Folks We Love with Kelly Zajfen from Little Minis & Alliance of Moms
Tell us a little bit about your journey and how you’ve come to arrive here.
A California girl who grew up in Colorado. I then lived in Italy and traveled all over the world for work and ended up landing my feet here in Los Angeles. It is here I fell in love and started my family beautiful family.
Who’s in your family? Ages? Names?
My husband Julian, 41
My twin babes: Lily & Geroge, 3.5
our french bulldog Olive, 7
How did you choose your kids names?
George was named after my husbands grandfather who he loved immensely. If it was a boy there was never another choice!
Lily was named after my husbands Great Aunt Lily who was just 17 years young when she died during the holocaust. It was important for us to keep her memory and name alive.
Location?
Los Angeles, CA
Occupation?
Owner & Creative Director of Little Minis
Co-Founder, Alliance of Moms
Heart Ambassador for Childrens Hospital
What’s on your manifest board?
Does Pinterest count? 🙂 Travel, Kids adventures, Home life, Healthy recipes, Inspirations for work!
Tell us some of your most loved ways to spend the day with your clan?
Weekends are really when the whole clan is together. So we do breakfasts out and we love either swimming or doing something outside. We also love art so we are constantly covered in paint or glue or glitter!
What are some silly/fun things that the kids do or say?
They negotiate EVERYTHING. But the one sentence that is on repeat even when you say no is, “MAMA! ONE AND THEN NO MORE!!!! PROMISE!” They are 3! I always give in lol.
When you were a teenager what did you dream of? Do things look different?
To be honest, I had small goals. My parents never encouraged college and I moved out at a young age. I really just put two feet in front of the other and i’m so lucky that modeling fell into my lap. It took me traveling around the world and I landed in Los Angeles. My goals only really started in my 20’s. I wanted to finish college, I wanted a family, and I wanted to teach kids! So a few things changed. I DID graduate college and I met the man of my dreams and started a family. I just changed my career goals as I discovered more of myself. It took many years but i’m so glad I believed in myself and encouraged myself to keep dreaming as I got older. I still dream of things to come 🙂
What are some things you really believe in?
Friendships. Family. A community. Giving Back.
Where do your passions lie?
My family, my amazing small business, traveling, and I LOVE photography!
Has your relationship with your other half changed since having kids?
Absolutely! There are really beautiful things that have changed. I think the bond has grown in such a wonderful way when we had children. And then of course it changed in how we work together as a team and couple. Your available time for each other changes, your way in which you work on your relationship changes… We may not have as much time but it makes the time we spend alone that much more special and important.
What are some of your favorite life lessons you’ve grown to love? (even if learning them at the time was hard)
That it’s okay to create boundaries, even for those you love the most.
That you are the most important person first and foremost. Without your health and wellbeing everything around you wont grow and flourish.
What do you wish you could’ve told yourself when you were a teenager?
Not to worry, It will work out. Even better then you expected.
What do you find most challenging about being somebody’s parent?
Learning to navigate and explain loss and heartache. The world today is so much tougher. From politics, to wars, to loosing someone you love… Kids are so full of hope and love at this age. I want to try and keep that for as long as possible and help them with tools to understand and guide them to make good choices. To help others.
What do you want your kids to learn about the world?
That the world is so very big. Bigger than the little bubble we live in. Teaching them about cultural awareness and diversity and how we can respect differences and similarities among those not only in our own community but all over the world is so important to me.
What are 4 things you can’t live without as a parent?
1. My Camera
2. Play-do
3. Playdates
4. Pasta (endless amounts of pasta)
I am a wifey to an amazing husband named Julian and mama to 3.5 year old twins, George, and (my heart warrior) Lily. When I am away from my little ones, I am the owner of a beautiful little girls romper line called Little Minis as well as the co-founder of the Alliance of Moms and a Heart Ambassador for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.