Lily Snyder

This time last year was a milestone for me. I was preparing to give my keynote speech at Cincinnati Startup Week for their virtual reality day.

It also meant an overnight trip to a different city without my baby boy. This would be my overnight without him! Luckily, I didn’t have to worry because my husband stayed home to take care of him.

Being in Cincinnati for Startup Week was so refreshing. It felt so good to be around other professionals and entrepreneurs. I got to see VR demos and try their software.

Plus, getting to speak again was a lot of fun. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous. It had been a while since I gave my last talk. But being nominated by my peers on LinkedIn and seeing the heads nodding along in the audience gave me the motivation to deliver my keynote address.

Let’s take a look back on that day with my video presentation

A quick note to the professional moms out there. Deciding when or if to go back to work after having a baby is hard. For some of us, no matter how much we love our careers, we want to put our full-time focus on our babies. I think that’s a great thing!

I also think it shouldn’t stop us from taking time outs to jump back into the professional light for a minute or two. Whether it’s attending a conference, giving a talk at a local professional club, or taking on contract work, I think it’s important to stay in the game a little bit.

Like our babies learning to walk for the first time, we too can take baby steps to test how much we can or want to take on in our professional lives. I’ve also found that volunteering has been great for keeping my brain engaged without overloading my mental capacity.

Do you think anything has changed for VR since my keynote last year? Are you balancing work and motherhood? Let me know in the comments below!