Tali Roth | An Australian Interior Designer On The Village Far From Home
by Neha Ruch
Tali Roth is a vision of what you expect of an Aussie designer living in Manhattan. I fell in love with her laid back and layered look on her Instagram profile (where all great friendships begin) and then bumped into her at the Soho House. Without having met live I could pick her out with her fun outfit, high floppy blonde bun and big smile. She was more than open to opening up about what it feels like to reconcile her gorgeous growing career with her new, encompassing role as a mother to her son, Phoenix. Read Tali's view on the intense toll of the first year of motherhood, building a village far from home and making space for herself and work on weekends.
How did you change after becoming a mother?
As a person I haven’t changed very much, I think it’s more my behavior. I think my productivity increased. I have always worked for myself and so I have always needed to essentially ‘create’ my jobs and work flow. At times I would get burnt out and at times I would procrastinate… Since having Phoenix I think my time has become more precious and I simply don’t waste as much of it.
What choices did you make to accommodate motherhood? would you make them again?
I chose to breastfeed him exclusively for 13 months. I had 5 instances of mastitis and I found that pumping didn’t work for me so I essentially became a slave to the feeding schedule. This affected my work and productivity as I was always rushing home to feed him. It also made me hesitant to hire so that I could ease back into work as I felt that since I was feeding so much ‘it wasn’t worth it’. I believe I will approach feeding and many of the bonding rituals I had with my son differently in the future as the intensity really burnt me out. I hope that with number 2, whenever that is, I am focused on my wellbeing as well as my babies. People often tell you to take care of yourself and make sure you have ‘you’ time but I didn’t really take it that seriously until he was a little older and I saw the toll it was taking on me.
Describe yourself as a mother in 3 words. What kind of mother would you like to be?
Passionate, Patient, Thoughtful
I like to be fun with my son. I also am very focused on his experience of the world and so I am always engaging him in an intentional and thoughtful way. I have always wanted him to be ‘independent’ in that he learns to do things himself.
How do you take care of yourself outside of motherhood?
I am not so good at this. I love massages so I try to make a point of getting a little head neck and shoulder every week.
Every mother needs help to find balance. What does your village look like?
My husband is an Aussie too (fun fact we started dating at 16) and so we both don’t have family here. We rely heavily on our nanny Steph! On the weekends my husband Marcus is amazing as he doesn’t get to spend time with Phoenix during the week. I am able to have flexibility on the weekends to see clients or do my own thing. I think one huge thing I have learnt as a foreigner is how important this village actually is. I only hired a nanny when Phoenix was 14 months. In retrospect I needed to build that village from earlier on.
What are you working on improving about yourself as a woman & a mother?
As a woman I am trying to slow down and stop feeling that every minute I have to be 100% on. I think that relates back to your first question about how life changed. There is so much pressure on ‘time’ that I stopped taking some for myself. I am working on improving that. I am constantly working on my relationship. We have been together for so long and we see the world very differently so we are always working on communication :) Lastly I am working everyday on how to evolve my business so that it works in with my family… it’s a work in progress.
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