I sat down with MaryBeth La Motte at Neiman’s Café on an absurdly beautiful day in downtown San Francisco. The petite, über-fit mom doesn’t exude work-a-holic, but instead, a confidence and charisma that you can’t help but to admire. Draped in a Missoni-esque frock and black leggings, she seemed to radiate, “I love my life!”

As much as I love my life, too, she made me start to think about how life is about taking risks, whether or not you know if you will come out above water.

La Motte is a risk taker, with one in particular that changed her life. She grew up in Florida, studied fashion at the Fashion Institute of Chicago, worked within the realms of retail and high-end designers, joined a public relations firm and ended up at Orrick, an international law firm based in San Francisco. While at Orrick, La Motte found a talent that she never knew existed. As the Director of Community Responsibility, La Motte began to make videos highlighting all of the charitable contributions the firm was making. However, her successful, globe-trotting career was taking a toll back home; she had missed the first three years of her son’s life.

La Motte recalls the day her life was forever changed. She woke up in Rome on a Saturday, set to go home Sunday, and suddenly realized how horribly she missed her son. She frantically tried to get a flight to come home earlier, but with no luck she spent the rest of the day in Rome. That fateful day landed her at the Borghese Museum where she was surrounded by art, more importantly, original art of mother and child (think Madonna and her baby). It was a sign. Three months later, RedCarpetSF was born.

La Motte loved fashion, she grew a new zeal for video and, most importantly, she loved her son. By quitting Orrick and launching a business of her own, she could combine her passions and be with her son. RedCarpetSF was created to highlight real people’s fashion, to give San Francisco fashion credibility and to do what she loves.

However, after all of the glamorous ideas and aspiration have somewhat dulled, you have to face reality. Ask anyone what is more important – career or family – and I am sure we all know the answer. But what happens next is a path chock-full of risks and a serious dose of the real world.

“It was like jumping off a cliff,” said La Motte. “I thought business would pour in at first, but it took time.” It wasn’t soon after that La Motte and RedCarpetSF struck a chord within the Bay Area. One thing led to another and she started to do videos for magazine launch parties, charity events, the San Francisco Opera, the San Francisco Zoo, fashion shows and more.

“I don’t care what your last name is, or how much money you have,” said La Motte. “I just want to know what you’re wearing and about your style.” RedCarpetSF has since grown into a burgeoning business that has become a labor of love for La Motte.

La Motte urges women to do what they love and they will be happy – simple right? Yes, she realizes the difficult decisions women will face, but she believes that they need to have confidence, their own definition of integrity and one heck of a stick-to-it-iveness.

“Don’t worry if someone else is doing it,” urged La Motte, “…because you are going to do it different and better!” And as far as the fear of failure is concerned, La Motte wants women to stop living in their heads and accept failure as a lesson learned.

The former fashion maven is still in love with style, not to mention VivaSwap gowns, but is now an entrepreneur and an example for women everywhere. Yes, it took a tough decision, a handful of risks and a laborious amount of work, but La Motte is proof itself that taking chances can be rewarding in more ways than one.

Check out Marybeth’s Brief Video about RedCarpetSF