Joyce Shulman, founder and CEO of Macaroni Kid, reaches millions of moms each month with hyper-local and national e-newsletters and websites. Having created a one-of-a-kind digital platform, she connects families to the wonders of their own communities. In addition, Joyce writes and consults often on beating burnout, simplifying your life and the importance of moms taking care of themselves.
Macaroni Kid is the largest source of family events and activities in the Country serving more than 5000 communities in 47 states and reaching more than 2,800,000 families each month. She calls Macaroni Kid’s mission E2: Empowering Moms and Enriching Communities.
The businesses success is driven by the 550+ “mompreneurs” who publish Macaroni Kid in their hometowns. Joyce has guided housewives, school teachers and even MBA’s to success with their own local Macaroni Kid editions. Joyce shares how moms need to think about “taking care of mama bear” and avoid the “martyr mom syndrome”. Her experience in business and leading mompreneurs makes her a coveted speaker at leading mom conferences around the country where she speaks about beating burnout, fueling creativity, goal crushing and more.
She received her Bachelors in Business Management from the University of Maryland and her Juris Doctor, Cum Laude, from St. John’s University School of Law. After law school, Joyce spent more than a dozen years as a New York City lawyer where her practice focused on complex commercial litigation.
A self-confessed idea junkie, in 1998, Joyce abandoned law firm life to liberate her entrepreneurial spirit and focus on the things that are most important to her: family, community and her dogs.
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Sneak Peek Into What You’ll Learn…
2:58 – Joyce tells use why she started her now wildly successful company, Macaroni Kid, which reaches nearly 3 million families monthly through its websites and email newsletters.
6:53 – Joyce provides insight and concrete advice about what she and her husband needed to have in place in order to start Macaroni Kid.
7:40 – How did Joyce make the leap from her role at a law firm to being an entrepreneur?
11:12 – Joyce shares how the introduction of children affected the way she and her husband built their companies.
15:36 – Joyce discusses the challenges of starting Macaroni Kid while also raising two young children. She outlines specific advice for world-be entrepreneurs who also have children.
18:43 – How did Macaroni Kid scale to where it is now, reaching nearly 3 million families per month?
21:06 – Joyce discusses prioritizing personal and professional relationships and the challenges of deciding how to best allocate your time.
25:44 – Joyce shares how she integrates her personal, business, and family lives. She dives into how she creates balance, and the steps she takes to recoup her energy.
30:17 – What is the Martyr Mom Syndrome? Joyce explains how the messages moms receive teaches them to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their careers and family. Joyce is on a mission to support mothers in combating this syndrome and prioritizing taking better care of themselves.
35:08 – Joyce describes the three actions we can all start taking to help moms find more balance.
36:31 – Brass Tacks: The lightning round of concrete advice and tips
Quotable quotes:
“Having children and…being on an entrepreneurial path…definitely requires you to tap into every balancing skills, every tactic you can possibly come up with…”
“…in fact, sacrificing everything for your children is not even good for them…”
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