Mompreneur part 2: Hannah Leonard of Loom and Kiln
Name: Hannah Loumeau Leonard
Age: 26
Where do you live: South Jordan, UT
How many children and age: Two. Maya is 2 1/2 and Theo is 6 months
Name of business: Loom and Kiln
Which came first: I had the idea to open Loom and Kiln when my first child was just a couple months old and officially opened the business just after her 1st birthday.
What motivated you to start your business? I was motivated by a couple things. First and foremost, I wanted something that I could pour my creative energy into and call my own. I had a lot of experiences with small work and business ventures leading up to this that gave the confidence that I could open a shop and be successful at it. At the time some of them felt like failures or wasted time, but now I can clearly see that they were anything but that. Secondly, after becoming a mother, I felt I wanted to bring in a second income to give my family more opportunity and financial freedom to travel and do those things that make us happy.
Average week day: An average week day includes my kids getting up around 6:30. We spend the morning together until I drop my oldest off at daycare for 3 hours while I get some work done. At noon I pick Maya up and she goes down for nap, while I continue to work. When I'm working, I'm taking pictures, answering emails, managing our instagram, communicating with our dealers and artists, marking out how to cut fabric to make into pillows, etc. In the afternoon I might take the kids out of the house to play outside or run errands. In the evening I make dinner, my husband Mark comes home from work and we spend time together as a family until the kids go down for bed around 8:00. Once they're asleep, I get some more work don't before relaxing with my main squeeze and heading to bed.
How do you strive for balance between family and work: Honestly, it's extremely difficult to find balance between work and family. I feel it will always be an ongoing battle to not let my business distract me from what's most important, my kids and amazing husband. Delegating more responsibilities to my incredible assistant Liza (who I completely adore) has been hard but has eased my stress and anxiety tremendously. I'm also learning to understand my limitations, which us bosses sometimes like to lie to ourselves and pretend like we don't have them ;)
What do you do to relax? To relax I like to dance it out at Zumba! No joke. I taught Zumba for years downtown Portland Oregon, it just brings me so much happiness and is a great way to relieve stress! Also, I love watching a good comedy with my husband at night.
Current favorite song: Lately I've enjoyed belting out "Reaper" by Sia in the car
You've accomplished so much, what are your goals for the next 5 year? (family and business) Mark and I talk about this a lot. We are currently building a new house and studio to move into which we are so excited about! That checks a big thing off our list. However, and this is probably the thing we are most scared about, our biggest goal is to have Mark leave his 7-5:30 job (does anyone actually just work 9-5?) and work on some smaller business ventures from home and help more with the kids. Ultimately we would like to both work part time from home, so that we can split the home responsibilities. It would allow our children to spend ample quality time with of us which I believe is so important. We'd love to be able to travel around the country and globe more often because we wouldn't be dealing with "time off".
Dream vacation with kids: When my kids get a little older, I would love to take them to Italy. I did a study abroad there when I was 19 and it has a special place in my heart. The architecture, history, culture, language, food, and all around beauty... Italy is just unbelievable!
Dream vacation without kids: By the time this is being read, we will probably be on one of our current dream trips! We are headed to Iceland, Scotland and England (but we are taking our 6 month old because he's so easy right now to just tote around with us). We can't wait to explore the exciting city of London, and take in all of the natural beauty in the Scottish highlands and Iceland. After this, my next dream trip would probably have to be Australia and New Zealand! Australia has a fantastic boho aesthetic and there are several shops and artists I would love to see and be inspired by!
Describe yourself in one word: This is tough. I asked my husband and he said "bootylicious"... so he's obviously no help :) I think I would say spirited. I have a lot of passion for my work, the people I love, for having an adventure and for discovering the unknown. Also, I've always just been told I have a lot of energy and enthusiasm, so I think it's fitting!
Follow Hannah on Instagram @loomandkiln and at loomandkiln.com
Photography by @jessicawhitephoto | jessicawhitephotography.com