GLOW GANG X JODIE IMAM
In our series, the GLOW GANG, we talk to inspiring women doing incredible things. Its a hub for everyone to tap into - it may resonate, inspire, encourage or give you the new perspective you didn't know you were looking for.
Today we spoke with Entrepreneur, Advisor, General Manager at SBE Australia, Wife and Mother Jodie Imam.
Jodie epitomises the description of an exceptional juggler. Often with many balls in the air, Jodie is a women of many, many talents, although is the kind of person who also always makes time to help those around her. She founded a company called Occasional Butler that was acquired by Airtasker back in 2014. Since then, she has founded a co-working space called Depo8, which was sadly closed due to the pressures of COVID-19. Jodie is a mentor at Startmate and the General Manager at SBE Australia, which is a not-for-profit that assists women-led businesses.
Jodie is also a Cinch lover, so we sat down with her to chat about all things lockdown and how she's found the past couple of months.
Thank you for your time today Jodie, we know how busy you are. We'd love to get right to it by asking what you're passionate about?
I love connecting with people, starting new things and helping those around me start new things.
Since COVID-19 hit, life’s been a little (okay a lot) different. What’s changed for you?
Since COVID hit my life has changed considerably. On March 23rd my husband and I announced to our landlord and members that we had to close our coworking space, depo8 for good, after almost all of our members said they were leaving (due to job loss, customer loss, desire to social distance before it was mandatory) in the space of a week (our worst nightmare realised). We had enjoyed running the business for the past 8 years. We also had to manage homeschooling for three kids between the ages of 5 and 10years whilst I worked full time for SBE Australia and my husband was shutting down our business. It was not pretty, infact my 10yo son summarised his experience as "disgusting"
As a mum of 3 gorgeous children under 10, how have you found balancing work and homeschooling?
Balancing work and homeschooling was brutal. It meant for me getting up at 4.30am every day (most days) to get through all the work and try and help the kids get some of their assigned work submitted. Whilst I am grateful to be gainfully employed, we are all very upset to be going back to it next week. But the plan is to tackle it very differently, starting with some hired help.
How have you managed those changes and kept positive?
You can connect with Jodie here, or learn more about SBE Australia here.