Aspiring to be a ‘cool mom’ this year? Just be yourself, says Lizzy Mathis
Lizzy Mathis, founder of the Cool Mom Co., prioritizes adaptability to change over finding balance.
Lizzy Mathis, founder of the lifestyle website The Cool Mom Co. and co-star of Roku’s home design show “Honest Renovation” with Jessica Alba, doesn’t believe in the ever-elusive concept of finding “balance.”
“I truly believe there’s no such thing as balance,” Mathis told theGrio during a recent interview. “It’s a word that implies that we have equal time to do everything for everyone, including ourselves.”
The wife and mom of three explained that, at times, it’s more realistic for her to accept and adapt when certain areas in life require more capacity from her than others. For instance, when her children were younger, they naturally required more of her time and energy. Now, as she is in the middle of filming the second season of “Honest Renovation,” hosting her podcast, and running her lifestyle site, she finds herself in a new season.
“I’m in a phase right now of my career where I’m doing things that I really love,” she said. “I love shooting the show. I love doing my website. I love shooting this podcast and I’m in love with my career, but I also am in love with my children.”
While “balance” isn’t realistic for Mathis, the wife and mother of three said giving herself the grace to change is. The former model and actress’s life looks very different from what it was early on in her young adult life, a pivot that may not have been possible if she hadn’t given in to life’s inevitable changes.
The Cool Mom Co. came about as a way for Mathis to answer her own needs. As a young mom looking for resources where Black and diverse moms were represented, she kept coming up short. She was looking for a platform that spoke to moms who wanted to honor all parts of their identity.
“I felt like there was a void,” Mathis added.
She continued, “I really thought it was important to start The Cool Mom Co. as a place that was a diversity-driven, all-inclusive platform for women, for mothers, and to really meet them at that intersection because there was nothing else out there that celebrated being a woman at the same time as celebrating being a mother. I felt like that intersection was so important because that’s what I was experiencing.”
Since launching the platform, which spotlights other mothers and features articles about family, parenting, motherhood, and home, Mathis has found an audience made up of millennial women living at similar intersections — and some aren’t even mothers.
“That surprised me the most,” she noted. “It’s this audience of women who, you know, [are] intrigued by motherhood. [They] want to know what that looks like and want to know how these women are doing it all and still being so successful but haven’t quite hit the motherhood stage yet.”
In addition to calling in a surprising readership, The Cool Mom Co. has also made way for some interesting opportunities for Mathis. When her daughter started preschool in Los Angeles, the youngster befriended a fellow classmate with a famous mom: actress and founder of The Honest Company, Jessica Alba. It wasn’t long before Mathis met Alba, and the two hit it off as much as their children had.
As years went on, the two moms grew closer, eventually collaborating on a variety of content during the 2020 lockdowns. Through that collaboration, Mathis said the two realized they wanted to do more — and hopefully help families in the process. Soon, the idea for “Honest Renovation” was born, with Mathis and Alba appearing as both the show’s talent and hands-on executive producers.
“I think that is something to be even more proud of,” Mathis said, adding, “Because as a Black woman, and Jessica being a Latina woman, you just don’t see that a lot — especially in the home renovation space.”
In the process, Mathis did more than launch a lifestyle brand and executive produce a home renovation show. She also — in her words — found her voice. After careers in modeling and acting, Mathis said she often felt like she either didn’t have a voice or was only giving voice to her characters.
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“Now I look at my life, and I’m like, ‘Wow, look at that, I have a voice,’” she said before adding, “I want to empower other women to have a voice and other mothers to have a voice in what I feel like I’ve been able to create.”
Leaning into the evolution from New York City model and actress to Los Angeles-based mom and lifestyle guru exemplifies Mathis’ definition of “a cool mom.” Now, she’s encouraging other women to define it for themselves.
“A cool mom is any woman who walks in her confidence and in her skin. [She] owns who she is. And that’s all it is,” she explained. “A cool mom is just owning who you are and owning what you bring to the table.”
Kay Wicker is a lifestyle writer for theGrio covering health, wellness, travel, beauty, fashion, and the myriad ways Black people live and enjoy their lives. She has previously created content for magazines, newspapers, and digital brands.
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