really important to me, to showcase to them as young women today, in this country that you can do anything, you know?

[00:12:25] Yeah. And it’s, they make me so much better at my job in every capacity. I’m more patient, I’m more thoughtful, I’m more productive in the time that I’m working. There’s such a drive and purpose inside of me because of them. That I just don’t think I would have otherwise, and I don’t want to alienate anyone or make anyone feel bad about their life choices, because whatever your life choice is, rock on.

[00:12:46] Like, that’s you. Mm-hmm. But for me, it’s a gift, you know? And I’m so thankful and blessed every day to be their mom, you know? I love that. And one of the motivators of launching this podcast is I [00:13:00] think sometimes there’s kind of like a stigma or employers get nervous. Like, okay, once our top producers start having kids, like their performance is going to dip.

[00:13:09] Yeah. And I think like just what you said it’s, you get better with time management. You prioritize what needs to get done. You learn how to say no. It’s just kind of like exactly what you just demonstrated. It almost makes you more productive, even though you wouldn’t necessarily think that.

[00:13:25] Yeah, I mean I have a group of women that are executives that we’re friendly and we’re on like a group chat and we share stories and it’s so funny, we call it dead woman walking when you’re pregnant, which is like the worst thing, but like, not fun. It’s true. You know, like you have these experiences in these big organizations or small organizations that it’s like, you know, everyone’s like, oh, you’re pregnant.

[00:13:49] You know, and you see the light dimming on behind their eyes. Yeah. And that’s a real experience that a lot of women sadly go through. But I totally agree. [00:14:00] I mean, there’s data behind this. Like how much more efficient your human capital becomes as a working parent, you know, and how much more driven and efficient they are with their time management.

[00:14:10] But it’s not an easy path and I know that, you know. I’ve experienced it myself and it’s like the dialogue around that experience needs to change. Like there’s so many things I think about the even onboarding back into work, you know, that experience needs to change and be more thoughtful.

[00:14:30] Mm-hmm. But again, like every individual is different. Everyone’s needs are different. Not all organizations can service like individual needs in different capacities. So they do have to have policies that people follow and things like that. But it’s definitely an area that I think we, in the United States, can do a lot better.

[00:14:46] For sure. I’m just curious, one thing when we were chatting that really like I loved and stood out. You mentioned you feel like your daughters have kind of developed specific skill sets almost as a [00:15:00] response to your level of career and just your busy schedule. Can you kind of expand on that? For sure.

[00:15:06] I mean, like a lot of working parents or caregivers for that matter, if they have elderly parents and things like that, like you have to juggle, right? And so I’ll have a day where, you know, my calls start at four in the morning and you know, I have two smaller kids. So they get up earlier and they’re downstairs and they just have to figure it out.

[00:15:27] You know, like I’m like, could be walking around on my phone with my investors or whatever it is, and they have to find a book, you know, start painting, you know, help with breakfast and all those sorts of things. So as a result of my schedule, my kids are really self-sufficient, you know? Yeah. And they don’t need the helicopter parenting.

[00:15:48] Like they can sit down with a scrapbook or art and for two hours, like paint and figure it out. They’re not coming to me and being like, as I see a lot of my friends and my family’s [00:16:00] kids who are like, I’m bored. What can I do? Right. You know, my kids never do that. They’re just like, yeah, I’ll figure it out.

[00:16:06] You know? And that’s been like kind of a very positive output of our setup, you know? And I think there’s no such thing as a traditional dynamic to me in a home or a family. And it’s like everyone has the opportunity to set up whatever family dynamic works for them and for their children.

[00:16:25] And our dynamic is, you know, they know mom’s a busy CEO and I’m traveling and I’m on the road, and sometimes I bring them with me, you know? Mm-hmm. And we think about education differently and beyond just a book, but like understanding the world and cultures and how they can participate in their communities to make a better world around them in the future.

[00:16:48] Those are the elements I want to land with them because the world is not one-to-one. We are all in this together at the end of the day. Mm-hmm. I love that. It’s like they’ve become more adaptable just in response. Totally. [00:17:00] Totally. Love that. And then kind of touching on that, like clearly you’re a busy woman, you’ve got lots of balls to keep in the air, and you’d mentioned like you were getting your MBA, you were working a full-time job, raising two young kids.

[00:17:15] I mean, the first question is just how, but then more importantly, like how did you do that without facing burnout? Yeah. I mean, the truth is I do burnout from time to time. Yeah. But burnout for me, you know, I can only speak from my personal experience in life because I certainly don’t know it all.

