Leading Like a Mother with Stephanie Hutchinson

A lot of mothers in leadership know the feeling of trying to hold it all together - supporting a team, building a career, raising a family, and somehow finding space for themselves along the way. For Stephanie Hutchinson, those experiences have shaped not only the way she leads, but the kind of industry she wants to help build.

In this episode, Stephanie reflects on her journey from co-founding Chronograph Records to leading programming and initiatives at the National Music Centre, all while raising two children. We talk about how motherhood changed her perspective on leadership, why creating family-friendly workplaces matters, and how small shifts in policy and culture can make a big difference for working parents.

She shares what she's learned about balancing ambition with family life, the importance of shared responsibility at home, and why having more women in leadership isn't just about representation. It's about creating workplaces where more people can thrive.

We get into:

•  Balancing leadership, motherhood, and a career in music 
•  Building workplaces that support parents and caregivers 
•  Why flexibility and trust are essential for healthy teams 
•  Sharing the mental load at work and at home 
•  How motherhood has shaped her approach to leadership 
•  Creating meaningful change from within the music industry 
•  Why representation in decision-making roles matters 

Throughout the conversation, Stephanie reminds us that leadership doesn't always happen on the biggest stages. Often, it starts with the choices we make every day, from the way we support our colleagues, advocate for our communities, and create space for others to succeed.

This episode is for anyone leading a team, building a career, raising a family, or wondering how to create meaningful change without sacrificing the things that matter most. It's an honest conversation about leadership, motherhood, and the quiet ways we can shape a more supportive future for the people who come after us.

Thanks for being part of this conversation. Mother Makes Music is all about honesty, connection, and reminding each other that we’re not doing this alone. If this episode spoke to you, we’d love for you to share it and keep the conversation going.

Follow along on Instagram and TikTok @mothermakesmusic

Mother Makes Music is hosted by Megan McKay
Podcast Artwork by Emily Pond
Podcast Theme by Matty McKay
Funding generously provided by Calgary Arts Development

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Welcome to the Mother Makes Music Podcast. My name is Megan McKay. I'm your host, and I'm so glad you're here. My guest today is Stephanie Hutchinson. With 20 years' experience in the music industry, Stephanie Hutchinson wears many hats, including label executive, artist manager, publicist, release strategist, programmer, and event producer. Stephanie is the co-founder and vice president of Juno Award-winning Calgary-based record label Cornograph Records and serves as the director of programs at the National Music Center and Studio Bell here in Calgary. She's also recognized for her work as president and program director of the YYC Music Awards, where she champions the Calgary music community. She was honored at Billboard Canada's Women in Music Awards for her work with the National Music Center, the YYC Music Awards, and Carnograph Records. You know, people talk a lot about trailblazers and Stephanie is a trailblazer. She has co-owned the label for 20 years. She is the director of programs at the National Music Center. She is doing a lot of stuff. And the cool thing about somebody like Stephanie being in a position of power is she actually has the power to institute some of the changes that we sit here and we ask for. Like if somebody wants to do a residency at the National Music Center and says, I can come to Calgary, but I'm going to need a bigger hotel room with a kitchen so that I can bring my child and childcare, Stephanie can make that happen and does make that happen. And I think it's an ongoing conversation in the music industry about how we can get more women in positions of power and positions of change. And Stephanie Hutchinson is one of those women. It was such an honor to get to talk to her, to get to pick her brain a little bit. One of the funny things about music is like I will go to several events at the National Music Center throughout the year. I'm there fairly often. And we will be in the same room as each other fairly often, but you don't have time to actually get into the weeds the way I've gotten to do with people on this show. She's busy, I'm busy, nobody's sitting there having a 45-minute conversation about motherhood. And I just really appreciate that this space has given me the opportunity to do that. Thank you, Stephanie Hutchinson, for all the work you do to be such a trailblazer. I respect you so much. And I think everybody listening is going to understand what I mean when I say that you are a woman in power making change. So here is Stephanie Hutchinson. Hi, Stephanie. Thank you so much for being here.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Oh, it's my absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

I'm going to just start by putting you on the spot right away. Um, I'm wondering if you can do just a little introduction to you, your home. Are you married? Do you have children? How many children do you have? That kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Yeah, for sure. Um, I'm in the arts and music world because of my husband. Last fall we celebrated, not separated, celebrated our the 20th anniversary of our first date. And uh we got married in uh 2008, and we have two incredible children. We have an a seven-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy. So life is full of energy around here, particularly with a spicy three-year-old Hapnan. Yeah, so we live in Calgary and we have two cats, and life revolves around the kids and life in music.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

