April 24, 2025 • 26 mins
Bootstrapping a business takes more than just passion—it demands planning, resources, and support. That's what Kimberly Pangaro discovered through her remarkable journey from struggling single mother to successful entrepreneur and nonprofit leader.
On this enlightening episode, Kim reveals how her personal brand "Atomic Mommy" evolved from a simple parenting blog to a digital publishing company, and ultimately inspired the Atomic Mommy Foundation. This nonprofit organization now provides crucial support to aspiring entrepreneurs through scholarships, grants, and practical business resources.
Kim doesn't shy away from sharing her lived experiences—homelessness, poverty, single parenthood—and how these challenges shaped her understanding of what entrepreneurs truly need to succeed. Her foundation fills critical gaps by offering not just financial assistance but partnerships with attorneys, tax preparers, and business coaches who provide essential guidance to grant recipients.
We dive deep into why so many new businesses fail within their first years. As Kim explains, many entrepreneurs focus exclusively on setting up their storefronts or social media without developing comprehensive business plans or understanding operational realities. The Atomic Mommy Foundation addresses these gaps by offering practical resources like guides to forming LLCs, tax preparation assistance, and mentorship from established business owners.
Perhaps most valuable is Kim's personal evolution from "manic entrepreneur" working around the clock to a business owner with systems that allow for work-life balance—especially important as a mother of four daughters. Her story demonstrates that entrepreneurial success doesn't require sacrificing family or personal wellbeing.
Ready to support or benefit from the Atomic Mommy Foundation? Connect with Kim via email at hello@atomicmommyfoundation.org or on Instagram @atomicmommy. Don't miss their upcoming networking event on June 14th at Red's in Carlstadt, NJ—an opportunity to build genuine connections that could transform your business journey.
Atomic Mommy
Kimberly Pangaro
hello@atomicmommyfoundation.org
atomicmommy.net
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good
Neighbor Podcast brought to youby Bergen Neighbors Media Group.
Today we are joined by KimberlyPangaro.
Kimberly is the founder CEO, orI guess you have a board
president.
I guess is a better title ofAtomic Mommy Foundation.
Welcome to the show, kim.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Hi Doug, Thank you so much for having me on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So Atomic Mommy Foundation I'm going to read
your mission is committed toempowering aspiring
entrepreneurs in their pursuitof business success, so there
leaves a lot there to speakabout.
So why is it called atomicmommy?
Is it just empowering women, uh, and mothers, or what is?
(00:57):
What is the mission, uh, beyondwhat I just described?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
okay, okay.
So Atomic Mommy is actually me.
It's how I started out onsocial media.
It's how I started on when Istarted my little company, way
back when it actually started asa mommy blog and it was
dedicated to moms.
And as my LLC grew, the brandgrew.
(01:23):
But really it's just an homageto myself, because I'm sort of
that way too honest sort ofperson.
In terms of the foundation, itjust made sense to have the
brand follow what it was I wastrying to do and it's really
open to everyone, it's not justto mothers.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's not just to mothers, okay, so tell me about
your podcast, and you know yourInstagram content.
So Atomic Mommy.
So what was that about?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So, like I said, atomic Mommy really started out
as a way for me to shareparenting tips and helpful
stories authentic stories toother moms, and then it branched
from there to include allparents.
As feedback grew and as mymommy blog went from just being
a blog to a digital publishingcompany and then to include a
(02:16):
podcast, it just made sense thatall the struggles I went
through starting my business,it'd be really helpful to help
other aspiring entrepreneurs, tohelp them get their businesses
started, and I know that one ofthe biggest things that comes up
for people who want to start abusiness is where do I come up
with the money to do it?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, well, it's kind of like why this show exists,
because the Good Neighborpodcast is modeled after a
podcast I listened to called howI Built this, which is
interviewing entrepreneurs andbusiness leaders about how they
built their business or how theybuilt their career, and it kind
of talks about the travails andtrials and tribulations of the
(02:56):
journey of almost like thehero's journey, of the struggle
and the triumph and the you know, maybe the misbelief that you
only go through one struggle andonce you climb that mountain
you're never going to haveanother Valley, and that's just
not the case with being anentrepreneur.
So what I like people who are onmy show is to talk about that
experience and maybe you know,talk to people about what you
(03:19):
know, maybe any tips that theycan give them.
So I love the fact that you youknow that's what your kind of
brand is all about and you knowI want to dig into some of the
things, like on your mommy blog,which I guess your Instagram
page is somewhat of an extensionof that you know how to grow
your child's vocabulary.
(03:39):
But other things like how tosupport someone experiencing
anxiety, it's not how do youhandle anxiety yourself, it's
how to support othersexperiencing anxiety.
It's not how do you handleanxiety yourself.
It's how to support others thatare experiencing that.
Now, some of these things thatyou have here, like you know,
relationship tips and motherhoodlike these are just from your
personal experience.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Oh God, you know, I am a once divorcee.
I have four kids.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
My husband.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
My second husband is a stepdad to my older daughters.
I've had a lot of experiencesfor someone way too young, I
mean, I have been.
I have been poverty struck,I've been broke, I've been
homeless, I've been living on acouch with friends and family
like I've been through all of it.
So a lot of the things I talkabout are from personal
experience, and one of thethings I like to do is bring
(04:28):
other people onto my Instagramor onto my podcast or even
through publishing blog posts isto share their stories as well,
because there are people aroundthe world that go through this
that maybe they need an extratip, that they don't know about
or they haven't been told before.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
And sometimes it's just reassuring to know that
you're not alone.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
That what I'm going through is not just, you know,
special to me.
It's not something that I'mdoing wrong or something that I
can't handle.
