I've always had amazing women in my life help me with my kids. First it was my mom, and then a series of nannies and day care providers who were incredibly patient, kind, and loving. There is no blueprint - I think we all feel our way through it and just do the best we can, and it turns out that children are open to love from many different places and are pretty resilient, too.

I'm an Ivy League-educated lawyer, so you'd think the world wouldn't mess with me, right? But I've been paid $10,000 less than a less qualified man in the same role. I've had men I've worked with grab my leg or rub my back in ways that have made me feel uncomfortable. I've been taken off projects because I was pregnant, even though my pregnancies have been both been healthy and didn't impact my work at all.

When I think about work-life balance, I don't imagine it as a perfect day where I got to spend the exact right amount of time having an impact at work and snuggling with my kids at home. I never achieve that. But over the course of a month, or a quarter, or a year, I try to make time for the people and experiences I value.

The thing that I've learned about taking risks is that the key question to ask is, "If this goes terribly, what will happen?" Usually, the answer is that the world won't come to a screeching halt. Usually you can go back. Maybe not to the exact same job, but usually to the same type of job.

My best advice to working women is just try what you think right now will be best for you and your family - and if it doesn't work, then change it. And look for ways to cut corners to add to your sanity.

Every day, possibly every hour as an entrepreneur, you do something that you absolutely could have done better with more time, more information, more experience, or more money - all luxuries you can't afford. So you do your best, and you move forward. The key is to see the forward momentum and not beat yourself up about how it could have been better.

I always tell people, don't worry about the haters, you are not a jackass whisperer. You have to be enough. You have to be your own validation.