Katja Presnal is the owner and founder of Skimbaco® lifestyle brand and blogs with the main blog SkimbacoLifestyle.com and she inspires women to live life to the fullest. Katja is also an Addy Award winning Social Media Strategist and she has done social media marketing strategy for clients like Colgate, ConAgra, Abbott and Hershey and she is a respected Speaker in corporate events and social media conferences like Blog World Expo. She has been featured in NY Times, Forbes, Glamour, Women’s Daily and several other national and international publications.

Over the years, how have you learned to balance career and motherhood?

It hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure, especially last year when I worked fulltime for a social media agency and grew my own blog network often resulting in 70-80 hour workweeks and not spending time with my family at all. I realized though that the time children are young will go so fast that I wanted to remain my own boss and create more flexible work week in a way that I was able to spend more time with children. We travel a lot, and move often, but we are a very traditional family in everyday grind. We eat dinner home together every night and we don’t have individual hobbies outside home, we do everything on our free time together as a family and that has helped to create a career and be a present mom.

Is there one particular parenting lesson you’ve learned about raising kids?

Humor!! When you are able to bring in humor to tough situations and when raising children, half of your battle is already done. It works in most situations. Another thing is honesty – your children will never learn to trust you, or you will not be able to trust them if there isn’t honesty. It also means keeping your word every time.

Battling stress? Any advice?

I probably sound like a horrible parent if I say I drink wine to unwind.. But part of it is cooking a big family dinner, and gathering around the table and talking, eating and enjoying a glass of wine, it’s my way of relaxing.  Another one is traveling and getting out of your everyday grind and letting your brain take a break.

Tools or products you can’t live without?

Pretty much everything Apple makes and an espresso machine.

Do you have an inspirational quote, motto or philosophy you can share with us?

Carpe the shit out of diem. It’s the philosophy of Skimbaco lifestyle: living life to the fullest in every moment you live regardless where you are or what you have. If you are in Colorado go skiing, if you are in New York City go to see a Broadway show, if you are in Cape Cod, go see whales, or castle hopping if you are in Germany.  You are the key holder to your own happiness, make it happen!

Favorite resources, books, or website?

I consume internet like it was the last supper, and have a new favorite website every week. Meaning that there is just too much to pick a few, but for recipes I trust GoodLifeEats.com and for lifestyle topics ChampagneLiving.net always inspires me.  My favorite magazine is the Fast Company, and I get most inspiration from Coastal Living magazine.

Any fabulous projects you have coming up? (C’mon… spill!)

I am partnering with Everywhere PR agency http://beeverywhere.tv/ for a new venture, and can’t wait to kick start it and announce more details. In addition I am launching Insider Society http://insidersociety.com/ soon, a blogger amplification program and a resource for consumers to find insider information about fashion, travel, interior design, automotive and entertaining.  I’m very excited about both of these, and can’t wait to take social media industry forward with them.

Connect with her:

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/katjapresnal
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/skimbaco
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/skimbaco
Websites or blogs:  Skimbaco Lifestyle, Skimbaco Travel, Skimbaco Home, Skimbaco Food

Tags: advice, katja presnal, skimbaco, working mom, working mom tips

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 28th, 2011 at 6:25 AM and is filed under Working Mom Spotlight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.