It's anybody who's been in thesame shoes, whether you know if
we want to talk aboutentrepreneurs or you want to
talk about parents, but let'sjust talk about entrepreneurs.
You know, whether you'reselling advertising or you're
(05:10):
starting, you know a contentbusiness or a pediatrics office
or a chiropractor or whatever.
Many of the experiences that wego through.
Everyone, regardless of thevertical category that they're
in, experiences that in somesimilar way, one way or another,
and I think it's reassuring toknow that you're not alone, even
(05:33):
if you're not getting any tips,it's just knowing that, ok, I
can do this, because they'vebeen through the same thing.
Look where they came out.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I agree 100%.
If you have a community, youfeel supported and you can grow
from there.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, yeah, All right .
So now you know.
That explains kind of yourjourney, of how you became
Atomic Mommy.
So now the foundation.
What do you guys do exactly interms of like empowering people?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
So how we so?
Our first programs arescholarships and our grants, and
the scholarships are forstudents who are looking to
maybe start a business straightout of high school or they want
to learn the aspects ofentrepreneurship in college.
We also have the grants forunderprivileged parents, and
what that is is for parents whowant to either start a business
(06:22):
maybe they want to leave theirnine to five, maybe they had
kids and they don't want to bein that corporate corner anymore
and then we also have asecondary grant called Second
Chance Grant, and it's forpeople who maybe had a business
and for some reason or other, itfailed and they just don't have
the funding anymore to start anew business again.
We're also starting to partnerwith local business owners, like
(06:45):
attorneys, tax preparers,career coaches, to sort of
provide free resources ordiscounted resources to these
entrepreneurs that get awardedscholarships and grants from us,
so that this way they haveaccess to a lot of the answers
that maybe they Google but theydon't get a straight answer or
they need something more indepth.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Okay, so where does the funding come from?
Like, where are these financialresources coming from for your
foundation?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So a hundred percent right now is public donations
and that's from people like youand me, you know, parents,
anyone who's really interestedin helping this different groups
of people to start their ownbusinesses.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
the second part of it is through local business
partners that we've partneredwith and are willing to donate
their time got it now donatetheir time so they can act as a
mentor or as a business coach,help them with like how to
create a business plan, how tobudget, uh, for certain things,
or maybe how to run payroll orwhatever it is.
(07:47):
Things like that.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Right, yeah, because, listen, I meet a lot of new
business owners and it'scommendable that they're
following, you know, followingtheir passion, and you know I
wanted to.
I wanted to have this big shop,you know.
But a lot of them don't thinkabout it beyond that.
They focus on getting.
Maybe it's a storefront, maybeit's an office, maybe it's just
getting their website and theirsocial media set up and then
(08:12):
that's it.
And then they somehow magicallythink that business is going to
come rushing through the doorbecause they have an Instagram
page.
You know very few people I'vetalked to who start a business
really have a budget to operate.
They're more of like asolopreneur who has a dream.
But you know, ok, I'm going tomake cakes or I'm going to walk
(08:35):
a dog or I'm going to open achiropractic business Like
there's.
They're good at what they do,but few of us have been trained
to be entrepreneurs, you know,unless you maybe were a
consultant for like EY or Bainor somebody like that, where you
actually went in and examinedcompanies' books and looked at
(08:56):
the, you know, holistic point ofevery company, most of us don't
really know what it means torun operations the financial
part, paying the bills, and thenthe marketing People forget
they have to buy their customers.
They're just not going to walkthrough the door.
So what types of leadership doyou provide when it comes to
(09:17):
things like that?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So one of the first things that we're willing to
provide and it's definitelygoing to be free is walking
people through getting their LLCstarted.
I've partnered with an attorneywho's willing to talk to people
, is willing to record somevideos so that if anybody has a
question like what's astep-by-step guide to start an
LLC, that's going to be up onour video gallery, which is
(09:40):
coming soon, getting all thevideos started.
I've also talked to a taxpreparation person who will put
together some tips to helppeople file their LLC taxes,
because that's something thatnot everybody knows has to be
done, needs to be done or what'sdue.
You know, things like that aregoing to be offered in the
beginning to set up thisleadership that they need, and
(10:01):
then from there we're working toget partners from local
businesses who've alreadystarted their business, who are
successful in their businessthat are willing to give back
some time to help them sort ofgrow from there, Because
everyone thinks that when youstart a business, like you said,
that's it, nothing else needsto be done.
But there's so much on the backend.
There's, like you said, buyingthe advertising, because you
essentially in the beginningneed to buy customer's attention
(10:25):
and if you don't, if you don'thave the funding for that, you
essentially can't really do itunless you have this huge nest
egg just sitting there or you'rewilling to take that risk of
getting a loan, and something Ilearned early on when I started
was that I wasn't willing totake the risk to get a loan so
quickly unless I had some typeof financial backing, and it
(10:46):
took a while for me to get there.
So we're going to be offeringrealistic advice and guides and
step-by-step processes to get tothat next level, and then we're
going to be offering mentorshipto help them get through the
next set of goals.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
That's great.
That's great Because I thinkyou know, like I said through my
, my experience is that very fewpeople have gone through a full
business plan and they don'tknow what their annual revenue
like.
Ok, I haven't had a customeryet, so how do I know how much
I'm going to make this year?
But if you can open a businessand if you need a business loan
(11:21):
and I guess you cannot get abusiness loan unless you have a
business plan, and part of thatbusiness plan would be telling
if a bank, this is how much Iexpect to earn this year.
I mean, imagine going up infront of Mark Cuban and Mr
Wonderful and they ask you youknow what are your expected
sales this year?
I don't really know.
I'd be like yeah, see you,buddy.
