The Coffee Chat (#25)
My conversation with Jason Schulweis - Head of Brand Partnerships at Morning Brew, lover of dad jokes and father to a 7 month old baby girl
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Hi there 👋🏽
As a kid I always thought moms and dads had some super power where they barely got ill.
Now I know it is no super power but sheer will to power through. You power through, even on the days when all is want to do is lay in bed, because another life is totally dependent on you!
Baby T goes to daycare and every 4-5 weeks a new bug is unleashed in the household. She is ill. I am ill. My husband is ill.
On those days I want to do nothing but sleep but being a parent means I power through. Last week was one of those weeks. I was completely exhausted but still my mind was only trying to figure out ways to make Baby T feel better.
☕ Now, on to today’s coffee chat…
Meet Jason Schulweis
Jason is the Head of Brand Partnerships at Morning Brew where he oversees the Revenue Org, consisting of Sales, Account Management, and the Creative Studio (Integrated Marketing, Branded Content and Creative).
Recently he also became a dad.
Below is my conversation with Jason…
Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your family
My name is Jason Schulweis. My wife is Caroline, and our daughter is Blake. Caroline and I are both born-and-raised Manhattanites, and actually went to the same high school. I’m a few years older, and don’t remember her from school…and she’ll never let me live that down.
A college friend of mine from Michigan worked with Caroline, and he (re)introduced us a little over 8 years ago…and the rest is history. We both work in media, which is a lot of fun.
I’m the Head of Brand Partnerships at Morning Brew, and my wife is a Sales Director at Teads. We promise not to force media, marketing and advertising on Blakey, and will let her decide to pursue whatever passions, dreams and career she wants :).
We live by Central Park, and have started to take lots of walks with Blake so that she can have the same park experience that Caroline and I did growing up—it’s important to find and experience the magical oases that the City has to offer, and veer off of the “concrete jungle” as much as possible.
For you what was the hardest part of becoming a new parent?
There are two “hardest parts” I think—the first is the realization that quite literally everything will be different. People tell you that ahead of time, but it’s impossible to truly understand what that means until you have a kid. It’s important to note that different doesn’t mean bad, so as long as you figure out with your partner how to navigate the change, it becomes a shared journey and less of a frustration.
Within that change, though, I’d say the hardest thing is being responsible for, and aware of your child 24/7. When you want to sleep, eat, work or go to the bathroom…baby always comes first.
After becoming a parent did you adopt any new beliefs, behaviors, or habits that have most improved your life?
Perhaps not intentionally, but we are definitely going to sleep earlier now! I also think we are communicating better as we learn to divide-and-conquer and be more positive in taking care of Blake. We’ve also been taking a lot of pictures (obviously) but have been more regular in saving them and posting them to our family Photo Stream.
Did you take any paternity leave? If yes, how was the transition back to work?
I did, am, and will be! I’ll explain: Morning Brew’s non-birthing parental leave policy is great—3 months, which you don’t need to take consecutively. I took 6 weeks right away after Blake was born, back to work for a month, then took another 3 weeks, and will save my last 3 probably until the end of this year or beginning of next year. We just need to take it before her 1st birthday. The transition back was weird. There are phases to it:
The first phase is stepping away. I am fortunate to have built an incredibly strong team under me that could handle anything thrown at them, and they did. That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t nervous, or even experienced work FOMO. It was a conscious effort not to participate or respond to anything, but I’ll admit that I did loosely follow along, and archive/save emails along the way. Coming back to 6 weeks worth of emails felt scary.
The second phase is coming back. It felt a little like re-onboarding, but to my earlier points, because of my team’s ability to run well in my absence, and my following along, I was able to get back up to speed pretty quickly.
You work with a growth stage company which probably demands a lot from you in terms of time and energy. The biggest challenge that working parents with young kids have is a lack of predictability in their schedule and limited time for themselves. How have you managed this? What are you doing to manage your energy?
It definitely demands a lot, but that doesn’t mean we operate without empathy. As the team has scaled and brought it more experienced employees, those employees have different needs when it comes to benefits, such as work flexibility, parental leave, etc. My team and company are amazing when it comes to understanding that everyone has different circumstances and wants/needs, and have respected when I need time or space. Given the unpredictability in my schedule, I also always get my work done, but it might be a slightly different schedule/hours than I used to. In terms of managing my energy - going to sleep early is my new best friend! And, a healthy dose of coffee in the mornings :)
What choices have you and your partner made that have helped you become a dual career household with a child?
Investing in a nanny to allow us to keep both of our careers
Ensuring we utilize our respective company’s remote work policies so one of us is home and around our baby most days. We want to be present and set good examples for her!
What is one of the best or most worthwhile investment you have made after becoming a parent?
Aside from the nanny investment I mentioned above, the Baby Shusher is the single best product we own. I’d also recommend the phone App for when you need the shusher on the go
What advice would you give others who are on the cusp of becoming parents? What advice should they ignore?
Document everything! You’ll have to keep track of feedings and bathroom breaks (I made this into a Google Sheet too), but I’d also recommend using a service like Qeepsake, getting a physical baby book, and taking lots of photos and videos! There are apps that make it easy to keep track of photos, but we used the Apple Photos app, and created a Family Stream, and a separate one for just me and my wife.
As for advice to ignore, there’s a lot of advice. Everyone has a solution for something, but your baby is unique. Also, you don’t need to buy everything that everyone says is a great baby product. You won’t use it all...and you’ll realize how quickly you accumulate stuff.
Quick-fire questions:
What’s the best thing you have watched recently?
Loki on Disney+
What’s the best thing you have read recently?
The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger
What’s the best thing you have listened to recently?
Not new, but I recently re-listened to my favorite artist’s first album in its entirety -- When The Night by St. Lucia.
I would love to hear from you, feedback is always welcome!
And if you happen to know an inspiring working parent who should be featured in a future edition (or if you yourself are one) - please do get in touch
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