From Google to the NFL: A Woman Who Changed the Game

[00:00:00] Kevin Rice: Welcome to CEOs and ABCs. Real stories from execs who lead at work and show up at home. Career moves, parenting, wins and fails, and everything in between. I’m your host, Kevin Rice. Here’s today’s episode. Today’s guest is someone who spent over 25 years at the intersection of media, entertainment and technology. She’s had leading roles at Twitter, Google, YouTube, and now works as the Chief Commercial Officer of the LA Rams. She’s led the the team’s incredible transformation, commercially driving groundbreaking campaigns in stadium activations and immersive digital experiences.

Under her leadership, the Rams have delivered nearly 150 million in partner revenue during the 23 and 24 season.

She’s a champion for diversity. Jen’s helped build a front office with over 50% women and regularly speaks on creating inclusive opportunities in sports and in tech.

Not only does Jen lead in her boardroom, but also at home. As a mother to three daughters and wife to her husband, Jen leads by example, inspiring her daughters to follow their dreams and work hard to achieve their goals.

In this conversation, we’ll go off the field to talk about balancing career, family, life, empowering and inspiring those around you, creating a legacy through giving back and raising three daughters while leading at the forefront of her industry.

My guest today is Jen Prince. Jen, thank you so much for being here.

[00:01:26] Jen Prince: Thank you, Kevin, for having me honored.

[00:01:29] Kevin Rice: I was thinking back when we met at the Patau Summit a few months ago. I had already been kind of thinking about this idea of the podcast, but truly our conversation, I think we spent 30 minutes just talking about our families.

That, along with a few other conversations, were the final nudge for me to. To get this going. Right after I got back is when I started the project. And a couple months later, here we are. We’ve got three episodes, live and recording every week.

[00:01:59] Jen Prince: Wonderful.

[00:01:59] Kevin Rice: So thank you for being a bit of an inspiration for me.

[00:02:03] Jen Prince: Of course. So glad to help you launch this platform and get these conversations out into the world.

[00:02:09] Kevin Rice: I know you by reputation. You are at tons of events, speaking, you’ve had this incredible career at, I can’t call it X, But Twitter, Google, YouTube, and now you’re the Chief Commercial Officer of the LA Rams.

Looking back, what pivotal moments or choices most shaped your career path and where you are today? And then how did your career line up with your family life? Were there any pivotal moments in your family life happening at the same time as your career?

[00:02:42] Jen Prince: Great question. To kick us off, I have three daughters, they’re teenagers, and I’ve always been into my Career and working our industry, making incredible connections and trying to drive and build those relationships over time. Because so much about doing business is enjoying who you work with and getting to know them at every level. Just like this podcast, before having children, I really was like eating up the industry at networking events and had a little more time not to worry about the work life balance yet of course needed to focus on me and yoga and doing all the things and seeing family.

Then once having children, I’ve had these incredible roles and for me it was about driving impact and feeling that impact. And so what I learned as I was at Google, twice, a startup in between helping build, then going to Twitter pre IPO when they were still growing, even though they weren’t a small company, then into what they then became after going public and becoming profitable and having a really great ride.

And I think for me, when I had these three children, so I had a child and then within two years had identical girls. So I have one girl two years later, not even identical girls. So a fun party line is I had three children under the age of two only for nine days. But it’s a great line. And once I had my kids and I was leaving to go to work, you know, a notable moment was leaving on a business trip early morning, my oldest daughter, who was a three at the time, in her big girl bed, right, transitioned out of a crib. And I see her looking through her window shades, crying, watching her mom go into a car to get driven to the airport to go on a business trip.