So but I would say a good part.
(11:45):
I would say 90% of the peoplethat I speak to who just started
a business do not know whattheir gross annual revenue
projection is.
They just know I need X amountof revenue a month to pay my
bills and then after that,hopefully, in a year from now,
(12:05):
I'll be rich.
It's kind of like you know thatold saying if we fail to plan,
we plan to fail, and that's whyso many new businesses don't
survive two years, yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
It's true.
A lot of businesses fail in thefirst one to three years and by
year five.
If you made it that far, you'restruggling.
You may not even make it pastthat.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Right, Right, Yep, Yep.
So is there anything else likein terms of atomic mommy?
Um, so you're a mother of four.
You said right.
And what are the age groupsLike?
What are the age ranges?
Not age groups.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
So I have four daughters.
My oldest is 19.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Okay, four daughters.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Four daughters.
My second one is 17.
My third daughter is 11 and myfourth daughter is actually
eight years old.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Okay, all right.
So teenagers down to, you know,preteen yeah, that's
interesting.
I, you know there's, I am, I'ma father of an 11 year old boy,
and you know I, um, you know,there's always that people say
it's easier having a boy than agirl.
I don't know, obviously I don't.
I have three sisters, but, um,I think what's important, though
(13:17):
, what I seen in my maturationas a business owner, having
worked in corporate America for25 years, is that I'm growing so
much more as a person and canbe a better role model to my son
, because when you work forsomebody else and I work for
(13:38):
Sony Music and then Viacom, sotwo really big media companies,
there's thousands of people thatwork there you go about your
job every day, and if one dayyou kind of like skate by or
you're not doing much orwhatever, you guys went out the
night before and you're kind offeeling it the next day, you
know, whatever, you know, you'restill getting paid.
Uh, obviously you can't do thattoo often or your boss is gonna
(14:00):
, you know, reprimand you.
Maybe you're gonna get fired,but my point is that you can
kind of mail it in and it won'taffect your revenue, uh, but
when you own your own business.
You know there's no mailing itin you.
With great power comes a greatresponsibility, as I use that
Spider-Man phrase all the timebecause you want to be your own
boss.
People are attracted to itbecause of the freedom the
(14:21):
financial freedom, the freedomto set my own schedule, the
freedom to be there for my kids.
But I just spoke to someonebefore you on my podcast show
who just started her ownbusiness and the problem she has
is being able to turn off like24, seven, seven days a week,
thinking about my business,picking up the phone, answering
emails and whenever I'm totallyaccessible.
(14:42):
How could I not be?
You know, I got to get this, Igot to be a success, and there's
other people that think you canjust kind of skate by.
So the point I'm getting at isbeing a role model for our kids.
I think being an entrepreneur.
It gives them a great exampleof like you are what you eat,
you know you reap what you sowand all these other you know
(15:03):
phrases, these other phrases Icould tap into.
But I think it's much morevisceral when it's your company,
because you could hear thosethings all the time when you're
in school and you're in collegeand you get a job, work for
somebody, but it's not until youlive it that you can really see
the effect of your hard work,or the opposite, and I think
(15:25):
that's a great example for yourkids, do you like to your
daughters, to your olderdaughters?
Are they involved in AtomicMommy Foundation at all and what
has your?
Obviously you said you've gonethrough some.
You know some issues, someinteresting, you know life
stories.
What has it been like for themcoming out on the other side and
(15:46):
seeing you triumph?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
So they're not officially involved in the
Atomic Mommy Foundation, butthey are involved on the other
side of it.
They've been on my podcast asguests, especially during the
pandemic.
I interviewed the two oldergirls about what it was like to
be out of school, how itaffected them mentally.
They've been in my social mediaposts and they've all been
(16:12):
pretty positive and supportiveabout that and about wanting to
be a part of it.
In terms of the visceralexperiences, they have certainly
witnessed many of my ups anddowns in running the.
You know the company.
So I've got my media company onone end and then I've got the
foundation on the other.
I've got my media company onone end and then I've got the
(16:34):
foundation on the other.
They have seen me work 24 seven,never giving myself a break,
making myself sick, that firstcouple of years to the point
where me starting to realize,well, I need a break, I need to
set up systems.
They started to see that youcan be successful at being your
own boss and but also make timefor the family and also make
time for yourself.
So I can say for a hundredpercent fact that they have
(16:58):
witnessed me grow from beingthis manic entrepreneur business
owner to someone who hasdeveloped systems and a path
that effectively allows me to betheir mother, be a wife and be
a business owner without havingto deplete myself entirely
(17:18):
mentally, spiritually,physically, etc.
And on that same token, evenwhen my older girls were younger
, seeing me not being, I had toleave school to be able to raise
them, because I had them reallyyoung.
I had them at 22 and at 24.
So I.
I had to, you know, abandon allmy dreams just to be their mom,
(17:40):
and at that time it was a singlemom, so it was a very difficult
path, but they have been sosupportive and over the last I'd
say, five to 10 years, theyhave truly, truly come to
understand that everything, thateverything that happens to you
in life isn't some randomcoincidence.
It's all based on choice, andyou absolutely have the power to
(18:01):
own your choices and then tochange the outcomes, and I think
that them witnessing me finallyunderstand that and start to
achieve everything I've ever setout to achieve.
They're starting to realize thesame exact thing goes for
themselves, and I think thatthat's a legacy that I'm
extremely proud of of leavingthem, all of them.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting that you say that
because there's a uh, one of myfirst guests on the show.
He's a chiropractor by tradebut he goes by the name of Dr
Synchronicity.
He wrote a book calledSynchronicity and he has a
saying of something like youknow, things don't happen to us,
they happen for us.
