Mother’s Day Collection interview with Lianne Cawley
Photo by Andrea Hanki Photography
Getting to know Lianne
Creative Director/Graphic Designer/Owner of Lianne Charlene Creative
FW: Give us a glimpse into your career and how it looked in the years leading up to the pandemic?
Lianne: I always had a love for art and design. When I graduated high school, I wanted to become a fashion designer. While I loved the drawing and design aspect of it, fashion wasn’t the path for me as I couldn’t sew a garment to save my life! Instead, I decided to go into general arts at the University of Alberta while I figured out my career path. For two years, I studied psychology and took a few art & design classes here and there. I fell in love with it and decided to apply to design schools. Ultimately, I ended up going to school in Toronto to get my Bachelor of Design at OCAD University. I got my first design job in my last year of school in 2008. I then moved back to Edmonton after graduation and worked as an in-house designer; focused mainly on corporate branding and acquisitions. In my last job, before I went freelance, I worked at a boutique agency and really got the feel for working with a variety of clients. At the time, I had also been freelancing for a lifestyle magazine. It started to take over my personal life so I made the move to full-time freelance and started Lianne Charlene Creative. I’ve now had my business for almost 6 years and haven’t regretted it once. I was in a studio office on Whyte Ave but decided to move it back home when I became pregnant with my son Remi. I always thought it would be great to be at home with my kids and to be able to freelance at the same time. I think I was delusional and naïve on how it would all work out haha.
Today, the studio works mainly on branding, illustration, print & web design. We’re a small team and I intend to keep it that way as I would never want to give up my passion for design work just to project manage. I work hard to maintain a work/life balance but it doesn’t always work out that way. I love what I do so it often spills into my personal life through my side passion projects like The Branded Good(s). (Funny how my past love for fashion & apparel has made its way back into my life!)
FW: Can you summarize what your journey into motherhood looked like ?
Lianne: When I was younger I always thought I would have a family. As I began working, that slowly started to change. Early in my career, I became very career-driven and there was a point in my life where I didn’t think I wanted kids. I had come out of a long-term relationship that ended for many reasons; one of them being because I wasn’t ready to start a family. At the same time, a lot of my friends were having kids and I remember feeling a disconnect. I didn’t know how to act around their kids and felt uncomfortable around them. It wasn’t until I met my husband and started freelancing when the idea of a family grew on me.
When I was pregnant, I went to friends and family for advice and tried to prepare my business for this big change in my life. I didn’t really form a connection with my son in the womb because I had spent most of my pregnancy working and worrying about how I would manage work after his birth. I still remember working up until 1 week before he was born. (My original plan was to stop working a month before his due date!) On June 11, 2019 Remi was born one week early. I had just barely finished working and I had only taken two months off of work for fear that my business wouldn’t be able to survive longer. I remember feeling torn. On one hand I had this tiny new human in my life that I couldn’t imagine life without. And on the other hand, I had my other baby, my business that I had spent so much time growing and building; it too still needed my time and attention. I was having an identity crisis, sorting out whether I was a mother or a business owner and I didn’t know if it was possible to be both.
FW: What does your current work/life situation look like balancing roles of mother and designer?
Lianne: Remi is now almost two and currently in daycare full time so I am able to focus on my business full time. It wasn’t an easy decision as I had dreamed of being at home with my kids. However, I quickly learned that as kids grow, it becomes harder and harder to split your attention (especially when they are mobile!). I also found that my mental health was declining and that my work was something that really “filled my cup”. When I started devoting more hours to work, we decided to hire a nanny to watch Remi out of our home. We thought this was the best compromise so I could still be near him. We went through a few nannies and realized they were not as reliable as we thought (especially during Covid). We then made the decision to put him into daycare which has proven to be a lot more reliable and he gets the socialization aspect. I miss Remi every day but I think I am a better mother for him now. My attention isn’t split and I can truly be there for him when he is home.
FW: What inspired your Mother’s Day graphic?
