Labcoats and Lullabies, Episode 1: Finding synergies in science and work-life balance

Labcoats and Lullabies is a special video interview series under the Nourish and Navigate banner dedicated to working moms in science. Hosted by Kriti Chaudhary, associate director of partnerships and strategy for Vedic Lifesciences, the series tells authentic stories of women who balance the rigor of sciences with the realities of motherhood.

In this first episode, Chaudhary interview Karin Hermoni, founder of Imagine Health.*

Partial transcript:

Kriti Chaudhary

You've had such an impressive career in science and innovation. But let's just go back to, you know, your pre motherhood days. What was your perspective? Have your priorities changed in any way, like after becoming a mother?

Karin Hermoni

Yeah. So actually, I started my career in science...you know, I had my two kids during my PhD, so I already joined the industry as a mother, and so my transition happened during the academic period of my journey. And yeah, I can say that the moment my first child was born, everything changed in terms of how I view the world and what I wanted to achieve in the world, and what interested me. And one of the things I can share is that I think my interests as a scientist really evolved with my motherhood. So when the kids were young and I wanted to engage them in my journey in science, I always talked to them, and I always researched myself the things that were relevant to their phase of life, whether that's bone health and brain health development and so on. And as they grew, I found myself also being interested. I have three kids, so an older boy who is 18 and started college, and then two girls, 14 and 11, and when the girls started that transition into womanhood, and, you know, I really found myself more and more interested in women's health and in feminine journeys, and how can we improve that? So I think it's, you know, my journey as a scientist and my journey as a mother are very entangled.

Kriti Chaudhary

Wow, amazing. I can't imaginehaving three kids and, you know, balancing your career and that too, in a leadership role. Pretty commendable.

Karin Hermoni

Yeah, and I can honestly share that it has not always been easy, right? I think normalizing this conversation is something very important. It's hard. Sometimes it's very hard to navigate that route. And you know, in our conversation, we talked about that balancing work and life and where does that take us as mothers. And I can say that there have been lot of a lot of moments where I found myself in that mom guilt, as you called it, and it's natural, but only when I started talking to myself in a kinder way and being more accepting...it didn't disappear, it's still there, but it made my journey much easier, and maybe also because a lot of my scientific journey was centered around finding synergies between molecules that it impacted my entire view of life. And so I always insert instead of seeking for balance, which I very quickly found one that is not always realistic, I started, started thriving for synergy. So I look at it as work-life synergy. And when I engage my kids and my husband and my family into my scientific and career journey, it makes everything more synergistic. When they understand they are a part, when I research things that are relevant for them, then everything becomes much more synergistic and harmonious together with those hard moments.

*At the time of the interview, Karin Hermoni was the VP of science and innovation for Suannutra. Hermoni is no longer with Suannutra.