A Chat About Motherhood With Co-Founder Tracy Bell

A Chat About Motherhood With Co-Founder Tracy Bell

As a way to celebrate Mother’s Day this year, we decided to ask our own TEAm here at Millennia Tea what being a mother means to them. This year looks so different for all of us, so it was a lot of fun and very meaningful for us to put words to our most cherished role : “MOM”.

We hope you enjoy and feel like this helps you get to know some faces behind our FRESH TEA brand a little more.

 

Happy Mother’s Day to you and yours. We appreciate you all so much!

 

Here’s Tracy. Tracy is our co-founder and CEO. And it’s her phone number on the website if you want to know why anyone would be crazy enough to want to teach a generation of people to find tea in the freezer (and why that matters).

 

She has three mantras:

  1. Things happen for us, not to us.
  2. If you can believe it, you can achieve it.
  3. Appreciating what you have is the key to getting what you want.

 

Tell us a little about yourself:

 

Hi, I’m Tracy. I’m the co-founder of Millennia TEA with my husband Rory, and we’re on a mission to help people feel well and live their potential. Entrepreneurs (and creators of all kinds really J) often say their creations are like their babies, and I resonate with that... so in addition to our “company baby” we have two incredible real-life children: our daughter Sydney, 12 (grade 7), and our son Lincoln, 9 (grade 4). We also have a dog. Loki is a 10-year-old (we think) pit bull we adopted in the fall. He fills our home with an overflow of love and makes us laugh out loud.

 

Tell us about your journey in motherhood.

I honestly hadn’t spent a lot of time thinking about motherhood when we got the news we were pregnant with our first. Rory and I were living in different provinces at the time and deep into the “getting established” phase of our careers (I was a reporter with CTV and Rory had just gotten his first big airline job as a first officer). Sydney was a definite surprise!! I tend to learn best by doing, so when our sweet babe arrived we figured things out as they came up and learned what we needed to along the way.

 

And that’s kind of still how I try to imagine my role as a mother … to learn as we go together. To ask lots of questions along the way. And to linger in those moments when they do something funny, or kind, or surprising, or remarkable and store them in my memory.  

 

Tell us how becoming a mother changed you.

I was pretty inflexible before becoming a mother. I had a plan; I knew the path; and I wasn’t interested in any detours. Since becoming a mother, I’ve learned the adventure and the joy lives in the detours. And so long as I have my compass set to my north star (i.e. my purpose and values), it’s not my job to know exactly how we’re going to get to the destination. I’ve learned I can rely on my faith, intuition and positive expectation (those softer attributes I discredited before motherhood) to find my way. You have to be flexible raising kids. And you have to cut yourself some slack when things don’t go according to the plan. I have grace and compassion for myself now that I didn’t before.

 

 

What is the hardest part of juggling work and motherhood?

The guilt of not ever feeling 100% committed to either. With Millennia TEA, we have big dreams to create a new global category of tea, and, for me, that manifests in lots of travel (I lived in NYC, away from my family for three months last fall) and late nights and early mornings, and constantly moving into areas of business that are super uncomfortable and make me feel like a beginner all over again. That’s the process, and it’s part of what I love about business.

 

The way I’m able to reconcile the guilt that creeps in around juggling work and motherhood is by remembering the age-old adage: It takes a village to raise a child. I believe this. And when I’m away, they get really important one-on-one time with their dad (although he’s made me promise never to go away for three months again, no matter how important the opportunity). Also with their aunts, uncles and cousins, grandparents, neighbours and babysitters. And I know they’re learning things about themselves and others that will serve them as they grow.

 

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received on parenting?

Your job is not to show them the way; it’s to hold them up and support them while they find their own way.

 

Tell us the ways you fuel your family’s health and wellness?

Something I just LOVE right now is that, at 12 and 9 years old, there are so many ways to get outside in nature and be active together. Kayaking, hiking, walking the dog… our little guy Lincoln is an awesome little runner. We ran 5kms together for the first time a few days ago, and it was the absolute best! I cherish those times together outside, doing things together that benefit our health and are a lot of fun.

Oh, and we put Tea Cubes in their morning smoothie.

 

What’s your kid’s favourite meal you prepare?

Sydney – Roasted Broccoli | Lincoln – Smoothies

 

3 words your kids would use to describe you?

I asked them – here’s what they said:

Sydney – loving, funny, puts others first  | Lincoln – Amazing, grateful, kind

 

What are you currently listening to?

Kelly Lawson “The Workshop Weekly” podcast. It’s new. I’m obsessed.

 

Currently binge watching or reading?

Ozark (Netflix)

 

Who inspires you?

My Mom. She showed me the importance of persistence, and the power of faith and courage.   

 

What’s your favourite way to spend quality time with your children?

Snuggling and reading at bedtime is still my favourite.

 

Favourite type of gift to receive from your kids?

Bookmarks

 

What’s your fave preparation method of Millennia TEA to fuel your family’s wellness?

Blender tea for me.

Raw tea + near-boiling water into the blender for 60secs. It’s like a fresh version of matcha and gives me the max energy assist to start my day.