Lianne: Even though I have Remi in daycare, my days are incredibly busy. Every hour of the day is accounted for. Being able to sit and drink an entire cup of coffee alone is a luxury as a working mother. Life gets incredibly busy and sometimes the sacrifice is a warm cup of coffee haha.
I also wanted to bring a little lightness to the conversation. Covid has no doubt made life more challenging and unpredictable. Couple that with parenthood and you’ll find life to be 10,000 times more emotionally taxing and stressful. But with everything going on in the world, we’ve been able to stay positive by making light of our situation. At home, my husband and I crack jokes a lot and are quite sarcastic. We find that the more we laugh, the more we’re able to get through these tough times.
Parenting through the pandemic
FW: What does a typical day for you look like right now?
Lianne: I wake up at 5am to eat breakfast and get a workout in. This is literally the only time I have for myself so I’m happy to wake up at the crack of dawn for it haha. I then get ready, get Remi up, fed and dressed and drive him to daycare for 8am. I come home for my team meet at 8:30am (either online or in-person depending on covid). I work until 5pm. (The daily “work” consists of answering emails, client zoum meetings, project managing and some design work.) My partner comes home with Remi and we make dinner. We spend a little quality time with our son (usually a walk/bike ride, colouring and sometimes a dance party. We love our living room dance parties haha!). We then get him ready for bed for 7:30pm. We have about 1-2 hours of free time which is usually spent cleaning, watching a tv show or if work is really busy, working (although I try not to make this a habit). We go to bed at 9pm and do the same thing for the rest of the week. The weekends are our days with Remi when we go for walks/adventures and spend the entire day with him. My life is always busy but it works and we make the most of our time together as a family.
FW: What are the best and worst pieces of advice you’ve gotten as a working mother?
Lianne: I remember when I was pregnant, I was told by many that I would have to sacrifice my career and that I would never be able to manage it all; that at some point, I would have to choose between work or family. I was even told that I may not want to work at all and that becoming a mother would be fulfilling enough in itself. The best advice I was given? Don’t listen to that advice haha. Go with your gut and do what’s best for you and your family. Even though there are challenges and sacrifices to being a working mother, it’s still 100% possible.
I was also told to be patient with myself and my son Remi. There are going to be frustrations as he grows but we are in it together. Now that he’s almost two, there are some challenges with temper tantrums and communication. Remi is learning his words but can’t fully communicate or understand his emotions just yet. It can be tough when my partner and I have both had a full day of work and a busy schedule. It takes extra work (and a lot of deep breathing) to be patient with a toddler but I always have to remember that we’re both learning (about motherhood and about the world) and that I need to be patient with myself and him.
FW: How have you managed balancing your workload in a time when childcare has been sometimes unavailable or sporadic?
Lianne: It has been a challenge to say the least. My partner and I have had to REALLY communicate and work together to ensure we’re working as a team. If Remi is home for any reason related to the pandemic, we have to think on our feet and rearrange our schedules so that we can be at home for him. My partner and I take shifts to make sure our attention isn’t divided. Sometimes that also means working in the evening or weekend to catch up. Luckily we both have understanding colleagues and clients that that hasn’t happened much.
FW: What supports and/or resources have made it possible for you to take on both career and child-rearing responsibilities?
Lianne: We’re very lucky to have family who live in town. When health measures aren’t as strict, we heavily rely on family to be there for us and Remi when we need them. I remember in Remi’s first few months, my parents would come over just to watch Remi for a couple of hours while I drafted up some emails. My sister-in-law already has 4 kids and last summer (when childcare was very unpredictable) they would take Remi for the afternoon so I could work. It’s small things like that that make it possible for me to be a working mother.
My husband also plays a BIG role. He has a very demanding job but we firmly believe in having equal responsibilities as partners and parents. When he cooks, I clean, etc. If Remi is home from daycare, it is up to BOTH of us to make it work.
