In her early 40s, luxury events planner Donna Dia fell pregnant with her first, much-longed-for child after four miscarriages. At the same time, she came up with a game-changing business idea that would take her career in a new direction.
Despite the risk of leaving her steady job while on maternity leave, Donna did exactly that and set about founding a luxury beauty event dedicated to women of colour.
The Beauty Beat is now an annual event supported by major cosmetic brands such as Nars, Mac, Fenty Beauty and Lancome, with celebrity fans including Sabrina and Idris Elba.
The perfect work/life balance for me
Something Emma Grede (the woman behind many of the Kardashian ventures including denim brand Good American and shapewear behemoth Skims) said stuck with me – some days I’m a phenomenal entrepreneur and an exceptional mum or a great wife but not all of those things every day.
© Getty Images for EBONYEvery day is a battle for prominence and obviously, my family is the most important, so sometimes I prioritise keeping them alive!
I try not to be on my phone between five and eight pm so I can focus on the children. I don’t know how parents managed it before Covid when they had to be in offices all of the time – I feel lucky I had my children in a post-pandemic world.
Turning 40 was helpful to me, as I was able to hone in on what works for me. I don’t have the same energy I had at 22, but since having kids I stick to 11 am to 3 pm as my peak productivity time and it has given me a razor sharpness to my ambition.
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What I am pouring my ambition into feels more focused than in my twenties and thirties.
Work/life balance challenges
Time is the biggest challenge to my work/life balance.
I want to be a great mother, but I also had the idea for a great business at the same time. It was scary to start a business in my 40s with an eight-month-old baby and no salary, but I knew it would work.
Both motherhood and my career are demanding and require all of my brain power. It’s a struggle to fit everything I need to do in the time frame of childcare.
“Don’t kill yourself doing the impossible – do the best you can do.”
I always tell people, don’t kill yourself doing the impossible – do the best you can do. Follow your gut and handle yourself in a way that when you fall asleep at night feel comfortable.
How I relax
On days full of meetings, silence in the evening is a luxury.
I get in the shower for decompression time, and when the children are asleep, I make a cup of tea and sit on the sofa to watch something mindless. My brain is always going a thousand miles a minute, so I need something with no plot twist.
Beauty is my job but it also helps me unwind. I love my LED face mask – I’m in my anti-aging era so I use the red light, which helps with inflammation.
I also use Estee Lauder’s ‘Advance Night Repair’ £69.97 /$89.45 and am obsessed with S’able Labs products and Antonio Burrell facials. I’m a skincare obsessive – I give everything a try.
