MasterStroke with Monica Enand & Sejal Pietrzak

Dear Mom -The Mother Daughter Episode

• Marisa Natarajan, Raina Pietrzak • Season 1 • Episode 11

Share episode

We would love to hear from you, send us a text!

We are celebrating all things Mom on this special MasterStroke Mother’s Day episode, and ‘the daughters have taken the mic.

Join Marisa Natarajan (Monica's daughter) and Raina Pietrzak (Sejal’s daughter) as they put their moms in the hot seat.

This is an intimate and meaningful mother daughter conversation that covers everything from generational differences to life choices, career uncertainty, regret, and why PURPOSE should be a priority in all decisions. It ends with a fun rapid fire round of would she rather…spoiler alert! 80s rap and Dolly Parton!

You don’t want to miss this episode. You will get a glimpse of these CEOs that can only be revealed through the eyes of their daughters.



Georgianna Moreland - Creator, Executive Producer & Managing Editor;
Matt Stoker - Editor


Raina Pietrzak:

Welcome to the Masterstroke podcast with Monica Enid and Sejal Pietrzak. Excuse me, hi, I'm Reina Pietrzak. I'm Sejal Pietrzak's daughter.

Marisa Natarajan:

Hi, and I'm Marisa Natarajan the daughter of host Monica Enid, and the daughters are taking over the mic for this special Masterstroke. Mother's Day Get to Know Our Moms episode.

Raina Pietrzak:

Masterstroke Mother's Day, get to Know Our Moms episode. So I wanted to start off with thinking about parallels. I know our moms are always looking at parallels and, marissa, I realized you're the youngest in your family, like your mom wasn't hers, and I'm the oldest in mine, like my mom is.

Marisa Natarajan:

I know, and we both have a brother, mine's older and Reina, you have a little brother. How is that?

Raina Pietrzak:

I absolutely love him. He's my best friend. It's so funny. Everyone is always so surprised and almost weirded out that he and I have never fought. But I think it's. My mom has always really talked about making sure we communicate through all of our issues so we're never actually just yelling at each other.

Marisa Natarajan:

That is so funny. I feel like the day has not gone by if my brother and I have not fought, but always in a fun way, always in a fun way. And then, Reina, I heard you just finished your freshman year at Penn. I know when my mom moved me into college I saw her like for the first time as a person and not just my mom. How was that for you?

Raina Pietrzak:

I feel the exact same way. I feel like being away from home. I've made even more of an effort to talk with her and ask for her advice and just spend as much quality time as I can with her. It's just really been a great experience to get even closer to her. I'll give a little funny story about my mom. When she moved me into college, there was this one dinner that we went to when we came to Penn and we still had another day and a half together and she just started bawling her eyes out at dinner and I was so concerned that something bad had happened, or maybe she really hated the food or something. But in reality she just had realized that her oldest kid was finally going off to college and that she wasn't going to get to see me all the time.

Raina Pietrzak:

My mom might be such a business badass, but in reality she is like the softest, most tenderhearted person I've ever met, in the best way. That's so sweet, and I know that you just got moved into a new apartment and you just graduated from Dartmouth.

Marisa Natarajan:

Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah, definitely. I graduated last June and now I've entered the real world and started being an adult, which is crazy and very scary. But I've definitely had my mom supporting me throughout the way. When I was at home I asked her to drive me two hours to Ikea to pick out furniture for my apartment and actually she said she would drive me but only if I listened to every episode of the Masterstroke podcast before it came out. So we, like binge, listened to it for two hours on the way to Ikea and two hours on the way back, and it was just crazy to hear all of my mom's like advice that I've heard throughout all my life condensed into, you know, a couple hours. As I'm like moving my first big girl apartment, it was surreal.

Raina Pietrzak:

I absolutely love that because I know my mom would have had me do the exact same thing I've been so excitedly like looking out for them to be dropped each week, and I have enjoyed hearing it too, because I feel like our moms are treating everybody who listened to the podcast like their own kids, who are growing up, going out into the workforce, going into school, looking for jobs, finding mentors. There's just so many different things that a lot of people's parents can't fully explain the gravity of or the best way to do it. So I'm really thankful that our moms are able to do that for us and for everybody.

Marisa Natarajan:

So true, I feel like when I listen to the podcast, I'm hearing everything my mom told me throughout my life, and then I'm also probably hearing everything your mom told you throughout your life, so I get to hear all that advice as well, which is super fun.

