Ep 97: Reclaiming Our Time and Creativity through Fair Play in the Household with Eve Rodsky and special guest Co-host Caren Lettiere

Welcome to this special Season Seven finale episode of the Mother’s Quest Podcast, released on International Women’s Day 2023. It feels like just right timing to bring this conversation to you, but the seeds for this episode have been germinating since last spring, when Jill Daniel of Happy Women Dinners came to me with an invitation. She asked whether my sister Caren, founder of Democracy Clothing, might be interested in hosting a brunch at her house in Los Angeles with best-selling author Eve Rodsky.

I had recently learned about Eve’s groundbreaking work, where she transformed her own “blueberries breakdown” into a catalyst for social change, applying her Harvard-trained background in organizational management to ask the simple yet profound question: What would happen if we treated our homes as our most important organizations?

Her New York Times bestselling book and Reese’s Book Club Pick, Fair Play, a gamified life-management system that helps partners rebalance their domestic workload and reimagine their relationship, has elevated the cultural conversation about the value of unpaid labor and care. In her highly anticipated follow-up, Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World, Eve explores the cross-section between the science of creativity, productivity, and resilience. Her journey and the tenets of both books came together in the Fair Play Documentary, a film by Jennifer Siebel Newsom in partnership with Hello Sunshine.

Needless to say, I encouraged Caren to say “yes” to this opportunity. I knew there would be synergy between Caren’s journey creating her hugely successful Unicorn brand Democracy Clothing, while raising two children and running a household, and Eve’s message. Jill gathered an incredible community of women for brunch that day where we gifted all of them with size inclusive Democracy jeans through a try-on experience that was empowering and a conversation between Jill, Caren and Eve that was profound.

When Eve said yes to being a guest on my podcast and it came time to interview her, I knew I wanted to include Caren in this conversation. What follows is an intimate look at the values and insights Eve has woven into her two books and an exploration of what Eve has learned about living an E.P.I.C. life.

As Eve shares at the end of this episode, the Mother’s Quest Podcast and this conversation between the three of us is also “unicorn space.” We’re so grateful to share it with you. We hope that what you hear sparks conversations with your own partner and children that bring to light and make more fair the division of labor in your household and that you use this as a permission slip to reclaim your own time and creativity in your E.P.I.C. life.

Content Note: Eve speaks in powerful ways and sometimes that includes a few carefully chosen bad words.  I encourage you to listen to this episode in privacy or to pop in some ear buds if you are with your children.

About Eve Rodsky:

Eve Rodsky transformed a “blueberries breakdown” into a catalyst for social change when she applied her Harvard-trained background in organizational management to ask the simple yet profound question: What would happen if we treated our homes as our most important organizations? Her New York Times bestselling book and Reese’s Book Club Pick, Fair Play, a gamified life-management system that helps partners rebalance their domestic workload and reimagine their relationship, has elevated the cultural conversation about the value of unpaid labor and care. In her highly anticipated follow-up, Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World, Rodsky explores the cross-section between the science of creativity, productivity, and resilience. Described as the ‘antidote to physical, mental, and emotional burnout,’ Rodsky aims to inspire a new narrative around the equality of time and the individual right to personal time choice that influences sustainable and lasting change on a policy level. Rodsky’s work is backed by Hello Sunshine—Reese Witherspoon’s media company whose mission is to change the narrative for women through storytelling. Rodsky was born and raised by a single mom in New York City and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband Seth and their three children.

Connect with Eve:

• Website | www.everodsky.com 
• Website | www.fairplaylife.com 
• LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/everodsky 
• Facebook |  www.facebook.com/everodsky 
• Instagram | @everodsky 

Eve’s Books and Documentary Mentioned in this Episode:

• Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World by Eve Rodsky: www.amazon.com/Find-Your-Unicorn-Space-Creative
• Fair Play by Eve Rodsky: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live): www.amazon.com/Fair-Play-Game-Changing-Solution-When-ebook/
• Fair Play Documentary: www.fairplaylife.com/documentary 
• Fair Play Cards https://www.fairplaylife.com/the-cards

About this Episode’s Co-Host Caren Lattiere:

Caren Lettiere is the Founder and President of Democracy Clothing, the casual lifestyle brand designed for the modern, multitasking woman who grew up with fashion, then got busy with life. Caren is fueled by a passion for making fashion accessible, affordable and ageless.

Best known for its “Ab”solution jeans with fit technology, Democracy Clothing embraces women of all shapes and sizes, providing them with confidence-building clothing that helps them look good and feel good, while doing good.

Since launching the Democracy brand, Caren has successfully led her dynamic dream team through a period of unprecedented growth. In November 2019, Democracy launched their e-commerce site, www.democracyclothing.com, to facilitate an even closer connection to the brand’s loyal customers. Following the expansion into e-commerce, Caren helped secure a partnership with HSN and has become Democracy’s spokesperson to a live nationwide audience.

With her knack for storytelling and her authentic enthusiasm in front of the camera, Democracy has risen through the ranks at HSN establishing a following for it’s multigenerational appeal.

Alongside Democracy, Caren’s proudest accomplishment is the fulfilling family life she’s built with her husband of over 30 years, David, and their amazing kids Nicole and Josh.