So that was going to be my first question. How did you guys decide to launch chronograph records? And was that your introduction to the music industry?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Yeah, it definitely was. Uh, we joked that I didn't have much exposure to it or or uh much culture before meeting Cody. Uh we met when I was still in university and I was taking uh a business degree with a specialty in entrepreneurship. Uh Cody by then um, you know, had established a career as um, you know, a really fabulous jazz double bass player. And he was just launching his first album with his trio project, and he had this idea to start a record label. So he had a name, he had the concept, and uh, and then we got together and um, you know, we talked about it, and I said, well, I've got I'm getting a degree in entrepreneurship, so let's let's try it. Let's let's start it. I guess the mission and the mandate of Chronograph is to represent Western Canadian artists in jazz, particularly. That's kind of how it started, because Cody kind of found in his experience there there wasn't a lot of representation in that um genre of music that celebrated and exported Western Canadian-based musicians. You know, the jazz hubs in Canada are Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, but there's such an incredible pool of talent from the prairies. And uh, so that's kind of how it kicked off. Uh, Chronograph Records is 20 years old now, and there's a host of awards for all the artists. We have a catalog of over 100 releases now. It's grown to one of the larger labels in Alberta based on catalog size. And uh, yeah, we're really proud of what it's become. It was uh quite a learning journey in that uh neither of us had the experience of growing up um or in our careers learning from inside an established record label. So I kind of had to learn as we went. And it was still the days of more physical sales. It was kind of on the cusp before streaming and digital. So the industry has changed so much in in the 20 years, and we've just kind of adapted as we've gone along. Right from the start, we had a mandate to allow the artists to retain their copyrights and the ownerships of their masters. And that was really different at the time. So that was kind of um struggle's the wrong word for it, but a very big learning curve in trying to kind of educate funders and other industry supports on how our model was going to work in terms of releasing on a licensing basis. So it's been super interesting and um we're still at it.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

So chronograph is basically, or at least was you and Cody.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Yes, that still is. Yeah, we are the co-owners of it.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

So what did that look like when you guys decided to start trying to have a family? How did you figure out the timing for that? Because you both had so much on your plate with the with the lab.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Yeah, and you know, in my 20s, I spent a lot of time building the label and traveling the world and working on our export relationships and showcasing artists across the world. So I'm really grateful for that time that I had to kind of, you know, explore the world before getting a little bit more tied down. So we got married in and 2008, and it did take us quite a while to be able to have a family. So it was about nine years or so before I finally got pregnant. And it was just a matter of when it happened, right? We were we were gonna be ready for it whenever it happened. I had started early fertility treatments, and uh, thankfully, before having to go through hormones and that kind of stuff, we finally did get pregnant with our first in uh 2006, and she was born in uh 2018. It was it, yeah, it was an interesting scenario in that we were hoping and planning all along, and then it just kind of happened when it happened. And then our second uh he ended up being a COVID baby. So that was an interesting experience too, right? With all those considerations about, you know, the health and safety of myself and and our son, and those considerations of our daughter being in school and around that kind of public area. So um, yeah, having a COVID baby was was certainly an interesting experience. He ended up being born in kind of one of the the flare-ups in early 2022. So yeah, but we got uh we got lucky with uh some private rooms and some amazing nurses and everything worked out really great.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