And you know, it's kind of likethe saying of it's not what
(18:44):
happens to you, it's how youreact to it.
And obviously a lot of badthings can happen to us.
And it sounds easy to say ifyour life has been, you know,
Pollyannish and nothing's evergone wrong.
But you know it, it.
It's interesting when thesynchronicity of it all seems to
um, you know, when that'ssaying everything happens for a
reason.
I'm not quite sure I buy intothat.
(19:06):
When somebody tragically diesamong, what was the reason for
that?
But there are so many thingsthat are interconnected that
maybe we don't see it at thetime.
But, to your point, youractions are.
You know you behave yourselfinto the logical outcome.
So you know something's nothappening necessarily all the
time by accident.
(19:26):
When people play the victim,you know sometimes it's hey, man
, it's you kind of brought it onyourself and you know you can't
say that all the time, but Ithink it's incredible for you to
you know, for your daughters,to see that there is another
guest was on my show.
I had two co-founders of anorganization you may have heard
from about called Wonder GirlsUSA.
(19:49):
Have you heard of Wonder Girls?
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Okay, so Natalie and Irene were both on my show I met
them years ago but you knowthat that specifically is for
girls.
I mean, it's called WonderGirls, but it is about
empowering young women, younggirls, you know, in the high
school age range, to to believein themselves and to be uh, to
(20:13):
know that anything is possible,but then also to give them the
tools and the mentors, uh, andthe ambassadors to help them,
you know, realize those dreams.
So, uh, you know it's veryrelated to what you do, even
though that's specifically forgirls, but it's just about, you
know, empowering people, right?
I mean, I think that's what we,what you guys, stand for and
what a lot of good things in theworld come from that.
(20:37):
It's not about belittlingpeople or putting them down that
seems to happen a lot today.
It's more about how do we raisethem up, how do we give you a
chance?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah, it's very true.
A lot of times the belittlingin the world can sometimes
really keep somebody down.
So I think empowering andrising people up is essential to
driving such growth anddevelopment across the board,
across the entirety of society.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Right, and it's not some woke policy of you know
that some people want to lashout at that.
You know, whether it's DEI orit's, whatever you want to call
it, it's it.
It just it makes good businesssense.
If you want to look at it from apure capitalistic framework.
It's listen, the more thatpeople can have the skills to go
(21:25):
out there and realize theirdream.
There's dollars and cents tothat.
There's an economic engine thatsupports that, so it just makes
good sense.
And then you know happierpeople, we eat happier lives and
breed happier children andmaybe there'd be less crime in
the world.
And to the music, and here wego.
But I think it's great I youknow to be on this show.
(21:49):
Obviously you have your ownpodcast To be on this show.
Obviously you have your ownpodcast.
This is really for you tospread the word more throughout
your own channels, for otherways of people to find you.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
But is there anything we haven't touched on that
you'd like us to know about anyevents coming up?
Yeah, so our first professionalnetworking event is coming up.
It's on June 14th.
It's from 2 pm to 6 pm at Red'sin Karlstadt.
Honestly, it is our first bigevent, but more of a casual fun
(22:30):
environment where a lot of localbusiness owners can come
network with each other.
There's going to be fun gamesto like mingle so that people
get to know each other, not torun a networking events Like
we're not going to be free.
What are those things that Ican't stand?
Those like name tags or like thenecklace things that always end
(22:50):
up in the trash, like I wantpeople to actually like remember
each other's names and and andreally make deep connections,
and the only way to do that isto to not put your name on
anything and just go and talk topeople and really get to know
one another and yeah, go ahead Iwas gonna say it's just, it's
something so important to dothat a lot of business owners,
(23:11):
especially when they they firststart out, don't realize is a
huge potential drive forbusiness.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, yeah.
I think it's easier to go tonetworking events if you go
there just with an open mind ofwanting to hear what other
people are doing.
It's not I think there's someat least me, back in the day, be
nervous about talking aboutmyself.
But if you go to a networkingevent and just really have the
heart of like, I want tounderstand, I want to know what
(23:39):
you do, what do you do, you knowwhat's your journey, and when
they start talking aboutthemselves, then they will
naturally ask you what you do.
So you don't have to feel likeI have to come prepared with
some kind of a speech in my, youknow, on cue cards in my pocket
.
But getting back to activities,I was at a networking event once
where they had us sitting atdifferent tables and we had to
(23:59):
ask the person across from uswhat they did, and then we had
to stand up and introduce themto talk about what they do.
So it made you, you know you,better listen and it was more
like okay, to my left is KimPagaro and she is, you know, the
founder of Atomic Mom, you knowso.
So you get about five minutesor or, you know, maybe 10
(24:22):
minutes to talk about what eachof you do, and then the other
person gets to introduce you.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, I mean, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, I mean when you're sitting down, if you have
tables like that, that's that'sa good kind of atmosphere to be
in.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
That's a great way to connect.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, yeah, well.
So I said you know, was thereanything else you wanted to
mention?
I mean, okay, you mentioned theevent on Saturday, june 14th,
from 2 to 6 pm at Red'sRestaurant in Calstatt, new
Jersey, and there is a fee.
It's considering you get food,beer, wine and soda.
(24:57):
It's not so bad and it's foryour business, so it's $40 or
$50.
It's a pretty good deal.
What else are you looking for,like sponsors, mentors, anything
else you'd like to?
Speaker 3 (25:15):
I am looking for all of it sponsors, mentors, anyone
who's really interested in beinga part of something that's
unique, that's all on its own,something that's going to help
drive the economic developmentof the future.
