Archive for May, 2014

It’s Not Just Business; And I Do Take It Personally.

Friday, May 16th, 2014

by Mary Duggan

Mary Duggan

My reaction was so swift and painful that it surprised even me – the queen of overreacting. The one with the damaged brain that registers hurt quickly and deeply, despite every effort to get a grip – please.

We’d been thrilled for weeks about being featured in Crain’s Chicago Business, the famed Chicago business publication. We thought we’d done pretty well with the interview. We were all over the topic: Sibling Entrepreneurs. We’d taken the time to discuss our shared experiences before our date with the reporter; and when we did our standard post-mortem, we were okay-ish with the way in which we’d represented ourselves, our family and our business. There’s always this or that you wish you’d expressed differently.

It’s never easy being interviewed. The reporter has an editorial directive – an intent for their piece – and it can be frustrating to try to get your true story out there in the face of the journalist’s assignment. Plus we’re wildly inexperienced, having had very few opportunities to speak to the press during our six-year business history. Coupled with not having a publicist, it can be kind of scary. But generally the decency and enthusiasm and professionalism of the reporter makes the fears go away – and that was most certainly the case with Monica Ginsburg from Crain’s Chicago Business. (more…)

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Reality TV came calling and we said …

Wednesday, May 14th, 2014

by Mary Duggan

Mary Duggan

I think shut and up are the two ugliest words in the language – any language – when they are used together. Afforded an opportunity to speak up, I perk up, or so I thought. That is until recent developments found me standing shell-shocked in the middle of some sort of open-talk-portal. Requests to speak began to present themselves so quickly that I found myself scrambling to determine what exactly it is I have to share. Radio, TV, print media – even, God forbid, reality TV have all come a calling. It has all been a bit much. A blessing and if not a curse, then at least a curiosity. (more…)

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I’m A Babysitter, Not An Exorcist!

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014

By Mary Duggan

Mary Duggan

My Mom had a genius for friendship. She gathered her life long friends, from her childhood summers on a farm in Missouri to her pinnacle life experience as a day hopper at Rosary College. She kept them close, never seemed to lose one to quarrel or misunderstanding, and presented each of them to us as a unique exemplar of womanhood. She admired their height, their sense of style, their choice of spouse, their brilliant careers and of course, their children. Her friends were second string aunties for us and their children more like cousins. She filled our lives with her wonderful friends and expanded our sense of ourselves and our definition of family in doing so. She even loved the friends of her friends – and that is where this story originated.

When friends of our “Aunt” Catherine got a job transfer that predicated a move into our neighborhood, Mom welcomed them warmly, doing everything in her power to ease their adjustment. She assured them that they would be deliriously happy on Seeley Avenue, one of the oldest, loveliest, friendliest, and most historic streets in all of Beverly.  And when their Beverly experience proved to be something other than what everyone had predicted, she was there for them then, as well. Meaning she had a new assignment for me as her go-to girl for Moms needing assistance – in this case a babysitter with that extra something. (more…)

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Auntie Vi and the Wise Guys

Saturday, May 10th, 2014

By Mary Duggan

Mary Duggan

My Mom was not the tender type. She was more the life is rough so you better toughen up missy type. She came by her stern life guidelines authentically. Orphaned of both parents and half her siblings by the time she was seven and auctioned off to a less than loving new family, she knew of what she spoke. But I resisted her take on life and held tightly to romantic notions of happiness for myself. Turns out, she was right. Did she prepare me for the life I have encountered? Or did she set up a prophecy that I merely fulfilled? I suppose I’ll never know. What I do know is she built me a tool box of entrepreneurial must-haves that I draw upon daily. She pimped me out constantly to needy Moms all over the neighborhood and taught me just how strong I could be. For better or worse, she made me who I am. (more…)

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