Connect with Caren:

• Website | democracyclothing.com 
• LinkedIn | www.linkedin.com/carenlettiere 
• Facebook | www.facebook.com/democracyjeans 
• Instagram | @carenlettiere 

Topics Discussed in this Episode:

• Eve’s experience as a “parental child” supporting her disabled brother and caring for her single mother
• The influences that led Eve to believe she could do it all 
• How Eve’s big dreams of smashing glass ceilings turned into smashing peas after she became a mother
• The erasure of identity that happens for mothers and why we have to fight for an E.P.I.C. life 
• We deserve permission to be unavailable from our roles and to do so takes power and unlearning 
• Fair Play as a movement to reclaim our time and the toxic time messages that get in the way of our reclamation 
• The importance of making our invisible labor visible with our children 
• Why women feel ashamed to admit that the division of labor in their home is not fair
• The number one issue Eve heard from men about why they hated home life and how the boundaries, systems, and communication formula can shift that
• Using Fair Play’s Card Deck to engage in mindful conversation about domestic life with our families  
• Eve’s description of Unicorn Space as an outlet for our passion and purpose
• Eve’s 3 C’s: Curiosity, Connection, & Completion 
• The biggest key to mother’s granting permission to invest in themselves 

This Episode’s Challenge: 

Eve challenges us to discover once again, our individual identity separate from our roles. She wants us to look for a trusted accountability partner, and report to that person one day next week, that you prioritized doing something outside of your roles as a parent, partner or professional. Take one day off and do something completely for yourself. 

We welcome you to share your report in the Mother’s Quest Facebook Group so we can inspire one another!

This Episode is dedicated by Bridgid Coulter Cheadle

Bridgid Coulter Cheadle is an award winning, serial entrepreneur and philanthropist with a decades long history of advocating for access to education and protection of the environment. Bridgid is celebrated for her family’s philanthropic work with a focus on climate change, social justice, political decency, women’s equity and education for the historically marginalized.

Principal of her eponymous design studio, a boutique interior and design-build firm with offices in Santa Monica and Hawaii, her focus is on residential, hospitality, creative office space and furniture design. Established over fifteen years ago, Bridgid approaches each project whether for an individual client, a brand or design-build development; as an artistic venture whilst providing exceptional development from concept to administration. Her well recognized signature textile collections incorporate her own personal painting and design work that have been inspired by her avid travel and perception of nature.

In 2018 Bridgid founded Blackbird Collective, a for-profit public benefit corporation and the preeminent private membership collective for women of color and allies to create positive social and economic change for each other and the world. In its exquisitely designed Culver City Flagship location, Blackbird is a curated network of work, wellbeing and creative programming studios offering inspired space for entrepreneurs, makers, storytellers, executives, practitioners, trailblazers, content creators and changemakers to gather and work both individually and together, both in person and virtually — grounded by a love of storytelling.

With professional resources shared with aligned peers, experts and practitioners to support productivity, wellbeing, creativity and advocacy; Blackbird is a joy-filled place in aligned community where you don’t have to go it alone — where wellbeing includes the full spectrum of wellness to include nourishment of the physical, mental self with societal belonging. In 2020, Bridgid founded Blackbird Alliance, the non-profit sister organization to the collective, to further support advancement through sponsorship, mentorship and technical training.

She is a graduate of UCLA and serves on several company boards. In her free time, Bridgid enjoys fine art, playing board games, and solving the ongoing puzzle of juggling family life with her acting, entrepreneurial, and interior design careers.

She is the proud mother of two with the most supportive hubby; and she enjoys board games—and the puzzle of juggling family life with acting and interior design.

Connect with Bridgid Coulter Cheadle

• Instagram: @simplybridgid
• Website: http://bridgidcoulter.com
• Facebook: Bridgid Coulter Design
• Twitter: @bridgidcoulter

 

You Might Like to Tune Into These Other Related Episodes:

• Episode with Caren – https://mothersquest.com/ep56-carenlettiere/
• Episode with Graeme Seabrook – https://mothersquest.com/ep61-graemeseabrook/
• Episode with Jamie Greenwood – https://mothersquest.com/ep-96-coming-home-to-ourselves-with-self-care-coach-jamie-greenwood/

Special Thanks To Jill Daniel of Happy Women Dinners

Happy Women Dinners is the brainchild of food writer, gourmet cook, and publicist Jill Daniel.  As a food writer, Jill wrote about food from one coast of the country to the other. She is the owner of Dinner-Licious, she serves up delicious organic dinners to families around the San Francisco Bay Area.
With Happy Women Dinners, Jill has brought together fantastic food and speakers with a focus on women.  Happy Women Dinners events are held in intimate settings and limited to small groups of women.

• Jill Daniel – LinkedIn
• Happy Women Dinners
• Instagram @jillconnection
• Happy Women Dinners Facebook Page

Announcement

The Mother’s Quest Podcast will take a break between seasons until May. Make sure to sign up for email updates at mothersquest.com and join the free Facebook Group at www.mothersquest.com/community to stay connected and  informed about all the good things coming.