Meet Local Mom Kerri Patt, a Time Management and Wellness Coach who shares how to balance work life with family life as creator and host of the podcast, Mom Wife Career Life.
Name Kerri Patt
Company name Mom Wife Career Life
Family (names/ages) Russ (husband), Ashley (15), Kaylee (13), Michael (10) & our Goldendoodle, Brodie (4)
Job Title Podcaster and Time Management & Wellness Coach
Contact info momwifecareerlife.com,
@mom.wife.career.life, momwifecareerlife@gmail.com
How long have you lived here and what brought you to town?
We have lived in Cranford for 7 years. I was born and raised in Queens and my husband Russ grew up in Maryland. We met in college and both moved to Staten Island after we graduated, to live near my parents and siblings. I’m very close to my family and we all lived within 2 blocks of each other. We knew we wanted to make the move to NJ and narrowed our search down to a few towns. I have a good friend who lives in Cranford and she invited us over to check out the town during the scarecrow stroll and brought us to lunch at Kilkenny’s right after. I fell in love with Cranford right away. The quaint feel of Cranford and the ability to walk everywhere in town was a huge draw! My mom and my brother now live in Cranford too and my sister is a 15-minute drive away!
What are your favorite family activities?
Spending quality time as a family is high on my priority list! Especially since my oldest is now a sophomore in high school and I know the next 3 years are going to fly by. Our favorite activities change as the kids get older, but recently we have taught the kids poker and love to play as a family. We also love family movie night and are currently working through the Avengers movie series. Day trips to the shore are another favorite, and in general, we love to travel. This past year, one of my goals was to push through my fears and my family has been supporting and encouraging me to do just that. Besides the fear and self-limiting beliefs in starting a podcast, I have a fear of heights and I’m always afraid of my kids getting hurt. We were blessed to be able to take a few vacations this year and on each one, we did something adventurous. In Mexico, we visited the cenotes (highly recommend) and they got me to jump off a 20 ft cliff into a river. In Colorado, they got me to do white water rafting and in Lake Placid they got me to do zip lining. We’ve made some amazing memories and I hope that I’m teaching them to never let your fears hold you back in life! A lesson I didn’t learn until I was 40!
What’s your favorite restaurant and/or place to shop?
We are so lucky to have so many great restaurants in our area. Our favorite go to date spot is Sweet Waters Steakhouse in Westfield. They make an amazing banana foster martini! As a family, our go to spot is Thirsty Turtle in Cranford. I love their jerk chicken wings and salmon tacos and the kids love their mac and cheese. Added bonus, their kids’ meals come with a free dessert!
What was the best advice on motherhood that you ever received?
I used to be a perfectionist. I wanted everything to be Pinterest perfect. I love hosting and throwing parties and I usually go all out with a theme. I forget what party I was planning, but I was stressing out over all the things I needed to get done to make the party perfect and I was talking it through with my Life Coach. It’s not so much the advice she gave, it’s the question that she posed, “Stop and think, years from now, what do you want to remember about this event? What do you want your kids to remember about this event?” Those 2 simple questions seriously changed my entire mindset and had a big impact on how I now view life. I don’t want to look back at events in my life and remember that I was stressed, or remember all the things that didn’t go right and I definitely don’t want my kids to remember that parties were always hectic. I want to look back and remember having a great time and seeing my kids smile and people laughing. I think we are all a little guilty when we plan something like a party or a vacation, we picture this perfect scenario in our head of how it’s going to go and when the event comes and it’s not going how we pictured, it can affect our mood. If you’re a perfectionist, it can totally set you off. I now consider myself a recovering perfectionist and my advice to moms is stop trying to make things what you pictured them to be or built them up to be in your head. Just let them be what they are. I’ve learned that what they are sometimes ends up being better than anything you imagined it to be.
Tell us about your job or passion.
My passion is helping overwhelmed stressed out moms find balance in their lives. Up until my oldest was 8, I worked as a property manager in Manhattan. I would work long hours and was on call 24/7. I’m also the type that wants to be involved in everything. I’m always a class parent, was on the PTA, I’m a Girl Scout troop leader, and involved in a lot of charity and community work. I spent years figuring out how to be more efficient and organized so I could still do all the things, but not at the expense of losing quality time with my family. That is where Mom Wife Career Life was born. I started my podcast and coaching business to help stressed out moms create balance in their life by implementing healthy habits, organizing their home and their schedule, and setting healthy boundaries. I teach moms how to take control of their time, how to say no, how to be more present in the moment, and most importantly how to start putting their needs first because no one can pour from an empty cup. My podcast episodes are filled with quick easy to implement tips to help you do just that! Starting a podcast was very intimidating. We all have those self-limiting beliefs, but I pushed through those fears and in just 3 months of being live I now rank 1.5% globally! I’ve connected with moms around the world and it’s just been such an amazing experience so far! I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me!
What inspired you to follow this career?
It’s really hard being a working mom. We have our day jobs (or night jobs) but still have to manage the house, the calendar, the laundry, the doctor appointments, school, after school activities and somehow fit meals in there! I’m also the type that wants to be involved in everything. For working moms, trying to do all the things can be overwhelming and exhausting, but it doesn’t have to be. I spent years reading blogs, reading books, trying to figure out how to be more efficient, more organized, trying new things. I did a lot of mindset and perspective work along the way and have been able to come to a point where I truly feel I have work life balance. I still work a full-time corporate job, still do all the volunteer work and started my podcast and coaching business on the side. I’m proof that with the right tools and the right mindset you can do all the things!
Where to find me:
My podcast, Mom Wife Career Life, is available on all podcast apps. If you are interested in Time Management and/or Wellness coaching, you can check out my website www.momwifecareerlife.com. I also have a free Facebook community where I post extra tips and tricks, and now through the end of the year members have a chance to win free coaching sessions, so check it out! All the links are available on my website. If you just want to connect or have a topic you want me to cover on the show, you can email me at support@momwifecareerlife.com! If you do listen to the podcast, I would love for you to leave me a written review! It would go a long way in helping me grow the show!
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