And this was now 14ish years ago. And I remember that moment of if I am going to continue having my career while being a mom, which I support and think every woman should do, I needed to know that in my job, I felt my impact. So even though I loved Google, all the people, the mission, the multiple teams I was on, the two times I was there, I felt like at that time, moving to Twitter was a pivotal moment where I said, you know, what if I’m gonna leave these three girls? Because at that time it was these three girls and they were all, you know, young but somewhat aware. I wanted to make sure that I was leaving to have impact and, or feel my impact differently. So moving to Twitter, smaller company, getting to rise up into a role where most of my peers, all of my peers were men and getting to really thrive as this female leader within ad sales and revenue, driving a team, but also driving this notion for other women of like, you can do it, you can have kids, you can be in leadership roles and you could do it all. And then at home, finding that when I was leaving my girls and she was fine, minutes later. Right. And my husband comforted her. But if they now see me go to work, they come all, since they were really young, come to the office, they see mom in action.

They’ve come to conferences with me. They’ve seen me speaking on stages. They all came to the commencement address I delivered last June at UC Santa Barbara, my alma mater, almost 30 years to the day. So all of this is just important to know that I feel my impact. I wanted to go to a smaller company where I was a bigger fish in a smaller pond, leaving work every day knowing, like, I accomplished something. And for me, that was the right company move. It was that pivotal moment with my children reacting the way they did, making me realize what was important to me, and then the rest is history. I just have carried on in multiple roles, and I really love what I do. They feel that. They see that. And then I just really cherish not only what my career means to me as my Persona, but also, of course, as a parent, as a wife, as daughter, as a sister, and everything else, and just applying kind of all of it to not just personal life, but to work life as well.

[00:07:00] Kevin Rice: Yeah, there’s like a dozen thing topics that I want to click in on there with you, but that moment of seeing your daughter looking at you through the window, I’ve had a lot of moments like that where it made me rethink how I was going to show up at home and at work. And the parental guilt that I imagine a lot of people feel when they leave their kids behind. I certainly did. Is really powerful.

And one of the ways that I’ve tried to bring my work and my life together is bring my kids on a lot of the trips. So when we were at the Patel Summit together, I had the kids there, and it meant that I missed probably 50% of the conference. But instead of, like, thinking about what I was missing out on, because there were certainly some speakers that I wanted to see and I wasn’t able to, and a few panels that I missed, I was able to, like, really relish in the feeling of. This is amazing. Being able to bring my kids here, spend time with them at the pool. They were wild and crazy, so everybody heard them. And then also be able to show up in a career event that was also very meaningful and purposeful, where I met people like you and others that were really inspiring for me.

[00:08:05] Jen Prince: I love the balance. I just got back from a work trip last Night where I brought two of my three girls on that work trip.

[00:08:12] Kevin Rice: So I was going to ask you, do they get to come to the field? Do they get to come participate? Like how, how have you been able to blend, know, bring your worlds together?

[00:08:21] Jen Prince: Yeah. So the good news is football is family, football is fun, football is more than football.

And so it’s really encouraged when you work at a team, you get tickets so that when you’re working at all those home games, your family gets to be there. And so my family comes to literally almost every game. Right. Maybe one a season they can’t go to for some reason. And so they’re there. And even though I am running around that stadium seeing clients and partners and doing all the things, I make sure to see them to not only pop into their seats, right, and just sit with them for a second, but giving them hugs and taking a quick photo and making sure I’m checking out their game day fits and their outfits and how they’re showing up because they are really into it. And they do get to come to not only games, but for example, two of them came to training camp last week. Two of them came on this trip that I just went to, to the east coast.

And then one came to a sports conference with me when I was only months into the job and had to speak on stage and tell the ram story for one of the first times coming from Twitter. Nine years to tell that RAM story.

And you know, they get to see me a little stressed the morning I’m on stage or how you need to get dolled up a little differently to be on screen, whatever that might feel like and feel the energy of it all. And then even when I worked at Google, I remember Avery was tiny and came to, you know, bring your kids to work day Twitter, bring your kids to work day. I even flew up to San Francisco and had, I think my oldest at the time there. So over the years there have been so many moments. And I think I’ve worked for incredible companies that encourage bringing your families, letting your family see, feel, be a part of what it is. We spend more time, as we know, at work with people we work with than we do with our families.

