#MomCrush Monday: Meet Kristy Hunston and Grace O’Sullivan, creators of Avoila Nourishing Face Oil

Meet Kristy Hunston and Grace O’Sullivan – two full time moms and full time business owners! Kristy and Grace started out as colleagues working in advertising. Their work relationship blossomed into friendship, and then solidified as a business partnership that turned them into first time entrepreneurs. Their product,  Avoila Nourishing Face Oil,  was created for people of all skins types looking to clean up their beauty regimen with natural, organic, green ingredients that are easy to understand and trust – and has been getting rave reviews (ehem, Forbes?)!  Here, Grace and Kristy tell us about how they balance being full time moms and full time business owners. 

1.) Why did you decide to start your own business?

KRISTY HUNSTON: After working in Client Services in various Ad Agencies for 20 years I was more than ready to go out on my own and not have clients, or agency management, to report to. While I loved my career for at least the first 15 years, once I had my son it really started to take a toll on me. I traveled and worked late nights and weekends and felt as though I didn’t have the bandwidth to do anything I was responsible for, well. In addition, once I had my son, I was hopeful that I would have more children. Failed pregnancy, after failed pregnancy brought a lot of disappointment and drove me to evaluate how I was living my life. While I might have looked as though I was keeping it together at the workplace, I think my body was showing signs that it wasn’t keeping it together at all. It was time for a change.  

My fiance, then boyfriend, had been an entrepreneur since the day we met and I wanted the freedom that he had so that as a family we had the flexibility to do whatever we want. When Grace and I started talking about building a business together, flexibility and balance were things we spoke of a lot. We were very motivated to be successful, but also mindful that success for us means that we have the balance and joy in our lives that we were searching for. 

GRACE O’SULLIVAN: I never had the pointed drive to be an entrepreneur or business owner. After leaving ad agency life, I continued to work for myself and help others build their brands. But, I never thought I would own my own business and develop my own brand. But for me, most things happen only when I’m ready and there’s an opening for them to. That’s exactly what happened with Avoila. The idea of launching a brand and running a company was daunting at first. But I took one small step at a time, with Kristy, and I found it was the right place for me to be…launching the business was the right next step for me.

2.) How do you find a balance between running a business and being present at home? 

KH: This is something that I have to be mindful of every day. I am diligent about sitting down and scheduling out my calendar, often 2 weeks out, and I make sure that I include time for myself, my family and my work. When a meeting pops up on the calendar, or I receive a spontaneous invitation to hang out with a friend, I look at the calendar and am conscious about not overscheduling myself. I don’t always get it right as my mind was trained to squeeze as much out of a day as possible when I was working in various agencies. I have to undo many years of working this way. Just the fact that I’m aware helps. 

GOS: Working from home makes it impossible to completely separate the two. But, that’s ok! Running a business is part of who I am, and if I embrace it, then the people around me do too. That said, sometimes I have to turn off the work part of my mind and give 100% (or maybe 99%?) of myself to family time. That means putting the phone down! Whether it’s simply focusing on homework, cooking meals together, or letting myself be fully present for a movie or a crossed-legged chat on my 12-year old’s bed. Those are the moments I reflect back on later, so it’s important to keep that arsenal of moments full.

3.) What are the biggest challenges? 

KH: My biggest challenge has been accepting that it’s OK for the business to grow slowly. I have been conditioned, like many of us, to want things to happen quickly and when it doesn’t it can be disappointing. When I stopped to think about what success really means to me I realized that balance, or quality of life, is a more important success factor for me right now than overnight success.

GOS: “Phone down” is my biggest challenge. There’s always one more email that needs to be read and responded to. If I have five free minutes, I may decide to quickly check in with work and — before I know it — an entire Sunday morning is gone. However, once I allow myself to take a break, I get energized and come back to work with much more clarity and confidence.

4.) What do you think of the expression “having it all”?

KH: I think ‘having it all’ is a terrible expression and is an unattainable goal placed on women by the media! I wish we could change the picture in people’s head about what “having it all” looks like. 

GOS: Yes! And who wants it all?? That seems like way too much. I’ll settle for “having a moderate-sized bit of most of it” any day!