MADE Maven Special Women's Issue April 2018 | Page 54

One of my rules if I have an event
on Saturday, I won’t do an event
on Sunday. Or if I have an event on
Sunday, I won’t do anything on a
Saturday because one of those days
or nights has to be devoted to the
kids. If I can ever do events where
I can bring my kids and make it an
experience for them, then that’s a
bonus. So, the advice would be to
really try to strike a balance because
you never want your kids to feel like,
“Oh, my mom is never here.” But at
the same time you still have to hold
down the fort as a single mom.
So, I do a lot of figuring out, every
single day—how can I get it all done?
I tell people every day I spend about
30% of my day figuring out whatever
it is. How do I get Zoe to her hair
appointment and then Max to soccer
practice? How do I go to this meeting
and then Zoe gets out of school? That’s
30% of my day. But at the same time,
I like it and I figure it out. It’s hard but
at the end of the day, I have two little
people who look up to me and count on
me and I feel like they know their mama
is doing the best they can.
MADE: Yes! We’ll see you on your IG
stories, teaching Zoe how to drive or
taking Max to his activities, so it’s clear
that you find time to do it all. Speaking
of Instagram, we’ve noticed that in the
past couple of months, you’ve been
using “#free” on a lot of your posts.
What’s the significance behind that?
VW: I’m so glad you asked about
my baby, #free. I talked about how
I was the one who left my marriage
after being married for almost 10 years.
I made a big decision to go on and
leave and it was a tumultuous event.
It was not smooth and it was not easy,
but once I got through everything and
after that point in my life, I felt so free.
Free of the drama, feel of the pain that
came from the breakup, free from a
lot of things. I mentioned I’m from LA
and the style is a lot of t-shirts. The
whole athleisure business is booming. I
grew up in t-shirts, flip flops, jeans and
shorts and I’ve always loved t-shirts—
dressing them up, dressing them down
and I wanted to dabble in the fashion
industry. So, ten years ago I was in my
office at home and I thought as I’m
filling out this paperwork, I thought, I’m
free. Period.
So I thought, I’m going to start a
business. I’m going to do the t-shirt
thing. That was 10 years ago. Needless
to say, I started and I stopped because
I always managed to talk myself out
of it. I’m not an entrepreneur, I’m not
a businesswoman. I don’t really know
what I’m doing, but I know I have great
ideas in my head and I know I have a
creative side. For some reason, I would
bring it up and then let it die down or
life will get in the way. About 4 months
ago in November, I started thinking
about Free. again. I said, “You know Val,
you’re going to do this. If you’re going
to launch this t-shirt line that you’ve
talked about on the air, you’ve told
family and friends privately—you have
to do it. You can’t keep talking yourself
out of it.”
I did an Instagram Live one night
and I was on the couch and I was asking
people what they thought about it
and the feedback was amazing and
astounding and I was really inspired
and motivated to do it. I was having
these headaches behind it because I
was thinking too much. I was thinking,
“How do I do this? I don’t know how
to begin.” [During the Instagram Live]
a woman said, “Val, the reason you’re
having headaches about this is because
you’re trying to give birth to your vision.
God has a plan and you got to let it
out.” And I thought, that’s it. I’m going
to do it and that’s how Free. started.
Free. is going to happen this year. I’m
tired of Free. being in my head and my
heart. I want other people to be free to
wear it, to live to be it, to feel like I felt
that moment and I want to combine
that message, that movement and put
it on a t-shirt and hopefully we’ll have a
generation of free people.
My story is different from
everybody’s story, someone else may
be free from an alcohol addiction, drug
addiction, shopping addiction, student
loans, weight, diet, cancer—whatever
you’ve overcome or gone through
and you’re now lifted and a sense of
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