In this episode of the Reclaim The Pink Within, I sit down with Stacey Owen, an entrepreneur and mother, to explore her journey through motherhood and the challenges of balancing it alongside a demanding career. We talk openly about her transition into motherhood, the identity shifts that came with it, and how self-discovery became a critical part of her healing and growth.

Stacey shares powerful insights on the importance of setting boundaries, recognizing early signs of burnout, and giving herself permission to redefine success during different seasons of life. Together, we highlight the unique pressures faced by mothers—especially those who are also entrepreneurs and offer honest, practical reflections for new and expecting mothers navigating similar paths.

Key Takeaways

1. Motherhood can be unexpected and deeply challenging.
2. The transition into motherhood often reshapes identity.
3. Balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood is an ongoing, evolving journey.
4. Setting boundaries is essential to prevent burnout and protect mental health.

About the Guest:

Stacey Owen is a certified business and money mindset coach, writer, and speaker who has spent nearly 12 years as an entrepreneur building four businesses, now leading Hey Silly Rebel to help ambitious women create lives and businesses that actually feel like theirs—clear, profitable, and full of joy. She is also a devoted mom and partner.

She describes her current season as one where her business fits around her life, not the other way around. She works in short, focused bursts, then is back to mom mode.

About The Host:

Dr. Christelle Oliver-Dussault is a family physician with a clinical focus on aesthetic medicine, women’s health, and psycho-education. Her work is grounded in a holistic, whole-person approach that integrates medical science with a deep appreciation of the mind–body connection. Alongside her clinical practice, she is deeply committed to medical education and mentors the next generation of family physicians through her work with the Department of Family Medicine at the University of British Columbia.

She is the founder of Reclaim The Pink Within, a community created to support women through life’s most profound transitions. This project was born from personal experience. After becoming a mother, Dr. Oliver-Dussault became aware of a quiet but profound shift in her sense of self, one she had long observed in her patients, yet only fully understood once she lived it herself. What had once been a clinical observation became a deeply personal insight, shaping the lens through which she now supports and guides other women.

You can connect with her on Instagram at @drchristellemd and @reclaimthepinkwithin

Website: www.getyourpinkbackproject.com

Email: [email protected]

Medical Disclaimer

The Reclaim The Pink Within podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only. The content shared in this podcast reflects the personal views and professional experiences of the host and guests and is not intended to replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

While Dr. Christelle Oliver-Dussault is a licensed physician, this podcast does not constitute a doctor–patient relationship. Always seek the advice of your own qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical or mental health concerns, diagnoses, or treatment decisions. Never disregard or delay seeking professional medical advice because of something you have heard on this podcast.

Thank You for Listening

Thank you for spending your time with us and for being part of the Reclaim The Pink Within community. This space exists because of women who are willing to listen, reflect, and engage in conversations that are often kept private. Whether you are in the midst of transition, questioning who you are becoming, or simply seeking connection, your presence here matters.

Your willingness to show up—for yourself and for others—is what makes this project possible.

Subscribe to the Podcast

If these conversations resonate with you, be sure to subscribe to the Reclaim The Pink Within podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts. Subscribing ensures you never miss an episode and helps support the continued creation of thoughtful, meaningful content for women navigating identity, change, and reconnection.

New episodes are released regularly, each offering insight, reflection, and shared experience.

Leave Us a Review

If you found value in today’s episode, we would be grateful if you took a moment to leave a review. Your feedback helps this podcast reach more women who may be quietly navigating similar experiences and wondering if they are alone.

Reviews not only support the growth of the podcast, but they also help normalize these conversations and bring them out of the shadows—where they belong.

I get told all the time that my partner is like a great father, but

I think I've been told maybe like total, maybe in almost four

years. Four times. Oh, that hurts. Isn't that interesting though?

