We are fortunate to have a wonderful group of members who have volunteered their time to serve on the SMPC Board.  This month, we will be highlighting a few of our Board Members by sharing their SMPC role and experiences.

Meet Olivia Allen-Price!

Tell us a bit about yourself and your family. 

I'm Olivia Allen-Price. I am mom to Sullivan,who just turned 3 on January 28. With my husband, Sam, we live in the sunnybrae neighborhood in San Mateo.

How did you get started in the San Mateo parents club (SMPC)?

I got involved with club actually through a playgroup, a woman that I had been talking to about potentially doing a nanny share, ended up not working out but she was like, “I'm in this playgroup, it's really helpful. There's a lot of other moms who are kind of going through the same stuff, you should come to one of our events and check it out.” So I showed up at this playgroup event and immediately just felt so much less alone. It was moms who had very young babies, I think my son, Sullivan, was about two months or so at a time. So we were all breaking in the middle of breastfeeding, babies are crying and they're split up, but in this environment where everyone really understands, and you don't really have to apologize, which sometimes I found myself having to do in other groups. It just felt like such a natural place to be. So I've really hung tight with that playgroup for probably the first year. They were a huge support for me, a lot of the moms in that group were second time moms. So it was really cool to just hear some words of wisdom from them because they had a slightly different point of view, having been through it all before, but at the same time, we're also in the same moment as I was. Obviously I ended up joining after that first play date went so well and have been regularly attending events with the group when I can and gotten a lot out of it.

And how long have you been on the board and what is your role?

This is my first time joining the board. I just got recruited at the Board Open House at the end of January. So I am  weeks into my board position, events coordinator along with Dana & Britta.

What has been your favorite SMPC event?

I had a blast at the Highlands pool party last year. I had not been to that pool before and there is a climbing wall that comes out of the deep end. My husband and I took turns climbing up the climbing wall and my son was watching us and cheering us on. It was a sweet family memory.It was also really great because it's a high turnout event, I got to meet a lot of other parents at that event.

What is your favorite place to go with your kid in the San Mateo County area?

Hands down CuriOdyssey. He loves CuriOdyssey. We are members. We go often. He just loves all the exhibits there. He loves seeing the animals plus it's really close to where we live. We often will bike over together, he can bike with us or we have a little kid seat he can ride on. So it's kind of a fun family activity, biking over there, spend a couple of hours and we can get back before lunch and nap. It's just like an awesome way to spend a weekend morning.