So for me to know the ins and outs of my team, people on my team, for example, yesterday someone on my team just had a baby, Callum, cutest name. So we celebrate, we make a big deal about any kind of life stage moments in time. We celebrate them in our all hands meetings. And so it’s all important. So yes, the kids do get to Come. And I love that you brought them to Georgia to Patow. And, you know, I look forward to as they get older, because now they’re teenagers. Right. They can come and I don’t have to be all over them. They have the independence and the confidence and the wherewithal to be walking through hotels by themselves. And so I think it’s going to get even more fun and they’ll get to understand a little bit more as they get older, the meaning of work and the meaning of work and family and striking that balance.

[00:11:02] Kevin Rice: Yeah. And the purpose behind it. And I’m sure it’s incredibly inspiring for your daughters to see you in this position and in this light. They might not totally grasp it today, but you’re planting seeds that when they are not that much older, but a handful of years older, they’re going to look back and be like, wow, that was really foundational for me, seeing my mom excelling in her career in whatever they choose to do. So that’s beautiful.

[00:11:26] Jen Prince: Yeah. And I saw my mom in that same instance growing up, always working. Right. And so that inspired me and then got a job at a young age, 15, as soon as I was allowed to work and make a little paycheck.

Right. So I was always excited by work, excited by making my own money and being able to learn how to save and give back and donate and what to spend and having that extra money, you know, where I needed it.

[00:11:51] Kevin Rice: Yeah. My son Levi, who’s 9, has a juice stand outside of our house. And it started with a table and a press, and now it’s like over the weekend we built a pretty elaborate juice stand.

He helped me cut the wood, he drilled it, he painted it, he put, he made the sign. It’s pretty fantastic. But he’s made easily over $500.

And what’s really cool about that is it was just a fun little project because he wanted to get some money for building Legos. But we’ve literally had conversations about revenue versus cost of goods sold and profit. And when he wanted to build a new standard, I paid for some of it, but I made him reinvest some of his profit into it. And so he’s learning about, I’m literally using words like capital investments versus opex. And he’s learning, you know, really career level terminology as a, as a kid. And it’s not that he really needs to learn these terms, but it’s just he’s learning about the value of money and he’s learning about work ethic and he’s learning about customer Service and just being more outgoing as people walk down the street. So it’s really fun to see. My first job was probably around 15 as well. Working at a pizza place or a lifeguard.

[00:13:08] Jen Prince: Yes.

[00:13:08] Kevin Rice: But yeah, it’s been fun to like have them see these values at a young age.

[00:13:15] Jen Prince: I think he needs to make that juice stand a thing and then sell franchises or give other children ideas and have it connected to a charity of his choice or their choices.

[00:13:26] Kevin Rice: He’s already brought up a charity idea, which I is really special for me because he knows that it’s important to give back to others. So he’s brought up charity, he’s brought up coupons. He caught on to the fact that the fruit we get is from my partner’s house and it’s organic. So he’s like, dad, I could call this organic.

[00:13:44] Jen Prince: Yes, you can, but then you can raise the price.

[00:13:48] Kevin Rice: Right?

[00:13:49] Jen Prince: I love it. So good.

[00:13:51] Kevin Rice: So, Jen, actually I was reading an article where you were quoted talking about how you’ve kind of done it all. You’ve been in media, both selling, buying, you’ve been in startups, you’ve been in enterprise, and there’s no real recipe for success.

The only thing constant is change. And that actually sounds a lot like parenting to me. So I’m curious, how is your thinking about success in your career aligned or different than success as a parent, knowing that it’s constantly changing?

[00:14:22] Jen Prince: Yeah. So, you know, I happen to be someone who feeds on change. Like, I think change brings opportunity.