Because I think as a career driven woman, it's hard

to navigate both. But because I'm not a dedicated

mother. You'Re not the typical, you know, mom at home

baking the muffins during the lunches, walking the kid to school, but you mother in

a different way. Yes. And it doesn't mean that it's wrong. Exactly. So if this

is you, maybe I wish someone had prepared me that this could be the

scenario and the lack that that can feel. So you need to decide what

makes you a good mother for you. Like, what is your definition of that and

the agreement you have with your partner or your spouse. Yeah. It's

very unique to each family and it's a very hard space to navigate.

Welcome back to the get yout Pink Back project podcast. Today I'll be

interviewing Stacy Owen, and I'd like to tell you a little

bit about how we met. So this year I've started to go

to a few local events, but that support women in business.

And she was a speaker at one of these events. And I was an absolute

awe of her when I met her. She has this energy

that's contagious and I really wanted to get to know this woman.

So she's someone who has set up multiple businesses.

She's an entrepreneur. She's also a mom to a beautiful little girl.

And I've asked her to speak with me today so that she can tell me

about her journey through motherhood. So welcome.

Thanks for having me. I mean, how do I. How do I start talking after

that wonderful intro? I'm so shy right now.

Sorry. We've met a few times and have had some ice cream together. And it's

just been so wonderful to get to know you. And I think a lot of

people would benefit from hearing about your journey because everyone has a unique

perspective on motherhood. So why don't we start by you telling me a

little bit more about who you were before you were a mom. It's so

interesting. So who I was before Mom. I mean, when I was younger, I

always thought by the time I was 25, I'd have the white picket fence and

I'd be married and maybe pregnant with my first child. And 25 came and

went and it was nowhere even close to that. I just assumed that's

what life would look like. So before now I Thought

that's what it would look like. And then when it didn't happen and the

relationship that I was in was actually a very unhealthy, abusive relationship,

I thought that motherhood was actually not in the cards for me, that it wasn't

going to happen and that I was just going to be a solo individual.

Yeah. Isn't that crazy? It is. That must have been something

very hard to navigate if you always thought motherhood was going to be in your

cards. Yeah, but then I was okay. I always thought it was.

And then I processed through the grief,

which was really, really hard. Yeah. And

then I came to a place where I knew my life could be fulfilling without

being a mother, even though I had grieved. But then when I met the partner

that I have now, I mean, I couldn't believe that

it was back, back on the table. Yeah, I'm very grateful

for that. But, yeah, life is wild and crazy, but mostly

amazing. Do you feel that in that first grieving process

you learned a lot about yourself in a way that helped you

navigate the transition to motherhood? That's such a great question.

I really dug into who I was, what I wanted to do,

and what my time was worth.

Definitely had a bit of a me first era in there.

Yeah. And I think that's really important. A lot of moms don't get the chance

to do that work and it hits them right in the throes of motherhood.

How did you navigate those first few months? Because it's quite a drastic

change. You can try to prepare as much as you want, but nothing prepares you

for the reality of it until you're in it. You know,

I. Because I had done so much work as an individual and I felt

so strong in who I was and I had done a lot of self development.

I thought I was going to be the same person, but

also a mother. I thought it would be me plus this other new being in

my life and me plus being this new role. That's not how

it went. That's not how it goes.

And, and you know, other women told, like other women had told me,

basically you become a whole new person. And I thought, well, that's not going to

happen to me because I am older, I know who I am,

I know what I like, I know how I want to spend my life. That's

not going to be the case for me. That was a lie to myself.

So what did your daughter teach you in the process?

Oh, so many things. To be more present. What

is really important in life. I Know, that sounds cliche. We all hear it.

But once you actually experience it, the weight of the words, they're just

different. And. Yeah.

What truly is important? And when I'm 80

and I'm looking back at my life, what am I going to be

remembering? Like, what. What are the memories in the moments and what is actually

not going to matter? And who's going to remember me and who's not going to

care? Yeah. How did you navigate through entrepreneurship

and motherhood? Because entrepreneurship is the type of

field where you never really, you know, put the stop button on

or turn off. It's kind of always there in your mind, and you're kind of

always juggling these different balls. How did you navigate that

shift? Not well. Okay. Not well.