I know that well. My daughter was born May 2020. Interesting time. I hear you there. What did your role at chronograph look like once you had your child? Did it change? Did you take a maternity leave? How was that for you?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Oh, yeah. Uh when we had our first, uh, it was a bit of a a rough delivery. I had to be induced. And um uh that's a hard scenario on the on a mother's body because it's not uh a natural process. So it was uh it was a rough go. My daughter ended up in the NICU for five days or so. Um, and there were some interesting medical complications uh that led to the knee being induced that nobody really realized until after she was born. We had an amazing doctor who basically saved us both without having to have an emergency C-section, which was something that I was incredibly terrified of. But it all turned out well. And uh at the time I was working in family businesses as well as the label, so I didn't have any job outside of the home. But uh in the main family business that I was working, I was the only person running business. So I had my laptop in the NICU with her. I was denied four uh EI for maternity leave because it was a family business and the ownership that I had in it with along with my parents. So there was zero Mat Leaf for my first, unfortunately, and and I had a rough recovery because of uh being induced. So that was a hard period adjusting to your first child after a difficult delivery, still having to work, albeit I was lucky and then I could work from home. Yeah, so I was a little bit grumpy for a while with the government about denying the MATLAB scenario, but uh, we got through it. And then when uh she was just over one year old, that's when I started on the programming team at Arts Commons. So that's um that was uh about May 2019 when I started working outside the home. And so she started um daycare uh, you know, for full-time care uh while I was out of the home. And you know, Cody was working from home, but he um is still an active gging musician, and so he's out and around all the time. And uh so it was a transition period for us for sure. With my second, he was born in February 2022. So we were back uh kind of in and around the office um at uh where I was at Arts Commons. And uh that was the kind of time period where uh vaccinations started to be uh mandatory. You know, I'm I'm very grateful to my employer for their policy on um situations like mine where, you know, my doctor's advice to start was to not get vaccinated. Actually, I think I I had I had received one vaccine right before I got pregnant with my second, about two or three weeks. So we were kind of protected that way. But come the fall, you know, there was the policies around mandatory vaccination and that kind of stuff. Um, they were really kind in in accepting doctor's notes at the time to um kind of avoid uh putting myself or my child at r at risk when there was just wasn't a lot of research or science around that. You know, within a month my doctor had completely changed her tune and I uh didn't did end up getting the second vaccination. So, you know, for for a lot a lot of my pregnancy with the second, you know, I was in around the office uh working on programming. And, you know, when there was periods where there was COVID flare-ups or, you know, that kind of thing in so that would have been late 2021. So, you know, it was still uh a strong thing happening. They were super flexible about, you know, go work from home for a month or something while things kind of calmed down. So really supportive that way in in making sure that during my pregnancy, you know, myself and my son were safe that way. But um, when he when he was born, um, he he came a little bit early. Uh, I think he was about two weeks early. And uh I was planning to work yet another week. And he uh he kind of came on a late Sunday night and I messaged my boss. I said, Well, my water broke, uh, not coming in. And uh I end up did take getting a MAT leave without one because I, you know, I was employed outside the home with an an employer that I wasn't uh, you know, an ownership stay kid. And uh that me that MAT leave was about six months or so. So he was born in February and went back uh in September to start the new uh concert season. So it was a short one too, but it was uh it was nice to have that break with him.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

And was that a decision you made just kind of for ease of up the year you just wanted to cut it short and go back?

SPEAKER_01 12:27

Um yeah, I I would say um just the cycle of the work along with uh financial considerations. He the challenge for us is uh at the time the health benefits were through me because uh my husband is largely self-employed and his uh organization that he's a part of is uh super small. They have about two employees, so they don't have benefit plan. The the difficulty during Matt Leave is you have highly reduced income, but in order to keep the benefits, we had to pay for it out of pocket. So, you know, that was probably something like $500 a month. So that's substantial. So there was only so long that we could kind of stay afloat living in the arts and working in the arts with that kind of scenario. So multifaceted decision to kind of go back early.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

So you're at the Arts Commons, you're settled, it seems like they're treating you really well. What draws you to the National Music Center?

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Yeah, um, I mean, Cody and I have um been around NMC, known NMC, and then and the the earlier iteration, cantos, um, lots of events and concerts there. I I would say combined with, you know, such a long career in the music industry, it was an opportunity to advance my career. You know, I was running big concerts at the concert hall, but I didn't quite oversee all of the programming. The the role at NMC was an opportunity to take all of the great things that I had done and seen and experience with my teammates on the programming team at Arts Commons and uh bring that over to NMC and find ways to connect with community and artists and advance education ideas. And so it was it was a big leap of faith because I didn't fully know what I was gonna, you know, get into, but I totally stand behind the decision and it's been really incredible been able to make some really great impact to audiences and youth and community members and groups. Um, so yeah, it's it's been really fabulous to to move that that uh that forward for my career and our family and um and to connect more with the the music industry on a national.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Do you encounter many artists in your role as program director?