So whenever I’ve been within a company, if there’s ever like some form of change or someone leaves or there’s some, you know, kind of step change within the company. I. I actually get like this little adrenaline rush. So I happen to like restructures. I like when reorgs happen, which is not very normal or common to actually want that.

And so for me, I think that, yeah, my resume has this through line, but I have been in all different types of businesses. And now later in my career, I remember I was years at Twitter and I said to my boss, if I’m going to stick around and continue investing in Twitter, in me working here, I’m going to also have to diversify some of my thinking, my learning.

And so they were very supportive of me joining a board. I joined my first board when I was there, then came here and joined two more boards. Right. And there’s a little bit of change there. And I invest in businesses here and there and I advise. And I have a VC firm who says, you know, as soon as you have more time, we’d love for you to be a scout.

There’s so much opportunity. And I would say with. With parenting, you can never get used to any one stage of where your children are. So, like, right now, I’m in the teenage years. I’ve got three. Three females in the teenage years.

I’ve got a lot of Sephora and social media and boys and all these things that have come in. Whereas when I think back, it was keeping them happy, healthy, safe. So we would go on bike rides and I would yell, car. And it was like this guttural car, like, get to the side now. And safety was always my thing. Whereas my husband was more like, let’s go on a bike ride. Teaching them how not to make a perfect left turn with looking both ways, even though, God bless him, they never got hurt. He was more fun to ride with. I was the one yelling, car. Get over. I was in the back. And so I just think about, like, all the stages of parenting and where the children are, and I think it’s so aligned with business. And when you are building a business or growing a business or developing a business or maturing a business, which I’ve been a part of, all of that, right? There’s just different stages. So I hit my four years at the Rams in December. I think my first year was so different than the second year and the composition of the team and the way people have now developed. Almost four years in, we’re at a whole other place, and now the rhythm is a little bit different, yet we’ve matured, and we are doing such interesting, complex deals. And earlier it was more traditional sports deals, and let’s kind of master that.

So I do look at parenting and then business and these stages and how you can never get used to just one stage, and then you can later figure out with your inside of yourself, like, where do you thrive? But if I was always building and then leaving, then going somewhere else and building and then leaving, you kind of miss on, like, watching it come to fruition or watching something develop just like a child. So right now, the lessons are more about being smart, being safe, how to watch time management with my children who are teenagers. And before, it was like a whole other set of lessons, which is just like, don’t hit your head when you’re starting to learn how to walk or.

Right, make sure you’re finishing your bottle. Like, just such different topics. So I think that’s how I look at the world and look at the difference between yet the alignment between Business and parenting and where that kind of matches up.

[00:18:09] Kevin Rice: Sure, sure. You mentioned some of the lessons that you’re sharing with them. What about values? What values do you lead with at work and do you have similar or different values at home?

[00:18:21] Jen Prince: Yeah. So the values at work. And we have this kind of value wheel that my team lives by. My leadership team got together years ago and we created all the things that we thought were important for our business, which is make sure you’re sharing information or keeping it simple or celebrating the wins.

All of these things. Right. We’re having healthy conversations, which means harder conversations with each other. So it’s kind of this flywheel. I’ll show it to you.

Right. And these are the guiding values of our team. We created these together. And this is on everyone’s desk.

So what this means is at work, we’ve really needed to try to create more collaboration. Everyone’s in it to get that promotion and do all of the things, yet we need to make sure that we’re delivering and not only within the team, but also cross functionally. So that’s at work. Right. And football is fun, yet we need to make sure that we are delivering on our revenue goals and the values of our team, which is partnering with purpose and not just a logo slap and all of those things at home. We’ve always had values with, like as a family and within the five of us, for example, we go by the name of kind of cheesy, but Team Prince. Right. So our emails Team Prince 5, because there’s five of us. Or our license plate is Team P5 or whatever that means. So we’ve always looked at ourselves as a team.

[00:19:49] Kevin Rice: Yeah.

