Published: May 17, 2009 10:44 pm      

Business owner, mother honored

Crista Tharp among ‘Leading Moms in Business’

Whoever said a mother can’t have it all — a happy family at home and a successful career — must not have told that to Crista Tharp.

The Kokomo mother of eight and owner of Tharp & Associates, an event-planning company, recently was voted one of the top 200 leading moms in business in StartupNation’s 2009 Leading Moms in Business competition.

According to a press release from StartupNation, winners were selected and ranked according to public votes accumulated from January to March 2009.

Tharp said several of her kids were in her office when she received the e-mail letting her know she was 51st on the list.

“The kids were jumping around the room all excited. It was really neat to share that with my kids,” Tharp said.

She said she was happy to earn the recognition.

“It’s really nice being recognized for things you do and for things that you do well, especially by my clients and friends and family and people who went out of their way to vote for me.”

Tharp said more than 10,000 moms were in the competition, so she’s pleased to be in the top 200.

Rich Sloan, co-founder of StartupNation, said more than 600,000 votes were cast in the competition.

“Moms across America were honored in this year’s ranking, showing that they’re capable of starting and running successful businesses while managing to balance family, career, home and self,” he said.

Tharp hopes her success inspires other mothers.

“That is one of my main goals, to tell women this is exactly what they can do, they can go for whatever they want. I have eight kids. Yeah, I’m tired, but everything works. I want it, so I go for it.”

She said some people believe having a family means a woman has to sacrifice career success, or that if a woman chooses to pursue a career, she will have to sacrifice having a family, but she’s showing otherwise.

“I’ll tell you, having that cake and eating it, too, that’s awesome.”

Danielle Rush is the Kokomo Tribune education reporter. She can be reached at (765) 454-8585 or danielle.rush@kokomotribune.com.