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Yeah, in a number of ways. A lot of my team are performing artists um or have uh some sort of instrument uh background, number of different types of instruments, whether it's wind instruments or brass instruments or piano-related kind of um uh background. So on a daily basis, I I interact with with them in in that kind of way. My portfolios at NMSE include live performance, so ticketed concerts, uh public programming, which is uh daytime activations uh during our opening hours. A lot of that is performance-based, as well as artist residencies, where we offer studio space to kind of in an application, submission, jury kind of format on a national level. So primarily in those three portfolios, there's a lot of interaction with artists on a regular basis. The difference here at NMC versus my role at Arts Commons is uh, I would say the the project management and and that pro direct everyday program work is is done by my program managers. So they really get in deep with advances and those artists and whatnot. But um a lot of the kind of curation lands to to myself. And so I still do maintain regular contact with agents and artists locally and across Canada.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

I'm so curious from your perspective, from kind of like a bird's eye view level for things like the residencies and stuff like that. Are you seeing artists who are mothers submit? Is that something that people include in their application? Do you guys ever talk about like people needing extra accommodations, things like that? Does that ever come up?

SPEAKER_01 16:17

It does come up. I wouldn't say it's extra common, but we do see the need for that. We have a really great uh hotel partner, just kind of kitty corner to us in East Village. And one of the hotel properties there has kitchenettes. And uh it's really great for families. I know when we travel, when you know Cody's performing out of town, and uh and it's an opportunity when we can bring the kids, especially when they're young and picky eaters and maybe still on bottles or whatnot, having that kitchenette and like full kitchen capability uh is really helpful. It's just that much more challenging to bring a family with little ones to a traditional hotel setup. I remember early days with my our first, and I was washing bottles in hotel sinks. And the challenges of that, um, you know, it's just it's it's draining, it's so much effort. And um, you know, we we ended up buying a minivan for a couple of reasons because of the kids, but my husband doesn't play the flute, he plays the double bass. So, you know, we try and uh do ground travel versus air travel whenever we can and we load that minivan up uh because you know it just takes so much stuff when when kids are involved, uh, you know, and particularly when they're still a diaper and and crib years and bottle years. Uh we're almost through that. But uh um yeah, I would say we're we're lucky at NMC in that um we uh we have the ability to offer some kind of accommodations and and opportunities for artists to bring their families just down the street as a grocery store a block away. So it's a really conducive place for for artists to bring their families.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

And how about you as a mother? Do you find that the NMC is supportive of you if you had a Mother's Day tea or something? Is that you can take the time off to go do that?

SPEAKER_01 18:09

I really love NMC for the the ingrained culture of uh of family. And it's I would say it's very much family first. Um, you know, there's so many young kids, all the way from our CEO to many levels of the organization. There's so many kids around. And that was much different than I would say my experience at Arts Commons, just because there wasn't a lot of folks with very young kids. There was a lot of team members with much older kids, and so much different considerations on um, you know, having to deal with sick kids that, you know, that come up and you have to leave and and do appointments or whatnot, or or cover the stay at home because, you know, there's more and more rules these days about, and rightly so, about, you know, kids attending care outside the home when they're when they're ill. So we have to be super vigilant about that. But yeah, I would say NMC is incredibly flexible and dedicated to uh having us as employees have a really great work-life balance and uh appreciating that, you know, if our home life is taken care of, we can give our best at the office.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

I had a conversation with an artist the other day, a female artist, and she was talking about how sometimes you do need the men in the industry to kind of facilitate some of these things and show that it's not just it's not just a women's problem, it's not just a mother problem. And do you think that that is helpful? The fact that Andrew Mosker has children, has a family. Do you think he's part of the reason why the culture is like that there?

SPEAKER_01 19:44

I would say so, yeah. And and from my experience, many of the men colleagues on my director's teams, they're, you know, I see them very often, you know, um, leaving to take their kid to an appointment or they're all very involved in their kids' lives. And so, like I said, it's just it's throughout. And there's a lot of staff at NMC that have been there a long time. So it's not a new thing, right? It's it's been that way for a long time. And, you know, just as a culture, we'll we're all kind of treated as capable adults. And I love that because we all trust and rely on each other that we'll get our work done. And, you know, if I need to do that at nine o'clock at night because I need to duck out to take my daughter to an appointment, you know, we all pull together and, you know, emergencies and situations happen. And we all have a super supportive team that um we can step in and and help out when we need to, but we're all, you know, responsible and have such strong work ethics and passion for what we do that we ensure that we do get uh the work done around the considerations of our own lives.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

I'd like to switch gears just a little bit. I know that you are a very successful grant writer. You've written grants for your label, you've written grants for artists, you've gotten people lots of money. Have you encountered many mothers who are artists who have tried to incorporate childcare costs into their grants?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

I would say the artists that I've worked with, I've not seen that come up just with the group that I've worked with. But I know that granting organizations are more and more open to those kinds of considerations and expenses. So while I think I can count on one hand probably how many grants that I've been involved with that have included that, um, I would highly recommend it because it's it's um become a you know an a more of an industry norm and an industry trend for a reason because it's needed. So I would highly encourage artists to um to take advantage of those kind of opportunities. And sitting on grant juries, um, you know, as a mom myself, I'm always uh sensitive to that those kind of uh considerations when I see uh applications come across. Thank you. That's great advice.

