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Every year, Working Mother magazine puts out a list of 50 Most Powerful Moms and this year, WWD reports fashion designers and retail execs made a particularly good showing. Working Mother's feature include profiles of each mom, as well as quotes that the women have given throughout their careers on subjects like success and work-life balance. Read on for words of wisdom from Tory Burch, Jenna Lyons, Spanx CEO Sara Blakely, and more, and check out the whole list for quotes from power moms like Angelina Jolie, Melinda Gates, Shonda Rhimes, Reese Witherspoon, and Marissa Mayer:
Vogue Paris EIC Emmanuelle Alt: "I know I'm not giving 100 percent of my time to my kids because I'm working, but I give all my free time to my kids. I don't do anything for myself. I don't go to the pool, I don't do sports, I don't go to see my friends on my own. But guilt is not a good example. They have always, since they were born, seen me leaving for work smiling. It's a gift to your kids, I think. It gives them the association of work and happiness. I am never grumpy about work."
Tory Burch: "I think it comes down to having a great idea and an amazing team and being willing to work incredibly hard. There's no such thing as an overnight success."
Spanx CEO Sara Blakely: "When you spend time alone, that's when your gut really has a clear channel to you. It's so important to trust it. I think that trusting your gut is like a muscle. The more you do it, the stronger it gets. I recognized, just by asking myself some personal questions and also being quiet with myself, that I hear my gut the loudest when I'm driving in the car alone."
Victoria Beckham: "It wasn’t until they first came to the show a few years ago that they realized that mummy has a proper job."
Cosmo EIC Joanna Coles: "I never do any work on a Sunday, unless there’s a crisis. Saturday and Sunday are my days for restocking my brain, and I find if I don’t do that and I work Saturday and Sunday, I get tired. I like having Saturday and Sunday as a punctuation mark at the end of the week."
Jenna Lyons: "There's this idea that everybody has to have everything right away. But you have to let the slow burn happen. I wasn't the superstar. I had to work for it. Really long hours."
Apple VP Angela Ahrendts: "If I’m a better mother, if I’m a happy wife and my husband’s happy, I will be a better executive and the company will win."
Sam's Club CEO Rosalind Brewer: "Lead with your gut. Usually my gut doesn’t steer me wrong. It’s that initial reaction to something that’s likely the right reaction. Then I usually follow it up with numbers and all the other things that are important. But my gut usually tells me what to do next."
Walmart International executive vice president Gisel Ruiz: "Looking back there were so many people in my career who chose to help me, who chose to support me, and took the time to do that because they had an interest in me. It’s more of a personal responsibility than a professional one. It really is about giving back considering what you’ve received."