Today we’d like to introduce you to Alison Mast.
Hi Alison, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Hi, my name is Alison Mast and I’m the Market Leader for Marsh here in West Michigan.
After graduating from the University of Michigan (go blue!), I taught Spanish to high school students for two years in Hartford, Connecticut through Teach for America. Then, I spent the first part of my career as a management consultant, first at Accenture and later, at McKinsey & Company, before earning an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Then, I joined Northern Trust—first as the Head of Strategy for its wealth management business nationally, and then, as President of West Michigan, overseeing the wealth management business (including investments, trust & fiduciary services, and banking) across the state.
This April, in keeping with my consistently inconsistent career path, I stepped into my current role as Market Leader for Marsh and have spent the last few months learning all about the risk management industry and how it affects our business leaders’ ability to execute their core business strategies.
I also serve on the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park Board of Directors as Treasurer, Vice Chair, and Chair of the Finance & Investment Committee—and until recently, served as an Executive Committee Member of the Junior Achievement of the Michigan Great Lakes Board of Directors.
Perhaps more to the point, though: starting in November of 2019, I was pregnant for 41 of the next 60 months. I now have four kids: ages 5, 4, 2 and 1 years old and a mini bernedoodle puppy named Lou we welcomed in February. My husband absolutely did not want that puppy. But did my kids want him? Also no. So really, he’s my puppy, and he’s turned our world upside down.
But none of this crazy was fully enough to fill my cup.
And so, on the side, I launched @themakingitworkmom on Instagram, and a website (www.alisonblairmast.com), and am currently publishing a book all dedicated to helping working moms like me figure out how to make it all work. It’s all about equipping professional women with the systems, tools and routines—the practical and super actionable stuff—to free up time to spend it on what really matters most to you. It’s my way of “paying it forward,” harnessing all the hard earned and learned lessons from other working moms like me and sharing them for the benefit of us all.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Juggling life as a working mom has been a constant low grade struggle—in many ways, it still is. As extracurriculars, priorities, and responsibilities change, so too must our daily routines. So, the greatest lesson really has been to let go some. A little flexibility goes a long way. And, no, that doesn’t mean letting chaos wreak havoc on the house or our lives—but it does mean being a little less Type A when it comes to how strictly we hold to routines as a family of six (seven, if you include the puppy).
In short, the secret is establishing enough routines that your life runs essentially on autopilot—but without holding to those routines so strictly that everything falls apart if you veer off path. I don’t want to run the house like I would a business, but I do want to leverage some of the lessons I learned in the corporate world for the benefit of my family life.
I do tend to be a person who is more effective when my plate is full. I don’t know what to do when I have too much time on my hands. (This also means that I’m pretty terrible at relaxing). So, despite having a highly demanding career, significant board responsibilities, the book, the Instagram page, four kids ages 5 & under, and the puppy, (oh, and let’s not forget my husband, friends and the hobbies I try to have), I feel like the road has been relatively smooth if not just a little bit bumpy at times.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The Making It Work Mom was born from a simple belief: working motherhood shouldn’t feel like something we have to survive—it should be something we can actually make work.
I’m a senior corporate executive, Harvard MBA, speaker, author, and mom of four young children. Every day, I live the same balancing act so many ambitious women are navigating: building a meaningful career while raising a family I don’t want to miss. After years of people asking, “How do you do it?” I realized there wasn’t enough practical, honest advice for women in the middle of the juggle. That’s why I created The Making It Work Mom.
I specialize in helping ambitious working moms reduce the mental load through practical systems, routines, boundaries, and mindset shifts that create more time, energy, and peace. Rather than promoting perfection or “doing it all,” I focus on helping women decide what matters most, let go of what doesn’t, and build lives that work for their unique families.
What people know me for is sharing real-life strategies—not theories. Everything I teach comes from lived experience leading in demanding executive roles while raising four young children in a two-working-parent household. I also incorporate insights gathered from conversations and feedback from thousands of working mothers, giving women practical solutions they can implement immediately.
What sets my brand apart is authenticity. I’m not sharing a perfectly curated version of working motherhood or pretending to have all the answers. I speak from the middle of it. My community comes for actionable advice they can use today, but they stay because they feel seen. We laugh about the chaos, acknowledge the hard parts, and celebrate the wins together.
I’m especially proud of building a community where ambitious women feel permission to pursue both their careers and their families without guilt. Through my speaking engagements, educational content, upcoming book, digital resources, and growing online community, my mission is to help women stop wondering if they’re the only ones struggling and start believing that with the right tools and support, they really can make it work.
I want readers to know that The Making It Work Mom is more than a social media brand—it’s a movement to redefine what success looks like for working mothers. Whether through speaking engagements, workshops, downloadable resources, or everyday content, my goal is always the same: to equip working moms with practical strategies, honest encouragement, and a supportive community so they can thrive both professionally and personally.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
My husband and I moved to Grand Rapids from Chicago in 2022 with two kids (we now have four) and no prior relationships or roots in the area. The closest I came to Grand Rapids was attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor as an undergraduate.
I will admit that Grand Rapids can be a tough place to come as an outsider—not because anyone is intentionally rude or uninviting, but simply because their cups are already full with family and friends they’ve had since childhood or made while studying at a local college or university. I like to say that “the social fabric of West Michigan is very tightly woven.”
But I’m equally happy to say that my husband and I have decided that Grand Rapids is without a doubt where we want our family to grow roots.
I love that I can open my back door and let my young children play outside independently. We trust our kids to ride their bikes and scooters around the neighborhood without our direct supervision. These are things that simply could not have happened had we chosen to stay in Chicago. Grand Rapids is a true hidden gem.
Life feels less competitive here and more supportive than it did in Chicago. There’s no “keeping up with the Joneses.” People genuinely care about one another. When they ask you, “how are you?” in passing, they truly want to know the answer. And, of course, the philanthropic community is unmatched.
Then, you have the continued investment in the community—the amphitheater, the stadium, the professional sports teams. Grand Rapids has all of the amenities of a big city with small town charm. I feel lucky to be able to raise a family and pursue my professional ambitions here.
And also, I wouldn’t trade my 15-minute commute from Ada to my downtown office for anything! (I once saw a meme that read: “it takes an hour to get from Chicago to Chicago” and truer words were never spoken).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alisonblairmast.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themakingitworkmom
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-oreh-mast