SPEAKER_00 21:54

Can you tell us a little bit about the YYC Music Awards? What are they and how did you get involved?

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Yeah. So this year is the 10th anniversary. The first awards gala happened back in 2016, and that was actually at NMC. It was one of the first events that happened uh right after it opened. I actually couldn't be there. I think I was overseas with an artist at a showcase in Europe or something. But uh it was uh a special year in that they had uh one of the segments was a jazz performance where a number of the jazz nominees uh performed a song together, so that was great. And you know, from the label side, I'd been involved with it for a couple of years uh through submissions and whatnot. And I would say probably 2018 had had a conversation with the founding present president just to kind of find out about the process internally and um uh to to learn more about some of the rationale rationale. They ran it and uh what kind of considerations they had for jury and whatnot. And she was looking to retire out of it, and she was kind of keeping her eyes open for a successor. So I uh uh was asked to join the board in early 2019. And uh I'm not sure that I had any sort of uh particular role right away, but after a couple months, I was asked to kind of take over the jury process for you know once the submissions come in. So I'll just say that the submissions are open from March 1st to May 31st every year. And uh year after year, there's been new categories added for specific reasons to kind of grow the reach into the community. And so that's what I did the first year is I kind of ran that jury. So I kind of got the inside perspective on on how that was done. I brought in on a lot of my uh contacts from the music industry and artists from across Canada to increase that jury pool. Um, it ended up, I think, you know, doubling the number of jurors. And for anyone who's juried awards or grants, um, you know, it could be a time-consuming thing. Our jury members are all volunteers. So the more jurors we can get, um, you know, the closer we get to kind of law of large numbers in terms of um uh kind of consensus building in terms of the nominees. And it also kind of spreads out the categories a bit more, so it's less of a lift on each jury member as they kind of volunteer their time for us. And then we had the the last public gala before the pandemic was fall 2019. So I was involved in the planning and running of that event. And then very much within a week or two after the founding president decided, okay, at the time. And it was a small board at the time. I think there were four or five people, and they kind of decided that I would be the new president. So I stepped into that role in late 2019. And then, of course, the world shuts down in early 2020. And we still had a small board at that time. I think there were four of us that kind of went into the pandemic, and we we still really had the drive and passion to make it happen during the pandemic. And, you know, in in the early months of the pandemic, you know, we were er we were open for submissions, but nobody really knew what the pandemic would bring. And, you know, would we be able to do a live event? So we kept on as per normal until we couldn't. And we're all really proud that we were able to do two years online and to be able to continue it. The drive for us there was that musicians were still creating. So in 2020, even though we couldn't do a live event, it was recognizing and celebrating the music that had been created in 2019 primarily. And we just thought it would, you know, it would break our hearts to not be able to celebrate that music that was created and released in that year before the pandemic. And we're we're really proud that we were able to keep going. Edmonton's music awards didn't continue and still haven't continued. So, you know, we we learned some incredible new skills on basically producing an online TV show, really. Um, you know, lots of considerations around, you know, the digital technology and creating the show flow in a different way and the graphics and the music and having the presenters uh, you know, we we literally delivered envelopes that they could read the nominees and uh and open that and and um and still celebrate uh the nominees in winners that way. So we continued that uh online for two years, so 2020, 2021. After 2021, I was uh I was pregnant with our second. And uh, you know, I said to our small team, uh, I think we really need to expand this board here. I'm about to have a baby, and I think we need some more hands to spread out the work. We all volunteer our time, so we're very much a working board versus a governance board. So we recruited for specific positions, and we ended up um with a board of about nine people with experience in sponsorships and and partnerships and marketing and production and those kind of roles. Um, and uh we were able to uh start back with a live event uh in 2022. Um we moved uh venues thanks to a relationship uh that one of our board members had uh with the Great Eagle Event Center. And so we've been there since. We really look forward to you know seeing who the nominees end up this summer. And uh and then we curate the performers from that group of nominees and then we build out an amazing show for the community. And um I would say the music community has really kind of rallied behind this. People are really proud to be a part of it, to be nominated. We've really seen an amazing impact in artists' careers. You know, they go from, you know, uh a nominee and a winner of the emerging artist category to um winning international awards. The they go on from winning a YYC Music Award to um being nominated and winning a Western Canadian Music Award. They go on to Juno nominations and Juno wins. So it's an incredible platform that serves as a stepping stone in uh in a Calgary-based um artist's career.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

