Welcome to the World, Julian! Our Employee Craig's New Bundle of Joy

First, tell us a little bit about yourself & your family

I’m Craig Barowsky, Head of Product at KatalystDI. I joined the team in early September, so I’m one of the newer employees here. I’m also an adjunct faculty member at NYU where I teach Project Management. Less than two weeks after joining KDI, my wife Nikki and I welcomed our 2nd son Julian to the world. To say the last quarter has been eventful is an understatement. 

I want to introduce my family a bit: my wife Nikki is a freelance costume designer. Her work has taken her all over the place.  This past summer we were gifted the excuse to spend an extended period of time in Santa Cruz, California due to her work. This allowed us the opportunity to spend sunrises walking the beach and to explore all sorts of new hiking spots. One area that we really enjoyed was the Roaring Camp Railwood which is a heritage steam train that takes you through the redwoods and down to the coast. 

That’s a pretty good segue, while I find trains really cool, we have another son Amari (two, going on three) who loves them. He’s a joyful, energetic, happy little one. We had Amari right as the pandemic was kicking off, with Julian, the best thing for us has been the fact that we aren’t in lockdown mode and are able to share our new arrival with friends and family. Also Juilan has slept well since day one. Win, win.

What is your favorite part about being a father?

It’s a cliche answer, but spending time together. Those moments cuddled up reading books, building elaborate train routes, or just snacking and talking are something we both treasure. Beyond the lazy weekend mornings as a family, we love to spend time together hiking, visiting museums, enjoying the outdoors, or baking together. Amari loves to bake, this week Nikki and he made Christmas cookies (which tasted better than they looked).

We moved out to Connecticut from NYC right after the pandemic started. It’s incredibly different than the hustle and bustle of the city where I Iived for 18 years. No sirens, truck horns, or street noises at night. At first, it was a bit strange to live in relative silence, but we have much easier access to nature. Nikki and I  are both avid cyclists but adding the kiddos to the mix means that we aren’t currently doing some of the more adventurous routes we’ve tackled before, such as riding across the country on our Surly Disc Truckers (can you tell I’m a bike-snob?), but there are some excellent bike trails locally. Today one of our favorite spots to take the family is the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail system. It’s not quite the same or as challenging, but with the added weight of an (almost) 3-year old I still get my workout in, plus it’s gorgeous. 

Beyond trails and baking, we often frequent a couple of the local museums. Amari really enjoys the New England Air Museum as well as the Connecticut Science Center. His favorite activities include pushing all the buttons in the airplanes you can enter, building complex water experiments in the Kidspace, and playing around in the ambulance. 

How do you and your wife juggle all of this with work?

To be honest, it isn’t that hard. Well, I say that with a grain of salt. I have a baby wrap that I often wear on calls with Julian inside. Babies are super cute, so it’s a break for everyone on the call when he makes noise if I’m wearing him during a meeting. It allows us all to take a step back and realize there are priorities in life. Mine is being a dad, and I’m lucky to be able to work a career where I can bond and spend time with my children from home as I work.