About Nadine Silverthorne
Nadine Silverthorne’s love of journaling began in Grade One with the entry, “I am the greatest dancer!” Two babies (and countless diaper changes) later, she has found her home away from home as editor of SweetMama. Don’t miss her humorous bi-weekly accounts of the joys and pains of working while raising them fabulous.
Tonight we’ll be celebrating Sweetspot’s 5th birthday. It’s hard to imagine that our big sister site is turning FIVE! Sweetmama is a young three-year-old (and considering the ages of those who read our sites, we’re hanging on to the one place we’re younger). But I’d like to use today to also commemorate my one-year anniversary as Editor of Sweetmama (though the actual day passed quietly in May).
I took this job as the tired mother of a three-year-old and an 8-month-old baby (which now seems absolutely insane to me). Why? Because frankly, it was my dream job.
Sure the timing wasn’t the best: I was nearly eight months into the job before we started sleeping through the night as a family (a statistic that often gets skewed depending on who is sick or if someone has soaked through their diaper). But to get to work with words while helping Canada’s mompreneurs get the word out about their fabulous products ... that was really just the icing on the cupcake.
The actual cake itself was Sweetspot: A wonderful, entrepreneurial and progressive employer that really believes in women and feels strongly that you actually can have a great job and a great life. There is no way that I could have juggled a baby and a preschooler in the headspace I was in if it weren’t for Joanna Track (the cherry on top!) and her amazing vision.
Having the flexibility to work from home came in quite handy when on my third week on the job, my baby fell off the bed and broke her collarbone. My employers and colleagues have never made me feel bad for tucking work in around my family life. They say it takes a village; I have found one at Sweetspot.
Being a mom forever has its challenges, whether you work or stay at home. For those of us who have to go back to work after children (or choose to), having an employer that meets your needs makes you give that much more. Having a fantastically fun and creative boss like Stephania Varalli, or incredible colleagues that make you laugh when the sleep is spilling out your eyes... there is no pay check that can top that. (OK, yes, everyone has their price I suppose, but I think the employees make the company.)
I’ve also had the great pleasure of developing incredible relationships with writers across this fair land. Laura Grady in Vancouver, Shan Roth and Wendy McMahon in Calgary, Lauren Cracower and Sandra Abi-Rashed in Montreal, Heather Hudson and my incredibly resourceful friend Marla Good in Toronto -- to name but a few of the countless women who make Sweetmama a sweet place for moms.
I’ve been at the births of countless mom (and pop) run businesses. I remember the elation and the adrenaline when I found my very first Sweetmama story, the opening of Lapin Câlin in the Beach neighbourhood in Toronto. I adore going through the archives to find related links and coming across a Sweet Nothing that takes me back to the time in my life when I wrote it. I love working with companies big and small to bring tired mamas something sweet (and perhaps a little giggle) to their tough day.
This past year has been brutal at times, but thankfully I’ve had more moments of extreme joy than days spent crying in my high-fibre cereal. Nothing worth having comes without a struggle, I’ve been known to say. Thanks to Sweetspot and everyone who works here, I’ve found a way to find the sweet spots in the everyday.
Happy Birthday Sweetspot!
PS: We'd love it if you could join us at our birthday party tonight. Your $50 ticket will go towards the Canadian Woman's Foundation, supporting projects that help get women out of poverty. In return you'll receive two drink tickets to help us toast another sweet year gone by, a boozy freezie (I am still trying to figure that one out, but the office younglings assure me they're fun) and a fantastic night by the lake that's guaranteed to be memorable.
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