I love that so much. My dad and I work at the recording studio together. And that was one of the things that he used to always say that it is so weird that everybody lived in the same city, but unless you were in the same kind of pocket of music, you didn't know. Like your husband and my husband both play music professionally, but your husband is in jazz, my husband is in country. I don't think they've ever met. And it's so neat that the YYC Music Awards is kind of the one thing that brings people together regardless of what genre they typically work in.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Yeah, exactly. You're right. Calvary's music scene has been very siloed. And what we really love seeing is people will will meet at the YYC Music Awards. They'll decide to collaborate, they'll create music, they'll release music, and then they'll get nominated together the next year. So it's really a great catalyst for that um that sharing and collaboration and networking across genres in this city.

SPEAKER_00 28:54

I'm going to ask you the question that I think every parent hates to get, but I'm going to ask it anyway. So between the NMC chronograph, the YYC Music Awards, you have an incredibly full plate. How do you manage it all? That is a very good question.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Manage is an interesting word. I mean, survive is a better word. You know, my husband has a very active and demanding career as well. You know, he's he's got a, I would say, more than full-time role running now four jazz festivals, teaching at the university, recording for CKUA, and actively gigging. He's in rehearsal with the symphony right now. And so it is definitely a delicate balance. It's a dance of, it's the scheduling dance, really. I would say we're really lucky with a great support system. We lean on my parents very much. They live 15 minutes away. My mom is retired, so she's able to help out a lot with us, and we're so grateful for that. We also have a long list of babysitters that we can call on. But the key is um, yeah, scheduling and and communication. The thing that I struggle with the most is my energy and sleep. I haven't had a great, really restful sleep probably since I was five months pregnant with my first in late 2017. So that's the hardest part. And we're in we're now in a phase with our kids. Uh, we were never kind of co-sleeping parents because I'm such a light sleeper. And so when the kids were young, young, you know, they had their own spaces and we were never kind of crazy about having a video monitor, but we had an audio monitor, you know, just in case. Now they're at the point where they do want to co-sleep, and it's really sweet and really cute. And I know it won't last forever, but it is super hard because they want usually both of us around, which makes it hard when one of us is out working for an evening. Because, you know, in in the music and arts world, there's so much evenings and weekends that it really gives me a lot of respect for single moms because it is, it's it's hard when you have such a demanding uh career, low energy, crappy sleep, and these bundles of energy that that really do rely on you. So I I would say, yeah, we're we're surviving. We're not yet thriving, but we'll we'll get there once the little guy finally gives in and is potty trained and gives up the bottle and kind of they're starting to be more and more uh independent. You know, our our seven-year-old is is almost a little little mom. It's really it's really sweet. She can take good care of him and uh, you know, is now to the point of making him breakfast in the morning. It's very sweet. So we're almost through it. But uh yeah, so communication scheduling and uh and having supportive friends and family that can step in makes a really big difference.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

Did you find that motherhood shifted your professional priorities at all?

SPEAKER_01 31:41

I would say it probably opposite from many women. It gave me more of a drive to make an impact and leave a legacy and bring more beautiful things into the world for the benefit of my children and their generation. Cody and I talk a lot about legacy. And you know, I've had you know last few years, I've I've had to think a lot about why I do what I do and why, you know, Cody does what he does. And we really give a lot of ourselves to audiences, artists, community. And, you know, that's where our passion is fueled. And I think our our children see that. And that's the legacy that, you know, we're hoping to leave for them in continuing to build Calgary and Alberta's love for music right from early ages. That's why I'm so passionate about the education programs at National Music Center, even if you're not going to end up a professional musician, just to have the appreciation and love and kind of base understanding of rhythms and pitch and melody, it's just activates so much in the young brain. It's really neat to see in our young kids. They they both have some musical talent kind of genetically ingrained in them. And that doesn't come from me. It comes from Cody and his uh artistic side of the family. But, you know, our daughter started violin lessons and and piano lessons several years ago. You know, she she decided one day she wanted to try the violin, and so we went went to VA Hill, we rented a violin, and then literally we took her to the jazz jam, and she's up there on the stage with her dad just plucking away the violin. And she was probably like three or four years old. And she'd kind of been on stage with her dad a couple of times in the next six months. So it's been really neat to kind of fuel that love of of music and performance in our kids. And uh and our our son now is picking that up too. He loves to sing and dance. And, you know, I um I really believe that um, you know, if kids are kind of around that, it's just kind of starts to become part of who they are and what they love to do in life and um, you know, builds that appreciation.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

So if your kids say they want to pursue music professionally, is that something you're encouraging or is that something you're go to business school like mom?

