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Bethenny Frankel: The Key to Work-Life Balance Is Just Being Present (Exclusive)

Bethenny-Frankel
Bethenny Frankel attends the Dress for Success Be Bold Gala at Cipriani Wall Street on April 18, 2018 in New York City.Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Dress for Success Worldwide

Bethenny Frankel has a lot on her plate. The Real Housewives of New York City star runs a multimillion dollar empire and she’s busy saving the world with B Strong, her crisis intervention initiative for women. But the Skinnygirl CEO feels most confident when she experiences small successes with her 7-year-old daughter, Bryn. (Dad is Frankel’s ex-husband Jason Hoppy.)

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“It’s the little things. It’s getting the lunchbox together, it’s getting the homework done and getting to bed on time,” Frankel, 47, told Us Weekly at the Wednesday, April 18, Dress for Success Be Bold gala in NYC. Though achieving work-life balance is seemingly impossible, sometimes Frankel gets close. And it all comes down to being present and in the moment.

“When I do an appearance, I’m totally present,” Frankel told Us. “When I’m a mom, I’m totally present. When I’m working, I’m totally present.” And Frankel believes that is the key to her success. 

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 Frankel, who brought Bryn to the event, was clear with her daughter that they wouldn’t have much one-on-one time together at the gala. “I told her ‘If you want to come, you can get dressed up and come, but I’m going to have to talk to people and do my own thing,’” she explained. That’s why Bryn was allowed to play on her iPad, while Frankel, who was being honored for her humanitarian work, worked the room at Cipriani Wall Street. 

The Skinnygirl Solutions author is doing everything she can to raise an equally ambitious, confident young woman. That is one of the reasons she brought Brynn to the Dress for Success Be Bold gala. “There are a lot of women in this room who have struggled and gotten through it,” Frankel told Us. “I’m stretching her by explaining that everything isn’t rainbows and unicorns.”

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“She understands what’s going on tonight on some level — that I work in an organization that helps women to inspire other women if they’ve been homeless, broke … if they didn’t have jobs,” Frankel said. “I try to explain it. If she gets a tenth of it, tonight will pull some of it together for her.”

With reporting by Marc Lupo.

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