Becoming — August 1, 2026
Not just the logistics… but how do you not lose your cool, and somehow still show up looking pulled together.
This is part of the answer.
I have to get away every so often. It’s not optional — it’s a reset.
This time it was a one-night escape to Stanly Ranch in Napa. One of those places that instantly slows everything down. The landscape, the architecture, the quiet. And being with women who are in it too — motherhood, marriage, everything — where you don’t have to explain yourself.
We talk, we vent, we laugh and cry about how much we’re all carrying… and we leave feeling lighter.
And yes — even in a place like this, nothing is perfect.
We had a moment at dinner. Dinner at The Bear started off not great. We were ignored almost the entire meal while a table next to us — a group of white male investors, very VC energy — were being constantly attended to. We spoke up a few times, but by the end, one of my girlfriends had enough and called it out directly. Including the fact that we were a table of Asian women being overlooked.
Let’s just say the energy shifted after that.
The entire meal was comped, and the follow-up service was immediate and attentive. Stanly Ranch pulled through and we will still be coming back!
It was a reminder of something I’ve learned after four kids:
You don’t stay quiet anymore.
You don’t shrink.
You don’t accept being overlooked.
You speak up.
Because surviving motherhood — and doing it with any sense of self left — isn’t about having it all together.