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Celebrating Pride Month with Jill and Nikki, Two Moms Raising Two Boys
Jill and Nikki’s friendship and love is one for the storybooks, brewing from childhood where they met at summer camp. Nikki was the girlfriend of Jill’s older brother. 25 years later, they reconnected via Facebook Camp Alumni and quickly rekindled the connection they once shared that grew into a deep love.
Jill and Nikki married in 2010, had their first son Adler in 2012 and the second son Grey in 2016.
Residing in Los Angeles where they collaborate in both work and love, Nikki is an agent who owns the firm Nikki Weiss & Co, handling Hollywood’s top directors of the feature and commercial world.
Jill is a writer, creating commercial treatments for feature, commercial and music video directors. She also writes for NBC Universal’s branded entertainment group as well as award shows like the American Music Awards, and The Independent Spirit Awards.
Their life was documented on season one of the hit Showtime series The Real L Word.
The couple’s marriage was featured again in an ad campaign for Expedia entitled Find Your Understanding about Jill’s father’s journey of acceptance of their relationship. This ad went viral and was honored as one of the top 10 ads of the year!
Because of the impending Supreme Court decision on Prop 8 and DOMA in 2013, Expedia decided to air the commercial in its entirety on television beginning 6/6/13 . It’s been toted as groundbreaking not only for its length but for its content.
As exciting as those accolades were for Nikki and Jill, 2013 turned out to be a
very challenging year. Jill’s father lost his seventeen year battle with prostate cancer before he could ever see Expedia on national television, and Nikki was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer just three days prior to his death.
With a three-month-old baby, Nikki got into warrior mode facing numerous surgeries, a double mastectomy and reconstruction, a years worth of targeted chemo treatments and a hysterectomy.
Keeping her illness a secret, she wrote the piece Coming Out of The Cancer Closer. for The Huffington Post, sharing her story once she knew she had no more evidence of disease. With that journey in their rearview, life has certainly taken on new meaning.
Nikki and Jill continue to use their small platform as a voice for breast cancer
awareness, marriage equality and female empowerment.
They can currently be seen in a docu piece for Ergo Baby’s Komen Carrier and a national commercial campaign airing for Campbell’s Soup Real Real Life.
The Unspoken Topic
- Jill: It is really easy to put your own issues and insecurities on your children. It takes a lot of self-awareness and self-actualization to own it and not put it on your child.
- Nikki: Going to work is so much easier. Being a stay-at-home mom is the hardest job in the world!
What We Cover
- How to allow your child to experience life without your own experience placed onto them.
- How to talk about a dad to your child comes from a same-sex parenting family.
Take a Listen >>
Key Takeaways
- Awareness and self-actualization is the key to allowing your child to be themselves and have their own experience in the world- free of your own parenting insecurities and issues.
- Get down to your child’s level to understand where they are coming from. Pause and take the time to have patience and empathy so they feel heard.
- Families don’t just look one way. They come in all different shapes, sizes, ages, and sexes. Families may look differently, but they are just like yours. Bring this awareness to all areas of life.
Actionable Tips
How to Answer Questions About “Dad”
- A dad is a special man in your life who loves you very much. He can be an uncle, a friend, a grandpa. There are many special men friends that love you.
- Remember we are no perfect, but we are doing our very best and sometimes we mess up.
Hardest Decision To Make as a Mom
- Just to be a mom. Their careers were their babies for so long. Through sharing such deep love together, they wanted more and to create a family together.
Hardest Thing to Overcome As a Mom
- Jill: Having a child that could become very ill through accidental consumption by something that is everywhere- egg! Navigating being a mother as your child grows up and goes out into the world with such a severe food allergy.
- Nikki: Facing mortality. Diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer when Adler was only 3 months old. Jill’s father was also battling prostate cancer. Then they had a newborn. Jill and Adler gave Nikki the strength to go into warrior mode. Battling life on one hand and having new life on the other.
Mama Has a Minute
- Favorite form of self-care:
- Jill: Working out.
- Nikki: Retail therapy- shopping!
- Best parenting advice ever received:
- Jill: Don’t say no all the time. Say no if you mean it. If you can give them a yes, it’s nice to do that as well.
- Nikki: A father figure can be a strong role model, not just a biological dad.
- Share your favorite parenting hack:
- Jill: Give them to choices!
- Nikki: Star chart.
- Recommend one product your children cannot live without: Razor Scooter & Legos
- Share your favorite book and why:
- Jill: What do you do with an idea? Book series for children.
- Nikki: The Giving Tree
- What motherhood means to you:
- Jill: It means living to my potential. A role I’ve always wanted to assume. It’s such a powerful role and I’m so grateful for it. It’s the only thing in the world you have to try your best at every day.
- Nikki: Motherhood is the greatest gift that has ever been given to me. It makes me feel whole and complete.
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Action Steps For *You*
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