I started creating Josie Maran Cosmetics when I was pregnant with my older daughter, Rumi Joon. When Rumi was born I was still the face of Maybelline Cosmetics, which meant I was flying all over the globe with my baby daughter in my lap, changing diapers on 14-hour flights and breastfeeding on photo shoot sets. It was challenging at times, doing both of my jobs at the same time, but Rumi and I bonded that way. She was a great world traveler at three months old and now she’s a great world traveler at eight. I loved knowing she was growing up seeing her mom balancing work and motherhood and knowing she was watching me live my dreams.
Now that I have two daughters, motherhood is more of a juggling act. But over the years I’ve learned that taking care of myself is actually the most important part of the balancing act. When I’m whole I can give so much more to my girls and to my work. I have a good self-care practice — mediation, journaling, exercise, and reading. My girls often join me in these practices and it has become an important ritual for us to learn how to give as much to ourselves as we do to others. Balance makes us whole.
I’m a big believer in the idea that the best way to make the world a better place is to create opportunity, freedom, and self-efficacy for women everywhere. Women are at the heart of their families, communities, and countries. That’s why it’s so important to me that my daughters are growing up watching their mom empowering herself, making her dreams come true — which is the best way to teach them that they can do the same thing.