Raina Pietrzak:

Absolutely, and it's funny like it shows how much my mom has already been impacting other people. My roommate and I know my mom talks about this in one of the earlier episodes. My roommate literally asked my mom for resume help and how she could best communicate with people about the things that she's done, and I think Sophia, my roommate, got the idea from the podcast. Initially she wanted to hear my mom's opinion and was reaching out and treating my mom like a mentor, which I thought was really cool. Was your mom ever helping any of your friends as well?

Marisa Natarajan:

All the time my mom in my high school my mom was like the queen of startups. So everyone who wanted to work in startups which there's a lot in Portland all like called my mom regularly. She was definitely a mentor to a lot of young people and then has been continuing to help my friends all throughout college, which has been super great, especially since she knows all the characters. I call her every day to tell her about what friends said this and who's going to this party and everything like that, so she knows everything.

Raina Pietrzak:

Absolutely, I'd say. My mom knows has known progressively more and more about my life as college has gone on and it's been really cool to be able to connect with her. When I think back to you saying that you're finally seeing her as like a real person, can you go into that a little bit more?

Marisa Natarajan:

Yeah, definitely. I think it's like you in high school you're so focused on yourself and then you know your mom is just there to help you. But I think when you start to kind of do things on your own, you can see how how your mom also like went through that path. And, especially as I'm starting my job, I think I'm learning so much more about my mom through working and through, you know, telling her about how things are going at my work, asking her about how she would handle certain situations, asking her about, you know, things that my managers do and would she do the same thing? So I'm definitely learning a lot about her management style as well. You know, outside the home.

Raina Pietrzak:

Oh, that's wonderful. I'm really excited for that aspect. But I do know that I'm going to have like my first internship this summer and I know she's going to be really helping me internship this summer, and I know she's going to be really helping me. Hey, I think the moms are at the door. Should we let?

Marisa Natarajan:

them in. Let's do it, hi girls, hello girls.

Monica Enand:

How are you? I'm doing great, hi moms, happy to be here, all right, well, so do you guys have some questions?

Marisa Natarajan:

for us. Is that how that's going to work? Yeah, so I graduated last year and something I've been thinking about a lot is that in high school and in college, the path that you're supposed to follow is very clear and there's somebody telling you what to do. Or you like science, so take a science class. So the path is very mapped out for you and I think that once you graduate, you are suddenly realize that you are the person who's in charge of mapping out the path. Um, so I was wondering question for the moms like when you first graduated, how did you go about like finding your career path and finding purpose in your career, and how did you know that? How'd you know when you were on the right track?

Monica Enand:

That's a really good question. I think for me in the early days I kind of did, like you said um, what I thought people thought I should do. To be honest, that people thought Intel at the time in the early 90s, for an engineer, intel was a great company building new and exciting technology, and so when I got a job offer, everybody said that's a great company to go to. So I did, I didn't think much about it and, honestly, in the first few years of my career, the first seven years of my career, the first seven years of my career, I pretty much just thought about the next promotion and didn't really think about how I didn't. You know? I think you've said things like how did I find purpose?

Monica Enand:

I don't think I found any purpose. I think I just felt like I needed to keep performing well and moving up the corporate ladder, so to speak. It wasn't, honestly, until I had children and realized I wasn't going to just keep continuing with climbing the corporate ladder that I had to think hard about for the first time, about what I was going to do and what was going to work in my life, and so that kind of forced me to think about it, and it forced me to think about what I liked and what I didn't like and how I was going to build the rest of my life. And it wasn't until much later in life that I felt like I had purpose in my career and that I really thought hard about having my own personal North Star and my personal purpose and meaning to my career.

Raina Pietrzak:

To piggyback off that. I was going to ask if being a mom really shaped your career or how did it. How did it change it significantly?

Monica Enand:

Well, for me it really did significantly change it, because being a mom and staying in my, in my, the job that I had became really hard. I had to. The job that I had became really hard. I had to and I wanted to. But I also had to make a different path. I stayed at home for a few years when Marissa was born she's my second child and I stayed at home for four years and actually went to school at night. But when I realized I wanted to go back to work, I really had to think hard and be very intentional about what did I want for my career, and I also feel like it also made me be really efficient, which was a good learning, because I couldn't. You know, I think when you're, when you have a lot of time, you can kind of spend a lot of time. We have an episode where we talk about, you know, the task grows to the time allotted and I think I learned a lot about being very efficient and getting stuff done after being a parent.

