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As the mother of two thriving girls, Erin Flynn Jay never finds herself short on joy. Like any provider, though, she also worries about managing schedules and finances in order to increase that pride.
The Hawthorne resident last year analyzed working matriarchs’ struggles by writing “Mastering the Mommy Track: Juggling Career and Kids in Uncertain Times,” which is contending for self-help distinction in the Small Business Book Awards competition.
“The Great Recession really has brought on many professional challenges,” the 41-year-old said of the global economic downturn that has hampered households for more than five years. “Because I knew, and continue to know, struggling families, I decided to go forth with this project.”
She commenced crafting what would become a 197-page product two years ago, using a poem whose author detailed the devastation of unemployment, especially its effects on rearing her grandson, as inspiration. For Jay, who for 12 years has run an eponymous communications firm offering public relations and copywriting services, the task meant promoting fellow females’ successful navigation through various roles and responsibilities, and she addresses them over 12 chapters divided into four areas, home, health, parenting and work-life.
“There are personal elements to it,” Jay said of references to Jason, her husband of six years, and their 3- and 5-year-old daughters, “but it’s not a memoir. I focus on motherly struggles and offer solutions from experts.”
The lifelong scribe, who yearned as a girl to be a news reporter, completed her piece early last year and landed a United Kingdom-based publisher to oversee it for fall distribution. She engaged in a month-long virtual tour to gain exposure for her debut volume and has participated in signings, with this Sunday’s appearance at the Center City-situated Mama’s Wellness Joint and March 28’s stop at the University of Pennsylvania Bookstore looking to up her current sale total of 400 copies.
“I viewed writing it as a hobby and not necessarily a moneymaking activity,” Jay said of evening composition of the guide, whose target audience, according to her website, consists of “working mothers with young kids, and those who are unemployed or underemployed.”
As her own abode has needed to overcome financial fluctuation, too, she chronicled the wonders and woes of breadwinners and downtrodden figures through extensive interviews and meticulous research. Confident in the output, she nominated her creation for the national contest’s fifth edition in January and has been seeking votes at bookawards.smallbiztrends.com ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. Up against numerous wordsmiths in her category, with the top five entrants to receive awards, Jay is hoping her offering’s emphasis on perseverance, healthy relationships and strong support systems will garner her a victory. If she cannot come to call herself a winner in a new sense, she will proudly reflect on her present triumph as a loving mother and wife.
“I’ve come to a greater self-awareness,” she said of lessons learned from her endeavor. “I’ve also realized even more how much I enjoy being self-employed and am looking to network with mothers and anyone else with a message.”
Jay has made making such connections the chief element of her professional identity. The New Jersey native began as an English major at the University of Scranton before switching to communications, a move that came to yield a penchant for public relations, which she tabs her “bread and butter.” She established herself as a reliable freelancer as a 10-year New York City resident, including a stint with careerbuilder.com, a consultant who booked tours and speaking engagements for authors and a customizer of training programs for Fortune 500 clients.
“People have said I’m a strong writer, but I just see what I do as a product of my relentless drive to cull information from people and explore numerous topics, including the frustration I explore in ‘Mastering the Mommy Track,’” Jay, who also is a blogger for MetroKids, said.
Ready for a change, she flocked to South Philly in 2007, the Great Recession’s tumultuous first year. Having founded her firm six years prior, she made the move from one intimidating metropolis to another with a solid clientele list and strong awareness of less fortunate women and their often destitute situations and burdens, such as depression, nonsupportive mates and poverty. As the economic doldrums intensified for strangers, family members and even her own livelihood through the loss of a large client, Jay felt an urge to extend her nonfiction infatuation beyond her communications and public relations duties. Originally drawn to transplantation as a topic because of a family member’s status as a recipient, she shifted her focus as her maternal maturation progressed and spent seven months devoting her spare time to understanding how to maximize her main moments as a worker, partner and mother.
“The process of writing a book was exciting, with the primary aims being to give mothers reminders of their worth, their need for respect and their roles as bearers and upholders of life,” Jay said.
She has enjoyed her South Philly residence, especially for her neighborhood’s tremendous amount of growth and improved identity as a spot for families. As she awaits word on the competition, she knows that like all matriarchs in her area and beyond, she must be willing to listen and adapt.
“No, I’ve not mastered the mommy track,” she said. “Like everyone else, I’m always learning.”
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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