HGTV Star Mina Starsiak Hawk Perfectly Sums Up Feeling Torn Between Your Career & Baby
March 29, 2019
HGTV fans love watching DIY expert Mina Starsiak Hawk on Good Bones, as she works alongside her mom, Karen E. Laine, on home renovations and flipping projects in Indianapolis. In addition to co-running the thriving, Indianapolis-based business and shooting the show, the 34-year-old is a new mom to baby boy Jack, who she welcomed with her husband Stephen Hawk back in August 2018. Over the past eight months, juggling the responsibilities of her dream job and motherhood has certainly proved challenging at times, but her outlook is nothing short of inspiring. The HGTV star recently caught up with Parents.com while working on outdoor spring projects at her home with Lowe’s, which is celebrating their Spring Black Friday event April 4-17.
"I didn't want to be a stay-at-home mom before I had him, and still don't want to now, but I am also obsessed with him," Starsiak Hawk admits to Parents.com. She describes the "toughest" challenge of motherhood as "really liking my job, really loving what I do, and it being extremely busy right now balanced with I just want to come home and squish his face!"
Wanting to spend quality time with her husband is another reason Starsiak Hawk cherishes time at home, as well. "My husband is, like, really awesome and super-hot, too, so I love being around him, and he’s so cute with Jack, so [I love] just like getting the whole family time," she says.
At the same time, Starsiak Hawk feels grateful for her career, explaining, "I'm in a position right now where I'm having so many amazing opportunities that I didn't have before and aren't going to last forever, so as a family, we've decided I'm going to take advantage of as much as I can, but that doesn't mean less time at home. So, the hope is we all work really hard now, and then, we buy a little house on the reservoir on the north side of Indy and can chill on the weekend."
One of her short cuts that allows her to maximize R&R is ordering in. "My husband and I don't have time to cook," Starsiak Hawk says. "But we order in these fresh-made meals, and we pop 'em in the microwave, and we sit at the coffee table together and have dinner and have a glass of wine. That's our time. Jack goes to bed at 7:30, and we usually go to bed around 9, so we've got an hour and a half where we can just decompress and relax, and that's our time."
She also zeroes in on the simple, joyful moments throughout her day. "I love getting Jack up, cuz he's always so happy and he opens his sleepy eyes and rubs them and just has this big, fat-faced smile," she shares. "It's super-cute."
And although her baby boy is too little to help Starsiak Hawk out with gardening just yet, she looks forward to involving him in her outdoor projects and encourages other busy moms to let L.O.s join them while doing yard work. "My neighbor has a 3-year-old little girl, and I'm working on all these projects, and she's been eyeing all the flowers and planting beds," she says. "Kids love being dirty. So, replant your planting bed, give them a bag of mulch, let them help you out, and granted, they're probably not going to be super-helpful, but it'll keep them busy while you're getting to replant your front planting bed, and they can have fun. I think it's great to get them in the dirt."
No matter how moms decide to balance their career, spring gardening, or downtime at home, the HGTV star emphasizes that there's no one-size-fits-all approach. Finding what works for you and your family "is different for everyone," she says. "There's definitely not one way to try to do it."
