Bay Area peeps: come hear Joan Blades speak about her book, The Custom-Fit Workplace, “an inspirational guide for making the workplace more nimble, trust-based, and – for business owners – more profitable.” I think she’s on to something…

Joan co-founded MoveOn.org, and then more recently, MomsRising.org, which I like to think of as a kind of MoveOn for Moms (and the people who love them). She is also a friend of mine, and asked me to speak on the panel after her talk. So let me know if you’re coming, and please stop by and say hi!

Date: Thursday, July 14th, 2011

Time: Noon to 1:30 p.m.

Place: Freight and Salvage, 2050 Addison St., Berkeley

Admission: $15 at the door ($10 for students) gets you lunch catered by The Bread Workshop from 12 to 12:30. (Discussion starts at 12:30 and is free to the public. RSVP to whoisylvia@aol.com by June 13th if you would like lunch).

Nomi is a working mom in Washington DC. She has two boys (age 2 and 6) and heads up the U.S. office of a UK-based family planning charity organization. She sent me an email about two news stories that piqued her interest, and I thought it would make for an interesting discussion on the blog.

Guest post by Nomi Rachel Montgomery

I’m a working (80%) mom and generally I suck up every minute of my commute on the subway, nose to blackberry, getting out the last emails before I abandon work mode for mama mode. But, one day last week I had to drive to the car dealership after work. So despite the insane amount of traffic, I relaxed into the idea that I couldn’t work and drive, and tuned in to NPR. Two back-to-back stories mentioning high profile people trying to balance work and family obligations caught my attention.

First, as everyone knows, Robert Gibbs announced his departure from the White House. While not surprising, as it’s been played as part of normal staff rotation and attrition, what was a bit surprising to me was the NPR focus for his main reason for leaving—his young son! In fact, the one live quote they played was Mr. Gibbs talking about how his little guy needed a ride to school every now and then. Of course there’s more to the back story, but that night, on prime time, a highly regarded professional male was talking about his choice to scale back and spend more time parenting.

Then, the very next story was about Virginia Seitz, who was nominated by the White House to lead the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. The story talked about Mrs. Seitz’s distinguished legal career. But what really struck me was that (again!) NPR highlighted her choices in the past to work part time to balance parenting with her career. In fact, Mrs. Seitz actually WALKED OUT of a job that had allowed her to work part time but would not give that same option to other working moms. And it was this very point, her ability to stand up for what’s right (in this case the need for part-time options for working moms) that was described as just the kind of bold leadership she will bring to her new position.

Could this be some indication of progress? The fact that the media focused on work/life struggles of these two high-profile figures, and that both stories showcased these choices in such a favorable light? Seems to me perhaps a new level of recognition about these struggles.

What do you think? When people like Robert Gibbs and Virginia Seitz talk about their need to balance work and family, does this indicate a shift? And if so, do you think it may eventually trickle down to create a culture change?

I haven’t watched Saturday Night Live since I was a teenager. Somehow since then, I’ve become the dorky, joke’s-on-me character. How did that happen?

…and speaking of Facebook, help Working Moms Break hit the first 500 fans!

I drive a minivan. There. I’ve said it.

Maybe you think that’s not cool. I’ll try not to hold that against you. I happen to think that SUVs, which are less fuel-efficient than my minivan, aren’t cool. I hope we can still be friends.

Toyota has come out with this video (“Swagger Wagon”), proving that we minivan parents are, in fact, demonstrably cool.

See for yourself. (Yes, it’s an ad. No I’m not getting paid to show it. It’s just really funny.)

My interview with Lady Brain aired Monday on KUSF 90.3 FM in San Francisco.

We talked about the perils of working and raising a family. I think I was supposed to give advice to working moms about how to avoid a nervous breakdown, but as you know, my credibility is a little suspect here…

The main point I wanted to make, which I managed to say at the end, was that if you try all the short cuts and self-help strategies and still can’t seem to get your career to mesh with your life, IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT.

If you missed the show, never fear. The podcast is now available!

Listen to the full interview on the Lady Brain blog. Or click on the iTunes link and download podcast. (Note: It’s longish. About 22 minutes. The perfect distraction while you’re at the gym or on your commute.)

Last week I was interviewed by the dynamic duo at Lady Brain, the “most candid advice show on San Francisco radio.”

We talked about–what else?–the perils of working and raising young children.

The show is airing tonight (Monday) at 7:30 pm on KUSF 90.3 FM in San Francisco. If you’re in the area, tune in. If you miss it, I’ll post a link to the podcast later this week.

Tuesday evening I was interviewed for “Your Time with Kim Iverson,” a syndicated evening radio show that airs in ten cities–Portland (KRSK), Denver (KALC), Austin (KAMX), Wichita (KFBZ), Kansas City (KKSN), Memphis (WMC), Milwaukee (WMYX), Indianapolis (WZPL), Buffalo (WTSS), and Norfolk (WPTE).

The show was about working moms and our decisions to keep working or quit working when we have kids. I talked about why, despite having a supportive husband and employer, things became so impossible for me. (I guess it’s hard to find women who will admit, on air, with 500,000 to 1 million people listening, that they had a breakdown trying to do it all, although there are plenty of us out there.)

Listen to the interview here. It’s about 7 minutes long.