You know, essentially, if weall work together, we can not
(25:36):
only ensure our own businessesare successful, but we can also
ensure that our kids' businessesgrow to be successful as well
and, like you said, it's one ofthe driving forces of the
economy so that it stayssuccessful.
We don't want it to becomestagnant or even drop.
You know God forbid.
We want businesses to grow.
So if anyone out there wants tobe a mentor, wants to help out
(25:56):
in any way possible, please,please, please, reach out to me.
My name is Kim, you know.
You can send me an Hello@atomic mommy foundation.
org, or you can find me onInstagram, you know, at atomic
mommy, and message me there.
It's up to you.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Great, all right, kim .
Well, thanks so much for beingon the show.
We're gonna just uh say goodbyewith chuck here, and then you
and I'll be right back all right.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Thank you, doug, for having me as a guest.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I appreciate it thank you thank you for listening to
the good neighbor podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpbergen.
com.
That's gnpbergen.
com, or call 201-298-8325.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Doug Drohan.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good
Neighbor Podcast brought to youby Bergen Neighbors Media Group.
Today we are joined by KimberlyPangaro.
Kimberly is the founder CEO, orI guess you have a board
president.
I guess is a better title ofAtomic Mommy Foundation.
Welcome to the show, kim.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Hi Doug, Thank you so much for having me on the show.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
So Atomic Mommy Foundation I'm going to read
your mission is committed toempowering aspiring
entrepreneurs in their pursuitof business success, so there
leaves a lot there to speakabout.
So why is it called atomicmommy?
Is it just empowering women, uh, and mothers, or what is?
(00:57):
What is the mission, uh, beyondwhat I just described?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
okay, okay.
So Atomic Mommy is actually me.
It's how I started out onsocial media.
It's how I started on when Istarted my little company, way
back when it actually started asa mommy blog and it was
dedicated to moms.
And as my LLC grew, the brandgrew.
(01:23):
But really it's just an homageto myself, because I'm sort of
that way too honest sort ofperson.
In terms of the foundation, itjust made sense to have the
brand follow what it was I wastrying to do and it's really
open to everyone, it's not justto mothers.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's not just to mothers, okay, so tell me about
your podcast, and you know yourInstagram content.
So Atomic Mommy.
So what was that about?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
So, like I said, atomic Mommy really started out
as a way for me to shareparenting tips and helpful
stories authentic stories toother moms, and then it branched
from there to include allparents.
As feedback grew and as mymommy blog went from just being
a blog to a digital publishingcompany and then to include a
(02:16):
podcast, it just made sense thatall the struggles I went
through starting my business,it'd be really helpful to help
other aspiring entrepreneurs, tohelp them get their businesses
started, and I know that one ofthe biggest things that comes up
for people who want to start abusiness is where do I come up
with the money to do it?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, well, it's kind of like why this show exists,
because the Good Neighborpodcast is modeled after a
podcast I listened to called howI Built this, which is
interviewing entrepreneurs andbusiness leaders about how they
built their business or how theybuilt their career, and it kind
of talks about the travails andtrials and tribulations of the
(02:56):
journey of almost like thehero's journey, of the struggle
and the triumph and the you know, maybe the misbelief that you
only go through one struggle andonce you climb that mountain
you're never going to haveanother Valley, and that's just
not the case with being anentrepreneur.
So what I like people who are onmy show is to talk about that
experience and maybe you know,talk to people about what you
(03:19):
know, maybe any tips that theycan give them.
So I love the fact that you youknow that's what your kind of
brand is all about and you knowI want to dig into some of the
things, like on your mommy blog,which I guess your Instagram
page is somewhat of an extensionof that you know how to grow
your child's vocabulary.
(03:39):
But other things like how tosupport someone experiencing
anxiety, it's not how do youhandle anxiety yourself, it's
how to support othersexperiencing anxiety.
It's not how do you handleanxiety yourself.
It's how to support others thatare experiencing that.
Now, some of these things thatyou have here, like you know,
relationship tips and motherhoodlike these are just from your
personal experience.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Oh God, you know, I am a once divorcee.
I have four kids.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
My husband.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
My second husband is a stepdad to my older daughters.
I've had a lot of experiencesfor someone way too young, I
mean, I have been.
I have been poverty struck,I've been broke, I've been
homeless, I've been living on acouch with friends and family
like I've been through all of it.
So a lot of the things I talkabout are from personal
experience, and one of thethings I like to do is bring
(04:28):
other people onto my Instagramor onto my podcast or even
through publishing blog posts isto share their stories as well,
because there are people aroundthe world that go through this
that maybe they need an extratip, that they don't know about
or they haven't been told before.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
And sometimes it's just reassuring to know that
you're not alone.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
That what I'm going through is not just, you know,
special to me.
It's not something that I'mdoing wrong or something that I
can't handle.
It's anybody who's been in thesame shoes, whether you know if
we want to talk aboutentrepreneurs or you want to
talk about parents, but let'sjust talk about entrepreneurs.
You know, whether you'reselling advertising or you're
(05:10):
starting, you know a contentbusiness or a pediatrics office
or a chiropractor or whatever.
Many of the experiences that wego through.
Everyone, regardless of thevertical category that they're
in, experiences that in somesimilar way, one way or another,
and I think it's reassuring toknow that you're not alone, even
(05:33):
if you're not getting any tips,it's just knowing that, ok, I
can do this, because they'vebeen through the same thing.
Look where they came out.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I agree 100%.
If you have a community, youfeel supported and you can grow
from there.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, yeah, All right .
So now you know.
That explains kind of yourjourney, of how you became
Atomic Mommy.
So now the foundation.
What do you guys do exactly interms of like empowering people?
Speaker 3 (06:01):
So how we so?
