MARCH 23, 2012
Working moms CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7A
forward instead of looking back. “It’s not about focusing on what you’ve lost and what you don’t have any more,” she explained. “It’s focusing on what you’re gaining and what you want to create.” Her goal with clients is to help them find the structure they need for their day, so that they can say, “I feel great, I’m accomplishing something.” Michaels said she works on helping them incorporate activities that are important to them, whether it’s exercise, creative outlets or, for those who want to re-enter the work force, putting together a strategy for what their next position might look like. As a working mom herself, Michaels says it’s important to live a balanced life. “How I balance it, is that I live in the moment,” she said. “I give my best at work, but at three o’clock when the kids come home, I’m really present. So, it’s putting up boundaries. It’s important to be really present and not be distracted by work. It takes discipline to close the door of work and not let it follow through into your home life.” For some mothers, working and mothering isn’t an either/or proposition. Even if returning to work full time isn’t something all mothers want or need to do, many women reinvent themselves after motherhood, starting with a home-based business. Darci DeMatteo of Irvington, whose children are 13, 11 and 8, said she has “the best of both worlds.” DeMatteo founded her business, Say Cheese and Thank You, in 2004. “After my first was born, I was in transition,” DeMatteo said. “I had worked in theater with an Off-Broadway producer, and right as I was about to give birth, she was opening an Off-Broadway theater. I took about nine months off, then became general manager of the Daryl Roth Theater. I ran her theater for a few years, got pregnant and had another baby, and I quit right before 9/11. I was home for about a year pursuing my love of photography and taking classes. Then, right after my daughter was born, I started this business out of my home. I tried the full-time, stay-at-home thing from about 2001 until September of
Kids!
’03. I loved it, but I really wanted to get back to work.” Her friends all admired the pictures she took of her kids and encouraged her to do more with her camera. At first, her business centered just around photography. “I had the idea to hang out my shingle as a professional photographer, and offer holiday cards with pictures,” DeMatteo said. “Once you go to the stationery show, it’s hard to stop with holiday cards, so I said, ‘Why not start a stationery business?’ A year later, I moved to a storefront on Main Street in Irvington.” DeMatteo said, “A couple of things helped me be a successful working person. I have a fabulous manager, Jo Turpin, who’s been with me for six years. I live close by and my kids are in school, and I’m lucky to have my business here and local. As a woman and a mother who wants, needs and enjoys working and being stimulated in other areas, that guilt thing is huge. I think if I were a man, I wouldn’t be as concerned about my kids. I have lots of ideas, but my children are my priority, and getting the kids to where they need to be.” Today, Say Cheese and Thank You occupies a spacious store on Main Street in Dobbs Ferry. The business is a preferred stationery vendor for local venues that hold special events such as bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings. The business also has clients in Manhattan, and has gone beyond private parties into the area of corporate gifts and events. From just offering photography and stationery a few years ago, the business now offers every aspect of party planning, from décor and party favors, to flower arrangements and centerpieces. Both Michaels and DeMatteo are working at careers that are completely different from the ones they had before motherhood. Michaels went back to work after years as a full-time mom, while DeMatteo has worked throughout most of her kids’ childhoods. But Michaels believes there’s no right or wrong way, and she urges women to decide what they really want. “When you live your life according to your own values, it doesn’t matter what other people are doing,” she said. “When you live according to what you believe in, you feel good. And it’s not important to look right or left if you’re doing what is important to you.”
Spring Into SummerDance July 9-13 and July 23-27 Weeklong SummerDance Intensives
New! Weeklong Hip Hop Intensive New! SummerDance Master Series – 10 Artists/10 Days
June 18-23 Moving Wheels & Heels Adaptive Dance Intensive
Bill Bramswig Photography
June 25-27 Dance Camp for Children with Special Needs
216 Central Avenue, White Plains, NY 10606
SU M M E R 2012
! y a d o T l l o r En
H EAT E R MU S ICA L T WOR KSH OP FOR M A NC E VOCA L PE R ACAD E M Y JA ZZ & RO C HA M B E R FEST IVA L
CK
MU S IC
T IVA L
SUZU K I FES
TS MU S IC & A R PRO G RA M
Music Conservatory of Westchester
216 Central Avenue, White Plains, NY 10606 914-761-3900 • www.MusicConservatory.org
mvpbasketballcamp.org 914-946-1231
Two convenient locations: White Plains and Bedford
July 30-Aug. 3 and Aug. 6 - 10
For more information: 914.328.1900 email: info@steffinossen.org www.steffinossen.org
THE RIVERTOWNS ENTERPRISE |PAGE 45A
Summer 2012 Boys & Girls 6-16 18th Season in Westchester
June 25-28 DiMauro Dance Company In Residence July 16 – 20