Finally, childcare is a major support in making all of this work. The daycare we’ve chosen is amazing. Remi is learning so much, gets better meals than he would at home, tons of outdoor and craft time and he is socializing with other kids his age. They’ve made it easy for us and we’ve never second guessed our decision.
FW: What have been some of the biggest challenges or changes to your work life since the start of the pandemic?
Lianne: The biggest challenge is the unpredictability of the pandemic. We never know when Remi will be sent home, when there will be a covid scare, when we’ll have to get tested, or take the day off of work, etc. As a result, we’ve had to adjust our schedules; that means longer timelines on my end so I have more flexibility when something unpredictable happens.
With my team, it has been a rollercoaster. We’ve had to be conscious of protective health measures when working in person and adjust to a different style of collaboration when working remotely. Leading a new team from afar isn’t ideal especially while I’m still learning as a Creative Director.
FW: Has the pandemic impacted how you parent your child/ren?
Lianne: Prior to the pandemic, we were very busy people. We would see friends and family ALL OF THE TIME. We always wanted to be those parents that had “adaptable” children. Remi would nap at our friends places and he had grown accustomed to seeing people on a regular basis. We had also traveled a lot and really tried to ensure that Remi could eat, sleep, and play anywhere, no matter where we were in the world.
With the pandemic, because we aren’t able see people or travel, we spend a lot of time at home. Remi has gotten used to only seeing us or his daycare friends. Even as parents, we’ve gotten used to our “routine” because it has been our normal for over a year. Our fear now as we start to reopen the world, is that we and Remi won’t be as adaptable. On the plus side, we spend a lot more quality time with Remi than we normally would. Without friends and travel, we find ways to make ourselves laugh and to keep the environment positive. We spend a lot of time outdoors with him and goofing around. We also have more time to teach him different skillsets and activities and he has become quite the little helper because of it.
FW: How have the demands of motherhood impacted your career?
Lianne: My priorities have changed. I used to work at all hours of the day because my business was my baby. Becoming a mother has forced boundaries to keep my personal and work life separate. As hard as it may be with the unpredictability of covid, I still try to maintain this so that I can be fully present with Remi outside of work hours. Sometimes this means saying no to demanding projects or clients. At this point in my life, I’m ok with that because I really only want to work the people that can respect that and I’d rather be 100% present for Remi when he needs me.
FW: Have you formed a personal motto or philosophy surrounding your recent experiences?
Lianne: Don’t sweat the small stuff and do what’s best for YOUR family. In the beginning, I was always stressed out about balancing my career and trying to do it all. I was worried about the pressures of society and what makes a “good” mom. Now after a couple of years and a pandemic, I think I’ve finally found the balance of what works for me. I know I am not the same person without my career. I also know that I am a mother and that I need to be there for my family. The only way to be the best mother I can be, is to ensure that I’m happy as well. This means having a career with a good work/life balance so that I can be fully present when I am around my family. After all, we don’t get to redo memories and milestones with our children so we better take advantage of the time we have now.
FW: Has the pandemic positively impacted your career/life in any way?
Lianne: The pandemic has forced me to slow down and take a look at the work I’m doing. I don’t need to take on every single project. I’ve become more selective in choosing the work that fills my cup and that makes me happy. I’ve taken on more passion projects as a result of this and it shows in the quality of my work.
It has also forced me to enjoy the simplicities in life. We don’t always need to be out and about and traveling and experiencing new things all of the time. Sometimes just hangin’ out in the backyard with my family is all I need.
FW: If you had to pick, what would be the biggest thing mothering through the pandemic has changed your perspective on?
Lianne: Life isn’t organized and can’t be planned every step of the way. There’s always going to be curve balls and we need to learn to adapt and find light in every situation. This has in turn affected how we want to raise Remi. The pandemic has brought out the worst in people and our hope is to raise him to be kind, positive, and to learn to overcome obstacles with grace.
Check out Lianne’s apparel + print contributions to our Mother’s Day Collection with The Branded Good!
