There’s a version of “balance” that people love to envision when thinking about work: neat calendars, clear boundaries, everything in its place. It’s like an idyllic Norman Rockwell painting of modern dreams.
That’s not my reality, nor the reality for my executive Mom friends either.
As Head of PR & Communications for the Americas at Plaud, my days are fast, intense, and constantly shifting. News cycles don’t wait. Product ships and stories evolve by the hour. My job is to stay ahead of that, while also showing up fully in another role that matters just as much: being a mom.
I’m the parent of a Kindergartener, which means my mornings aren’t quiet or predictable, but an Olympic Gold level of organized juggle. A typical morning in our house entails breakfast with one side of the table watching Bluey, the other side on the phone with my East Coast PR team. Then school drop-off while dialing into meetings in the car, followed by office meetings and zooms. It’s a blur of switching contexts, not just within work sense, but from parent to executive in seconds.
Speaking at Dreamforce 2026: keynote speaking and checking on your child backstage is normal for a mom boss. Remembering all the details and nuance is harder.
For a long time, leading in the business world and being a Mom meant trying to hold everything in my head.
What was said on that early call?
What were the action items from that huddle with my boss?
What did that journalist actually emphasize?
That mental load adds up quickly.
Capturing My Day in Motion
Some of my most important conversations happen before 9am: press briefings, quick alignments, pivot decisions, media coordination. But I’m often not sitting at my desk at that hour. I’m in transit, or making a coffee in the canteen when a colleague walks by with an idea.
Plaud allows me to be fully present in all of my conversations, without worrying about capturing every detail in the moment. I know I can come back to it… clearly and reliably.
With my Plaud Note Pro, I stick it on the back of my phone and with a simple press, it captures my phone calls and face-to-face discussions, transcribes and organizes them into contextually rich structured summaries, action items, and insights I may not have looked for initially.
From Back-to-Backs to Poised Clarity
Once I’m at my desk, it’s a full day of dynamic meetings: leadership discussions, team 1:1s, PR syncs, journalist zoom meetings.
This is where Plaud Desktop comes in incredibly valuable. And when I say valuable, I quite literally mean I wouldn’t know what to do without it.
Instead of scribbling or typing notes while trying to contribute meaningfully, I can focus on the conversation itself — listening for nuance, reading the room, asking sharper questions.
Afterward, I can Ask Plaud to:
-
revisit exact action items
-
understand the context behind decisions
-
catch subtle nuances I might have missed in the moment
-
quickly pull insights without digging through scattered notes
It’s not just about having a transcript — it’s about having clarity on what actually matters.
Reducing the Parental Mental Load
The biggest shift for me hasn’t been productivity — it’s cognitive relief.
Instead of carrying:
-
multiple threads of conversations
-
fragmented notes across tools
-
the pressure to “remember everything”
I can rely on Plaud as a single source of truth.
That means:
-
fewer follow-ups asking “what did we decide?”
-
faster execution
-
more confidence in decisions
And importantly, it frees up space in my mind for things outside of work – like, photobombing my daughter at kid parties (serious question: Are there more kids birthday parties than business meetings
Being Present Where It Counts
There are moments every day where I have to switch quickly between work and life.
-
Wrapping a call and immediately stepping into parenting.
-
Revisiting a business conversation after bedtime.
-
Picking up context without losing time or focus.
Plaud makes that transition smoother.
I can lead my day knowing nothing is lost — and come back with full context, not fragments. That continuity is what allows me to be more present in both roles, instead of feeling like I’m always catching up.
Why This Matters
In PR, outcomes are visible. But what enables those outcomes is less visible:
-
clarity in conversations
-
precision in follow-through
-
the ability to operate effectively under constant context-switching
For me, my Plaud isn’t just a productivity tool. It’s an operating system for how I manage complexity — in a job and a life that rarely slow down.
This Mother’s Day, I’m not celebrating balance.
I’m celebrating the systems that make it possible to keep moving, without dropping what matters most.
And sometimes, that starts with not having to remember everything on your own.
