Dear Marissa Mayer,
Yahoo! You're pregnant. My Facebook news feed
exploded Monday night when you announced you're expecting in October, right
after Yahoo announced you'll be its new CEO.
My head exploded when you told Fortune you're planning to work through
your maternity leave of "a few weeks." We need to talk. First, congratulations! You
may be the first woman to be hired as a CEO of a Fortune 500
company while pregnant. And for that we raise a (non-alcoholic) beverage in
your direction. You're an inspiration to us all.
At 37, you're a little older and a lot more
accomplished than I. Far be it for me to give YOU advice. But I've done
something you haven't (yet): I've had a baby.
Trust me when I say, you won't know what hit
you. And I'm not just talking about projectile spit-up. Three weeks in, I don't think I could walk
yet. That might be a slight exaggeration, but at 10 days I definitely couldn't
make it up or down stairs. Just sitting on the toilet was painful. I'll spare
you the details of my marathon labor, but suffice to say -- with a shout-out to
the Summer Olympics on NBC--
I should win a gold medal in pushing. If you haven't taken a moment to
appreciate your functioning bladder today,
you should.
I hope your delivery will be a breeze.
But there's more to consider. I read you once paid $60,000 to have lunch with Oscar de la Renta. So let me appeal, then,
to your fashion sense. Those giant mesh underpants they
make you wear post-partum? They should NEVER come into contact with Oscar de la
Renta. Nor should leaking breast milk ever have the opportunity to stain your
favorite cashmere cardigan. Anna Wintour would not approve.
Would it be so bad to spend a couple more
months in the comfort of
your home, un-showered and wearing sweats like the rest of us? I know you're
used to working long hours. But "all-nighter" takes on a whole new
meaning when you become a mother.
Give yourself a break. At least see how you
feel when you're a mom before deciding -- very publicly -- that you want to go
right back to work. There are plenty of working moms in
this country who struggle with maddeningly short maternity leaves -- out
of financial necessity, not by choice. And I know you didn't anoint yourself the
new poster-mom for "having it all," but you're not exactly helping
their cause.
The cheers or jeers of other moms may not sway
you, but don't discount the persuasive powers of your baby boy. You're a
powerful woman, but I have a feeling you're going to be putty in your son's
little hands from Day One. I can't fully explain the extent to which your
priorities will shift when you have a baby. I predict you'll soon consider him
the greatest accomplishment of your very accomplished life.
Marissa, you're about to join the mommy
sisterhood. We welcome you and we're so proud to have a trailblazer like you in
our ranks. I'm sure you will rock motherhood just like you've rocked the
corporate world.
But I'm also really glad I don't work for you.
Because if I decided to have another baby (purely hypothetical, in case my
husband is reading this), I would feel like a total slacker.
Yours in sleep deprivation,
Pamela Sitt
Pamela Sitt is a working mom in
Seattle who has recently appointed herself CEO of her blog at www.clarasmom.com.
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