Our first programs arescholarships and our grants, and
the scholarships are forstudents who are looking to
maybe start a business straightout of high school or they want
to learn the aspects ofentrepreneurship in college.
We also have the grants forunderprivileged parents, and
what that is is for parents whowant to either start a business
(06:22):
maybe they want to leave theirnine to five, maybe they had
kids and they don't want to bein that corporate corner anymore
and then we also have asecondary grant called Second
Chance Grant, and it's forpeople who maybe had a business
and for some reason or other, itfailed and they just don't have
the funding anymore to start anew business again.
We're also starting to partnerwith local business owners, like
(06:45):
attorneys, tax preparers,career coaches, to sort of
provide free resources ordiscounted resources to these
entrepreneurs that get awardedscholarships and grants from us,
so that this way they haveaccess to a lot of the answers
that maybe they Google but theydon't get a straight answer or
they need something more indepth.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Okay, so where does the funding come from?
Like, where are these financialresources coming from for your
foundation?
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So a hundred percent right now is public donations
and that's from people like youand me, you know, parents,
anyone who's really interestedin helping this different groups
of people to start their ownbusinesses.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
the second part of it is through local business
partners that we've partneredwith and are willing to donate
their time got it now donatetheir time so they can act as a
mentor or as a business coach,help them with like how to
create a business plan, how tobudget, uh, for certain things,
or maybe how to run payroll orwhatever it is.
(07:47):
Things like that.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Right, yeah, because, listen, I meet a lot of new
business owners and it'scommendable that they're
following, you know, followingtheir passion, and you know I
wanted to.
I wanted to have this big shop,you know.
But a lot of them don't thinkabout it beyond that.
They focus on getting.
Maybe it's a storefront, maybeit's an office, maybe it's just
getting their website and theirsocial media set up and then
(08:12):
that's it.
And then they somehow magicallythink that business is going to
come rushing through the doorbecause they have an Instagram
page.
You know very few people I'vetalked to who start a business
really have a budget to operate.
They're more of like asolopreneur who has a dream.
But you know, ok, I'm going tomake cakes or I'm going to walk
(08:35):
a dog or I'm going to open achiropractic business Like
there's.
They're good at what they do,but few of us have been trained
to be entrepreneurs, you know,unless you maybe were a
consultant for like EY or Bainor somebody like that, where you
actually went in and examinedcompanies' books and looked at
(08:56):
the, you know, holistic point ofevery company, most of us don't
really know what it means torun operations the financial
part, paying the bills, and thenthe marketing People forget
they have to buy their customers.
They're just not going to walkthrough the door.
So what types of leadership doyou provide when it comes to
(09:17):
things like that?
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So one of the first things that we're willing to
provide and it's definitelygoing to be free is walking
people through getting their LLCstarted.
I've partnered with an attorneywho's willing to talk to people
, is willing to record somevideos so that if anybody has a
question like what's astep-by-step guide to start an
LLC, that's going to be up onour video gallery, which is
(09:40):
coming soon, getting all thevideos started.
I've also talked to a taxpreparation person who will put
together some tips to helppeople file their LLC taxes,
because that's something thatnot everybody knows has to be
done, needs to be done or what'sdue.
You know, things like that aregoing to be offered in the
beginning to set up thisleadership that they need, and
(10:01):
then from there we're working toget partners from local
businesses who've alreadystarted their business, who are
successful in their businessthat are willing to give back
some time to help them sort ofgrow from there, Because
everyone thinks that when youstart a business, like you said,
that's it, nothing else needsto be done.
But there's so much on the backend.
There's, like you said, buyingthe advertising, because you
essentially in the beginningneed to buy customer's attention
(10:25):
and if you don't, if you don'thave the funding for that, you
essentially can't really do itunless you have this huge nest
egg just sitting there or you'rewilling to take that risk of
getting a loan, and something Ilearned early on when I started
was that I wasn't willing totake the risk to get a loan so
quickly unless I had some typeof financial backing, and it
(10:46):
took a while for me to get there.
So we're going to be offeringrealistic advice and guides and
step-by-step processes to get tothat next level, and then we're
going to be offering mentorshipto help them get through the
next set of goals.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
That's great.
That's great Because I thinkyou know, like I said through my
, my experience is that very fewpeople have gone through a full
business plan and they don'tknow what their annual revenue
like.
Ok, I haven't had a customeryet, so how do I know how much
I'm going to make this year?
But if you can open a businessand if you need a business loan
(11:21):
and I guess you cannot get abusiness loan unless you have a
business plan, and part of thatbusiness plan would be telling
if a bank, this is how much Iexpect to earn this year.
I mean, imagine going up infront of Mark Cuban and Mr
Wonderful and they ask you youknow what are your expected
sales this year?
I don't really know.
I'd be like yeah, see you,buddy.
So but I would say a good part.
(11:45):
I would say 90% of the peoplethat I speak to who just started
a business do not know whattheir gross annual revenue
projection is.
They just know I need X amountof revenue a month to pay my
bills and then after that,hopefully, in a year from now,
(12:05):
I'll be rich.
It's kind of like you know thatold saying if we fail to plan,
we plan to fail, and that's whyso many new businesses don't
survive two years, yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
It's true.
A lot of businesses fail in thefirst one to three years and by
year five.
If you made it that far, you'restruggling.
You may not even make it pastthat.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Right, Right, Yep, Yep.
So is there anything else likein terms of atomic mommy?
Um, so you're a mother of four.
You said right.
And what are the age groupsLike?
What are the age ranges?
Not age groups.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
So I have four daughters.
My oldest is 19.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Okay, four daughters.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Four daughters.
My second one is 17.