Raina Pietrzak:

That's great to know, Because I always I think about that really often because I have a plan to have a family pretty far down the line. But I really do always wonder how that will affect my professional career, because a lot of people say that you can't have a professional career and have a successful family.

Monica Enand:

But clearly you guys have done otherwise yeah, it's not easy and there are definitely sacrifices that you make on both sides. But I think, uh, you know, for both, all parents, all parents, I think, have to make some sacrifices on both sides. You have to kind of give up on the idea of it being perfect. But I think, uh, even if you try to be perfect, you're not going to be perfect anyway.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

Yeah, I would agree with that, monica. You know, you've, you've got to make sure you're not just trying to be perfect all the time. Um, marissa's original question. So let me, let me go back to that. Um, you know, you know you asked a question, marisa around.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

You know, when do you find passion and I think, or when do you find, you know that you're doing something that really you're passionate about or that gives you purpose? And I think that when I first graduated from college, I didn't have a job after I graduated. I had a couple of opportunities that I reached out to and was able to get when I had done an internship earlier and was able to get a job from following up on that internship. But what I ended up doing was finding a role at the US Chamber of Commerce in the international division, and I had studied international relations undergrad and, even though I gave up on doing the corporate jobs at big companies, this was something that paid half the amount, but I was passionate about it. I felt excited about working in the international division and particularly with South Asia, with companies that were investing in South Asia, which is what I was doing at the US Chamber of Commerce. For some reason I felt that this was the right thing and that I could give back, and I didn't.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

One thing I would say and you know it was tough, but you know I did it which is, you know, I didn't look at the job that gave me the most money and I didn't come from a family where we had lots of money. I wasn't being supported by my parents in terms of financially. I graduated from college. I was on my own, but I did the job that I wanted to do, that I felt I could make the most impact. It was a small group within a larger organization and it was something that I really cared about and was interested in.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

And I've always given advice to people around don't take the job that currently gives you the most money. That's not necessarily the right one. Get, take the job that you feel you're going to learn the most, that you feel you can make tangible value, um and impact, and that you're going to you're going to enjoy. And. And so I never I never really looked at what is the salary and compared those at any stage in my career. I think that was the right decision for me anyway, because eventually, if you love the job you're doing and you don't think of it as a job and you enjoy it as just every day, then you end up doing a really great job and you continue to get promoted as just every day.

Monica Enand:

Then you end up doing a really great job and you continue to get promoted. That's something I agree with Sejal. This is Monica, and I learned that too. It's the experience and the learning. It's not something anybody can ever take away from you. But jobs come and go, salaries come and go, titles come and go None of that stuff is lasting and it's not yours. It's given to you and it can be taken from you. But you, what you learn in your experience, that's yours forever and no one can take it away from you.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

Absolutely 100% agree.

Raina Pietrzak:

Speaking of experiences, what is one thing that you regret not doing, or learning? I feel like I'm always doing my best to continue learning and putting myself out there, but sometimes I feel like there's definitely missed opportunities. So I'm really curious to see, as you've gone so far in your careers, if there's anything that you regret.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

I don't believe in regrets. Uh, essentially, I I look and say everything's a lesson learned. Um, you know, if, if there's something you, you have to choose a path one way or another. Um, but is there something that I love learning about, and it is about medicine and about health and about the human body and how we react to aging, how we react to when we're sick, what medicines help us. I mean, you know, you can't be everything, and I knew from a young age that I was hoping to get into, you know, wanted to be in business and didn't necessarily want to be a doctor. I I look at it now and say, Hmm, I would love to learn about medicine. You know, if I could have a second career, um, it would be to learn about medicine. What about you, Monica?

Monica Enand:

Well, I, just in the last year, have started taking my very first piano lessons. Um, just in the last year have started taking my very first piano lessons. In my whole life I've always wanted to learn music and you know, I think if I were to go back and say like one thing, I would do differently. I don't believe in regret. I agree with Sejal. You can't really believe in regret because if you do regret something and you change it, you don't know what else would change in your life. And so you know your journey was your journey and I can't say I'm unhappy with any of it. But if I could go back, I probably would have like learned something in the arts for me music, because I was really focused on career and being an engineer and and just focused on what I needed to do to make that happen. But I think there's a lot of joy to exploring artistic and creative endeavors. So I'm excited to be learning piano now.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

That's so cool, monica. How do you find it after just a year of lessons and playing Hard? It's hard, and I'm after just a year of lessons and playing.

