Carmen Seminario had to make tough choices last year after her son was born. The owner of two clothing stores in Peru, her home country, and one in Chicago, Seminario, 35, revisited her working schedule, business expansion and priorities.
She said it hasn’t been easy, but that with planning, flexibility and optimism, it is possible to be a successful businesswoman and a mom at the same time. Seminario is now busy preparing a new collection for the upcoming Chicago Fashion Week in October, but she found time to share a few tips for women entrepreneurs who are or want to become moms but find it challenging to balance business life with motherhood.
Her business was her first baby, she said. “Now I have another one.”
Have your priorities very clear
Seminario has always been an ambitious entrepreneur. She started her company in Lima, Peru, at 18 and started selling her clothes to brands in Italy right after graduation. She did a master’s in Barcelona in 2015 and, two years later, went to London to study tailoring at the prestigious London College of Fashion. That’s when she learned how to make suits and started planning the expansion of her brand beyond dresses. She was 23 at the time.
She had two well-established stores in Peru when she met her future husband at a wedding in Miami. Seminario, who specialized in party dresses, gowns and suits and had been part of many wedding celebrations, thought, “I will finally live my story.”
She and her now-husband, an American, got married in 2021, and she moved to the U.S. But she constantly traveled to Peru to take care of her business. In February 2023, right around the time she had just opened her first U.S.-based store in Chicago, she found out she was pregnant. She said she became very deliberate about her priorities and work-life balance from early in her pregnancy since she felt a lot of morning sickness.
Her son Jacob was born in October, and she took three months of maternity leave. As she went back to work, she sometimes felt guilty for spending less time at her studio than before the baby was born. Knowing her priorities helped her overcome those feelings and focus on what she had to do at the moment. “I have my priorities very clear,” she said. “Family first and then work.”
Be patient with yourself
Seminario works part-time, three days a week, but it took her a while to adapt to this new routine. She said it was important for her to acknowledge that she could not do everything at the same time, that what matters is how present she was at each moment and to remember that babies grow. “It’s just for a period of time,” she said. “It’s not the end of your working life.”
Incorporate your baby into your daily activities
Even before meeting her husband, Seminario knew she would want to bring her baby to work if she became a mom. She brings her son Jacob to her studio in Chicago once or twice a week. The other days, her husband takes care of him, or she hires a nanny.
Yashira Hiraldo, one of Seminario’s clients and a close friend, said that because she is also a mom and an entrepreneur, she and Seminario often share tips on balancing their responsibilities. “We are kind of on the same boat,” she said.
Hiraldo, 38, said she feels inspired when she sees Seminario bring her child to work. “Every time she brings her kid, I learn from her,” she said.
Seminario wants to have more than one child. That means she will probably not travel for work as much, and she might even sell her two stores in Peru to focus on the U.S. location.
But work is still important to her. She said she tries to be 100% present and focused when she is working and that it’s worth it to sacrifice the timing of her professional goals for the sake of her family.
“I know this is gonna take me more time, but I’m doing this because it’s more fulfilling to me in the long term,” she said.
