In Chapter 6 of 19 in her 2012 Capture Your Flag interview, female entrepreneur Hattie Grace Elliot answers "Where Has Your Family Been Most Supportive in Your Career Development?" Elliot notes how her parents have supported her by celebrating the highs of her entrepreneur journey and also being there for her during hard times. The experience seeing her parents find joy and pride raising a family makes Elliot realize how much she wants kids. Hattie Grace Elliot is the founder and CEO of The Grace List, a social networking company that creates destination events and experiences to forge lasting personal and professional connections across its young professional members. Elliot graduated from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, where she studied economics, philosophy, and politics.
Transcript:
Erik Michielsen: Where has your family been most supportive in your career development?
Hattie Elliot: You know, there’s obviously ebbs and flows in business, as in life, and especially with the career path that I’ve particularly chosen. And when there’s been tough times and down times, they’ve been just really supportive and encouraging and warm and wonderful. And when things have been great, it’s been like fireworks and happy new year, and they might as well have a parade and just—they’ve just been so wonderful and really focusing on the highs and really taken so much pride and—It also makes me realize how important and what a wonderful—and how much I want kids, because it’s just—to see as—you know, my brother and I have gotten older and as our careers have changed and our lives have kind of evolved, how much pride that they’ve really taken in that, and how it’s made their life so wonderful as well. I mean I feel like they’ve made my life wonderful but I really do see the joy that they deduct out of these things.
And when I go through hard times, they’re there for me, but they’re ridiculously over the top proud and supportive when great things happen. And it—you know, whenever I’m going through these tough things I can always look back because there’s so much love there and so much support for when things are great, it’s enough to kind of like keep you going, you hold on to that little wonderful moment, that little vignette in time. And sometimes it’s all you need, just to take a breath and get through the day.