Want your daughters to be successful? Be a working Mum

There might not be a single policy that can eliminate gender equality, but a new Harvard Business School study shows that being raised by a working mum comes close

My journey as a mother and business owner has been trial and error battle for that work / life balance. Starting of my ventures in the world of business as a fashion designer, I felt a profound passion for my work. But when I had my two girls, I became torn between independent financial success and fulfilment and being a stay-at-home mum.

It was truly incredible timing when I discovered Arbonne six years ago, I learned so many new skills which I have subsequently been able to apply to my other (successful!) businesses. As an Arbonne consultant, I can not only help my own family use the purest and healthiest products, but I am bringing two extra incomes into the home, (that’s one per daughter!)

Join my ever-growing global business and you too could help change Health, Wealth and Wellbeing of families around the world -as well as inspire your own children to do the same. After reading this Guardian article, I can cast aside any guilt society may have lead me to feel and relish in my pride of being a great role-model. Together we can challenge ourselves to grow, and to grow our businesses around our family. This, in turn, will inspire our children, boys or girls, to aim higher in life.

“Concerning and troubling”, “watching society dissolve around us”, “the disintegration of marriage”, “something going terribly wrong”, “hurting our children” and “tearing us apart”. These are just a handful of Fox News pundits’ responses to the revelation that 40% of American mothers have become their family’s sole or primary breadwinner.

These were not isolated opinions. In recent years, headlines across a number of publications have ranged from “Working mothers ‘damage their child’s health’”, to “Working mothers risk damaging their child’s prospects” to (at the more extreme end of the spectrum) “How feminism demeans women and destroys families.” And, according to a 2007 survey by the Pew Research Center, 41% of the US population agreed that the trend towards mothers working outside the home was a bad thing for society. Just 22% believed it to be a good thing.

But a new study from Harvard Business School’s recently launched Gender Initiative shows that working mothers are not the destroyers of marriage and society that some would have us believe. The as yet unpublished study of 50,000 adults in 25 developed countries found that women who grew up with working mothers not only earn more than their peers with stay-at-home mothers, but are also more likely to have supervising roles at work.

Kathleen McGinn, a professor at HBS and one of the authors of the study, sums up what the findings mean: “There is no single policy or practice that can eliminate gender gaps at work and at home. But being raised by a working mother appears to come very close.”

Contrary to widespread belief, the researchers also found little evidence to suggest that a mother’s choice to work or to stay at home has any major impact on their children’s happiness. “Controlling for education, employment, income and other demographic variables, children of working mums and children of stay-at-home mums report equal levels of happiness as adults – not happier, not less happy.”

The results suggest that instead of looking to demonise one set of mothers for getting it “wrong”, we can instead celebrate the fact that there are benefits to be reaped from a wide variety of women’s personal choices. “We hope these findings will challenge stereotypes about working mums ‘harming’ their children,” say the report’s authors, “and will help working mums feel confident that they are contributing to their sons’ and their daughters’ lives in lots of positive ways. We also hope the findings from our research will promote respect for the spectrum of choices women and men make at home and at work.”

So instead of criticising women’s choices for hurting their families, it is time to celebrate them for the varied and rich benefits they bring. And while we’re at it, we might also stop to wonder why fathers’ parenting decisions and career choices rarely appear in the debate at all.

Read the full article here

How to be Clean and Lean in 30days!

By the end of last year I was drinking alcohol everyday, addicted to the three monkeys (wine, coffee and sugar) and more stressed and overweight than I’d been in years. It’s the usual crutches many of us lean on when stressed, and boy was I stressed! As well as my usual workload and family life, my husband and I were building and launching a hot yoga school. Talk about piling on the pressure!
However by January we were on our knees, the crutches now part of the problem. Ready to detox and give up the nasties we were addicted, to, we took on The Arbonne 30 Days to healthy Living & Beyond Challenge! We put our Fit Kit orders in (link to fit kit) – at 50% off as a consultant and 40% off for Preferred Clients – got stocked up on greens, fruit, super foods, lean proteins and a months supply of the NEW Evolution Full Control (link)
I put a shout out to friends and a few clients who I knew either wanted to find a way to a new body, or to create new habits and improve their health. What did they have to do? For just 30 days, give up coffee, gluten, alcohol, sugar and dairy, eliminating all toxins and replacing with super foods only.
We supported each other, shared highs and lows, but mostly celebrated the ease and incredible results. OK, OK, the first few days were a teeny bit tough but as soon as you start to feel better, well it couldn’t be easier. Improved energy, better sleep and clearer skin were the goals and whilst I lost no weight according to the scales I lost a whopping 5 cm around my waist, and 7.5cm around my hips!
Now we are the happy healthy eating gang addicted to true NATURAL highs!

Testimonials:
“In 2014 my cholesterol was 7.2 and I was being advised to start taking statins, which I felt very unsure of. My weight was creeping up and I felt sluggish so I figured I had nothing to lose. After 45 days I had my cholesterol retested and my cholesterol was 4.6 – the lowest I ever had.” Anon Male

“I started the 30 day fit as I had put on 30kilos in last 5 yrs. After doing 2 super food and protein smoothies a day, I found my body loved them and I did not miss anything. After 15 days I noticed I began to feel so calm and cope with everything so much easier. And the thing I am most surprised by is that I got my energy back! I measured my neck and I was 3cm smaller, and my hips were 5cm smaller!! ” Claudia

“I started the new regime just over a month ago and have now lost half a stone. Have noticed my shape is changing unlike other weight loss diets I have tried, I like this is becoming easy for my lifestyle” Mary

Love & happiness
Katie x

Going full circle

Today was special. My husband and I went to a yoga class together. It was the last time we would be practicing in Fierce Grace City studio (formerly Bikram yoga) together, after 12years. It marked the end of an era, and the beginning of our new adventure together.
My yoga journey began in Hong Kong 17 years ago and I am even more present to the connection and cycle of life as I am now on a plane to Hong Kong where the journey began. I had no idea until that yoga class today, how significant that first ever yoga class was, with Robyn, in a tiny dark room on Lamma Island, Hong Kong territories, because I had nothing else to do and I knew no one. Amazing how pivotal loneliness and being open to try anything to fill the void can be. It was also the place I first discovered spirituality and how desperately lacking it I was.

The cycle goes full Circle as when I return from Hong Kong next Friday we will be 1 week away from opening our own hot yoga studio in Brixton – 5 minutes from our home, the area I have been around for 21years when I first came to live in Camberwell with my first job. The reason it’s a big surprise and awaking experience is I have been denying the yoga studio has any real significance to me and that is more of a dream I’ve been helping my husband to fulfill. I had forgotten I had been the one who discovered yoga long before I met him and had danced with the idea of being a yoga instructor even though he is the one who is now the qualified teacher.

The other reason is because for me HK was not just about my self discovery, but more where I have developed a strong and successful fashion design and manufacturing business. Before today I thought my trip to HK and China was solely for my overseeing my manufacturing project. But now I also realise it is massively more significant and a chance to revisit my old yoga guru Robyn, who has now built the most successful yoga business in Hong Kong, Yoga Central and moved it to Hong Kong Island itself!