Pum Lefebure is co-founder and chief creative officer at Design Army, a creative agency. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Jake, who works with her at Design Army as co-founder and CEO, and their daughter Sophie, 8. 

Describe your job and a typical day for you.

As chief creative officer, I am out of the office every other week on average at a photo shoot, either locally in DC or in New York or elsewhere. I was recently in Palm Springs, CA. I travel quite often. Some of our clients include Disney, Bloomingdale's, The Ritz-Carlton and Bank of America.

When I'm home I start my day at 7 a.m. To help me wake up I do some stretching and apply a skin smoothing eye mask. My husband, Jake, makes breakfast for our daughter Sophie before one of us takes her to school or camp. Breakfast for me is usually black coffee and some Greek yogurt or banana.

I'm in the office by 9 a.m. to review my jam-packed schedule with my assistant and then I meet with the design team to set expectations and priorities for the day and week. The morning is filled with calls to clients, photographers and stylists to discuss strategies for branding for upcoming photo shoots and print, digital and video campaigns.

I don't take a lunch break, but Jake likes to go out for lunch and will bring me something back so I can eat at my desk. The afternoon is spent with my design team, reviewing their work before it goes to the client or briefing them on the creative direction for a new project.

Jake usually picks up Sophie from school or camp at 5 p.m. and brings her back to the office where she has her own design station. She'll "work" on Photoshop or draw or practice techniques she's learned from filmmaking camp before my husband takes her home by 7 p.m. Jake is a great cook, so he'll make dinner and I'll join soon after. Then we spend time with Sophie—reading a book, watching a movie, playing a game. 

After Sophie goes to bed at 9 p.m. I'll post on and check out Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, review work I bring home, strategize for the next morning and get organized. I'm a bit of a workaholic.

How do you handle child care?

We typically don't have child care. We work long hours, so if Sophie's not in school, camp, taking guitar lessons or yoga classes, she's with us. If she's at a photo shoot, we give her an assignment, such as finding an emerald green dress or props. She's our cute little assistant. She was even a model for a Bloomingdale's catalog we art directed and designed. Many of our clients have children and understand if Sophie needs to come with us for a meeting or shoot. If both my husband and I have to travel and Sophie can't come with us, Jake's parents live only a few hours away and will come and watch her. We're lucky!

What is your working mom mantra?

Instead of trying to balance work and life—which didn't work for me—I blend them together, which is one of the advantages of owning your own company.

What is your favorite thing your husband does to help lighten the load?

Jake is an amazing cook. It's really nice to work hard all day and come home to a wonderful dinner. Also, we share chores—I do dishes and laundry and he takes on other aspects of housework.

When have you been most daring?

Moving to the US from Thailand as a foreign exchange student when I was 18 was the most daring thing I have done in my personal life. I couldn't speak English. I couldn't even order a Happy Meal at McDonalds. It was scary, but with supportive parents, my passion for art and my competitive nature, I persevered and can say it's made me who I am today.

Could you share a work mom meltdown and how you coped?

I always do homework with Sophie, so once when I returned home from a two-week business trip, I checked her backpack and found a multiplication test where she had gotten a 32 out of 50. It put everything into perspective. I put work aside for the rest of the week and helped her conquer the multiplication table. 

I'm not sure this is a meltdown, but another time when I was away on business I came home to a $250 iPhone bill for games that Sophie had purchased without permission. It provided an opportunity to teach Sophie the value of the dollar.  

If you could interview anyone to gain insight into work life balance who would it be?

To be honest, I'm more interested in how to be a master at blending work and life together successfully. So, I'd like to interview the ancient Egyptian ruler Cleopatra.

If you could describe your life in one word, what would it be?

Passionate.

If you'd like to see more of Pum at work and with her family, click here for an extended photo gallery or find her on Instagram.