Q&A 4Her: Lyss Stern, Founder of Divalysscious Moms

Woman entrepreneur Lyss Stern despised the notion that you somehow could not be fabulous and a mother at the same time. To help women keep in touch with their pre-mom selves, Lyss started Divalysscious Moms (divamoms.com). The website and company offers trendy events and lifestyle tips to help women strike that all too needed balance between mommy-hood and their previous glam-filled lives. It’s where high heels and high chairs meet!

Lyss was kind enough to share more information on her company and on what entrepreneurship has done for her. Read her full interview below.

What is the unique problem or situation your product or service solves?

Being a mom is anything but easy.  Most new moms struggle to maintain a balance between motherhood and their pre-child self. Rewarding albeit demanding, being a mother often requires sacrificing your personal needs for those of your family. Divalysscious Moms shows women that they don’t have to give up their fabulous lifestyles once they have children!  Ready to lead by example, I wanted every mother across America to know what moms in NYC have learned…just because you’re a busy mom…doesn’t mean you can’t be a diva.  Anyone can be a Divalysscious Mom!

What in hindsight would you say you underestimated about this particular industry or running your own business and why?

There are so many different platforms – social media, websites, 500 cable channels, print, events, cross promotions – that offer new and unique ways for me to get my brand out there, but that also presented a challenge that I wasn’t expecting – how do I cut through the clutter to find my unique audience.  The moms I’m trying to reach are busy, so I needed to find a way to cut through the dense media landscape and reach them directly.

What is the best business related advice you have ever been given?

“Stay in your lane”  …  There are always ways to branch your business out, and I’m all for trying something new or keeping things fresh, but you need to make sure you don’t veer too far away from your unique brand and expertise.  You want to partner with companies, clients, events and products that compliment your brand. Expansion possibilities can always be enticing, but there’s a reason Jaguar doesn’t make a pick-up truck, be true to your brand.

What were the hardest barriers in getting your idea off the ground?

Getting women to believe that having a baby didn’t have to mean trading in their high heels for a pair of mom jeans, which is the whole premise of my company. A key component of Divalysscious Moms’ success was that no one occupied this space before us.  That was because it was just accepted that being a mom and fabulous were incompatible, and what’s worse is those mom’s who managed to remain fabulous were viewed negatively. I started off naively thinking women would be hungry to learn about and share ideas of how to strike a balance, but I quickly realized I’d need to combat preconceived notions that I was peddling wish fulfillment, instead of practical advice.

What do you enjoy best about being an entrepreneur?

Watching my business grow, but not for the obvious reason (though those are nice too).  Each step Divalysscious has taken forward represents 50 obstacles and missteps I’ve left in my wake.   Each failure or hard lesson learned has made me smarter, so in that sense growth is a reminder how far I’ve come and how much better at this I am now than when I started.

I also believe passionately in what I’m selling – it’s not just a business, it’s a way of life I believe in– and so in this sense growth means my ideas are spreading and reaching more women.

Do you feel becoming an entrepreneur has helped you grow as a person? If so – how?

Becoming an entrepreneur has taught me how to prioritize.  Women who are successful at balancing business and family are accused of trying to have it all, but the secret to our success is accepting you can’t do everything.  It’s freeing to know what is truly important.  It use to be that I’d bemoan every missed opportunity or wring my hands over what might have been, but now I make sure to absorb all the important moments in life and seize the opportunities I judge to be most fruitful.

Where can people learn more about your company?

You can learn more about my company at  www.divamoms.com, which also has all the up to date information about my various events, projects, books, and articles (like this one).  You can also find information about Divalysscious Moms on my Facebook page or Twitter feed.

If you had to share one final thought with our audience of thousands of women in business – what would it be?

Figure out what you are passionate about and build from there.  It won’t happen all at once, but if you are truly passionate about your idea or product you’ll learn how to break through.  And don’t for moment believe that because you are mother you won’t be able to find that success.

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