Dorien Camps - Founder of Bossy, Belgium’s first magazine for enterprising women
When did you become a mother and how many children do you have?
I discovered on New Year's Eve 2018 that I was pregnant. I celebrated New Year, together with my husband, and we toasted on the beach what would be a very different year. My first thought when I woke up on the first day of 2019? How are we going to do this, how am I going to do this? What impact will this have on my plans for Bossy?
In September 2019, I became mum to M., our baby son. From one moment to the next, it was very clear what is important and what is secondary in life. (laughs) I let go of my first baby, Bossy, for a while and thoroughly enjoyed those first months with M.
I should mention that a month before I got pregnant, I had quit my job to throw myself fully into Bossy. At first I felt stupid for the choice I had made, and some around me confirmed that feeling. A little later I felt it was just right; it felt liberating. For instance, I didn’t have to ask anyone how long I could stay at home with M. or how many days he would go to nursery after that. I was able to discover motherhood at my own pace. And of course there was breastfeeding during online team meetings when I wasn’t actually working yet, but yes, I was also so keen not to delay the launch of that third issue... That was just six weeks after I gave birth. Way too early, I realised afterwards.
In 2020, I was pregnant again. When I went for my first check-up, I felt I was going to find out more than just confirmation that I was pregnant again. “Do you see what I see?” the gynaecologist asked. “There are two of them!”
In three years, our family went from 2 to 5. I am incredibly grateful for my three young children: a son and two girls. I went from ‘mum of 1’ to ‘mum of 3’ in the blink of an eye and sometimes I still have to get used to that new life.
What do you find the biggest challenge in being a mother? And how do you deal with that? What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned?
Being a mum. Of all three at once, and of each individual child - and my Bossy baby... As well as being a wife, daughter, sister, sister-in-law, aunt and godmother, friend, CEO... In a podcast I once heard the quote: “We are supposed to mother like we don’t have a career, and work like we don’t have children.” Indeed, that is what society seems to expect of us today, but the beauty of being a mum is that you are at your best when you do it your way, at your pace.
I learn something every day, about motherhood, learning to combine or just learning to let go. I make a very conscious effort to do the last one. When I’m working, I don’t scroll through photos of my little ones, and when I’m at home, I don’t scroll through my emails or Instagram.
I am also trying to let go of my perfectionist side. When I called my grandmother the other day, I told her that my house had exploded: toys, laundry, books everywhere, even leftovers from breakfast... “Oh well”, my grandmother said, “you're going to miss that chaos later, those are traces of life in the house.” A wise woman, my grandmother! (laughs)
![Dorien Camps Sun](https://www.wolfin-eyewear.be/assets/transforms/general/_1300xAUTO_fit_center-center_80_none/Dorien-Camps-Sun.jpg)
What advice would you give to other mothers?
None, unless they ask for it. There is nothing more annoying than being given unsolicited advice. Those who do read on: here is some unsolicited advice. (laughs) I said above that I believe that as a mum, or entrepreneur, or simply a human being, you are at your best when you do your thing, in your way and at your pace. So my advice: you do you, and feel free to trust your mothers’ or gut instinct in the process.
Who do you look up to and why?
I try not to focus on big names whose full story you will never know. I prefer to be inspired by the women around me, because there are plenty of them. For instance I have always looked up to my mum, and since having children of my own, even more so. I am surrounded by so many fine women, mums, entrepreneurs who are tackling life in their own way. Wonderful!