Moms Spotlight - Winnie Tam

Winnie Tam
Vancouver Program Director
LifeSpeak Inc.
Provider of the Parents At Work™, Vitality At Work™ and Generations At Work™ programs

1) Provide an overview of your job, how many hours you work.

As Vancouver Program Director for LifeSpeak Inc., I work for a dynamic and rapidly growing national organization which designs and delivers a series of workplace workshops on topics ranging from parenting and eldercare to personal health and vitality. LifeSpeak is highly supportive of work-family commitments. Working with LifeSpeak provides a great deal of flexibility allowing me to work three days a week from my home office.  My main responsibilities include developing and managing the Vancouver speaker roster of experts for LifeSpeak's Parents At Work™, Generations At Work™ and Vitality At Work™ programs; managing client accounts; coordinating workshops; and assisting with business development.

2) Provide an overview of your home life, how  many children you have, childcare arrangement, if married your husbands career and how you share the responsibilities at home.

My husband, Wai, and I have one daughter, Avery, who is turning three years old in February. Avery attends daycare two days a week and spends one day with her grandparents. Wai works full-time as a project manager for one of Canada's largest telecommunications companies. Although his hours are fairly regular, he is sometimes required to be accessible during evenings and weekends. Wai and I have organized our responsibilities at home so that they are mostly shared. We communicate as much as possible about our work schedules so that one of us takes responsibility for Avery if the other has a work engagement. We try to keep our home life simple so that we can focus when we're working and enjoy each other when we're together as a family.

3) Would you work if you did not have to.

Absolutely! I find a great deal of fulfillment in my career. I have discovered that maintaining a balance of being a professional and being a parent makes me feel more satisfied. Although being a mother is always going to be my number one occupation, I do love my work and have more to give my daughter because of the outside stimulation I receive from working.

4) Of your female friends with children how many of them continue to work now that they have children.

Among my friends, 95% of them have continued to work now that they have children, although some of them have chosen to reduce their work schedule to part-time, as I have.

5) Can you offer any advice for achieving a balance between your family life and your career.

There is no magic solution for finding balance–it is different for each person and each family. However, the main piece of advice I can give is about being honest and true to yourself: know what your values are and find ways to support those, know what makes you happy so that you are taking care of your needs first, and know when to ask for help!