My third daughter is 11 and myfourth daughter is actually
eight years old.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Okay, all right.
So teenagers down to, you know,preteen yeah, that's
interesting.
I, you know there's, I am, I'ma father of an 11 year old boy,
and you know I, um, you know,there's always that people say
it's easier having a boy than agirl.
I don't know, obviously I don't.
I have three sisters, but, um,I think what's important, though
(13:17):
, what I seen in my maturationas a business owner, having
worked in corporate America for25 years, is that I'm growing so
much more as a person and canbe a better role model to my son
, because when you work forsomebody else and I work for
(13:38):
Sony Music and then Viacom, sotwo really big media companies,
there's thousands of people thatwork there you go about your
job every day, and if one dayyou kind of like skate by or
you're not doing much orwhatever, you guys went out the
night before and you're kind offeeling it the next day, you
know, whatever, you know, you'restill getting paid.
Uh, obviously you can't do thattoo often or your boss is gonna
(14:00):
, you know, reprimand you.
Maybe you're gonna get fired,but my point is that you can
kind of mail it in and it won'taffect your revenue, uh, but
when you own your own business.
You know there's no mailing itin you.
With great power comes a greatresponsibility, as I use that
Spider-Man phrase all the timebecause you want to be your own
boss.
People are attracted to itbecause of the freedom the
(14:21):
financial freedom, the freedomto set my own schedule, the
freedom to be there for my kids.
But I just spoke to someonebefore you on my podcast show
who just started her ownbusiness and the problem she has
is being able to turn off like24, seven, seven days a week,
thinking about my business,picking up the phone, answering
emails and whenever I'm totallyaccessible.
(14:42):
How could I not be?
You know, I got to get this, Igot to be a success, and there's
other people that think you canjust kind of skate by.
So the point I'm getting at isbeing a role model for our kids.
I think being an entrepreneur.
It gives them a great exampleof like you are what you eat,
you know you reap what you sowand all these other you know
(15:03):
phrases, these other phrases Icould tap into.
But I think it's much morevisceral when it's your company,
because you could hear thosethings all the time when you're
in school and you're in collegeand you get a job, work for
somebody, but it's not until youlive it that you can really see
the effect of your hard work,or the opposite, and I think
(15:25):
that's a great example for yourkids, do you like to your
daughters, to your olderdaughters?
Are they involved in AtomicMommy Foundation at all and what
has your?
Obviously you said you've gonethrough some.
You know some issues, someinteresting, you know life
stories.
What has it been like for themcoming out on the other side and
(15:46):
seeing you triumph?
Speaker 3 (15:48):
So they're not officially involved in the
Atomic Mommy Foundation, butthey are involved on the other
side of it.
They've been on my podcast asguests, especially during the
pandemic.
I interviewed the two oldergirls about what it was like to
be out of school, how itaffected them mentally.
They've been in my social mediaposts and they've all been
(16:12):
pretty positive and supportiveabout that and about wanting to
be a part of it.
In terms of the visceralexperiences, they have certainly
witnessed many of my ups anddowns in running the.
You know the company.
So I've got my media company onone end and then I've got the
foundation on the other.
I've got my media company onone end and then I've got the
(16:34):
foundation on the other.
They have seen me work 24 seven,never giving myself a break,
making myself sick, that firstcouple of years to the point
where me starting to realize,well, I need a break, I need to
set up systems.
They started to see that youcan be successful at being your
own boss and but also make timefor the family and also make
time for yourself.
So I can say for a hundredpercent fact that they have
(16:58):
witnessed me grow from beingthis manic entrepreneur business
owner to someone who hasdeveloped systems and a path
that effectively allows me to betheir mother, be a wife and be
a business owner without havingto deplete myself entirely
(17:18):
mentally, spiritually,physically, etc.
And on that same token, evenwhen my older girls were younger
, seeing me not being, I had toleave school to be able to raise
them, because I had them reallyyoung.
I had them at 22 and at 24.
So I.
I had to, you know, abandon allmy dreams just to be their mom,
(17:40):
and at that time it was a singlemom, so it was a very difficult
path, but they have been sosupportive and over the last I'd
say, five to 10 years, theyhave truly, truly come to
understand that everything, thateverything that happens to you
in life isn't some randomcoincidence.
It's all based on choice, andyou absolutely have the power to
(18:01):
own your choices and then tochange the outcomes, and I think
that them witnessing me finallyunderstand that and start to
achieve everything I've ever setout to achieve.
They're starting to realize thesame exact thing goes for
themselves, and I think thatthat's a legacy that I'm
extremely proud of of leavingthem, all of them.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting that you say that
because there's a uh, one of myfirst guests on the show.
He's a chiropractor by tradebut he goes by the name of Dr
Synchronicity.
He wrote a book calledSynchronicity and he has a
saying of something like youknow, things don't happen to us,
they happen for us.
And you know, it's kind of likethe saying of it's not what
(18:44):
happens to you, it's how youreact to it.
And obviously a lot of badthings can happen to us.
And it sounds easy to say ifyour life has been, you know,
Pollyannish and nothing's evergone wrong.
But you know it, it.
It's interesting when thesynchronicity of it all seems to
um, you know, when that'ssaying everything happens for a
reason.
I'm not quite sure I buy intothat.
(19:06):
When somebody tragically diesamong, what was the reason for
that?
But there are so many thingsthat are interconnected that
maybe we don't see it at thetime.
But, to your point, youractions are.
You know you behave yourselfinto the logical outcome.
So you know something's nothappening necessarily all the
time by accident.
(19:26):
When people play the victim,you know sometimes it's hey, man
, it's you kind of brought it onyourself and you know you can't
say that all the time, but Ithink it's incredible for you to
you know, for your daughters,to see that there is another
guest was on my show.