[00:17:32] Right. But I have ways to manage that. So, you know, backing it up. I’m a busy person. I kind of thrive in that, just regardless as a human being. Not everyone does, but I do. I like intellectually stimulating experiences and so my MBA was just like phenomenal for that. Mm-hmm. It really itched that scratch, if you will. And

[00:17:53] for me, you know, I have a village of people that help me. I’m a single mom as we [00:18:00] discussed, which makes it a little bit more difficult at times. Yeah, yeah. But I have family that surrounds me. I have friends who help with my kids. You know, I have different nannies that I’ve had help throughout the years.

[00:18:11] I have like down to a dog walker or a cleaner. Like I’m fortunate enough to be in a position that I can lean on help in that capacity. So it’s a lot of planning, a lot of juggling. Mm-hmm. A lot of, you know, who’s got the kids Monday, Tuesday, because I have a list of different nannies I pull from, you know, and sitters.

[00:18:31] But my family is also nearby so they can help with certain things that I need support into. So I’m definitely not alone on the journey. Mm-hmm. I have help and I’ll continue to have help until my girls are much older, obviously, because that’s just the situation we’re in. But it is taxing because the mom typically is responsible for a lot of the things that are happening with kids, even if you’re in a relationship,

[00:18:57] right? Right, like the mental load. Yeah, [00:19:00] that’s right. The mental load of like the dance class, the this, the that, and so I have to like weekly, kind of Sunday morning, make my list of like, okay, I have to be in LA Tuesday. I have to be in New York Thursday, I’m in DC this day. Okay. I have to jump on a flight to London.

[00:19:17] And so, because my schedule is changing so much, I have to like, I have groups of people that are helping me with the dynamics of that. Yeah. And making sure my girls get to their tutor or you know, they get to their dance class. And it’s not easy. It’s a juggle and it’s a lot of organization and keeping things straight and calendars and schedules.

[00:19:37] I love being home for those moments though. Like I love taking my kids to their dance class if I have that opportunity to do it. I may work while I’m there. But yeah, me physically being there, you know, these are gifts for me to be able to participate in those moments in their lives. And so I do try to show up and organize my schedule around special events for them to the [00:20:00] best of my ability.

[00:20:01] But again, like I not only have over a hundred employees that I serve as their CEO. I also have a board, a chairman. I have investors, and so there’s a lot of people demanding my attention, rightly so. Mm-hmm. In addition to my children and my family life. So it’s just like constantly ensuring I’m available when and where I need to be available.

[00:20:23] You know, I work seven days a week. Yeah. There’s never a day off. You know, when my chairman or my founders or my employees or our clients need something like I’m getting on the call. But that’s the trade off you take for the life I’ve chosen. I also don’t complain about it because just that. I’ve chosen this life.

[00:20:43] I love it. You know, I’m a capitalist. I like making money, I like transforming sectors and I want to continue to do this work because it’s super, it’s super exciting and especially as a woman in a leadership position, a woman in [00:21:00] technology, and a woman in a room raising capital. You know, I have been

[00:21:06] doing- I’m on my second round of raising capital since I started with Edisen (*Orb Group). I’ve had countless meetings with private equity firms, investors, you know, private funds. A hundred percent of the time it is all men in the room and me. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And that has really lit something within me that we need to have a seat at the table. And I need to start talking about this a lot more and start participating in different panels and talking to University classes and thinking through how can I be helpful on the journey of women to be inspired to be at the table.

[00:21:47] Right. I mean, it’s been mind blowing to me on this journey, and don’t get me wrong, like these men are lovely and amazing and smart, but just that, you know, diversity and dynamic has been [00:22:00] mind blowing. And so it’s definitely something I’m really passionate about and thinking about the future of my own career to help change those odds.

[00:22:08] For sure. And that’s kind of why I was so excited to bring you, like, as someone who’s kind of gotten to the top as a female, as a working mom. I’m sure there is like lists, but what are some key pieces of advice you would give to other working moms? Yeah. Aiming to be at the executive level and really just trying to like, make their mark when it comes to, you know, a boardroom or with senior leadership. What are like two pieces of advice you would say?

[00:22:37] Yeah. I mean, one is like understand who you are. I think number one is like everyone has a different threshold of like the mental load they can handle. Mm-hmm. Or the pressure they can handle. Because everyone has their own toolkit in life that they’ve, you know, been impressed upon within their life experiences.

