Celebrating Our Adobe Moms
This Mother’s Day, we’re celebrating Adobe moms around the world who are embodying new definitions of motherhood during this time: mothers balancing work and life with no childcare; mothers doubling as homeschool teachers; mothers doing it alone as single parents; mothers co-parenting with partners; mothers taking care of elderly family members; and all the other forms of motherhood that exist against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, we’re highlighting four Adobe moms and how they’re receiving support from our benefits and employee community during this time.
Using Wellbeing Benefits to Find Calm
Silky Kedawat, Senior Product Manager in Noida, works with teams in offices around the world. With her children’s school and childcare closed, she’s now also teaching and caring for her 8 and 4-year-old daughters throughout the day. Silky’s busy schedule requires a full night’s rest and the meditation app Headspace (free to Adobe employees) has helped her find calm before going to bed.
“I use the Headspace app daily. It really works,” Silky said. “I use it to help me go to sleep after the busyness of daily life.”
Silky says it even helps speed up the bedtime routine for her daughters, turning a 40-minute process into a 10-minute meditation before the girls are asleep, giving Silky back some precious time.
In additional to wellbeing benefits, Silky said she values Adobe’s leadership for setting an example as we balance a new way of working and parenting: “Messaging is coming right from the top and this helps in shaping flexibility and understanding across teams.
“I’m really lucky to work at Adobe because I think the culture of the company is really helping me get through the current state we are in.”
Creating an At-Home Office and Classroom
For Data Steward Charlotte Malan, shelter-in-place orders have meant her home is now functioning as a classroom, a daycare, a fitness center, and a home office. Though she’d already had plans for a workspace in her family’s new home in Lehi, Charlotte had to rethink her setup now that her three children and husband are all working and learning in the same space. She was able to create a productive at-home workspace using Adobe’s Work From Home Expense Fund.
“The plan was not for all five family members to be working from home at the same time,” Charlotte said. “The fund really helped me take that space that I intended for my work-from-home and make it adjustable so that I can share that space a little better.”
Charlotte said Adobe’s transparency has been key to helping her cope with the COVID-19 situation.
“It’s created a really positive culture where the mental conversation is not a scary one, it’s really opened the door on that,” Charlotte said. “At Adobe, I’ve always felt very comfortable and supported but this just took it to another level. It’s made it where if my kids come running through a meeting or I say I’m going to be off for lunch because I’m going to go teach my son how to ride his bike, that’s all totally fine.”
Educating with Adobe Resources
Senior Account Manager Asya Gelfand was looking for education resources for her kids as schools in New York transitioned to remote learning. With three children under the age of 10, she said creating individualized schedules has been key.
Asya’s oldest son is interested in YouTube and creating videos, so the live Adobe Creative Classroom sessions with Tanya Avrith were a perfect addition to his at-home curriculum.
“It’s been great,” Asya said. “We put the class on his weekly schedule and treated it as an enrichment and technology class.”
Asya said clear communication, work flexibility, and support from leadership have helped her manage feelings of uncertainty.
“I’m grateful for the support and understanding that Adobe provides to us as parents. As our lives have been turned upside-down with COVID-19, I appreciate the feeling of safety Adobe has been able to give us.”
Finding Support in the Adobe Community
Sridevi Aishwariya Ganesan had recently returned to work after having her first child when shelter-in-place orders drastically changed her plans. Her parents were supposed to visit and help care for her 10-month-old daughter, but they were unable to travel from their home in India to Sridevi’s home in San Jose.
Sridevi admits that taking care of an infant full-time while maintaining her work as an Engineering Manager for Experience Cloud hasn’t been easy. But relying on an Adobe network she’s built up over the past 12 years at the company and her husband who also works at Adobe, Sridevi is taking it all in stride. She and her husband divide their time between meetings, chores, and taking care of their daughter.
“I have a lot of friends at Adobe who are like family to me. We talk to each other on an ongoing basis,” Sridevi said. “I am lucky to have an Adobe family support system get me through the day.”
Sridevi said BlueJeans calls and messaging on Slack with friends she’s made through networks like the Women’s Executive Shadow Program and Asian Employee Network help her feel grounded. And even on especially stressful days, Sridevi said she feels grateful for the extra time she’s spending with her young daughter.
“I have been going to sleep later since I started working from home, but it’s absolutely worth it to watch my 10-month-old grow,” Sridevi said. “And there are special moments like when my daughter initiated the first peekaboo to grab my attention, which makes all my stress melt away.”
Interesting in hearing more about how we’re supporting parents at Adobe? Check out these stories: