WRAL: Meet this Mom: Shyana Frost
Stephanie Llorente, owner of Restored, is a regular contributor to the WRAL Family blog where she writes about relevant topics for working moms. We repost that content here.
What’s your name, and in what part of the Triangle do you spend most of your time?
Hi! My name is Shyana (Shy) Frost, and I am a California girl making her home here in the Triangle! I run a leadership development company called Learning For Living, where we give educational leaders the tools they need to take great care of themselves and create a PEOPLE FIRST culture. I spend my days with my family in the Cary/Apex area.
Tell us a little about your family and one activity you enjoy together.
I have been married to my incredible husband Eric for nearly 9 years, and together we have a 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. Our family is deeply invested in our church community, loves to be outdoors especially on Jordan Lake or at the pool, and enjoys all the museums around town.
Tell us about your career journey and how you ended up in your current position.
My career journey is a bit on the wild side! I was born and raised in Northern California, but decided after college I wanted to try out a new part of the country. Two weeks after graduating, I packed up my Toyota Corolla and moved 3,000 miles from my home with the hopes of landing a great job in a beautiful new city. I graduated with a communications degree and really just knew I loved leadership, creating connections, and encouraging people to do work that aligns with their passions. I had NO idea where this would take me.
After spending the summer working temp jobs, I landed a two-week job as an office assistant at a software start-up in Cary. I got offered an amazing opportunity to take on a HR Generalist role within the company, and my first manager was incredible. She trained me on everything from recruiting, hiring, staff training, to employee events and compensation. If I didn’t know how to do it… she just trained me. It was a complete blessing to work alongside such a great mentor! I very quickly realized I was drawn toward the personal growth and development side of HR.
Our small start-up was acquired by Intuit (Turbo Tax, Quickbooks etc.) the next year, and I ended up moving into corporate HR which felt slightly intimidating, but I spent the next five years supporting employees across several sites throughout the nation on the Employee Engagement Team. I helped run the employee giving arm of the company, We Care & Give Back, and it was unbelievable to work for a company with such a healthy culture. Everyday I got paid to find ways to help our employees LOVE their jobs and feel connected to one another. It was such meaningful work.
Once I got married and started talking about having kids, both my husband and I knew I would want to make a change. I left Intuit and became a life coach for a season before I was approached by Learning For Living to join them as they grew their leadership development programs. I have been on the team for the past 8 years and am now in the transition of taking over the company.
I get to work a flex schedule (3 days per week) and run a business, which blows my mind every single day. We create retreats, workshops, and professional development offerings that humanize our educators and give Administrators the tools they need to build a healthy culture. It is a joy to get to be very present with my kids and do a job I love. Looking back over the last 15 years since I decided to move to the Triangle, I am amazed at all the twists and turns within my career to lead me to exactly where I am supposed to be. What a blast!
What’s your favorite activity to do with your family?
We are deeply passionate about our faith and church community, so most weeks include time at Summit Church and with our small group. My husband is a musician and plays guitar in the band, and I help create workshops to align peoples gifts with ways to give back to our church and love the community.
We are explorers by nature, so nearly every weekend we are trying out something new! From new coffee shops, great Mexican food (Mezcalita!), and new parks to our small town festivals and Bulls games, we enjoy all the new things coming to the RDU area.
What do you love about parenting as a working mother?
One of the best parts of being a working mom is the fact my job is based on human connections, creating spaces filled with trust, and reminding everyone how to take better care of one another. These are qualities we want our kids to embody, so on the regular I get to share my work with my kids. They are learning to love our neighbors, ask great questions, and fully invest in others. I also have the opportunity to be creative and innovate as I help build retreat experiences, so very often my kids are watching their mom whiteboard it out or dream up new possibilities. We recently created a “Creation Station” for my son at home, so he can keep flexing his muscles of creativity every week. They both know how much their mom loves them and her work.
Tell us about a challenge you’ve overcome as a mother in the workplace.
I think any working mom will say learning to take care of ourselves with all the demands of both home life and working can feel very heavy at times. This past year, our company sold off a major program within our business, which was amazing, but also very time consuming. I was working long hours and felt like my health/rest took a back seat. I cannot say I have overcome this challenge, but I have put in place some rhythms and routines that have helped me notice where I am misaligned. I recently read Rhythms of Renewal by Rebekah Lyons and appreciated how she broke it down into four practical rhythms we can establish to stay healthy (Rest, Restore, Connect, and Create). Last year I needed to rest and connect with people, and this year I need to restore my body and create new things. Everyone usually is out of balance in one or two and doing better in the other. This has been wildly helpful as a working mom to realize where I need to focus more attention.
What are you passionate about outside of work and family?
I am deeply passionate about encouraging women leaders who are learning the balance of leadership and home life. I have the unique opportunity to talk with leaders of all different sectors on the regular and the one thing I hear the most is how alone they feel and while outwardly they feel confident, they actually feel like an imposter most days. I like to say, I have an ability to see in them what they cannot see in themselves and it gives me great joy to encourage them along their journey through conversations and coaching. I also just recently launched the very first episode of my new podcast called What I See. This podcast is for leaders in the trenches and will share inspiring stories, reflections, and reminders to keep doing your best work at home and in business.
What is one book, podcast, article, social media account, blog or other resource you can recommend for moms?
A delightful book I read this year was, Create Anyway by Ashlee Gadd. It was such a great reminder to keep doing your creative work even in the midst of the busy years. She also has this incredible online community called Exhale that I recently joined, and it helps me feel less alone every single day!
The other book that has been extremely beneficial for me this year was The Gap and The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy. They remind us to celebrate all the progress we are making along the journey which can be hard as leaders.
If you have a favorite go-to spot in the Triangle, what is it?
I am a coffee shop junkie so I was excited when the new Sweet Talk Cafe in Beaver Creek recently opened. I also adore getting to work from Blush Cowork in Cary to be arm-in-arm with other women entrepreneurs/working moms. If you need friends who understand being a working mom, come join us + they have childcare (what?!?!).
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Being a working mom can feel very isolating. Please reach out to me at Shyana@learningforliving.com if you need a cheerleader in your corner who can fully understand! I would love to remind you that you are not alone and share simple ways to take great care of yourself and your team.