I had not figured it out. And I'm. I'm still, you know, in progress.

It happened during COVID So I was an older mother. I was

37. 30. I just turned 37 when I

had her. Right. Is that right? 373 8, 3 9. Yeah. Yes.

Wow. Crazy. It's just a number. It's just a number.

And so I was a little bit older. My body didn't handle it very well.

I really struggled. I was on semi bedrest for six. Months and then

fully for almost two months. Okay. That's a whole journey with that.

Then I was running my company, my marketing agency. It was

Covid. We were running a big online virtual photography

conference that had, you know, only happened once before in the entire

industry, the history of the industry, which was like a week before it launched. So

we were doing all these big things. I ended up having

my final team meeting while in labor at the hospital. Like, also

a cliche was me. Feel like you're in an episode of Friends saying that.

Yes, but. And genuinely, that is actually what happened.

And then I took a week and a half off after I had her,

and I was back to work already one day a week because I felt like

I actually could not take a maternity leave. But my partner,

luckily, he took almost 11

months. Okay. So he was home the whole time and

supported us. And, you know, he's the good parent.

So you had that emotional and physical presence for him that allowed you to not

be that. I think anybody who sees

a woman who looks like she's doing it all, there's usually a team behind that.

It's impossible to really do it all on your own. Yes.

When you were navigating that shift and from like the bed rest to the

pandemic, did you feel like you lost a bit of you in the process,

when you were focusing on all those moving parts. Yes.

I mean, there's no question. Absolutely. And I'm sure anyone listening would be

like, well, we can see that a mile away. There

was nothing left for me as a person. I went from being fiercely

independent, knowing myself, my time, my energy. And I was just so passionate in the

work that I was doing. You know, I have great relationships with the people important

to me to becoming a mother and just, you know,

hormones and the physical aspect of being pregnant, that was really challenging.

And then a challenging delivery to not fully resting on the other

end and to also keep delivering for work and still try and

be a good partner. I didn't. I wanted to stay strong. Like

postpartum depression, like, you're not going to find me. This is a non option. This

is a postpartum is a non option for me. So it's all good. We're going

to keep going. And actually wasn't too bad, but I

absolutely lost track of. Yeah. What was important because

that had changed. Because what was important before wasn't any longer. And

that time to realize what the new most important things

were. It did. It took some time.

Were there any signs that your body gave you or that

people said to you that made you realize something needs to

shift? Oh, I was sick all the time. If someone just said the

word flu or virus, I would catch it. I was sick all the time.

I went through clinical burnout. Clinical burnout. What

did that look like for you? Exhausted, no gas in the tank, but still

going. I don't want to say depression, so

I wouldn't identify with being depressed, but

mental wellness was low. Yeah. Yeah. And

how did you navigate that? Not well.

It gets better. You got out of it. I should get out of it.

You can laugh about it. So that's a good sign. It gets better. I

swear, it gets better. But at the time, in those

times. Where you were feeling completely, like running on empty,

what kept you going day to day or what lifted you out? So

what kept me going day to day was needing to show up for

other people. So show up for my partner, my new child, my team.

So I had a responsibility and I deeply cared about all of those

parts and all of those roles. And so I would keep showing up because I

genuinely wanted to and it was genuinely important to me. And then I

just couldn't anymore. And it literally. My body literally had to take

me out and say, no, you don't get to intellectualize this and power

through. That's not an option anymore. It Actually took that for me to

stop and say, okay, what do I need to do to take care of myself?

