Hannah Soboroff Shargal always wanted to become a mom. As the fourth of five children growing up in LA, she was incredibly close with her siblings. “My whole world was my family,” she says. When her younger sister, Leah, came along, Shargal treated her like her own baby, insisting she pack her lunch, trim her fingernails, organize her things, and take care of her at summer camp. “I always had that nurturing maternal side,” she says.
Shargal has cultivated that loving side not only as the mom of three boys (Lev, 7; Miki, 5; Abie, 3) but also in her interior design business, EEMA Studio. There, she helps other moms and moms-to-be with “nesting services,” such as organization, baby registries, and pre-packed hospital bags, though her work mostly consists of designing children’s spaces, such as nurseries, kids’ bedrooms, workspaces, art rooms, and playrooms.
“Having children is a whole new world,” Shargal says. “You want to find someone to hold your hand and guide you through what you need and how to set it up.”
Her clients favor her cozy and comfortable designs featuring soft plush-y rugs and playful wallpaper. Above all, she wants the spaces she creates to allow kids to “feel safe and free to be themselves.” “I do like to incorporate pattern and texture, but I also want their spaces to feel calm and be a canvas for them to be creative and feel really comfortable — a place where they can 100% be themselves when they’re playing, reading, and sleeping.”
Practicing what she preaches
That safe and comfortable feeling is also what Shargal fosters in her parenting style. “I’ve learned as mothers that our job is not to fix everything for them but to be there for them, with them,” she says. “When I learned that, it lifted a huge weight off my shoulders.” So, in her eyes, patience is the most important quality a mother needs — and also the hardest to develop. She also places a high value on empathy. “I’m able to feel comfortable just being there, a listening ear, repeating back what they’re telling me and saying, ‘I hear you.’”
Her boys, however, would say she is an amazing mom because she’s the best at making breakfast, Shargal says. Rather than focusing on being a short-order cook, she cherishes that early morning time when one son is asking her a math question and another who she thinks will win the NBA Finals. “They like that undivided attention from me, beyond what I’m actually making. They enjoy those morning moments we have together.” They also like her pancakes.
Their breakfast ritual morphs into a celebration when it’s someone’s birthday or a holiday like Father’s Day. “I started this tradition of creating a birthday table at breakfast,” Shargal says. “I’ll have a few wrapped gifts, some flowers and candles, a little breakfast treat.”
Shargal believes it’s important to acknowledge milestones and holidays. She grew up that way, and she models that behavior for her kids. “Now I see my kids and husband waking up early to set up a celebration table for me on my birthday, Mother’s Day, etc.” she says. “It doesn’t look the way it does when I set it up, but it’s cute and so sweet to see that this tradition means enough to them where they now want to do it for me on the days where I'm the one that's being celebrated.”
A constant presence in her kids’ lives
Her creativity at home and at work reflect who she is, which is all about family. She feels lucky that after working in the fashion business — first as assistant to Brad Goreski (formerly of Rachel Zoe fame and known for co-hosting “Fashion Police” and judging “Canada’s Drag Race”) and then as one of the first employees at TheRealReal — her work and home life are now so integrated. She and her husband, Eran, both work from home. “I can pop over to my kids’ school to volunteer or be there for pick-ups. I have time to prepare dinner. Family life for me growing up was the same; I had hard-working parents who at the end of the day were always there. It’s important to me and my husband that we’re there for our kids in the same way.”
Her calm and patient mothering style means she can also handle the tantrums and dysregulations, and she understands her kids have big emotions and are just trying to navigate life. “I can see past what color socks they are choosing,” she says. “I know there are bigger feelings inside, and I’m just there for them.”
That is amazing.
AUTHOR
Martha McCully is a writer and brand consultant who’s into wellness, design, health, wine, and science. She was formerly Executive Editor of In Style, founding Beauty Director of Allure, and judge on HGTV Design Star.