Years ago I was lucky enough to meet Amy Richardson-Golia from June & January and we have been friends ever since. She is such a hard working woman, based in Brooklyn, NY (for now), but let me introduce her to her working husband, Nate Golia, who is working from home and teaming with Amy to be an amazing parent for their kids.
Nate, the editor for an insurance industry trade magazine, isn’t a stay-at home dad because while the nanny is watching the kids, Nate is hard at work. He decided to start working at home when Amy was pregnant in an attempt to limit the amount of hours they’d have to pay a babysitter – New York childcare isn’t cheap and not having to cover commute times makes a noticeable difference. “I was already working at home when [our son] Eli was born and had been for almost a year before the business really took off,” he said. “Being home means I can fill in if needed and take care of things that come up during the day” says Golia, who will go into the office once or twice a week.
Years ago Amy had started a mail-order vegan baking business that she had for about a year. Always being pretty entrepreneurial with her hobbies, when this moved from a hobby to a secondary source of income very quickly Nate wasn’t that surprised. “Eventually she started sewing late into the night and asking me to drop of packages at the post office on my lunch break, and I knew this was heading to another level,” said Golia. The question was whether she had the appetite to take on a business. It would’ve been safe to just keep it at that lower level. Nate says that he knew the “rat race” wasn’t really for her, so when she said she believed she could make the business work, “I was happy to let her try.”
Amy is a designer at heart. Clothing is the outlet she’s settled on, but Nate has always known that office work wasn’t for her. Being an independent business owner whose main goal is to design clothes and marketing for those clothes “far better suits her than what she was doing before.”
June & January is growing like crazy and I, The Modern Dad, always wonder, does the husband ever help? “I pitch in where I can” says Nate. In the early days he would drop off packages frequently, do occasional pickups from the cut-and-sew shop and help set up and work at live sales. But for the most part he would let Amy handle her own business. “Because I am a media professional by trade I sometimes proofread stuff for her or offer ideas on marketing,” he said.
Being two employed parents can be hard, but they grew up not knowing anything different. What if your spouse gets home from work after having the worst day ever? “One of the hardest things to do is interrupt the 24/7 flow of information that comes with running a business in the social media age,” Nate says. “I encourage Amy to get away when she can, even if it’s something as simple as binge-watching a TV show or going for a walk around Brooklyn – shoes loves little artisanal shops and we have plenty of those.” Nate is very helpful with his wife and supporting her dream.
One of the things that I really like about Nate is that he takes an active role in his children’s lives:
“My son is 4 going on 5, and I try to encourage his interest in science. I am more of a humanities guy myself – I’m an editor now and was formerly in a touring band, and studied English– but I realized early on he’s much more interested in space exploration, robotics, and dinosaurs than literature or music. And I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be much of an athlete – he’s just not interested in watching or playing sports, at least yet. So I like to take him to museums, bookstores, or just for walks and rides around the city where there’s a lot for him to ask questions about. At home I like to get out the Legos and build the structure or vehicle of the day together. And we’ve started doing some limited “experiments” like baking-soda volcanoes. Also, my grandfather was an engineer, and I know it makes him happy to see his great-grandson picking up that mantle. My dad is an artist-type too, as is his sister, and me and my brothers – so Eli is really the first one in the family whose interests are more on the STEM side. But I think that’s great. I hope he loves science forever.
I think my daughter may be different, though. She is only a little more than one, but she loves to sing and dance when music is on, and play with the piano and drums apps on my phone. So I play guitar for her and we watch music videos together instead of robot videos. And we go for walks.”
Nate is an amazing father and supportive husband and when I asked what he loves about his wife Amy he had the greatest things to say:
“Her sense of humor. Sometimes when we’re not completely exhausted by the business and kids we stay up in bed and talk and laugh together. Suddenly it will be two hours later and we have to force ourselves to go to sleep so we don’t start off on the wrong foot the next day. I love that she doesn’t take everything so seriously and can laugh at some of the absurdities of our life.
I also love how excited she gets about small-batch ice cream and unique mugs. Among other things, of course. But I always know what little things she appreciates and that helps me give her the experiences she wants in her down time.
I also really admire her commitment to her business. Amy relishes the chief executive position – she cares about everything that touches her brand and goes out into the world. I also am responsible for a brand, though it’s as part of a team, and I have to compromise and be pragmatic, which can be a relief at times. But I’m really amazed at what Amy’s been able to do and I know it’s because she has absorbed everything she can about what her customers want and you can feel that in every new design and color and marketing piece that goes out there.”
Thank you Nate for setting a great example on how we as men need to be supportive to our working spouses.
