LightFull Ladies–Ilene Sotnick & Dory Toft Bleich
Meet this month’s two LightFull Ladies - Ilene Sotnick and Dory Toft Bleich. Find out how they juggle running their company, merIDian, being moms and helping out their community.
Q. We all are looking for our own perfect balance in our lives but recognize that "balance" means something different to everyone. Describe your own perfect balance.
A. Our perfect balance is fitting in everything in our day that makes us feel complete. These include taking care of family, working out, working on our business, cooking and baking. We love to touch people’s lives in a positive way.
Q. What do you do when you want to reward yourself?
A. Dory: I like to go into San Francisco. I also enjoy a nice, long run. Ilene and I recently plowed through some major accounting over a pedicure!
A. Ilene: I feel as if I am rewarded all the time because of the people that are in my life (My husband, children, my family and friends). However, if I do have time to reward myself I usually will fit in another short workout or call a family member (which I do everyday) or an ‘old’ friend. I love connecting to my friends that I grew up with. Ok, I have to admit, Dory is right - there is nothing better than a good pedicure and catching up on the latest People magazine.
Q. What is a typical day for you?
A. Ilene: At the gym at 5:15, come home at 7:00 take my dog to the dog park for 25 minutes, come home, take a shower, make lunches, roller blade the kids to school, come home, start working at my business, kids come home, start to make dinner, stop to take kids to various activities, come home and finish dinner, do laundry and try to get to bed by 11:00. Whew.
A. Dory: Ilene is amazing! I get up early to do most of my design work. I love the quiet morning time before everyone else is awake. Then it’s a mad dash to get the kids off to school. We work at Meridian ID or meet with clients while the kids are at school, then it’s a lot of running around to and from various after school activities. I try really hard to get my whole family to eat dinner together, then there’s homework, showers, and finally, more peace and quiet.
Q. Family: How many children do you have? What are their activities? Which activities do you make a priority and why?
A. Ilene: I have three children: Girl age 12 , Boy, 10, Boy 7. They play soccer, baseball, tennis and go to Hebrew School. They also love to in-line skate, rip-stik, and play games with the kids on the block. I like to encourage them just to be ‘old fashioned’ kids...by just enjoying the day no matter what they do.
A. Dory: I have a 13 year old girl and a 10 year old boy. My daughter swims in the Fall and Summer, and plays volleyball in the Spring. She also loves acting in her school plays. My son does gymnastics, swimming, loves his rip-stik, and is into all things science. They both study guitar. In an overstressed, over-booked world, downtime is a real priority. It’s important to be able to lie back on the grass, look up in the sky, and determine which cloud looks like a camel.
Q. Tell me about your career, and how you got to where you are.
A. Dory and I got together a year ago. Dory’s background is in advertising and graphic design. She has won 7 Clio awards and one Emmy for her work in advertising. (Note from Dory: Ilene is my P.R. Agent. She’s even better at bragging about me than my mother!). My background is Marketing and Sales. We teamed up to form Meridian ID. It is all about timing in life. Our office is on East Greenwich Place and time starts at the Meridian line in Greenwich England. ID stands for Ilene and Dory (we had to put ourselves in somewhere). We specialize in promotion products that extend the brand of our clients. We create logos and tag lines and help our customers with awesome designs for specific events. Lately, we have been called upon to deliver cutting edge design ideas that help our clients communicate their Eco Awareness.
Q. Community: What community service are you/have you been involved in? What inspires you to contribute your time to these charities?
A. Ilene: I volunteer my time in fundraising for schools and our Synagogue. I work solely on three fundraisers for the school each year. I also give private cooking classes and donate the proceeds to our elementary school. Recently, I have helped my husband raise money for cancer research as part of his participation in the Pan Mass Challenge (www.pmc.org). Last year his team raised over $34,000. My daughter and I are in the process of training our one year old Golden Retriever to be a Delta Society Dog, allowing him to go to nursing homes and hospitals to bring some puppy induced joy.
A. Dory: I’ve been a big volunteer in the school community, taking on everything from Classroom Parent to Yearbook to Auction Co-Chair. Back in the Pre-School Days, I designed every Auction Invitation and Catalogue. It feels good to be involved in my children’s lives. I also recently joined the Board of Directors for the Palo Alto Art Center, which I’m finding immensely satisfying. I strongly believe in helping to broaden the art community.
Q. What are your secrets for keeping your energy up and staying positive, focused and balanced in all of the activities that you juggle?
A. Ilene: The big secret is exercise. I exercise everyday. This gives me so much energy and makes me happy. I always say that exercise is the one thing that you can do just for YOU. Having a wonderful husband and children giving me support and love is HUGE part of my positive HIGH energy.
A. Dory: Laughter is really important. Ilene and I laugh so hard sometimes, we cry. It’s great! I also try to learn something new with each project. It never feels stale.
Q. Do you have any tips or tricks that you can share to help fellow busy women stay in balance?
A. Lists, Lists, and lists. Dory and I love creating our lists each day and tackling almost everything on it. We believe it is important to pick one thing that you enjoy doing and fit it in everyday. Do not give this up. This could be exercising, reading, cooking, or anything – as long as it makes you feel complete.
Q. Describe a time when you felt out of balance. How did you get back on track?
A. The only time we feel a bit out of balance is when we can’t get through our lists. We then make new lists and set new priorities.
Q. What are your goals for the future?
A. We feel very strongly about our planet and we try to help our clients make a real difference. In addition, we have some ideas for products that we think will help people better understand how they can help – our current goal is to launch these products within the year.
Q. If you could leave the world/your children with one gift, what would it be?
A. Ilene: The one gift I would like to leave my children is wonderful memories filled with lots of love and laughter. As I child, I had so many great memories that made me into the person I am. I cherish those. I hope my children will treasure the ones we are creating together.
A. Dory: Be passionate about what you do. If my children follow their passion, they will be successful in whatever endeavor they choose.