I'm not showing up the way I should be at work, even though I'm giving

it everything I can. I'm not being the most present mother. I'm not being the

best partner. I'm recognizing this even though I'm giving everything I can

is because I was born from an empty cup. Yeah. So I really had to

take a look at how I was living my life. So what changes

did you make? I restructured my

company. I actually took sacred money archetypes. Okay. Yeah. And

that was that explained to me in

black and white a lot of the reasons why I was acting the way I

was acting and making decisions the way that I was. And when it

was shown to me in black and white that these traits, even though they're neither

good nor bad, but I was operating from an unhealthy place. And what that

looked like exactly was the life that I was living. A lot of great things

still, but some really unsustainable patterns. Yes. Absolutely.

It was just not helping me. It was. It was tripping me up. And then

what a healthy version would look like, even honoring those

same values and those same characteristics. What would a healthy version of that

look like? And so I started making structural changes in my business.

I started delegating more. I really stepped back from

the operations and just managed more of the strategy and my two

main leads for the company. And

that allowed me to breathe. I stopped working weekends.

I stopped working evenings. And if I couldn't get something done, it

meant that I had too much on my plate. So you started setting healthy boundaries

with yourself within yourself. Yes, because I. I loved

what I did. I still love what I do. I love my work. I'm very

passionate about it. I will follow the momentum, follow the lead. And I

just said yes to too many things. It's so hard to say no.

Yes. Especially when you're a passionate person like you are. It's really hard to put

up those bumpers. Yes. Does your body now give

you signs when it's time to

slow down or put up a new boundary, or do you have a

few things that you've noticed that help you make that decision now when you need

to say no? I still will

sometimes struggle with wanting to say yes and knowing

that's my cycle and my habit. I now have something in

interrupt where I say, send me an email.

Let me take a look. Let me take a look at it. I'll get back

to you instead of just the immediate yes. And then I'll sit back and ask

myself, do I really have the capacity for this? Is this moving me

towards the goals that I have in my life or for my work or for

my lifestyle? I have a little twitch that just started right here.

I can barely notice it. It's okay. The camera's on this page.

This way, this way. But that. That pattern interrupt

allowed me to. Okay, wait a minute. Is it because I can see

the possibilities and the opportunities in this thing or. And

I can. But is it for me? Do I have to say yes? I don't

even have to, but do I need to? This is really what I want to

be doing with my time. If I only have limited time. I have a sticky

note on my desk that says, success equals simplicity. I like

that. And I look at it every time I try and make a decision. I

try and look at it every time I make a decision. I just wrote a

new business plan for times, and I put it through the

filter of that four different times. Okay. Some

intentional planning for how I spend. My time

and the intention with how you spend up your time, because obviously time is

finite, your energy is finite. How do you divide that

up? Hmm. Hard question. Might not be

able to answer it. That's okay. But, you know, it's so interesting. So I can

tell you how I divide it up now, But I have to say, if you're

a new entrepreneur and you're listening to this, it's going to look different. Yeah. And

there's seasons, and there are seasons for hustle and working evenings and

weekends. That can happen. But that's just. That

should be short time only. That shouldn't be the standard. So now

I don't work weekends. I don't work evenings. When my

body tells me I'm tired, I am actually done for the day, and I

will come back to it tomorrow. And if for some reason I didn't get it

done, it means that I was over capacity. That's

very wise. Pretty basic. No, but it's. Do you know what's

funny? Is that a lot of people don't realize that until they burn out. And

you've already been through that, and you have become comfortable, what your

capacity is, and you're not showing any guilt with being

saying, I need to stop and slow down. Because I think it's really hard to

do in our culture of productivity

to say, no, I need to stop for a second.

And you've done that, and I think that's brilliant. Thank you. But what's also

great, especially if you're an entrepreneur. Is that if I feel

like I have 10 hours of energy to complete something,

I will allow myself to work the 10 hours. If I

will get up extra early or everyone's gone to bed and I'm wide awake and

I want to work on something. Yes. Like I'm allowed to do that

time to time and follow that energy you have, that freedom. Yes.

Yeah. When you are off, what do you do to fill your cup of tea?

Oh, I love gardening. My daughter loves weeding with me,

so that's pretty fantastic. Today is handy. This is great.

It is great. Yeah. Spending time with friends and family.

