Okay so here is the truth about being a single mom in Miami building a business without a village. You learn really quickly that the village is whoever you choose to make it. And for me, a huge chunk of mine lives at my son’s school.
Truly. The teachers, the staff, the summer camp counselors, the other moms in pickup line who wave at me like we are old friends. That is my village. When your family lives out of the country and out of state you start to see how much weight a school community can carry. They have my son for a big chunk of the day, they keep him safe and challenged and loved, and that gives me the runway to actually build something. I do not take that for granted ever.
My Day Starts at 6am for a Reason
My day usually kicks off at 6am with a workout because if I do not move my body before the world starts asking things of me, I am toast. Then it is school drop off, back home to get ready, and then I open my laptop and the day kind of becomes whatever it needs to be. Welcome to PR. Some days I am in back-to-back calls, some days I am writing a pitch from a coffee shop, some days I am running to an event for a client. There is no template and I have made peace with that.
I work for an incredible PR firm here in Miami while also building my own boutique agency on the side. So basically, I am wearing a lot of hats and yes, some days the hats fall off. I keep my work mission focused, which honestly is the only thing that keeps me grounded. If I let myself spiral about everything I have to do I would never get anything done. So I pick the most important thing, I do that, and then I pick the next thing.
The Hashimoto’s Part of the Story
I am going to be real with you because that is just who I am. I have Hashimoto’s, which is an autoimmune condition that messes with my thyroid and my energy on a regular basis. Some mornings the 6am workout happens. Some mornings my body is begging me to rest and I have to listen. I have had to lean into the ebbs and flows of it because fighting it just makes everything harder.
Hashimoto’s has actually taught me more about grace and showing up than anything else ever has. It is the reason I am so intentional about how I spend my time and energy. It is the reason I do not say yes to every meeting, every client, every social invite. When you literally cannot afford to burn out you stop pretending you can do it all and you start choosing what matters most.
Beating Miami Traffic Is Its Own Mom Skill
And the traffic. Oh, the Miami traffic. I have learned to plan my whole life around it because nothing will steal your sanity faster than 95 at 5pm with a hungry kid in the backseat. I leave earlier than I think I need to. I keep snacks in the car. I have my podcasts queued up. I try to make the drive itself part of our day instead of treating it like the obstacle between us and what we actually want to be doing.
I Decided to Bring My Son Along for the Ride
Here is the truth I keep coming back to. I decided a while ago that I was going to follow my passions and bring my son along for the ride. Not put my dreams on a shelf until he was older, not pretend I did not have ambition. He gets to see his mom build something. He gets to see me try, mess up, learn, try again. There are hiccups all the time. I am learning as I go. But I think that is actually the gift of doing it this way. He is watching me figure it out in real time and I hope one day that means something to him.
Your Turn
If you are a single mom in Miami out here building a business without a built-in village I want to hear from you. Drop a comment and tell me what your version of village looks like, or come find me through the Miami Mom Collective community. We are all building this together and the more honestly we talk about it the easier it gets for the next mama who is just starting out.🧡
