MODEL and content creator Nara Smith says having children young has not held her back professionally, though balancing family life and ambition requires planning, sacrifice, and self-compassion.
Known online for her styled outfits, elaborate homemade recipes, and soft-spoken narration, the 24-year-old is raising four young children while building a growing business.
In a recent interview on the podcast Aspire with Emma Grede, Smith discussed motherhood, long working hours, online criticism, and the realities of pursuing an ambitious career as a young parent.
Smith, who shares four children — aged five, four, two, and 11 months — with her husband, model Lucky Blue Smith, said her mornings typically begin with preparing school lunches and getting her eldest child ready for school.
Asked how she balances motherhood and work, Smith dismissed the notion that women can keep every aspect of their lives perfectly organised. “There is no balance. You try your best every day,” she said.
She explained that she prioritises different parts of her life by carving out dedicated time for her children alongside her professional commitments.
“I know that I’ll have a certain time of week where I’ll go have get my nails done with my daughter or I’ll go play football with my son or whatever it may be having quality time,” she said. For Smith, being a present mother does not require constant availability. Her work often stretches into the early hours, and she revealed that she sometimes calls her agents at 1 am to discuss upcoming business commitments.
“I’m up very, very late, up very early. I call my agents at 1 am,” she told Grede.
Smith became a mother at 19 and welcomed her fourth child at 23, a time-line she and her husband had deliberately planned. She maintained that starting a family early has inspired her to work harder rather than limiting her career. “I couldn’t be more grateful because I don’t think kids hold you back. You just have to plan more and schedule more and outsource help if you need to,” she said.
However, learning to manage both responsibilities took trial and error. Smith revealed she returned to filming content just two weeks after giving birth to her third child. Describing herself as a workaholic, she eventually realised she could not manage everything alone. — IOL
When one of her children fell ill, the family restructured their childcare arrangements, bringing in support from relatives and hiring a nanny.
“It really took a lot of trial and error and a lot of guilt on my behalf,” she said. “There’s no way we can juggle careers, travelling, a sick kid, all of that without any help.”
To protect her time, Smith evaluates whether new offers will meaningfully advance her business before accepting them.
“I usually always weigh the opportunity. I say, okay, is this opportunity going to move the needle for me and my business?” she explained. If an opportunity aligns with her goals, she schedules it around her family; if not, she turns it down. She added that she never wants her children to feel responsible for missed career opportunities.
“I never want them to feel like that was something that I am projecting onto them,” she said. — IOL
