For many women, being a mother and having a rewarding career sometimes feels like an either/or choice.
Pamela Tanner Boll says when she was a young girl, she had dreams of being an explorer or an artist. Then, in her teens, her vision for her life got smaller as she focused on boys and relationships.
And when she looked at career role models, all the artists she found seemed to have troubled personal lives — they lived alone, they weren’t married and didn’t have children.
Given those choices, Pamela chose family and children. But something happened. She never quite let go of her dreams.
Slowly, she began to return to painting, writing and eventually making documentaries. And she discovered that it’s actually quite possible to succeed inside and outside the home, even if it does come with some guilt.
She studied this tough choice that women make everywhere in her documentary, “Who Does She Think She Is?” In it, she profiles five women who are mothers and working artists.
She explains how they’re able to navigate the crazy territory between being a good mother and good to themselves.
Pamela chose to profile artists because she wanted to examine how difficult it is to pursue work that may bring you immense self-satisfaction but not a lot of material gain.
Find out what she learned about these women and how her own interests and career affected her three sons and the paths they eventually chose in their lives.
To learn more about Pamela’s art and film, click here to visit her website.