Is it really best to swoop in every time our kiddos face a challenging situation? Or are we missing an opportunity to teach them patience? How taking a beat rather than coming to the rescue can be the right response.
Kate Northrup always knew she wanted to be a mother, and she pursued entrepreneurship partly because of the freedom it could afford her to be there for her kids. What Kate wasn’t counting on was the way pregnancy would change her drive and refocus her energy when it came to the business. She admits that it took her a long time to “get back in the game,” and that her husband and business partner, Mike, picked up the slack. But Kate credits having her daughter, Penelope, with initiating a personal evolution that allowed her to clarify her desires and ultimately renew her interest in the business and the way she thought about showing up for work in the first place. Perhaps there was something revolutionary here: because, as she shares in this episode, she found that she was able to achieve more even while doing less. And that some of her most productive weeks happened when she was working only 20 hours a week on the business. Today Kate shares her “shocking and awesome” birth experience, explaining how parenthood impacted her business as well as her marriage.
Thirty percent of talented women drop out of the workforce, not because they want to, but because the way work looks is outdated, flawed, and fails women and families on a regular basis. And a full 70% of those women would still be working if they had access to better (or any) workplace flexibility. What would it do for our economy and businesses if we weren’t losing so ambitious, committed employees so rapidly? The corporate world is stuck in a structural model that is a relic of the post-Industrial era. Today’s guest on the show is an entrepreneur building a simple, yet revolutionary answer that makes the world fit women—rather than trying to make women fit into the world.
I turn 34 this month, and I thought I’d go back and list all the things I wish my 24-year old self would have known. On the list? Take all the adventures you can. When in doubt, pick something, and then learn from the choosing. Stop trying to be perfect and well-liked, because that is certainly a fool’s errand. And I give my past self advice about money, sex, feminism, and trying to pick the “right” career.
In this first episode, I give you a bit of the behind-the-scenes about why we started the show. When I interviewed at a Y Combinator backed startup in 2014, I was transparent about my desire and plans to start a family. Eight months in I was promoted to VP. One month later, I realized I was pregnant. The CEO, a great friend of mine, supported the entire process. Yet it still wasn’t what I expected. And that launched the start of a deeper desire to tell new stories about what it really takes to grow businesses and babies—and what’s been missing from the conversation. This podcast is the start of a conversation about the overlap between entrepreneurship, pregnancy, and parenting. Listen in to why we got started.
For the better part of the last year, I’ve been interviewing women about their stories in entrepreneurship, tech, leadership, and parenting. We gathered sponsors in early April and started recording episodes in June. Over the summer, we recorded the first ten episodes, researched and studied the stories of some truly fascinating women, brought on a sound editor, and started piecing together the show. We just submitted the show to iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Late last night, all three of them approved our show and we are so excited to say that the show is live!