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Okay, funny story. So my daughter tells me at eight o'clock last night, hey mom, it's career day tomorrow. I'm like, mm, really? Okay, I didn't hear that from your teacher. So I had to look it up. And yes, indeed, it was career day. And so this is eight o'clock last night. And okay, it's like, well, okay, we need to figure out uh what you can possibly wear for some sort of an outfit tomorrow. So she decides that she's gonna be a pop star. So we dressed her up as a pop star this morning for school. So we uh we did her hair in advance last night with the kind of heatless curls and she's got some sparkles on. We made her a makeshift microphone last night, so she went to school as a pop star. It that's a hard one because we know the struggle of what it takes to have a successful career in in music. We know both of our kids are uh incredibly, incredibly smart. My daughter has a strong propensity for math. You know, she coming out of kindergarten, she could do multiplication and division, which is pretty incredible at five years old. So I think, you know, for us, we want them to be happy in whatever that is, but we'll continue to kind of encourage exploring uh a number of different paths that they could possibly take. And um, you know, if she decides that she does want to end up in music, uh, you know, there there is the whole business side of music. You know, we joke that, you know, I would be quite the damn good momager, given my artist management history. But, you know, they need to learn that uh, you know, you need to support yourself somehow while you're building that career. You know, you just don't become a world famous pop star overnight. You gotta you know, work at it, practice at it. Uh my daughter's funny in that she just wants to be great at music right away. And she she's trying to learn from her dad that, you know, a practice routine and a regimen is super important and in how you get to that point of being excellent. So yeah, we'll just keep exposing them to a number of of different activities and streams of learning, and uh we'll see where they end up.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

I have a couple just quick questions for you. Uh, if we were gonna do a little manifestation moment, where do you see yourself and your family in five years?

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Oh goodness, that's a hard one. Yeah, surviving is another good word for that. Gosh, I mean my daughter will be uh early teenager. Yeah, I would say, you know, happy, healthy, you know, continuing to do what we do. Because we're in programming, we have the opportunity to do to do different things and uh not just kind of rinse and repeat everything. We get to be creative and strategic. So, and a lot of those ideas can kind of come out of nowhere or, you know, at National Music Center. It it can come from, okay, who's on tour coming through, right? It could come from who's inducted into the Hall of Fame in any given year. So the ideas and stuff can kind of spark out of nowhere. So I would say, you know, just continuing to make the impact and continuing to think outside of the box and offering interesting artistic activities for Calgarians and Southern Albertans. And um, you know, that uh, you know, as a mom, I've never thought I would develop such high anxiety about making sure my kids are happy and healthy and safe. So, you know, that's a big focus as, you know, they learn and grow in the world is helping guide them to be kind humans, making meaningful friendships, learning the skills to uh to make it in life and and be successful in whatever they want to be. So yeah, I don't know that we have any like grandiose goals of where we want to be in five years. Um, you know, long game, you know, I'd love to retire to Europe or something like that. I love Europe. Cody is born and raised Calgarian, and with his career, it's really hard for him to pick up and transplant anywhere else. So when we're at the point of where we can, you know, go spend larger chunks of time and in other places, other cultures, that's definitely something that I would love to do.

SPEAKER_00 37:57

What is one domestic task you would outsource indefinitely if you could?

SPEAKER_01 38:00

The one one domestic task that I do outsource now and that I would be really hard pressed to give up is uh we do invest in some really wonderful cleaning ladies that come in every two weeks. I hate cleaning with a passion. You know, at some points I can get the mojo and I will go into the zone, but that's not often enough, right? That's maybe once every three months. Like that's not enough to have a sanitary household with two little kids and two cats. So that's a luxury I'm really fortunate to be able to have. And I would be really hard-pressed to give that up. My other least favorite thing is folding laundry. There's a giant basket on my uh kitchen island right now that sometime today I'll have to find the uh energy drive to do that. But yeah, laundry is is very much hated around here.