[00:22:54] And so we deal with things differently. We unpack information differently. [00:23:00] We take communications differently. And so, I think rule number one, or like, you know, step one is really understanding what your capacity is as a person, not just as a woman. It could be man or woman, but like understand what your capacity is.

[00:23:16] I think two is if you’ve understood your capacity and you’re like, yes, I want to do this, it’s be bold. And I joke all the time when I give talks or guest speak, you know, it’s like this whole thing about be empathetic in the room and women often try to lean into that a little bit and like play the role.

[00:23:35] And I think that’s fine because sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get to the end result. But, you know, be bold. Mm-hmm. Be strategic. That’s been my go-to is like understanding, reading a room. Playing the role I have to play and being strategic. I wouldn’t say I’m like overly empathetic, but what I am good [00:24:00] at is reading the other person that I’m negotiating with.

[00:24:02] Mm-hmm. And saying, you know, it’s not about actually caring about what they care about to close the deal. It’s understanding what they need so you can get what you need to close the deal, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. And so like, and that kind of falls into don’t take it personally, you know what I mean?

[00:24:18] Mm-hmm. Like there’s so many, you know, boardrooms that I’ve been called a bitch in, or, you know, they said no, or they were just like, oh, this girl. And so I’ve learned a few steps in that space. And one is, I established dominance pretty quickly in a boardroom. And it’s not to be like I’m Alpha or anything, it’s just like teach people how to treat you.

[00:24:42] Yeah, that’s a really true saying. Like if you play the role of like, oh, hi, you know. That’s how people are going to treat you right away, you know? And so I come, I kind of come in guns blazing a little bit, like, “Hey, how’s it”, you know, like my personality is quite powerful and I kind of can fill up a room. And so I kill with that [00:25:00] immediately.

[00:25:01] And then I try to connect with people also, like on a personal level, because at the end of the day, you’re both just people, right? You pay your bills like everyone does. And I’ve, you know, as we’ve discussed, I’ve been in the room with a lot of very powerful people, and I always have to remember, you know, they’re just people, you know. They

[00:25:17] cried in the shower at one point in their life. It’s okay. You know? Yeah. And like really humanizing the person that you’re in the room with. So I think like, you know, take the fear out of it. Be bold. Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion. And yeah, you’re going to be called a bitch. You’re going to gain people that don’t like you.

[00:25:35] You don’t get to the top by being liked by everyone. Period. Yeah. It’s almost like respected, not liked sometimes. Just like men are, you know. I mean, you read this all the time in these like, you know, women books and things like that. It’s like a woman’s a bitch or a man’s respected if they’re tough or whatever, you know?

[00:25:50] But you have to let that stuff roll off your back and just keep moving and keep your eye on the prize. That’s the thing, like don’t get held down in the details of being [00:26:00] liked or like people understanding you. Like just focus on the solution and the output and get there, you know? Yeah, yeah. Is kind of how I, how I operate within that.

[00:26:11] I also think like surrounding yourself with a group of good people and making sure you have, you know, cheerleaders in your court, whether that be, you know, in your personal life or in your business life. Both are important for people, especially when you have to push yourself in your personal time, if you will.

[00:26:27] And then, you know, just curious because I feel like after interviewing all these female executives, there’s obviously like mentors that influence their success, and then sometimes they’re just born with like a natural grit, a natural ability to be bold. Thinking back in your journey, like what are the major factors that have led to your success?

[00:26:48] Whether again, it was an opportunity, mentor, just like your natural boldness. Yeah. I mean, I’ve had so many great bosses in my career. Yeah. Or just people in leadership [00:27:00] positions who I’ve connected with, who I seek advice from. I even do now. I mean, my chairman now at my own company, I mean, he’s Brill and I like use him like a tool.

[00:27:10] Like I think, you know, I think it’s having the emotional intelligence to really realize you don’t know it all and you need to surround yourself with people who have good intel, who can help you make decisions and help you, you know, catch your blind spots. Mm-hmm. Both with your employees and your network and your mentors.

[00:27:26] And so of course I’ve had amazing, you know, people throughout different times of my career who have opened up different opportunities for me. But that’s based on the work that I’ve done, you know? Mm-hmm. And that’s based on the blood, sweat, and tears and working my ass off to get to where you need to go.

