Ali lives in Wicklow with her son Harry (2) and her husband Stuart. Ali worked in TV production for many years before deciding to take the leap and work fulltime for herself, Ali also runs an Irish online party parlour called Harryali and also writes a bi-monthly craft section for Easy Parenting Magazine.
Q1) What is the biggest change since becoming a mum?
The biggest challenge since becoming a mum is trying to manage my time, it's hard enough without kids to stay on top of everything from keeping up to date with friends, family, work, cleaning/washing/gardening, bills, exercise, tv box sets/movies, socialising, relaxation etc.. etc.. so when Harry came along it threw any kind of routine that I may of had before right out the window, now everything I do is squished in around Harry's routine, which is great but it definetly took a while to get into the swing of!
Q2) What's the most important thing you learnt when you became a mum?
The most important thing I learnt when I became a mum is that if you have nothing else in the whole world as long as you have your family you are sorted!
For me it really put everything into perspective and made me realise more so than before that life really is too short and every single moment should be appreciated.
Q3) How does being a stay at home & working mum differ from your days working in TV production?
Q3) How does being a stay at home & working mum differ from your days working in TV production?
I absolutely loved my previous jobs, I'm very lucky in that any job I've ever worked in has been something that I was really interested in but working for yourself is a totally different dynamic. For one, when you work for yourself you never really switch off you are constantly on the go which is great but you remember how nice it was before when you could leave work at 5.30 and not have to worry about it again until the following morning. It just takes a while to adjust, but you really have to put in the hard work to see any results.
Q4) What was your favorite homemade craft when you were younger?
My favourite homemade craft when I was younger was I use to make postboxes out of old shoes boxes and decorate them and stick them to the front of the bedroom doors around the house, I then forced my brother and friends to send me letters. I still to this day think there is nothing better than getting a handwritten letter in the post!
Q5) If there is one thing you are going to teach your kids in life what would it be?
If there is one thing that I am going to teach my kids in life it would be that they can be happy if they choose to be happy. I truly feel that whatever you put into your life you get back. The other thing I will teach them is that a smile is the simplest thing you can do to brighten someone else's day and it costs absolutely nothing!
Q6) Who is the person who influences you the most?
The person who influences me in life the most would be my amazing 82 year old granny Mena, she is the most wonderful, passionate, optimistic person I have ever met and I hope I can be like her when I am her age.
Q8) What's your favorite craft to make with your son?
My favourite thing to make with Harry is anything at all that he can play with. We love making pirate hats and scary masks, we are big fans of Halloween in our house so anything that involves dressing up or parties always goes down well.
Q9) What is your favorite CrafTea past time or hobby?
My favorite CrafTea past time is making something that brighten's up a room in the house, I'm big into interior design and I love upcycling old furniture with a splash of paint. I love pintrest too, it's a great place to go to find fun ideas.
Q10)What is the biggest challenge you face setting up your own business (i.e. something negative and then positive)
The biggest challenge I faced setting up my own business is taking the inital step to decide to do it in the first place, It's a scary thing initially but I'm very lucky to have great support from my husband and family/friends which makes a huge difference
Q11) Any advice for budding entrepreneurs out there?
The only advice I would give is that I think you have to take the risk and go for it, if it doesn't work at well at least you tried and you won't be left wondering what you could have done.