[00:19:49] Jen Prince: And with that comes a lot of these values and these ethics and these kind of guiding principles of inclusion, of making sure you’re being kind and respectful and don’t do anything if you wouldn’t want to be treated that way. Right. So like all of all of those basics, we have had kind of family rules made into a little piece of art that’s on the wall and it still exists.

Just a few weeks ago, I made sure to take an exercise that I learned from a third party kind of trainer consultant who I had working with our team and is continuing to work with our team. We did this values exercise. So we go to family dinner. It’s summer, on a Saturday night at this yummy place near our house. And I whip out these papers and a pen and the girl said, we have homework. At dinner. At family dinner in the summer, we have homework. I said, no, no, it’s the good work. It’s not homework. It’s actually homework for a reason. But it was just, if you had this list of words and you needed to identify with five of these words that become values for you, what does that look like? And so they had to circle the five words and then kind of write why they mattered. And then we run around and everyone said it, and everyone really loved the exercise. And hearing how each one of my girls answered differently and had different things that they connected to was really neat. So I think there’s so much that blends between performance, efficiency, outcomes in a business, and then performance and efficiency and outcomes and happiness and feeling supported at home, and all of that really matches up. And I think values are so important at work and at home.

[00:21:35] Kevin Rice: I love how you’ve taken your business, your career and curriculum and learnings, and applied it to your family life. I literally do the same exact thing.

[00:21:44] Jen Prince: Okay, good. Not alone.

[00:21:45] Kevin Rice: I have, like, my family mission statement, and I have, like, you know, goals and KPIs and criteria that I check off monthly. But I will say back to your point about, like, stages.

My kids are probably too young for it at this point. It doesn’t quite land as much as I would hope it would.

But I’m so excited for the day where we can actually have those kind of conversations. And it’s a little bit more, you know, impactful and meaningful because right now it just goes in one ear and out the other.

[00:22:15] Jen Prince: Yes. But I will send you this little exercise. It takes only a few minutes, and it’s very meaningful at work and at home.

[00:22:22] Kevin Rice: Love it. Love it. Are there any sort of rituals that your family has that helps you reinforce those values?

[00:22:28] Jen Prince: Yeah, I would say, you know, obviously, family dinners is a ritual.

No phones at the table.

And then making sure that we’re always inclusive.

So we make sure that everyone has a smile on their face walking around in life, versus just kind of being this grumpy teenager, which can happen at times. And we explain you need to say hello and be kind to everyone.

Not just someone you want to get to, not just someone who’s, like, in some kind of a role where there has to be respect, like a teacher, administrator at school, but literally anyone, Anyone who is in this world. Right. You say hello to, you say thank you, you say please. And I think just inclusion would be kind of something that we live by. We did a TV show randomly when the kids were younger to adopt and rescue a dog, and we already had two dogs. We were going on this TV show to rescue a third dog. And when they came to film a little bit about the family, our daughters had just made a piece of art, and it said, nothing in life is perfect.

And we had one dog who has three legs. We have another dog who was out on the streets and had issues. And we were about to go adopt a dog who was a senior who was on medication and had issues back when out at times.

And so our family knows that not everything in life is perfect, meaning nothing is perfect. Literally. And, you know, with teenagers and teenage girls, they think they know a lot. They think they know everything. Right. So we have to kind of bring them back to that. That mantra from at home. But I would just say inclusion, being a team and understanding that you gotta take risks and mess up to learn is kind of a ritual for us that we just continue to drumbeat at home at family dinners. And our time together with our kids, that’s amazing.

[00:24:27] Kevin Rice: Yeah. I struggle with family dinners. I don’t know what it is, but we do family breakfast really well. We start the day with hugs and breakfast, and it kind of sets the tone for the day. But, yeah, family dinners just can’t get us to sit down at the same time, or.

[00:24:41] Jen Prince: I know it’s tricky.

It is. And it’s not every night that it’s a sit down. All of us at dinner.

