MBJ Life spoke with working parents in 2017 to see how they aligned parenting with dual careers. Almost a decade later, we checked back to see how the families are doing now, juggling busy working days with their children’s schooling and activity schedules.
John Paul Dierking
Senior construction manager, Naval Facilities Engineering and Systems Command Marianas
Kamia Dierking
Senior director of government affairs, GTA
Children: Olivia, 14 and Tayvia, 11
2017
Both John Paul Dierking and Kamia Dierking have moved upwards in their careers, and both have remained with the same organizations. Olivia is now in 9th grade and Tayvia in 7th grade at school.
The girls said that their parents “do things for us that they don’t have to do” such as buying them new clothes. They said their parents have a focus on homework first sometimes, but that, “They’re always present in everything that happens in our life.”
John Paul said there are similarities with how parenting is organized. “It’s the same situation — where we split the duties.” He said of Kamia, “She’s our drill sergeant and gets us out of the house on time.”
Kamia Dierking said, “Whenever the girls have anything after school it takes a lot of communication and coordination. Because we both work, we do a lot of checking in throughout the day.”
2017
The Dierkings coordinate their parenting schedules with family and friends.
Kamia’s parents are retired and are also part of the Dierking support system. “Her parents are very helpful,” John Paul said.
Kamia said, “It usually starts every morning with a text from my mom — checking in. She’ll ask, ‘Are we picking up the kids or do you have it?’ Apart from the tangible help, Kamia said, “What’s nice is they also offer.”
The Dierkings are part of a carpool for after school swimming — an arrangement that has proved very practical.
Both girls are competitive swimmers. “They are in swimming; they are in competitive swimming for Amphibious Aquatics,” John Paul said.
“We set up and established our own carpool network with other parents. That helps us all,” Kamia said. She said swimmers need fuel or food before they get into the water and are also hungry afterwards. “We call it the Backseat Buffet. They’re starving when they come out, so we try to have snacks — not just for our children.”
Both girls have a lot of friends, and the Dierking house is open to them. “I had seven girls sleeping over at my house,” Kamia said. The Dierking girls have also experienced attending business community galas with their parents.
The Dierkings agreed that dual career parents do not exist in a bubble.
“Most importantly, when you’re working, you have to be okay for asking for help,” Kamia said.
“A common theme is, you can’t do it alone,” John Paul said.
Jessica Leon Guerrero
President, M-80 Systems Inc.
Carlo Leon Guerrero
Vice president, M-80 Systems Inc.
Children: Kyle, 30, a federal contractor (not shown); Tessa, 27, a federal contractor in procurement; Kiara, 25, an airline supervisor; Dashton, 13, a freshman in high school; Carina, 12, a middle schooler in 7th grade.
2017
Since MBJ last met with the Leon Guerrero family, Carlo and Jessica now fully own M-80 and moved to a larger headquarters and showrooms in Asan. In January 2025, they acquired Furniture-Kathy Style, founded by Kathy Sorensen, in partnership with Jason Kraus.
The family now includes two grandchildren — Kiara’s daughter and Kyle’s son.
The pair said they are busier than ever, but Jessica said, “We’re still organized.” The family preps each evening for the following day.
Kiara now lives in Fairbanks in Alaska but was in Guam the week the Journal met with the Leon Guerreros. “We visit twice, three times a year,” Carlo said.
“Owning a business — we probably live in this office more than we do at home,” Jessica said. “We actually have a kid’s room here.”
If it fits the schedule, the family sleeps over at the expansive Asan showroom, which is equipped to handle sleepovers and includes a shower. The Leon Guerreros arrive prepped with children’s clothing and anything else required for the next day.
The morning after, “One of us or both of us will start dropping the [younger] kids at school,” Carlos said. Their schools are not close together.
“We live busy lives, but the kids also have their own busy schedule,” Jessica said. The younger children have their own commitments. “They are very active between school sports and club sports,” Carlos said.
Jessica still has a system for monitoring everyone’s commitments. “On my calendar on my computer I have everything organized and it’s all color coded.” Business obligations are color coded, she said. “And then I have a color just for the kids.”
