When I was a sophomore in high school, I played three sports on top of participation in a highly competitive dance and baton twirling team. My competition twirling team was heading to an event in Florida which required me to miss time from school during basketball season.
More than 20 years later I can still recall the conversation with my coach, also a math teacher at our school, and my coach for all three sports at the time. I told her about the upcoming competition with the practices and games I would miss.
She looked me in the eye and said: “you know, it’s because of girls like you that women’s sports are dying”.
Why has this stuck with me for so long?
It securely placed a large chip on my shoulder that has followed me throughout my life. It’s ironic for many, many reasons.
First of which is that she was pushing sport specialization before that was even an issue in youth sports. She had zero respect for talents outside of the traditional sports offered. She never acknowledged that my competitive twirling team had won a dozen national championships by the time I was 13.
Baton twirling also paid my way through college so I knew then that missing one JV basketball game was not going to hurt me.
Maybe most ironic of all is that I have made a career for myself in sports, specifically working with successful collegiate women’s teams.
“Because of girls like you” followed by anything negative is tough to absorb. At 13 I honestly didn’t think much of it at the time but having daughters of my own has put this into perspective.
Hearing these words set me on a course to prove as many people wrong as often as I could. I was so fortunate that a lot of things came easy to me but I also worked really hard. Maybe often times when it wasn’t even necessary.
These words created a drive in me to always be perfect and to always exceed expectations. To make others happy and maintain or improve the status quo. It created a drive in me in ways that I never even realized until I had girls of my own.
I quickly learned that parenting doesn’t exactly offer up the opportunity to be perfect. The everyday things I used to tackle with ease or hard work just don’t happen when you are juggling all the things that fall in your lap.
The things you hear and see about having it all aren’t real for the average mom.
That’s what I am. The average mom. The average mom who wants to help other moms accept that they too are the average mom.
There is nothing wrong with us.
In March of 2018, I really felt the pull to create something online for women like me, average moms with average mom feelings, goals, and problems. I bought a domain and created an online group called Her Generation Project and hit publish on March 8, International Women’s Day.
The purpose of the page was to build a network and foster collaboration among women, specifically those parenting future women. Empower mothers to make decisions that create the best life possible for them and their families.
There are hundreds of tools, hacks, and resources available for parents. There are approximately 4 million mom blogs in North America alone.
What made this one different? It was mine.
Her Generation Project has since evolved and taken a new shape, but with the same mission. I feel empowered to tackle issues not based on opinion but based on real and true life experiences. To reduce the pressure of decision-making by sharing examples from moms in real life. To minimize mom guilt by sharing examples from moms that have tried and failed or tried and succeeded.
In 2021, I show up under my own name at ErinKraebber.com. Because I am a real person, a real mom who is not afraid to give others permission to be real too. There are women in need of support and I have experience and solutions.
My focus has evolved from collecting and sharing stories to programs that support building up women and positioning them for success. Using my experiences, stories, and technical marketing expertise to help mothers go bigger and better, welcoming opportunities of all kinds.
I also created the Motherhood Merged Podcast. I learned so much in my first few years of blogging and networking that I want to share it all in different formats. The podcast allows me to connect with even more women who want to hear from someone who is doing life her own way.
Girls Like Me Do Big Things
The point is that as a mom, you don’t have to know everything or do everything perfectly to be successful. Parenting is not perfection. It’s a hard lesson to learn for someone like me who has gone through life with a good-sized chip of expectation on her shoulder.
Now it’s because of girls like me that my daughters see a mom who is a boss in the sports industry. With a podcast and a group of industry-leading women to support.
It’s because of girls like me that my daughters get to experience a marriage that is a partnership in all the ways that count. It’s because of girls like me that this space exists to build a network of amazing moms, raising amazing children, who will go on to do amazing things.
I am committed to another great year of growth and acceptance of who I truly am and the goals I have yet to achieve. Connecting with women to build up brands and businesses to the level they deserve.
Tackling tough subjects and sharing the ridiculous things we do for our kids and families. To surviving with sarcasm and eradicating the word ‘balance’ from the mom vocabulary.
I am also happy to report that no youth sports leagues were harmed by my existence in my hometown. It still has thriving traditional youth sports and recreation programs and great arts programs too.
If my brand of support is right for you or you want to learn more about the programs I have available, reach out and let’s chat!