Monica Enand:

Hard. It's hard and I'm still just a beginner and I do think I would have learned faster if I obviously learned younger. But because I watched Marissa and Neil, my son, learn music and saw that they learned it much faster. But I'm really having fun with it. It's a blast.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

That's so cool. What about you, uh, marissa, is there something that you want to learn how to do now? I mean, there's so much ahead of you that you're going to be learning, but is there anything, um, that you're like? You know what I want to do this?

Marisa Natarajan:

Yeah, I think I want to learn everything right now. I like even I mean even choosing jobs. Choosing jobs, it was like, oh, I could do this, I could do this. It's like I just feel like I'm I've always felt like I'm the kind of person I can get excited about anything. So I really I want to learn anything, but I think, in terms of like, maybe outside my career, I also would like to become, I think think more artistic and I think I'd like I think it's as I'm like working this job and kind of getting used to my lifestyle.

Marisa Natarajan:

I think it's important to feel like you're creating something or doing something important outside of the job as well, which is like something I felt like I had all throughout school, because I sing a lot, I do a lot of like theater, and so I always felt like, when you know, my identity wasn't just school and I had like other things that I was passionate about, and I think it's harder to do as an adult, you know, to like find to be passionate about your hobbies.

Marisa Natarajan:

It's not as facilitated for you. So I think that's something I've been I've been thinking about is like, how can I do the things I'm passionate about that are not career related and how can I like build my life outside of work, beyond, just like, you know, social life and things like that, but like really you know, create like new complexities to my identity? So that's also a question I would, I would ask you guys is, like, how do you like feel like you have, you know, hobbies, and how do you kind of you know, when you have those like outside interests I mean, I know my mom just started taking piano lessons, you know, after she sold her company so like while while you were working, like how did you make sure that you were, I don't know, fulfilling yourself creatively as well?

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

You know, I don't, at least for me. This is Sejal. I don't know that I did as much of that, and it's hard to find the time because you prioritize your time. If I had a moment free, I wanted to be spending it with my family. What you're doing, marisa, is a great thing to be able to think about being creative while you have your job, because we're finding some outlets and finding different hobbies, because it is actually great to do. Otherwise, you can end up working and working and working, um, and it's good to find a little bit of that downtime, uh, to be able to, you know, get some perspective. I know that, um, raina loves to paint and draw and she's an incredibly talented artist. I hope that, no matter what you end up doing in your career, raina assuming it's not related to art I don't know if it will be but that you continue to do that, because having that outlet, I think, is a great stress reliever. It's also something that gives you a little bit more perspective in everything you do.

Raina Pietrzak:

I absolutely agree with that and I've been trying to do a better job of that recently, especially because I have Sundays off from track. I obviously don't have classes on Sundays. I've been trying to do my best to put an hour aside of my time just to paint, write or draw, just to de-stress and really make sure I'm keeping the creative side of my brain going, Because it's such a nice way to escape and to know sure I'm keeping the creative side of my brain going because it's such a nice way to escape and to know that I can create something. And I honestly would love if my career had something to do with art as well, but obviously I am still very unsure where it will end up going.

Monica Enand:

I think that's great, Raina. I mean especially you juggling both your athletic demands and your academic demands to find time and carve it out. It's, I mean, it's the richness of life, and I think that those habits that you build now are habits that you'll have for your whole life. So I have a question for you, Raina what is the biggest lesson you feel like you've learned from your mom?

Raina Pietrzak:

So I was actually about to say something about this earlier, but for me, I think the biggest lesson I've learned from my mom is prioritization.

Raina Pietrzak:

I saw how much she worked when I was younger, but I always felt like she was there whenever she was so present.

Raina Pietrzak:

Whenever she was at home, she would either make us breakfast or we'd spend time with her after dinner, and I really always took so much away from that and knew that if you prioritize your time right, you can do anything. A little story that I learned about my mom recently. I know she's mentioned that she's worked internationally and sometimes she would go on trips for two weeks at a time and that would definitely be difficult, but I found out that when she was on those trips she was working until one, two, three in the morning just trying to get all the work out of the way. So as soon as she could get home she would be spending so much good quality time with us and I value that and it shows the power of prioritization and the ability that my mom has, like the things that my mom has done in order to make sure she has a strong family and a great career. So I would say that's probably my main lesson that I learned from her. So thanks, mom.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

Absolutely yeah. And you know, I think you find it's it's about time boxing. You know, finding every moment you can to say, okay, if my priority is um which it was, you know, and still is to be with my family, um, you know, after a trip or after um a full day of work or whatever it's, it's about finding as much time while you're away to be able to get the work done. And we have an episode on um time boxing that talks a lot about that, and I think it's a valuable thing to think about. What would you say is the biggest lesson you've learned from your mom?

