Singer, Songwriter and Producer, Brooke Josephson, Shares her Story of Balancing Work and Family and Living Life to the Fullest...Guilt Free
Meet Brooke Josephson. Working Mother of 2 children, Shira and Murray. Wife to Barry
2. Please tell our readers what you do and how your started. I’m a singer songwriter and producer. I grew up in Indiana where I started singing in church. I was obsessed with music and started studying voice and piano privately beginning around age seven. After high school I earned a scholarship for Vocal Performance at a Private Liberal Arts College in Northern Indiana, then lived and worked in New York City for 6 years performing in repertory musical theatre, gigging and acting. I met my husband, while I was working on the Disney film ENCHANTED and later moved to Los Angeles. Shortly after our daughter was born I went back to school and earned my Masters Certificate in Songwriting at Berklee School of Music and juggled being a new mom while in school. I released my first album, Live and Let Live as soon as I completed the program.
I then went back into the studio after our son was born and recently released my sophomore album, Sexy N’ Domesticated, which is a sonic snapshot of my life as a working mother and inspired by other women shapeshifting their roles of wife, mom and work.
3. Can you share any challenges you have faced in your business as a working mother and how you overcame?
The biggest struggle I have faced was being told by male executives in the business that the music business is only for people in their twenties, and that I should just enjoy being a stay at home mom. I have continued to stay the course and not allow the system to dictate “where I belong.”
I read the book, What Kids Need Most In a Mom, by Patricia Rushford, that encourages moms to be true to themselves. The biggest take away from the book is giving ourselves permission to “get out of the guilt factory…children will thrive when their Mom is thriving. If your passion is being a stay at home mom, or if your passion is a career and motherhood, be the best YOU, you can be.”
Once I embraced that philosophy, and freed myself of caring what anyone thought, I saw my world open up. My kids love coming into my studio to explore and express themselves. It’s definitely a juggling act setting my studio time where they’re in school or when my son is napping, but it’s worth it as I see the impact of giving myself the freedom to be who I am, my kids are free to be themselves. It’s especially rewarding watching my daughter grow up knowing that being a mother doesn’t mean you have to give up who you are.
Last year, she joined the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Jr Ambassador’s Program and came up with the idea of her own YouTube channel where she reads to the patients who are too sick to have visitors. She asked me to help her, so I have made that a priority as well; filming, editing and posting her weekly videos on: www.shirasstorycorner.com
4. How are your attaining work-life balance
Well no matter how tired I may be some days, in a wet braid, baseball cap, no make up, doing my best to keep up with my mom duties, I can’t give in or turn this part of myself off, so I just make it work.
I’m a list person and really plan ahead so when the unexpected moments hit, they’re not as “end of the world” overwhelming.
I also embrace including my kids into my work, my daughter wanted to sing on a few of the tracks and I featured each of the kids in my music videos on the Sexy N’ Domesticated release.
5. What advice on work-life balance do you have for a new mother starting out?
Self care is not selfish. I know it sounds cliche but it’s true. I’m not my best when I’m sleep deprived. Also don’t be hard on yourself and compare yourself to what other women are achieving. Another woman’s success doesn’t diminish who you are. If you plan “mommy time” and treat it as sacred, life’s interruptions will come and you will at least know you have well deserved “mommy time” to look forward to.
6. What is next for your business? How can our audience find you or order your goods
My new album, Sexy N’ Domesticated was released this spring and I have shows coming up, as well as fun merch available on my website and remixes coming out in the next few months. I collaborated with DJ Rocky G, on the remix of my song, Mr. Fix It, and it was such a rewarding collaboration, since she is an International DJ based in Amsterdam who is also a mother of 6. She and I are like minded and our mission is to be an example that “becoming a mother isn’t the end of who you are, it’s just the beginning.”
