December’s Meet a Mom is Jacey Taub. It truly is amazing what you find out about somebody after an interview like this. I have known Jacey for 15 years and she surprised me! Take a few minutes and read about Jacey and the many facets of her daily life……
Where are you from originally and how long have you lived in town? Born in Buffalo, NY raised in Albuquerque, NM, went to college in Boston, graduated and moved to LA, then to NYC and finally Rye Brook the summer of 2004.
Child(ren) and Age(s)? Lily 20 and Zachary 16 1/2
One thing people would be surprised to know about you… My senior year of college, I was the Paramount Pictures’ intern for all of the New England universities and the first movie I worked on was WAYNE’S WORLD!
Favorite things to do with your kids? When my kids were little, I loved doing arts & crafts projects with them. Now that they are older, they are terrific travel buddies.
What is your favorite game to play with your kids and/or adults? Rummikub
Are you involved in a business venture, a local organization, a creative endeavor, or in the corporate world? Please share! The majority of my working outside of the home was spent in the entertainment industry as a film publicist, which I looooved, but was not condusive to being the kind of mother that I wanted to be. It was full time or nothing, zero flexibility, and to this day, leaving that job was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. It was also a challenging transition to go from being a film executive to being at home with two young children. That is when I started So Zily (a combination of my kids’ names) a branding/marketing company that creates and executes unique campaigns along with original and relevant premium products. Last year, I was recruited back into the entertainment world joining a PR firm as a project manager and also freelancing on a film about Gloria Steinem’s life. As COVID hit, like everyone else, I pivoted to working from home. Among other fun quarantine projects, my family and I started painting “kindness rocks” for fun, but it also became therapeutic to write and paint positive sayings.
Many of the sayings were Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s words of wisdom. When she sadly passed, my friend from college asked if I would help her paint RBG rocks and sell them for charity. Collectively, we picked four charities which we thought honored RBG’s legacy, and #ruthrocks was born. My daughter volunteered to handle the social media (@ruthrocks2020) and people from across the country began purchasing the rocks as gifts for friends, mothers, sisters and daughters. Someone gave them as favors to each woman at an intimate birthday dinner and one husband bought eight of them to give to his wife on each night of Chanukah! Over $23,000 has been donated to Emily’s List, the ADL, Planned Parenthood, and Memorial Sloan Kettering in just over a month!! Fun fact: RBG, Lauren, Lily and I are all in the same sorority, but only two of us at the same time. This summer, I volunteered with Caritas, a local organization providing food and other needed services to underserved communities. We often foster puppies from the Guiding Eyes of Westchester. I’ve also spent the pandemic doing work for Your Mom Cares, a nonprofit organization which creates and funds innovative, cutting-edge programs and solutions having a direct impact on children’s mental health. I’ve served on the board of trustees at the Community Synagogue of Rye and many leadership committees there and in the surrounding area.
Another hobby I enjoy is baking challah. Challah is quite the connector! I have text group chats with friends from all different phases of my life and family from all over the country (and Canada!) where we share challah photos, tips and good wishes every week. We have even baked challah together on Zoom during the pandemic. Often my challahs reflect topical events and celebrating holidays. The biggest compliment is when people tell me the challah design spark meaningful conversations. One of my favorite challahs was one that said “Vote” with the “o” being the sign for women in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment. I also recently designed one in conjunction with “Dia de los muertes” because it was a combination of symbolic and inclusive meaningful traditions from different cultures. I try to always include a braid somewhere in each design to respectfully honor and intentionally acknowledge the tradition and awareness of Shabbat.
How has this community been instrumental in getting you to where you are now? I was truly fortunate that So Zily was successful because word of mouth. The majority of my clients were all referred by other clients. I’ve also participated in several programs at CSR which are enriching and expanded my community. Lastly, has anything really been more instrumental to us busy parents than the birthday “group gifts”???? Kudos to whoever thought of it!
What do you think will be the best thing to happen as a result of the pandemic? I think, for as much as we have all sacrificed during this pandemic, it has been an opportunity to re-group, re-evaluate and re-imagine the kind of world we want to live in. The next step will be questioning how we actually execute what is needed to make that happen. Hopefully another change as a result of the pandemic will be companies accommodating working parents by accepting more flexible schedules.