Metro DC moms sharing their challenges and triumph about motherhood, womanhood and life in general. Each issue of I Am Modern Moms, we select a group of women who represent not only modern motherhood but our area, culture and diversity. 
The dark wood paneling and low lighting at the Morton’s Steakhouse in Tysons Corner at first exudes a masculine environment from a bygone era - a smokey, gentlemen-only club with burly, pinstripe-suited men smoking cigars making deals across the white linen covered tables.But as General Manager for Mortons, Maura Delaney soon brightens the room. She is a feminine, petite blonde in a fairly male-dominated industry. With an Irish brogue that will melt your heart, she makes you feel like you just came to Sunday dinner at a friend’s house. But being small in stature doesn’t reflect the intensity and drive that she exudes in her day-to-day management style.
“Joisey” Home to Bon Jovi, The Sopranos, Catch22, and Princeton University. Currently known as the place with big hair, fake tans, and home of Snooki. Many from here claim all roads… or turnpikes lead to Jersey. Meet Jersey girl through and through Rachelle Fletcher.
I peer at the clock in the wee hours, moan in the dark, and turn over as I feel the vibration from my neighbor’s garage door open. There’s Jen, up at the crack of dawn heading out to work, where she drives a school bus for Loudoun County. Hauling her sleepy tot with her, she savors the short time she will have with her until she heads off to kindergarten. You may have noticed her blazing pink hair and white sunglasses one week driving through the Broadlands, and dark Merlot-colored hair the next. One never knows what color her closely cropped locks will be from week to week. She is always a work in progress. 
We recently challenged , owner of the fine stationary stores, The Dandelion Patch, to ask her Facebook friends to describe her in one word. Responses ranged from: “High-energy, dynamic, driven and superwoman” to “fearless, hot, optimistic and fabulous.” What we found when we looked at all of the responses was that no one used the same word! Which is not surprising, since Heidi is all that and more. She is an über successful business owner, recently expanding from two stores (Vienna and Reston Town Center) to four (Georgetown and Leesburg). She is boss to 30 employees, wife to Joel and mom to son Ethan (11) and daughter Jordan (8). We were intrigued and wanted to know more:
One of the most challenging aspects of life as a modern mom is balancing work and family, but for Marla Grossman of Bethesda, Maryland, it’s one of the most rewarding. With a career she truly enjoys and two children she adores, Marla has been able to find a way to blend the two roles fairly seamlessly. Marla began her career as a lobbyist and government affairs attorney directly following her graduation from Harvard Law School. With her career path firmly established, she became a mother for the first time in 2001 with the arrival of her son, Sawyer. Daughter, Summer, joined their family just two years later and Marla started looking at her career a little differently.