[00:27:42] But I think what’s been equally as important in my career are bad bosses, you know? Yeah. I’ve had some terrible bosses throughout my career where I’ve learned equally as much from in the sense of like, here’s what I wouldn’t do or [00:28:00] here’s how I would deal with these situations differently.

[00:28:03] And who I want to be as a leader and a mentor to those that I might mentor in my career now or later in life. And also more importantly, like what kind of CEO do I want to be? I’ve learned a lot on both sides of the fences from great, you know, leaders that I’ve had the opportunity to work with and poor leaders- is

[00:28:22] you know, I often say the difference between a contributor and a boss is like a contributor thinks like I won, I win. A good leader thinks we won, you know? Mm-hmm. And so, that’s the difference. And so I always wanted to be on the ‘we won’ side of things. When I talk about my company now, you know,

[00:28:43] it’s very flat. I did that with purpose because I want everyone to really believe in what we do and drink the Kool-Aid and feel a part of something bigger than themselves because we are building something really cool. You know, we’re taking a very traditional and saturated area [00:29:00] of the business, which is creative technology and post-production, and we’re putting a spin on that.

[00:29:04] Which is kind of ballsy. The other thing that’s ballsy that we’re doing is saying, you know, a lot of our competitors are like, we own a brand’s pixels. You know, and that’s how we make that relationship muddy. Which I’m saying, actually no, the brand owns our pixels as they should because they paid for it.

[00:29:21] We’re just here to help you engine that. And that’s the difference of how we’re looking at how we service our clients and how we support them on their journey. That’s our job. We’re their chief of staff and that’s again, a pretty provocative POV in our sector. But that’s what’s going to move markets for us and that’s what’s going to change the game in what we’re doing.

[00:29:42] And that’s what excites our people, like our whole team. They’re rallying around this. And these are traditional tech engineers and creatives. Yeah. Who didn’t necessarily want to move with the changing path of the economy around us and the market changing around us, but we’re all kind of singing the same song.

[00:29:59] [00:30:00] And that takes a really strong leader to bring those travelers on the journey. And I really doubled down and focused and like found my social influencers across the business to help sing that song and get us over the line. And in the last year, I am pleased to say like, we’re there. We believe in our go to market.

[00:30:16] We believe in what we’re solving for. We believe in the talent of our team and what we’re able to change to make our clients more efficient across creative technology and post-production, which is cool. It’s been awesome. Mm-hmm. Lastly, I know we’re kind of wrapping up here, but I found you because you were featured in

[00:30:36] honestly one of my favorite articles now. It’s the chaos and reality of being a global CEO and a mom. And anyone listening should read it. But you know, one of the many takeaways was you kind of just said like, balance doesn’t exist. It’s just life in almost like a series of events and moments. But you also

[00:30:57] captured a way to like capture the precious [00:31:00] moments. Can you kind of, I’m sure I butchered something there. Dive deeper into that for us because I thought that was such a cool point. Yeah. I, and that kind of, that springs from like different panels that I’ve done. And again, it’s kind of like the low hanging fruit of like Q&A’s, you’re asked on these panels, is like how do you balance life?

[00:31:20] Yeah. And my response is always, there is none. You know, like it is life as you know it, and you choose that life too in your position and whatever you’re passionate about. So like for me, it’s looking at my calendar, organizing it accordingly for, you know what, I need to show up for my kids today.

[00:31:42] Because I can tell I need to show up for my kids today and I have to make space for that because that’s important. And luckily I have a board who’s supportive of that and understands that like, I’m going to be offline for two hours because I’m taking my kid to dance and we need some connectivity time.

[00:31:58] So it like really for [00:32:00] me it’s balancing and soaking up the moments I can in different areas and just like planning my day, you know. Like even now I’m like, okay, you know, when I got on this, I was on the phone with my CTO, like solving something, getting off the phone onto this. You know, I have two other meetings. Then I’m going to pick up my daughter to go pick up

[00:32:20] her birthday, you know, celebratory decorations. Because we’re having her party Friday night. I still haven’t emailed the parents for the party, but I’m fairly certain they’ll show up. But that’s like- they’ll be happy they have an activity. Yes. Like I just, you know, I am totally okay with not being great at it all, you know?

[00:32:42] Yeah. When I am in the moment and executing, I am the best I can be, you know, in that moment. And I have to show up for my children emotionally and physically and not just be like around them on my phone or whatever. Like I need to engage because that’s what children require of [00:33:00] you. And I want to.

