06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
I Was Failing at Work and Motherhood. Then I Met Joan Darling.
As Mother's Day approaches, the Opinion Video above asks: Is it possible to be a great mom and have a great career? That question has plagued the filmmaker Shaina Feinberg.
Before Ms. Feinberg was born, her mother dreamed of a successful career as a performer — then gave up those dreams to raise her daughters. That loss still haunts her mother.
Now a mother herself, Ms. Feinberg is confronted with the same dilemma: Should she quit working as a filmmaker to be a full-time mom? Or keep doing a 'depressingly bad job at both'?
The universe answers her in the unlikely form of Joan Darling, a 90-year-old director and actress. She's the first woman to be nominated for an Emmy in directing. And unlike Ms. Feinberg's mother, she never had children.
