Sublime SoCal Single Parents: Lolita Carrico

This space will be profiling single parents that have made the transition from surviving as a single parent to thriving as a single parent.

Lolita Carrico, a mompreneur, founded the site ModernMom.com (which she sold last year), and is now the CEO & Founder of myGLOSS, home of 8 different communities for today's women (her personal favorites are chicGLOSS and geekGLOSS).

Carrico is also the single mom of two sons, ages 5 & 8. She's been a single mom since her divorce a little over 4 years ago.

Her favorite part about being a single mom is knowing her sons have many concrete examples of strong families that don't fit the mold. "I grew up in a pretty traditional family and it was made clear to me by my parents that children need both a mom and a dad present," she says. "I love that my boys are growing up with a solid family foundation but also understand that family is different for everyone. They are well-rounded, open-minded, kind and accepting and I think our situation is a big part of why."

Carrico loves raising her sons in Southern California and taking advantage of not only our great weather, but the many favorite places they visit, including KidSpace Museum in Pasadena, Beeman Park in Studio City, the Natural History Museum, and the California Science Center.

She stresses the importance of me-time for single moms. "If you can’t hire a babysitter, swap with a friend." Or, "if you can’t get a babysitter, commit 30 minutes after the kids go to sleep or before they wake up in the morning to doing something you love – whether it’s catching up on a favorite tv show that has been waiting for you on Tivo or just enjoying a cup of coffee or tea with a magazine. I firmly believe we have to really force ourselves to make the time for ourselves."

Carrico describes her transition from surviving as a single mom to thriving: "My situation with my ex-husband and... subsequent divorce was quite traumatic on me and the kids and there were a lot of emotions and stress coming at me at once. I’m sure this is the case for many single moms, in retrospect. But, for the first many months, I certainly felt like I was just trying to survive and keep everything together – I was trying to juggle my emotions, the kids’ emotions, their day-to-day, my day-to-day, my career, our household…it was a mess and I often felt I just couldn’t breathe with everything that was going on.

I finally just stopped the craziness – at least in my life – by just taking a step back. Breathing. Focusing on what I needed to focus on and what I knew I could ‘fix’ or handle. I learned to let go of all the stuff that was out of my control and not fret about it. That’s when I shifted from surviving to thriving because I didn’t spend hours worry about ‘what if’ and ‘why’ and instead focused on myself, my boys and our future."

Lolita Carrico doesn't just thrive as a single mom, or even as a mom, but as a human being. Her sons are very lucky to have her as their founder and CEO.

Check out myGLOSS in your next 30 minutes of me-time!

If you are or know a sublime single parent that's a SoCal resident, please email admccaffery@gmail.com.