SPEAKER_00 38:49

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

With so much of it, as you know.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Yes. Uh what's one thing you wish you knew before you became a mother?

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Oh gosh. I would say, you know, with social media, the algorithm keeps feeding me all these really cool mom hacks. I love watching those. I think those are fun. I would say that you can never really expect what the personality your child is gonna have. Um, you know, we went through a f a few years with my daughter where uh we we called it big feelings, right? She would have big feelings as she was growing and and learning emotionally. Like she was always pretty advanced, like intellectually, but emotionally, you know, it's taken, it's taken time and socialization and some um some work with counselors and some work with classes and stuff like that. So we're kind of in that phase right now with my three-year-old where he's learning some bad habits from our oldest. What we're seeing is both of our kids have these like natural leadership tendencies. But it's really hard as a kid when you don't have uh the social skills or the filter or the emotional intelligence on how to kind of harness that and ch and channel it. Um uh they they both have kind of pretty short patience levels. So, you know, Cody and I are still learning and growing on how to support them, how to help them, and learning more and more patients ourselves and new skills on on how to to help them through. So yeah, I I would say, you know, I wish we kind of knew that we we maybe need to just be open-minded on and they will be what they will be. I mean, the joy of having littles at this age is, you know, they they grow so much every day and every week, especially as they're learning to walk and talk. And, you know, Cody and I would go away on a conference or something for a week, and it's like we come back and the little guy has just got so many new words and it's just mind-blowing. But it's it's a joy to see how they change and grow, but it also is is a challenge if it's not what you have in your mind is the perfect path forward. I totally get that.

SPEAKER_00 40:50

You might not actually get to do this if your children are always in your bed, but what is your go-to way to unwind once they are in bed?

SPEAKER_01 40:57

These days, honestly, we are like asleep with them just because life is busy and exhausting. But on an occasional night where we get them down easy or something, I do maintain some hobbies outside music. I would say they're still artistic. I joke that I have old lady hobbies. I learned quilting from my grandmother. I still have like baby quilts that I started that need to be finished. I need to do that. But one of the things I really like to do that is much easier to pick up and put down when you need to is cross-stitch and embroidery. And uh, you know, that really is a textile art. So it's still artistic. And my dad asked me once, he's like, why do you like quilting and that kind of embroidery stuff so much? And I said, you know, there's a pattern. You follow a pattern and you can still be artistic and creative, but you don't have to think so hard. It's a really good way to unwind. It's a little bit mindless in a way. You're still creating something beautiful with your hands. Like one of the interesting things I've found after uh after kids and um, you know, over 40 now is I feel I'm getting more and more ADHD. Like I always gotta be doing something or thinking about something. So having something in my hands like that is really rewarding and can kind of help calm the mind to kind of still find something, you know, busy to do, but that kind of you can zone out a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

Beats scrolling for sure, theme's twirling all night. Last question What is one piece of advice you would give to somebody working in the music industry who wants to become a mother?

SPEAKER_01 42:25

One piece of advice. Yeah, I would say build that village, right? It very much does take a village, it does take a support system. Make sure you have a supportive partner. Um, you know, if Cody was not so involved or helpful or supportive, um, you know, around the house and with the kids, you know, I'd probably get two hours of sleep tonight uh and nobody any good, right? Doesn't do my career any good, doesn't do the kids any good, doesn't do, you know, my physical and mental health. So my advice is it starts a lot with discussions and understanding with your partner. I do a lot of the heavy lifting on the financial side of our household management, right? Like just have a propensity for numbers. And he's a creative and he works from home during the day. And, you know, I spend more than an hour commuting every day. So, you know, he's in charge of making lunches and he's in charge of making dinner. And um, you know, typically he's taking care of laundry and that kind of stuff when he's not playing with the symphony. But it really makes a big difference if you have that that that partner who isn't caught up in traditional gender roles, right? It is a partnership. I know one of the points that you had sent me the other day was about mental load. And I would say that, you know, for for a mom, there's a lot of mental load that happens, and that is exhausting in itself. So, in a way, you know, prep prepare yourself and your your relationship and um and your situation with conversations and and kind of understanding and communication between each other on what the new life is gonna look like. Because it takes two parents to make a family and it should take two parents to raise a family. And if not, then that's where you know the support system comes in with friends and family and grandparents and babysitters and whatnot.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

So um thank you so much for your time. I really enjoyed this conversation. Thank you, Megan. That's been great.