I had two co-founders of anorganization you may have heard
from about called Wonder GirlsUSA.
(19:49):
Have you heard of Wonder Girls?
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Okay, so Natalie and Irene were both on my show I met
them years ago but you knowthat that specifically is for
girls.
I mean, it's called WonderGirls, but it is about
empowering young women, younggirls, you know, in the high
school age range, to to believein themselves and to be uh, to
(20:13):
know that anything is possible,but then also to give them the
tools and the mentors, uh, andthe ambassadors to help them,
you know, realize those dreams.
So, uh, you know it's veryrelated to what you do, even
though that's specifically forgirls, but it's just about, you
know, empowering people, right?
I mean, I think that's what we,what you guys, stand for and
what a lot of good things in theworld come from that.
(20:37):
It's not about belittlingpeople or putting them down that
seems to happen a lot today.
It's more about how do we raisethem up, how do we give you a
chance?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah, it's very true.
A lot of times the belittlingin the world can sometimes
really keep somebody down.
So I think empowering andrising people up is essential to
driving such growth anddevelopment across the board,
across the entirety of society.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Right, and it's not some woke policy of you know
that some people want to lashout at that.
You know, whether it's DEI orit's, whatever you want to call
it, it's it.
It just it makes good businesssense.
If you want to look at it from apure capitalistic framework.
It's listen, the more thatpeople can have the skills to go
(21:25):
out there and realize theirdream.
There's dollars and cents tothat.
There's an economic engine thatsupports that, so it just makes
good sense.
And then you know happierpeople, we eat happier lives and
breed happier children andmaybe there'd be less crime in
the world.
And to the music, and here wego.
But I think it's great I youknow to be on this show.
(21:49):
Obviously you have your ownpodcast To be on this show.
Obviously you have your ownpodcast.
This is really for you tospread the word more throughout
your own channels, for otherways of people to find you.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
But is there anything we haven't touched on that
you'd like us to know about anyevents coming up?
Yeah, so our first professionalnetworking event is coming up.
It's on June 14th.
It's from 2 pm to 6 pm at Red'sin Karlstadt.
Honestly, it is our first bigevent, but more of a casual fun
(22:30):
environment where a lot of localbusiness owners can come
network with each other.
There's going to be fun gamesto like mingle so that people
get to know each other, not torun a networking events Like
we're not going to be free.
What are those things that Ican't stand?
Those like name tags or like thenecklace things that always end
(22:50):
up in the trash, like I wantpeople to actually like remember
each other's names and and andreally make deep connections,
and the only way to do that isto to not put your name on
anything and just go and talk topeople and really get to know
one another and yeah, go ahead Iwas gonna say it's just, it's
something so important to dothat a lot of business owners,
(23:11):
especially when they they firststart out, don't realize is a
huge potential drive forbusiness.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, yeah.
I think it's easier to go tonetworking events if you go
there just with an open mind ofwanting to hear what other
people are doing.
It's not I think there's someat least me, back in the day, be
nervous about talking aboutmyself.
But if you go to a networkingevent and just really have the
heart of like, I want tounderstand, I want to know what
(23:39):
you do, what do you do, you knowwhat's your journey, and when
they start talking aboutthemselves, then they will
naturally ask you what you do.
So you don't have to feel likeI have to come prepared with
some kind of a speech in my, youknow, on cue cards in my pocket
.
But getting back to activities,I was at a networking event once
where they had us sitting atdifferent tables and we had to
(23:59):
ask the person across from uswhat they did, and then we had
to stand up and introduce themto talk about what they do.
So it made you, you know you,better listen and it was more
like okay, to my left is KimPagaro and she is, you know, the
founder of Atomic Mom, you knowso.
So you get about five minutesor or, you know, maybe 10
(24:22):
minutes to talk about what eachof you do, and then the other
person gets to introduce you.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, I mean, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, I mean when you're sitting down, if you have
tables like that, that's that'sa good kind of atmosphere to be
in.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
That's a great way to connect.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, yeah, well.
So I said you know, was thereanything else you wanted to
mention?
I mean, okay, you mentioned theevent on Saturday, june 14th,
from 2 to 6 pm at Red'sRestaurant in Calstatt, new
Jersey, and there is a fee.
It's considering you get food,beer, wine and soda.
(24:57):
It's not so bad and it's foryour business, so it's $40 or
$50.
It's a pretty good deal.
What else are you looking for,like sponsors, mentors, anything
else you'd like to?
Speaker 3 (25:15):
I am looking for all of it sponsors, mentors, anyone
who's really interested in beinga part of something that's
unique, that's all on its own,something that's going to help
drive the economic developmentof the future.
You know, essentially, if weall work together, we can not
(25:36):
only ensure our own businessesare successful, but we can also
ensure that our kids' businessesgrow to be successful as well
and, like you said, it's one ofthe driving forces of the
economy so that it stayssuccessful.
We don't want it to becomestagnant or even drop.
You know God forbid.
We want businesses to grow.
So if anyone out there wants tobe a mentor, wants to help out
(25:56):
in any way possible, please,please, please, reach out to me.
My name is Kim, you know.
You can send me an Hello@atomic mommy foundation.
org, or you can find me onInstagram, you know, at atomic
mommy, and message me there.
It's up to you.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Great, all right, kim .
Well, thanks so much for beingon the show.
We're gonna just uh say goodbyewith chuck here, and then you
and I'll be right back all right.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Thank you, doug, for having me as a guest.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I appreciate it thank you thank you for listening to
the good neighbor podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpbergen.
com.
That's gnpbergen.
com, or call 201-298-8325.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!