Startup Dad The 4 Best Parenting Styles for Career Focused Parents | Parents of 1
Jamie Lee is the Founder of JME Labs, a consulting business supporting startups and small businesses. Her husband, Jeff Okita, is the VP of Product at Tilt, a leave management platform. Together, they’re raising their 14-month-old daughter while managing demanding careers and a shared vision of parenting. We talked about:
- Building a strong support system: How Jamie and Jeff rely on an extended team of experts, family, and tools to make daily life manageable.
- Creating structure through rituals and check-ins: The methods they use to stay coordinated, including weekly planning and monthly reviews.
- Designing life around core values: Why they prioritize individual and shared time to stay connected to who they were before becoming parents.
- Traveling with a baby across continents: What 15 flights and two international trips have taught them about adaptability and preparation.
- Reevaluating the role of work: How becoming parents led both of them to rethink what success and fulfillment mean in their careers.
- Connection as a two-way street: Jeff’s take on bonding as a non-birthing parent and the moments that helped him feel truly needed.
- Challenging traditional roles in parenting: The decisions they’ve made to balance the mental, physical, and emotional load of raising a child.
- Preparing for an AI-powered future: Their early thoughts on how to raise a child in a world shaped by fast-moving technology.
Where to find Jamie Lee
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamieannlee/
- JME Labs: https://www.jamiealee.com/
Where to find Jeff Okita
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffokita/
- Tilt: https://hellotilt.com/
Where to find Adam Fishman
- FishmanAF Newsletter: www.FishmanAFNewsletter.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfishman/
- Instagram: https://ww.instagram.com/startupdadpod/
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introducing Jamie and Jeff
(02:20) What is the “extended team” in their household
(04:35) Emergency childcare plans and calendar blow-ups
(05:08) The four C’s of parenting: Coordination, Communication, Compromise, Creativity
(06:06) Running, nursing, errands, and multitasking hacks
(07:27) Rituals for communication and monthly check-ins
(08:38) Me, Me, and We Nights
(11:09) Where their parenting systems came from
(13:33) Hiring a postpartum doula and learning on the fly
(14:22) 15 flights with a baby and international travel strategies
(17:39) Potato, plant, and puppy phases of babyhood
(20:14) Blowouts on the road and travel horror stories
(24:34) Not losing yourself post-baby
(28:59) Rethinking the role of work after having a child
(34:07) Building connection with your baby and rejecting the parenting default
(54:57) Lightning Round: parenting quirks, pre-baby routines, and toddler travel wins
Resources from this episode:
ChatGPT.com
Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins: https://bndl.co/3XlKH6e
Blank Check: https://imdb.to/3Vjc3T5
Planet Earth: https://imdb.to/3XlYoTo
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