On this episode of the Mompreneurs podcast, Carol Sutton Lewis describes how being a mother changed her perspective and set her on an unexpected career path. Lewis, the creator of Ground Control Parenting, joined Mompreneurs host Nancy Redd to discuss how her curiosity about parenting turned into a business opportunity.

Ground Control Parenting, a multifaceted brand and award-winning podcast, has become a valuable resource for practical parenting advice on raising smart, confident Black children. Inspired by her experience as a mom-of-three, Lewis developed a passion for researching parenting and education resources and sharing her findings with other parents.

Lewis shifted her focus from her career to motherhood.

The former lawyer never imagined that she would put her career on hold to focus on parenting. “What I knew how to be was someone who was really career-focused,” she said. Having children shifted her perspective, sparking a fascination with the challenges and complexities involved in parenting.

“It was a real awakening when I started to have children and discovered that, for a myriad of different reasons, I ended up wanting to focus more on their development and actually enjoying the time that I was spending with them,” Lewis said. “It didn’t make as much sense for me to keep barreling ahead in the workforce when there was a lot for me to do with the kids at home.”

Lewis was interested in exploring the unique experiences that influence how parents raise their children. “What do you carry with you as a parent that impacts everything you do with your kids? Who are you, and then how does that impact how you parent?”

She started the Ground Control Parenting blog to share information with other parents.

The mom-of-three started seeking answers for herself, which inspired her to create the Ground Control Parenting blog to share her findings with other parents. Lewis shared practical information that focused on raising smart and confident boys and young men of color in particular. Lewis used her experience as a mother raising two sons to create a platform for these important discussions. She continued her study of parenting — gathering information, speaking to experts and sharing it with the world. “I don’t have all the answers but I know where to find a lot of them,” she said.

The GCP blog gained a steady following and led to a teaching opportunity at Hunter College in late 2019. The year after, the global pandemic forced the world to shut down. Seeing opportunity in times of hardship, Lewis transformed her lesson plans into a podcast format. She recruited fellow parents, friends and peers to speak with her about parenting, and the GCP podcast was born.

“Part of my mission, why I do the podcast, is to talk to parents about how they were parented, how that impacted their parenting, and then how they cope with various things,” said Lewis. “There’s no magic formula and there’s no one path for everyone to follow, but I do hope that parents can be inspired to build their own parenting strengths on the kind of information I’m able to provide.”

Source: Courtesy of Carol Sutton Lewis / Carol Sutton

Parenting taught Lewis how to embrace the journey.

Lewis’ children are now grown, with her youngest graduating college in 2021. Her kids taught her a lot, but the lesson she keeps referring back to is learning how to “pivot.” As parents, she and her husband provided their children with every tool to succeed, like a stellar education. After that, it’s all up to them, she said. When her youngest decided to join the U.S. Marine Corps instead of pursuing a career in finance, “after a moment of stunned silence, we all embraced it wholeheartedly.”

“You pour in all you can, and when you feel as if you have done the best you can, you just gotta let them go and fly,” said Lewis. “They are such good people so I can’t ask for more than that.”

‘We can do hard things.’

As an entrepreneur spearheading her own brand, Lewis’ passion and her relentless curiosity about this subject were the fuel for all of the hard work and long hours, which is what made Ground Control Parenting work.

“The fire in the belly is very important because it’s the thing that’s going to get you up early and it’s the thing that’s going to help you think creatively and not give in to the no’s,” said Lewis. “Being an entrepreneur means you hear a lot of no’s. You need to feel as confident as you can about what you want to do.”

“It’s hard but it’s not impossible,” she added. “We can do hard things.”

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