Ivanka Trump is a lot of things–she’s a mom, business mogul, and fashion designer. And, of course, Donald Trump’s daughter. Often times, she’s described by the media as “poised and savvy,” and said to “have it all.” However, the 34-year-old Jewish mom balked at the idea that someone can truly have it all, in a recent interview with Town & Country Magazine.
Trump appears to straddle both worlds of mother and business mogul seamlessly, as if it’s no effort at all. Currently, she’s the executive vice president of development and acquisitions at the Trump Organization, and owner of Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry and the Ivanka Trump Collection. Yet, her family life is visible in her Midtown Manhattan office–in photos of her 2009 wedding to Jewish real estate developer Jared Kushner, and their two children, 4-year-old Arabella and 2-year-old Joseph.
In the interview, she’s honest about how being a working mom means she can’t be present at all of her children’s functions, adding that it’s impossible for anyone to ‘have it all’:
“I abhor this question of ‘having it all.’ People talk about balance. Balance is an awful measure of things, because it implies a scale that inevitably tips. I like to look through the filter of ‘Is the life I’m leading consistent with my priorities?’ For me, my family is the ultimate litmus test. Do I feel I’m giving my children what they need?
But I don’t do everything. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do professionally if I did. I don’t go to the afternoon classes. I don’t take my son to the sports playgroup in the middle of the day. For some people that’s a compromise they aren’t willing to make, and I respect that…Everything you choose to do outside of being with them has an opportunity cost that’s much more real than the choice of hanging out with your girlfriends after work.”
In September, Trump announced she was pregnant with her third child. One of the most striking parts of her interview is the fact that she feels women should be “architecting” the lives they want to live, as opposed to falling into roles they feel they should take. And, naturally, she wants to change the narrative:
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“One of my goals is not to preach how to live a great life. I’m not saying that if you’re working at home, raising a family, that’s not work. I want to disrupt the narrative around what it means to be a woman who works. The whole point of my brand is that women should be architecting the lives they want to live.”
Of course, the interview would not be complete without mention of her famous father, to whom she is remarkably loyal. She speaks diplomatically, saying that she does sometimes disagree with her father, because as she explains, it would be “a little strange if I didn’t.” But she also does stand by the fact that he “100 percent believes in equality of gender.”
Either way, it’s hard not to be won over by her ability to navigate life as a working mother so successfully that it doesn’t seem like work. Of course, let’s not forget that being insanely wealthy–and having a famous dad whose connections enable you to get started in business–give her the privilege to straddle these worlds at all.