[00:24:48] Kevin Rice: Yeah.

[00:24:48] Jen Prince: With sports. And now Avery works and she drives. And Carly and Delaney. Right. They’re 14. And everyone’s kind of developing, and I think that it’s hard to get everyone to sit down at the same time.

[00:25:02] Kevin Rice: It’s the best way for it. Yeah. I think one of the rituals that I have that might seem obvious, but I think has been pretty impactful, is my middle son, Liam. He gets a little squirrely. He’s hard to. Has a hard time focusing. And he can have. I don’t like to call them tantrums. We can have, like, big emotional reactions to frustration. And one of the things that I found that works really well is building Legos together. And so actually, after we finish recording, I put 30 minutes into my calendar to go build Legos with him. And I watch him where he has a hard time focusing. He can’t sit at the dinner table for more than two minutes. But when it comes to Legos and building, he can do it for five hours straight. And in that period of time, there’s a dozen, like, episodes of frustration where he can’t get a piece to work together. And it’s an opportunity to sit with him and just kind of help him Calm down, you know, feel into it, breathe through it, and overcome those feelings himself. And I’m, you know, not trying to solve the problem for him. I’m just there with him emotionally.

And it’s, it’s so funny how Legos have become such a big tool in our family.

[00:26:10] Jen Prince: I love it. We also built a lot with Legos. And I just think it’s probably him finding what he loves to do. He’s probably very bright and so has like this channel of frustration when he doesn’t want to just be that kid or he gets bored easily and all of that. So I’m glad that you found that. And then I’m sure that there will be more things that capture his attention like that. Right. And it might be in the similar vein and it might be robotics and it might be other things. Could be baking or cooking and a recipe and how to like put it all together and then see the outcome. Right. Because it’s, if you think about building, it could be anything that has a process with this awesome outcome.

[00:26:49] Kevin Rice: Like, yeah, he’s my little engineer in the making.

[00:26:53] Jen Prince: Yes, most likely. I think, I think that’s right.

[00:26:56] Kevin Rice: Yeah. So I did want to touch on the fact that like you are a high visibility, high performance executive in an industry that is largely male dominated. What have been, if any, challenges and wins as a female executive in the sporting industry?

[00:27:14] Jen Prince: Yeah, you know, I speak to a lot of women who are earlier in their careers and they always say, tell us your secrets to success and being in these male dominated fields. And I think that I probably entered into tech and then sports, both male dominated at a time where I already had my years of objection, handling and knowing how to position myself and probably feeling a little lesser in scenarios.

However, I really can’t think of an example where I was just completely ignored or if I said something and there was just no attention, reaction, respect to what I said, and the same thing could be said by a male five minutes later and then that person’s got all of it. I do think that as a female I’ve realized that I don’t always have to grab the mic in a room in a setting where there’s a group. But when I do, it’s usually something meaningful or something that I really care about or something that I really want to position or need to know or ask a question.

And so I think like, the biggest difference for me has just been to have the confidence, to have the voice. I feel like being a female in these more male dominated industries have given me leverage.

I’ve somewhat leaned into the leverage. And I also love that I’ve joined these companies who have been very intentional about wanting to hire female diverse, right. And just not have everyone look, feel, have the same perspective. And it’s that combination of all of the different perspectives and skill sets and diversities that really make a company and a culture what it should be.

And so if I hadn’t worked at Google, twice at Twitter, and now the rams where from the top down there was just this intentionality around hiring. My boss’s direct reports more than 50% are female. And then my leadership team and my direct reports all female except for one male. And then within sports it just happens to be a more male centered industry because more men are interested in applying for the roles, right? And then there’s diversity as a whole and making sure that even within partnerships and revenue generating roles and business development and sales, there isn’t always a ton of diversity within who’s applying for the roles. But I think that even being in the tech companies, being in my ad sales capacities or business development or strategic alliances are now commercial business, I think that it’s been really meaningful to see more women raising their hand and then seeing women’s organizations within tech, within coding, within sports bubbling up or seeing an organization like the female quotient showing up in these more male dominated environments as this female lounge with program content and you can get your hair and makeup touched up and gifting and all, all of the things that that mean something in our industry. So I think I’ve really been just leaning into it and then making sure that I’m helping others earlier stages in their careers feel the confidence to just be them.

