Where were you at in your music career when you had your first child? Was there much discussion about how that life choice would affect your career within the music/entertainment industry?

I was mid-career when I had my first child. In 2019, she was born in July and that year I had a Northern BC scheduled in October with 18 school and general audience shows booked in a 10-day time frame. I didn’t know any different, so we took her along starting from 7 weeks old to 10 weeks! What a journey that was! Luckily my husband took parental leave and came along for the adventure. There wasn’t much discussion about whether it would affect my life, just questions from my agent as to whether or not I’d be going ahead with it, haha! She has kids too, so she likely knew more than I at the time, but I just forged ahead!!

As a working parent in the music industry, what are some of the biggest challenges you are facing?

Balance is a big challenge. Finding the time to fit in admin, grant writing, creative space, just opportunity to think clearly in general! I’ve been extremely lucky to have a husband who will come along on tours and an amazing village of aunties and grandparents to help me with childcare along the way, but the juggle and struggle is real!

What is one change (big or small) within the industry that could make a positive impact for working parents?

I did a theatre show out in ON and brought my 2 kids and a rotation of childcare helpers along with me. The theatre company had tons of accommodations for the actors, but none that could fit my family (with 5-month-old and 2.5 year old). Having spaces, accommodation, grants for support, just simple mindfulness of what travelling and working with children while on tour looks like and some empathy for not all would go a long long way!! Maybe even backstage play areas and a “production assistant” to help watch the kids if they’re at a festival or venue would be cool!

How do you find support and community with other working parents in or out of the music industry?

It’s usually just talking about it with people who I share gigs with etc. There are a handful of social media groups, but parenting is isolating as is, so finding the time to engage with them can be difficult.

What’s one specific example of an organization/venue/company doing something great to help support working parents?

I’ve had a couple of contracts at Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops where they have been so mindful and thoughtful about finding the right accommodations, listing activities and places to take the kids while I was in town, having care packages for the kids and generally keeping production hours reasonable so that I’m not away from my kids too long in a day. I also had a tour where I believe the Canada Council funded a production assistant for childcare so that I could bring along help while we travelled for 7 weeks!! It was such a huge asset to have!

What could a music event (festival, conference, etc.), do or provide to make it easier for you to participate?

If events are out of town, flights and accommodation for the family would be amazing, although I do recognize the additional costs involved. Having onsite childcare at a conference would be a huge game-changer! Being able to leave your children on-site with trusted childcare and activities that you could drop in on as you attend would be such a massive help.

Can you shout out another music mama doing great things?

Ginger Chen-Pimintel, Marie Hui, Jon Holisko, Ben Parker