Marisa Natarajan:

That's such a hard question because I feel like I learned everything from my mom, but I would say, in terms of, I think what's helped me become the person I am, I think my mom is a doer. She doesn't talk about the things that she wants to do, she just does them, and like she doesn't wait for someone to tell her that she can do it, and so I think that that's kind of the number one thing I've taken from my mom is like she has a lot of vision and she's really, really skilled at like executing and even like like, even when it's not necessarily obviously like I don't totally know how she, you know, worked in her career because I'm not there every day, but like seeing her, you know, work with my family, it's like, oh, our 30 person extended family is talking about where to go for Christmas and my mom just like finds the, the place we're gonna stay, and looks at everyone's flights and and she's just, she like knows how to get things done, and I think that that's like I mean, that's not like that's what keeps the world turning right. We can all talk about what we want to do as much as we want, but until we can actually do it. It's like nothing happens. So I think that that's kind of the number one lesson I've taken from my mom and like skill that I feel proud of. That I think not. Not everyone learns how to do very quickly.

Marisa Natarajan:

Now I have a quick question for the moms that also might be applicable to Raina. I think, like, especially when you're in college, there's so many things to worry about. You know, like your grades, what you're going to do after, what you're going to do this summer, what you're going to do tonight. You know like, um, so is there something, some things in college or when you were young that you worried a lot about? That? You you wish you hadn't spent so much time worrying about.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

As I look back, I, I, I had this dream, you know, as I said when I was 15 years old that I want to be a CEO, and I, I had this mentality and thought that it's all linear, meaning you have to take the first step and then you immediately have to go to the next step, then the next step, the next step. Not that I knew what all the steps were exactly, but I never really allowed myself to veer a ton off path and I never took a break. I literally went from one job to the next, with maybe a weekend day off, and that's about it. Um, and, and I think as I look back on um life and career, I think it's okay to take a sidestep or try something different, or take a break in between, um, two jobs to be able to get perspective and think about what you want most next and actually learn a little bit more about yourself and not have to be so directly. You know, I think linear is the best way that I can think of how to describe it, and that's something that I think I didn't necessarily worry about it, but I always thought that you have to be doing something.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

You know, I've always told Raina that if someday after college she wants to be a professional track athlete and aim for the Olympics, go try it, go do it. You know, um. Now we're lucky that you know I can support her in that endeavor If, if so, she desired to do that, um. But who knows where life will take you, and it doesn't have to be that you have to graduate from college and immediately get that job and then move to the next job. Um could take a different path, and I think that you can eventually get there. It doesn't have to be so direct and linear. What would you say, monica?

Monica Enand:

Oh, I completely agree. I think I wish I hadn't worried so much about the expectations of other people and what people thought. And that's an easier thing. That's said and done. But I think if you can find your own internal compass, like your own internal North Star and and guiding values, then you can do a little bit of that wandering and you can kind of explore without worrying that maybe you're not doing what people think you should be doing, or that what people think is should be doing, or that what people think is good to do, and getting comfortable in my own skin.

Monica Enand:

You know, I read a recent article in the wall street journal, um, and it said something about, you know, meet the young professionals that are not retired but they just don't care about, they don't have anything to prove.

Monica Enand:

And yeah, it's easy to sit here now and say that, but I wish I could have had just a little bit of that more. You know, not feeling that the pressure to kind of prove something to someone else and really just focus. And, to be honest, I've learned a lot of that from Marissa. Marissa, I think you're very good at better than I was at at knowing that you have your own journey and your own path and I don't know how you did it, but you certainly seem to to realize that there are multiple good paths and lots of people are happy in different ways, and that the key is to find your own happiness. Lots of people are happy in different ways and that the key is to find your own happiness, not what you know, not what other people feel made them happy, but what you feel make you, makes you happy At some point in time.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

Isn't it amazing that we end up learning from our children and you know, there's so many things, yeah, there's so many things that I learned from Raina. And you know there's so many things, yeah, there's so many things that I learned from Raina. She's an incredibly optimistic person and always looks at the positives. It's the best day ever, or it was, you know even if things may not be great, like if you're injured, which she is right now for her ankle but she always looks at the positive and I love that. Always looks at the positive and I love that, and you wonder.

