Paula Faris: Celebrating Working Moms & Motherhood
In celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day (March 8), host Yael Eckstein welcomes to the podcast Paula Faris, the Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist who spent nine years at ABC News, co-anchoring “Good Morning America Weekend,” and co-hosting “The View.” Today, because of her experiences as a working mom, Paula has devoted her many talents to a new chapter in her life — a mission to support and give voice to the 35 million women in the workforce. Through her organization, CARRY Media™, Paula brings her passion for supporting working moms, pledging to “change the game and level the playing field.” Don’t miss this inspirational and empowering message in support of working moms and motherhood.
Episode Notes
In 2020, like so many other moms who were forced out of the workplace at the beginning of the pandemic, Paula Faris lost her job at ABC News, where she had spent nine years as the co-anchor for “Good Morning American Weekend” and co-host for “The View.”
As Paula shared with podcast host Yael Eckstein, president and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, there were two paths before her. “Should I take the safe route and take another job in television, which was the expected path,” Paula said. “Or should I go for this thing that’s been burning in my spirit for a really long time and that was to advocate for mothers in the workplace.”
Despite having no experience in starting up a company, Paula chose to launch a new venture, CARRY Media™, as a platform to champion and support working moms through resources, content, and storytelling. Through sharing the stories of other working moms, Paula hopes to raise awareness of issues such as gender pay disparity, work-life balance, and other inequalities in the workplace.
“I’m a mother of three, and I’ve always worked. And I have always felt that tension between being a working mom and just being a mom and not feeling valued,” she said. “In general, motherhood is scrutinized and punished instead of being celebrated. Often in America, we have to choose between working mom and mommy, and we all carry tremendous amounts of “mom” guilt.”
While naming her organization CARRY Media™ was initially a placeholder, Paula said the name stuck because it really symbolized what the organization wanted to do for working moms. “We want to help carry women through this important time of their lives. I’m a Christian, and the Bible also talks about carrying one another’s burdens,” she said. “We want to let moms know that they don’t have to carry it all, and they don’t have to carry it alone.”
Paula’s message is not just for moms, however. In her newly released book, You Don’t Have to Carry It All: Ditch the Mom Guilt & Find a Better Way Forward, Paula devotes a chapter to inviting men into the conversation. “Men are part of the solution, but they are facing their own societal issues that tells them if they aren’t the breadwinner and bringing a paycheck home that they are a failure,” she said. “I think the greatest thing that men can do to support their partners is to take their paternity leave and acknowledge that raising a child is a partnership.”
Yael Eckstein welcomes Paula Faris, the Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist who co-anchored “Good Morning America Weekend,” and “The View.”