[00:33:02] I don’t know. I’m so lucky to have had the kids I was lucky enough to have. Like, they’re both very mature and understanding and proud of me, you know, all the time. And their emotional intelligence is like through the roof. But I think that’s because of our family dynamic and the situation we’re in, and they’ve really risen to the occasion.

[00:33:21] So if it was different, it might be different, but I’ve lucked out with these two. So I just think it’s like, appreciate the moment, you know? Yeah. I’m not perfect. Every day isn’t a walk in the park and I certainly have blind spots, but that’s why, you know, as an executive I hire really great C-Suite to support me in my vision and the strategy that we’ve allocated for the business and I lean on them to do so. And they’re way better than me in their area of

[00:33:49] focus, you know. So like hire people better than you, number one. Yeah. And then number two, it’s like, you know, you have to show up for your children and you have to be able to quiet the noise and be [00:34:00] present. And that can take work when you’re really stressful and you’ve had the market crash or whatever it is, and you have your investors calling you asking what’s happening.

[00:34:08] You know, you have to be able to compartmentalize. And I think that’s a really important skill for working moms is the emotional intelligence to say, okay, I’m going to plant this here in my brain. I’m going to deal with this at eight o’clock after bedtime. You know? Yeah. And that’s just what I’ve gotten really good at and I would recommend to the next generation of female leaders to think through.

[00:34:28] I love that. I think that’s great advice. And then last thing, and then we’ll let you go. One thing after we started chatting, like very quickly I picked up on, you know, just your emotional intelligence, personable, but more so just being funny. Yes. And I feel like you, like even made a point of that.

[00:34:46] You’re like, yeah, like my company like knows I’m funny. Yeah. When you’re under immense amounts of stress, how do you maintain like a sense of humor? Does it just come naturally or have you like more so intentionally [00:35:00] developed strategies to like bring in some humor? Yeah. I think my team will die laughing when they hear you say that.

[00:35:07] They’ll like, eyeroll. You’re really funny. It’s like complimenting a mom. They’ll be like, they’ll be like, “she wishes”. She’s a cool mom. But that aside, you know, again, I’ve had the experience of working in high pressured positions for a long time. So you find a way to alleviate the high pressure through humor.

[00:35:29] You know, even in my media days. I mean, it was just like getting news to market and supporting the, you know, marketing and events team. It’s just like, go, go, go. And so you have to, you have to find your flow with that and make sure there’s some levity in those experiences. Otherwise, it can be all consuming.

[00:35:45] And so that’s definitely something, I mean, I’m funny by birth, I would say. But I’ve really implemented it into our organization as well. I think Edisen (*Orb Group), when I came on the scene, there [00:36:00] was a lot of stress in the organization because of, there was leadership changes, you know, rightly so. So the employees like, felt nervous and like, okay, what’s, you know, this is a new CEO, what’s going to happen?

[00:36:11] And so my goal was to implement a culture of humanity, you know, and transparency and humor. And remember why we’re here and what we’re doing. And especially thinking about one’s mental health and their own, you know, requirements in life to like go for a run or whatever. And for me, you know, maybe I’m missing a gene, I’m not sure, but like, the higher the pressure, the better I operate.

[00:36:40] So for me, I have really developed a skill to be able to, you know, be like, wow, okay. Because I’ve been hit with some shots over the years. And you know, even as a CEO, you’re hit with unexpected things and you have to deal with them and they’re hard, it’s tough, and they’re heavy. You know, you gotta make heavy decisions.

[00:36:59] [00:37:00] And so you have to emotionally compartmentalize that and find humor to alleviate the moment, and then you gotta get to work because I would lose so much sleep if I allowed those things to eat at me all the time. And it’s not lost on me that I have, you know, over a hundred employees around the globe who have families, who have children, who have housing, who have bills to pay, and it can get it, it can eat at you.

[00:37:31] You know, you can think through that because you have to make hard decisions at times. And so, although I take that extremely serious. And I want to ensure that I’m being the best CEO to all those people. I also have to do what’s best for the business. And so it’s a balance that I walk, I don’t take lightly. But humor can help alleviate those moments for sure.

[00:37:55] Yeah. Yeah. Always. Kate, thank you so much. [00:38:00] We appreciate you. We learned a lot, and thank you guys for listening. Tune in next time for more insights on how to balance work and family. Thanks for having me. It’s been fun.