I was gonna say cooking, but that would be a lie because my partner cooks

more than me. The one day a week I cook, I do enjoy. Yeah.

I think there's a difference between cooking for necessity and cooking out of

pleasure as well, too. I know. I don't know if that's something that shifted for

you, but I used to love cooking before I had K. And then when it

became that necessity of the meals and the snacks and the lunches, it just sucked

all the joy out of it. And it was such a different way of

operating in the kitchen. Yes. I just didn't enjoy as much anymore.

Yeah. It's funny how are there things that you enjoyed

before motherhood that you're finding just are no longer your go

to. I used to crochet. Okay. And knit. That

surprises me. Yes. I wouldn't have pictured you as someone who crocheted. Yeah. I mean,

I did live in a garage with no running water for five years. Okay. In

a past life. Okay. Which is wild. And it was that era. That's a whole

other story. With my. My ex husband. I. I used to

love sewing. I still like the idea of it. And I. If I had extra

capacity, I would. Love to do that. I love fashion. I have gotten back

into gardening. I love just intellectual

conversations with my friends. And I love spending time with my family. Like it's.

And travel, but it's really so simple. I love reading my

books. I love talking about my books. It's

nothing too crazy. It's not, but it's what resonates with you. It's

human connection, interacting with others and then some

introspection. Like gardening can be quite introspective. Reading is quite introspective. So

it's, you know, a yin and a yang. You can't always be in that open

space connecting with everyone. You need to pull back sometimes. And it sounds like

you've Navigated a really nice balance for the current season of your life.

And that's a lot. I know you say it sounds simple, but

it's a lot easier said than done. And it takes a lot of internal work

to get to to that space and a support network which you've

touched on already, which is super. Do you have any

words of wisdom to give to mothers who are either expecting

shortly or are in the throes of it and

you know, going between nappies and snacks and

bottle or breastfeeding and laundry and the list goes on.

Because I feel like I probably say a couple different things.

Release expectation of yourself and

what you think it's going to look like and just allow to be whatever it

is going to be and to be kind to yourself. Don't

penalize yourself. You know, self compassion can go in a really

long way. Yes. Also sounds easy. Also really hard

to do. Yeah. This is maybe like a bit odd to say but

if you're an entrepreneur and are like career driven

and becoming a mother or a new mother,

I don't know if you've experienced this but I,

I get told all the time that my partner is like a great father. But

I think I've been told maybe like total, maybe in almost

four years. Four times. Oh, that

hurts. Isn't that interesting though? Because I think as a

career driven woman. It'S hard to

navigate both. It's hard to navigate both. But because I'm not a

dedicated mother. You're not the typical,

you know, mom at home baking the muffins during the

lunches, walking the kid to school, but you mother in a different way. Yes. And

it doesn't mean that it's wrong. Exactly. So if, if this is you,

maybe I wish someone had prepared me that, that this could be the scenario.

Yeah. And the lack that that can feel. So you would need to decide what

makes you a good mother for you. Like what is your definition of that and

the agreement you have with your partner, your spouse. Yeah.

It's very unique to each family and it's a very hard space to navigate.

I think myself, I went, I worked too much and then had

very little left in the tank. Similarly to yourself. And

then was working too little and felt like I'd

lost that identity and the role that I played in the community. So it's. The

needle is always moving and you need to continually reflect is this.

Am I happy with how the day to day is going and

there is no right fit and everyone needs to figure that out for

themselves and learn from other people's tools and see how that

applies in their lives. I think just be curious. You're allowed

to set your own definition of what a good mother is or a good parent.

What your life looks like, what your balance looks like. Your balance is gonna

look different than my balance. And that's okay. Yeah. Thank you.

I'm going to finish on a quote because I've asked everyone to send me a

quote or mantra that is fitting for the current season of your life. And

here is spaces I'm in the right place at the right time,

having a human experience I am supposed to experience. That's

beautiful. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you for joining us today. Thanks for

having me.