And you really don’t want to work or be at a company unless they’re supportive of you.

In this instance, being a female, being a female who is a parent, right, making sure that you’re working within the right environments and right cultures to feel like you can be lifted up and you’re not just going to be like squished down or pushed down or have that ceiling that a lot of people talk about. And I meet more and more women who are in male dominated industries like finance and others. And I’m just always so incredibly impressed to see the female domination in these industries and how the world has changed. And I think that we’re only going to see more goodness in terms of that because it’s really the right thing to do is try to hire the best candidate, take more time in hiring. So there is that intentional intentionality and you may not capture someone for an open role within three weeks or two weeks, if you’re really doing a fair process, looking for candidates from all different walks of life and skill sets and not just hiring within kind of the obvious. And so I’m excited about the future for females in business.

[00:31:48] Kevin Rice: In the industries I worked in, there was a lot of women in leadership roles and representation at the executive table. But I imagine there’s still quite a few industries out there where there’s that glass ceiling.

So exciting and inspiring to see what you’ve been able to accomplish in your career. And I’m sure it’s very inspiring to a lot of other women out there who are looking to do something similar.

So is there any sort of advice that you would give to aspiring executives who are maybe earlier in their career, maybe at that point you were a few years ago when you were having children and any sort of, like, advice or anything you could share with our listeners?

[00:32:24] Jen Prince: Yeah, so one of my twins was not even five years old. I said, what do you want to be when you grow up? And she said, a mommy. I said, well, you’re gonna be a mommy. What do you wanna be when you grow up? And at that time she’s at a dentist, which she has no connection to now. So I would say the same thing. One is you can plan a family at the same time you’re planning your career.

The advice is never exit business because you become a parent unless you have the great fortune of not having to. And there’s this family dynamic where there’s a decision made that one person stays home, and it might be the male and it might be the female. But I would say for females in particular, try not to ever fully exit, even if you’re consulting or just working part time or advising or investing or doing some kind of board work, something that you can do that’s more part time, that gives you more flexibility. Because I do look back and it’s. I almost have had a little more time for my kids as teenagers than I did when they were little.

I think bigger kids, bigger problems. It’s great to be more present. Now, if I had to pick one of the two, however, when they’re little, they need you in a different way and you’re the mommy and all of the things. So I think that the advice is do both. You can do both.

You need to have the right support system, whether it’s a partner or friends or a village that you create right amongst a group, your neighbors, whatever that might look like in a community.

Um, and Just don’t pick one or the other. And then I think be you around that table in a meeting. If you are prepared and you get called upon, or if you’re prepared and you have something to say, make sure you say it. Make sure that you are heard and you do grab the mic because women do grab it a little bit less than the men do, typically in a. In a room. And just make sure that you have the confidence to also stand up for I am now a parent or I am a female at this table. And make sure, like that work life balance that you strike is giving yourself permission and an invitation to go do so. When I was younger and I was in sales and I was running around, if I had one hour in between meetings, of course I’m checking email and doing a phone call. But I would also find like the nearest mani pedi place and quickly get that mani pedi that I needed anyway. And it’s maybe for a business trip or for a work event so that I look nicer and feel better about myself in that environment.

And so just don’t always look for the approval or ask for something. Just invite it for yourself to go do whatever it is that makes you feel whole and just squeeze it all in. And then find that special space for you, whether it’s working out or cooking or relaxing or reading a book and making sure that you just find a little bit of time, even if you do have to put that on a calendar, which is oftentimes what’s needed as you get busier in life.