When the couple travel for business, other family members step in.
Jessica said, “They say, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’, and we have a village that supports us and our kids. A lot of times they stay with my parents, and everyone just helps out. My parents are huge helping hands for us.” Her father is retired. “My mom works part-time with us. She’s on her own schedule,” Jessica said. “Her schedule revolves around the grandkids,” Carlos said.
The family prioritizes time together. “Family’s always been at the forefront of everything we do,” Jessica said. The family makes time for a meal together at least once a week.
Jessica said, “When somebody has a game, we all show up.” The same effort is made for events like school concerts.
Since the expansion, she said, “Juggling all the companies is very hard. I thought I worked a lot before. This is a seven-days-a-week kind of job, but our family, our kids understand it.”
Discussions on family life are frequent, Jessica said. “A lot of people ask about balance. We manage it; we harmonize work and life. It takes a lot of scheduling and a lot of planning.”
Jaynard White
Senior manager of technical operations, Docomo Pacific Inc.
Michelle Kramer
Managing director, Pacific International (Guam) Inc.
Children: Merced Kramer White, 11 and Sapwkini Kramer White, 10 Both Jay and Michelle share parental responsibilities against a background of busy working lives.
2017
Given her responsibilities, which sometimes extend throughout the PII group, Michelle said, “I do a lot of remote work — everything I do on my phone and my laptop. I don’t have a regular job – 8 to 5; Monday to Friday. It’s really around the clock for me.”
In addition, Michelle is now honorary consul to Guam for the Marshall Islands.
Jay travels a lot, describing his job as “around the clock.” He said, “I’m also the treasurer for the Pohnpei Association. That’s pretty busy.”
Michelle said there are times when the children’s needs and activities have to take precedence. “I’m okay with that. I have to pull away from the office and focus on them.”
Both children have a slate of activities.
Michelle said that looking back, “I thought it was hard then, but because they were younger, they weren’t really involved in activities.” She said very young children have to be watched carefully to ensure their safety. “Now that they’re older, they don’t have to be watched so much, but they’re involved with so many activities. I feel like they’re very, very lucky to have all these activities that are available on Guam.”
Merced’s interests and activities include playing the piano, singing lessons and the theater. Aside from Frozen, she recently auditioned for another upcoming production.
Sapwkini has been playing soccer since he was five. “Now he’s just started playing basketball, which I find exciting because Jay and I played basketball,” Michelle said.
Jay also takes Sapwkini fishing and the father and son work together on property maintenance. “We recently bought a house and we renovated it.” That interest continues, Jay said. “Any free time we get, we go together — electrical, construction — he loves doing it. He loves gardening.”
Sharing the children’s commitments for school and activities with other parents is part of the routine, the pair said. “Right now, I carpool with two other parents that live here in the neighborhood. For me, that really helps a lot,” Michelle said. Apart from the school run, Merced was busy in August rehearsing for World Theater Productions and the Guam Philharmonic Foundation Inc.’s Frozen: The Broadway Musical. “For Frozen, I’m also carpooling,” Michelle said.
Jay prioritizes the children’s needs in his free time. “When I’m off work at Docomo, I help her,” he said. “When he’s done, he’ll come and relieve me and take over,” Michelle said.
Occasionally Jay and Michelle will travel together or need other support. Jay said, “My mom flies in at times [from Pohnpei].” Other family members help when the two travel without the children.
Michelle said, “Jay’s uncle and auntie live here [in Guam] and we really make time to help each other. They’re helpful and we’re lucky we can reach out to family.” mbj
Typical day wear in the islands is an island style shirt and long pants for men. But there are occasions when protocol, dress code or the weather dictates that the best option to make a statement is a traditional suit for men, or a jacket.
Women have a little more leeway as fashion includes less structured jackets.
Have a look at the MBJ Life Images and see where these islands figures fall on the suit spectrum.
FINA SISU, Saipan — She took a viral Middle Eastern confection and turned it into one of Saipan’s most sought-after desserts—putting a once “hidden café” firmly on the map in the process.