Marisa Natarajan:

Okay, you know, you can really learn from even our children. I think that, yeah, I mean, I'm glad that we've taught you something, but I really think that, like everything, like like you were saying, like being able to feel comfortable in your own path and feel confident that you know your happiness is not someone else's happiness and you know everyone is is on their own journey I think that comes from you know, your parents making the space for you to feel that way, Right, like you never told me I had to, like be a computer scientist to be happy. So then that lets me, you know, explore other things that I might want to do, and I think that really, what that comes from is your parents telling you that you can do anything you want, and then suddenly you can do anything you want, right. So I think that that's, that's only something I feel like I was raised with, and it sounds like Raina was too. So that's that's great.

Raina Pietrzak:

I absolutely was, and I could not be more grateful for it. So, moms, you both have talked about how you guys have learned stuff from us, which I'm really thankful that I was able to teach you something among all of the lessons that you've taught me. But, mom, what is the most important lesson that you think that you've learned from Mimi, who is my grandmother on my mom's side?

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

It's a little bit of a story, but you know, I think ever since I was little, my mom, who was a stay at home mom, used to tell me that and this is the way she said it but she would say, make sure you're independent, make sure you have your own money, make sure you go far in your career. And she never said what it had to be, what career had to be. But I find it really interesting because she was incredibly bright, even assertive and aggressive, and so I, I, I think I I internalized the way she talked about being independent, as an independent person, and then, on the other side, I also as well, I also learned from her about she was very assertive and she always asked for what she wanted. You know, if you went to a restaurant, she never, you know, she didn't want food a certain way, like she would suggest to the chef. You know, can you do it this way?

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

Or if she went into, she was a great negotiator too, and so I think the things that there are pieces of her personality that I think I got um and I learned from her um about not being shy, about, you know, being assertive and things like that, and then and then also, she used to always talk about being independent and and then having, you know, a career that's your own, no matter what. What about you, Monica? What did you learn from your mom?

Monica Enand:

Oh, my mom. I learned a lot from my mom. I think, raina, it's a good question. My mom kind of is.

Monica Enand:

I think if you heard her speak you would think she was traditional, believes in gender roles, you know, said a lot of things like girls do this, boys do that Still to this day, says those kinds of things. But when you watch her actions it's clear that she didn't always believe that she was the one who started her own business. Actually, without my dad's support or consent, she kind of blazed the trail, learned from her friends who were running a business, went and started a business and made it happen and kind of led the way and told my dad how she wanted to do it and what she was going to do, and made it very successful and he ended up being able to quit his job and work with her in the business, which gave them a lot of freedom and joy from having their business. So I learned a lot about, you know, going and blazing a trail and not being scared. Even though I think she wouldn't say those things. I think that's what she did with her actions. What she did with her actions.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

Well, marissa, I have a couple of rapid fire questions to ask you, and so, as I ask, just answer the first thing that comes to your mind and if you really want to like elaborate on it, feel free. Would she, would Monica, would your mom rather okay? And so, for the first one, would your mom rather skydive or relax on a lazy river?

Marisa Natarajan:

Skydive.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

Okay, would your mom rather would your mom rather drink coffee and tea or tequila?

Marisa Natarajan:

Tea. We're big tea people.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

Would your mom rather go to a Taylor Swift concert or an 80s rap concert? 80s rap concert Would your?

Monica Enand:

mom when she's mad. I can actually say all the words to Busta Muv right now if you want to meet them.

Marisa Natarajan:

Yeah, so true, how much time do we have on this podcast?

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

All right. When Monica's mad, does she yell or is she deadly silent?

Marisa Natarajan:

Oh, a little bit of both, I think. All right, I'm not worried about when my mom's yelling.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

I think I'm worried when she's silent. That's good, all right. Would your mom rather have lunch with Oprah or Dolly Parton?

Marisa Natarajan:

Oh, that's hard, I think. Maybe I think Oprah, I don't know that's a tricky one, but she loves Dolly Parton she loves Dolly Parton.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

All right, Monica, tell us, why do you love Dolly Parton?