[00:35:21] Kevin Rice: That’s cute. When you asked your daughter what she wanted to be when she grew up. I was working out this morning and I heard a song, and it was, I don’t even know who the artist is, but he was singing about what he wanted to be when he grows up. And the hook to the song is, I thought I wanted to be an astronaut, but I just want to be happy. And that really, like, struck a chord with me. It’s a beautiful song. Whatever you are in life, at the end of the day, your happiness is really what matters.

[00:35:44] Jen Prince: It’s everything. Yep.

[00:35:46] Kevin Rice: And it’s funny, he mentions he wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to be an astronaut. Then I wanted to be a fighter pilot, and then realized that that really wasn’t my path.

[00:35:54] Jen Prince: Just wanted to be happy.

[00:35:56] Kevin Rice: Yeah, Just wanted to be happy.

[00:35:57] Jen Prince: That should have been my answer. Or for her, like, if she said a mommy’s a. No, no, no. You just want to be happy. So that could be anything and everything.

[00:36:06] Kevin Rice: Well, you Never know where you’re going to get life advice. It might be a hip hop song while you’re working out at home.

[00:36:11] Jen Prince: That’s true. I’m going to go look up these lyrics.

[00:36:14] Kevin Rice: So, gosh, this is where I can totally see how Joe Rogan does two and a half hour episodes because I could probably just keep going. But I’m going to ask one more question here and then we’ll probably have to wrap it up. So when your daughters look back on years from now on your career, what do you hope they’ll say they learn from watching you lead in your career and also at home?

[00:36:38] Jen Prince: Yeah. So I think they will realize that they can do it all because their mommy did it all. And I would maybe want for them to do a little less, actually. My mom always said you are given what you can handle. And so having three children, two identical, planned a second pregnancy, got two more within two years, had three kids. And that’s a lot because you’re outnumbered. Right. And I come from a smaller family. My husband was an only child.

So I would say that you can do it all. And then you have to strike that balance and also dream big. Right. Dreaming big, being kind in the world, being happy, staying healthy and being conscious about what you put in your body and what you’re using on your face. And all of, you know, all of it in terms of longevity, because if you have this healthy, happy life, you want it to be long. And I think happiness comes from not only the outside, but also the inside.

So I think for them it’s, you can do anything, just put your heart to it, lead with your heart and do what you love to do. And sometimes you need to be in that job that you don’t love or you don’t love a boss, or there’s something not right and it’s going to be a stepping stone for what’s next, no matter what. And I think it’s just, you know, follow your, your passion and your heart and, and make sure that when you do want to do it all, create that platform and that support system so that you can do it. Because it’s not just you. And you can’t just be a control freak and do it all on your own, which sometimes I tend to try to do. Right. And it’s asking for help and it’s getting the support, but it’s, it’s feeling whole at home and at work in your career. And I think they will all be career girls and women. I feel it. They all have that drive, which I love. But I also want them to have that spontaneity and live life and once again feel whole.

[00:38:37] Kevin Rice: Jen, thank you so much for being here today.

[00:38:39] Jen Prince: Thanks Kevin.

[00:38:40] Kevin Rice: I just think you are just such a wonderful person and I was thinking back when we met at the Patao event.

I hadn’t been to Patao in like four years, so I didn’t know a lot of the new faces. Our mutual friend Donald introduced us and I just felt like we hit it off. I really enjoyed the conversation and you were so welcoming in a moment where I was kind of feeling a little intimidated. So I really appreciate you being on this show and your support as we get the podcast going.

[00:39:08] Jen Prince: Thank you Kevin. So glad to be connected now and forever.

[00:39:13] Kevin Rice: Awesome. Thanks Jen. If you’re enjoying this conversation, make sure to hit subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes. CEOs and ABCs is all about helping you grow in your career and show up at home. We’ve got many more amazing guests coming up, so tap, follow and stay tuned.