Moraima Ivory – ‘High Powered’ Mom
Moraima Ivory puts her daughter first. So deeply affected by the events of September 11, 2001 and concerned about the brevity of life, she gave up a high profile job as in-house counsel of Scientific Atlanta to open a consignment shop, “Janie’s Closet.” The shop was named for her daughter.
Now back in New York City, the native New Yorker has another high-profile position. She is a Project Manager at Warner Music Group.
Moraima is a graduate of Spelman College and Temple University School of Law. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta and Jack and Jill. She is a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and Hosea Feed the Hungry.
(Interview with Flaimahmy September 9 , 2009)
FM: You are a Project Manager at Warner Music Group, a high profile position where you work directly with Kevin Liles; you’re a woman around very confident men, some would say men with huge egos. How do you manage it all?
MI: How do I manage the egos or myself?
FM: Well, yourself and the egos. (Laughter from both)
MI: The way I manage myself is that I remain professonal at all times and try very hard not to let a particular person’s demeanor, attitude. ego or whatever you really want to call those descriptors, influence my behavior. I try always to act professionally, with class and behave in a manner in which I would be proud. In terms of the challenges that come with that, I think ego can be defined in so many ways. There are people with big egos who work at law firms; there are people with big egos who work in entertainment groups; there are people with big egos in accounting. I think we all in a sense come across men who have that type of stature or characteristic about themselves. It’s just another one of those skills women are required to learn when you work in a mostly male environment.
FM: Do you feel you have to work harder because it’s a mostly male environment?
MI: Well, I think you have to work harder everywhere you work. I think there are things that definitely stand out when you are one of a few, but I’ve been in that situation basically my whole professional life. I either was the only woman or the only minority or the only minority woman. So I think when you are in an all male environment you have an unique opportunity to always be in a place where people are always going to be looking at what you’re doing, because obviously you are the only one, so it gives you more opportunites to display your talents in a positive way. That’s always what I’ve done. I’ve always used those unique opportunities, working in a field where there were mostly men, to shine even more than I would if I were in an occupation or environment where there were many other women, because then you find yourself in a situation where you would, I don’t like to say compete, but you would with so many others around you. So for me, those are the kind of situations I love.
FM: How much of your work ethic do you attribute to your Dominican heritage?
MI: Well, I think I attribute my work ethic to all of who I am, not necessarily just to the Dominican part of me or the African American part of me. I definitely can say that coming from a single family upbringing with an Hispanic mother who had many challenges, language challenges, educational challenges, coming from another country, I definitely feel like I watched her work so hard to provide for her kids that has to have been a part of making me what I am today and part of what makes me work when I’m tired and believe I can do things that other people don’t believe you can do. I can definitely say that my mother’s challenge and life story of coming to this country when she was a teenager has definitely been an inspiration for me to believe that I could do anything that I wanted to do.
FM: What made you different growing up? Were you a follower or a leader?
MI: I was always the kid that was the head of the pack telling everybody else what to do. I think my friends would laugh if they heard me say that right now because I definitely am not easily influenced. I am most times the influencer. I have a sister who is the complete opposite. I don’t know if that was our upbringing or maybe our individual experiences as we went off to college and things like that . But, I can’t ever really remember a time in my life when I wasn’t very present in the room in every situation that I’ve always been in and ready to take it to the next level if there was ever an opportunity to do that.
FM: Do you talk to your daughter about your work and would you like for her to pursue a career in the music industry?
MI: The thing that I think is unique about my life is that I have had a lot of experiences. I am a lawyer by training; I’ve worked in the legal field, I’ve owned my own construction business for seven years. I’ve worked on political campaigns and now I find myself back in the music industry because I actually started in it as an entertainment lawyer. I always talk to my daughter about things that I’m getting ready to do, when I’m going to switch an occupation, when I’m about to volunteer on a campaign. I was working on a legal job when the Obama campaign happened and I decided to quit and volunteer on the Obama campaign for no money. I sat down and I talked to her about it and told her that I felt that sometimes in life you do things because of the moment in time and the importance and the significance of the meaning even if you have to make sacrifices to do it.
I definitely have completely involved her in my life business decisions hoping that they are a role model or at least a path to let her know that she doesn’t have to choose any one thing to be. That’s what I want her to know. She doesn’t have to be in the music business, she doesn’t have to be a lawyer, she doesn’t have to be a politician or work on campaigns. She can be whatever she wants to be at that particular time and I just want her to know the freedom of that and not to be trapped in a career that she hates because of our country or the box that people put you in and you spend your whole life doing something that you’re unhappy with. I want her to know that there are infinite possibilities to do whatever you want the moment you decide you want to do it.
FM: What insight did you gain after leaving the corporate world in 2001 to open Janie’s Closet? Was the decision well worth it?
MI: It was the thing that changed my life completely. I did that after September 11 happened. Being from New York I was deeply, deeply affected by it. I always feared leaving my corporate job; I think I stayed as a practicing lawyer much longer than I should have because of that fear, the fear of leaving corporate America, not having a 401K, having a child, all of those things that keep so many people stuck in their jobs. When my boss said something to me about how he thought it was really crazy… I asked him if I could reduce my hours so that I could pickup my daughter after school…he told me I should hire somebody to do that. I knew that was not a boss saying something to me that was strange but more like a signal that it was time to go.
For me, I just wanted to start listening to the signals. I had not been for a very long time. It was also the best decision that I ever made. It gave me that year that I needed to sit at home and do nothing. I took that year to open a business, a children’s consignment boutique, which was something I always wanted to do. I spent the whole year with my daughter. She came to work with me everyday and helped in the store. She was four at the time and we had a blast. It was the best year in terms of my parenting that I can think of because I got the actual time with her day in and day out. It was really great.
FM: The Williams sisters just bought a small piece of The Miami Dolphins. What do you think about that?
MI: I think that is so awesome. I love them and I use them often as a role model for my daughter. My daughter plays tennis and I tell her all the time that it’s not about the fact that they are the number one and two player at any given time but that they work so hard at what they do. When you work hard at what you do the money follows. That they could become owners of a national team is just amazing to me. It really just shows that we can do anything we really want to do. I’m sure when they were growing up in Compton they didn’t think that one day they would be owners of a professional team. It’s just wonderful. Reach for the stars and grab them.
FM: We’ve all heard the term “Native New Yorker.” As a native New Yorker what does the term mean to you?
MI: I am truly a native New Yorker. I think it means you’ve seen a little bit more than most people have. I think there’s something special about growing up in New York. I was only too happy to get an offer to move back to New York to bring my daughter here so that she could spend a part of her childhood here because the things I grew up doing have been absolutely beneficial to me in my life as an adult . To me it means getting a little bit more than most kids get growing up with exposure on all levels, financial, cultural, religious.
FM: What are some of your favorite places to visit in New York City?
MI: I love Central Park. I really love all of the parks in New York. New York has fabulous parks. I love Harlem. I love visiting my relatives at their homes. I have relatives all over… Brooklyn…Bronx. I love the Bronx Zoo because I grew up in the Bronx so I absolutely love the Bronx Zoo.
FM: Do you have a personal philosophy?
MI: Wow…yes…I would say everyday make choices that make you happy.
FM: We consider you to be a Fly Mommy. In your own words tell us what makes you a Fly Mommy.
MI: I think what makes me a Fly Mommy is that I’m always trying to be in touch with all parts that make me who I am, the mother, the friend, the sister , the daughter. I always want to be doing each of those things really well. If you can find the balance in that then I think that you are pretty much a Fly Mommy.
