Who is Mojo Mom?

As I release "Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family," I am in the fortunate position of being able to chart my own course as an author. I had the final word about the content and design of my book. And now I have the opportunity and challenge of determining the next step in the evolution of my Mojo Mom identity.

I have learned that I am not a parenting advice guru. I recently spoke to Mothers and More Silicon Valley and had a fantastic time talking about the challenges of motherhood, but I realized that I don't have the answers to all of the specific parenting challenges we face. I can't tell you how to get your baby to sleep through the night, but I can point you to a book that can help. (The Sleep Book for Tired Parents by Becky Huntley is my favorite.)

I am a feminist but I am not an academic feminist. As I've pored over books and discussions about feminist theory, I find that I am interested up to a point, but I don't intend to build a career on academic debate. I left that world once before when I was a neuroscientist and became a high school teacher. When I was in the Big Science pipeline, I felt that I was a generalist at heart who pigeonholed herself as a specialist, and I don't plan to rejoin that path.

I have learned a lot about what I would like to do as Mojo Mom. I love being a resource. A catalyst for new ideas. Maybe even a bit of a trickster, getting you to shake up your way of looking at the world and seeing it in a new way.

I am grounded in the real world and still optimistic. Wherever we are in life, whatever expectations have been smashed about where we thought we would be versus where we are now, I believe we need to accept where we are as a starting point, and move forward from there. My goal is to be a commentator and resource for living life at the intersection of feminism and reality.

These are first steps on a new path, and I'm excited to see where it takes me.