Monica Enand:

I love Dolly Parton. She's been for decades an amazing artist. She's written thousands of songs for other people and she's a very philanthropic person. And she's a very philanthropic person and she's a quiet, philanthropic person. She's done a lot. She's put a lot of money into programs giving books to children and housing for underrepresented and underprivileged communities. She gave a million dollars to the COVID vaccine development and she is funny and stylish and got her own style and I think she's amazing.

Marisa Natarajan:

Okay so I was wrong.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

Awesome. I do love Dolly Parton.

Monica Enand:

All right, raina, your turn. I want to hear and learn some more about Sejal from your perspective. Tell me, would she Sejal rather watch a movie that was sci-fi or action adventure?

Raina Pietrzak:

I think she would rather watch something that's action, adventure, but nothing too violent or gory. She's definitely much more of a comedy or rom-com kind of person.

Monica Enand:

A rom-com kind of person. Okay, I would not have guessed that. All right, is she competitive or does she let you win?

Raina Pietrzak:

Oh, she's so competitive. She literally played every single sport that you could think of in high school and every single time we play a family game, she's always dying to win that does sound like her.

Monica Enand:

For me the perspective, and so all right. And when she's at your track meets. We've heard a lot. I know that many of her favorite memories are being with you and watching you run. Does she cheer for you in the stands? Is she loud and boisterous, or is she quiet and intense?

Raina Pietrzak:

She's extremely loud. She's always been the biggest proponent of me just having fun. So she's screaming at me. Sometimes they're my splits, sometimes it's just words of encouragement that are funny, and sometimes it's just telling me go, go. It's awesome. I always appreciate it because she's the only voice that I hear when I'm running oh, that's cool.

Monica Enand:

So all right, would she rather travel to space or the bottom of the ocean? That's a great question.

Raina Pietrzak:

I feel like she definitely would not really want to do either. I think she's much more of a she wants to stay on the ground kind of person. But I think I'm gonna guess outer space, because you could see a lot of really cool things.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

Yeah, I would agree with that. Bottom of the ocean, not interested Space. I like flying, so that would be good.

Monica Enand:

I'm sure you'll get the opportunity, sage all in your lifetime, to go to space. I think that's my prediction. What about? Okay, raina, one more. What about binge watching Netflix or reading a good book? What would she rather?

Raina Pietrzak:

I think she loves doing both, but every time my grandmother comes into town, my dad's mom and my mom always find some time to watch some sort of Netflix series. I'm going to go with Netflix.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

That's absolutely right. All right, that's very cool. So, marissa, in the last few minutes we have what's your favorite memory with your mom.

Marisa Natarajan:

My favorite memory with my mom is, I would say definitely when we just like lay in bed all day and we watch TV and my dad brings us food and we, like we love to have a lazy day together. So I think those are my favorite days, where we just chat and, you know, eat a lot of sweets and, you know, stay in our pajamas all day.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

That sounds like an amazing memory.

Monica Enand:

Once in a while, I believe.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

That's fantastic.

Monica Enand:

Raina, how about you? What are your favorite memories with your mom?

Raina Pietrzak:

I think one of the memories that just comes to mind immediately before my mom would go on her long business trips, which she would have to pack all of her stuff into just a carry-on and one of my favorite things I think I was eight or nine years old I would help my mom pack and we would debrief what was about to happen on the trip and we would just catch up and it was just a fun, really sweet, innocent moment. I absolutely loved it.

Sejal C. Pietrzak:

And you know, raina, this is something you learned from your kids. Raina taught me. I don't know where she learned it, but she said mom, you can fit so much more if you roll your clothes. Raina was great, even at eight and nine years old, sitting in the closet and rolling the clothes and putting them into the suitcase.

Monica Enand:

Well, it has been so fun sharing this time with you, Reina and Marissa.

Marisa Natarajan:

Thanks so much for listening. Please subscribe and share. Thank you to our moms for moving over and letting us take the mic, and thank you always for supporting us through everything.

Raina Pietrzak:

Yes, thank you so much and happy Mother's Day month year to all the women, grandmothers, aunties, coaches, teachers, mentors and anyone who may have helped raise kids. They may not always show it, but believe me, they love you more than they could ever explain. And, mom and Bobja, I love you guys so much for raising me into the person that I am.

Marisa Natarajan:

And mom and Nani. Thank you so much for shaping me into the woman I am today. Thank you.

Raina Pietrzak:

And Mrs Moreland, we want to say thank you so much for being an amazing executive producer and letting us take over the mic.