The Wise Women’s Council
Business & leadership development that works for moms.
A private entrepreneurship community for women CEOs, founders, and leaders navigating business and motherhood.
EARLY BIRD 2023
APPLICATION DEADLINE
SEPT 14
REGULAR 2023
APPLICATION DEADLINE
SEPT 28
FALL COHORT KICKOFF
OCT 3
The Wise Women’s Council
AT A GLANCE
WWC is a private community designed for business and career moms. Our members are founders, business owners, investors, and entrepreneurs who are also parents.
- WWC is a year-long leadership incubator filled with kind, brilliant community members who understand what you’re going through. This is a space for you to level up and grow, and to shift the way you work, and to gain more clarity, insight, and ease.
- We are business owners, bootstrappers, founders, solo-preneurs, authors, freelancers, and investors. The majority of our members are founders. About a third of our members are intrapreneurs and business leaders operating within companies and teams who find the business resources and community a strong match for their careers.
- We teach twelve leadership concepts — one module per month. In WWC, we take you through our Wise Leadership Philosophy, an approach that allows for the fullness and messiness of life across all areas. The practice of wise leadership is about creating space for all of who you are.
- Our calls happen primarily at 10AM Pacific / 1PM Eastern on Thursdays. We record the calls for playback, create a one-pager of notes, and share transcripts post-call so you can review materials quickly and easily. The design and rhythm of this program are specifically tailored to the lives of modern working mothers.
If you want to live a more connected, rested, and intentionally-designed life, you’re invited to join us.
We believe that leadership is about grounded wisdom, calm confidence, and sourced from your inner knowing. I’ll explain more about how we do all of this—and what happens when you join—down below.
— Sarah Peck
CEO & Founder,
Startup Parent
WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR CURRICULUM AND METHOD? →
Drop your email in the box, and we’ll send you our program details, alumni stories, and the full schedule. We’ll even give you a peek into our class yearbook.
The Wise Women’s Council is for women to be creative, daring, and kind. Together, we’re building new ways to work, lead, and parent.
We only open for new members two times a year.
WHAT ALUMNI ARE SAYING
— How our alumni describe the program —
I’ve learned, connected, felt close to, cried, shared stories that I’ve never thought others would care about, asked for advise, laughed, dug deep (and then even deeper), challenged by my own perspectives of things and — had the privilege to hear from so many inspiring women. Sarah, you are creating something so magical here, which is why I suppose it’s so hard to understand what the WWC is all about.
— Liron T.
WWC was a haven and a respite and a source of energy, strength, creativity, courage, and community when I needed all of those things perhaps more than ever before. Two of the biggest lessons I will take away from this experience are the power of being part of an intentional community and the power of reflecting on one’s own story, experiences, beliefs, habits, and values.
Sarah K Peck, you have done a brilliant job of curating this group in every way, from convening this specific assemblage of beautifully human humans to shaping the experience with thought, care, and no shortage of magic all the way through.
— Jody R. K.
— Caroline O.
— Alicia J.
— Valentina T.
The Program & Structure
We host a weekly gathering space to be in community with other wise women navigating parenting, business, and leadership. We host one or two sessions per week to make it as easy as possible to fit within your schedule. It’s a blend of live calls, live coaching, guided connection, and vulnerability — so that we can support each other’s growth, get help navigating hard puzzles, and build our long-term inner clarity and wisdom.
PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
The Design & Rhythm
— Every month, we cycle through the following framework —
CONNECT
Tap into a powerful community of women founders, leaders, and small business owners to accelerate your growth and learning.
Build deeper relationships and life-long connections. Our highly facilitated connection calls go beyond “networking” into friendship, respect, and true support.
Laughter, games, stories, and tears—a full-breadth experience to allow our humanity to be there with us in all of it.
“This is one of the most magical communities I’ve ever been a part of.”
LEARN
Twice a month, we bring wise, vetted experts in to support your leadership development, business growth, and overall wellbeing.
Our Business Breakthrough sessions focus on how to streamline your business, reduce the chaos, be strategic about growth, and market effectively.
Our Leadership Sessions support you in deepening your wisdom, build at your personal growth edges, and improve your stamina and energy reserves.
“My mind is already blown and we’re only 7 minutes in.”
INTEGRATE
Drop-in coaching sessions every month to work through puzzles and challenges in real time with senior coaches and executive leaders who’ve been there.
A small-group mastermind. You’ll be matched in a small group with women in a similar stage of business to you to. For six months, give and get support in an audio chat room.
Weekly reflection prompts and conversation starters in our community chat room to dig deeper.
“I NEVER KNEW THERE WERE All of the possibilities FOR MY career at 40 and 50!”
REST
We practice what we preach—every month, a week to focus on rest, as bold or bitty as you want. Rest is baked into our program.
Learning doesn’t always happen when we’re constantly pushing. Yielding, receiving, and allowing are some of the more powerful forms of growth.
Rest can be one of the hardest things to learn, especially in today’s world, but can be one of the most dramatic game-changers there is. That’s why we practice.
“Turns out, focusing on sleep is me focusing on my business.”
“I feel so proud of everyone — not only for what we’ve achieved this year, but for being vulnerable in discussions that helped us grow.”
— Lexi Grant, Media Entrepreneur & Founder of They Got Acquired
Here’s what people tell me about what motherhood and entrepreneurship feels like:
IT’S OVERWHELMING.
Parenting and running a business at the same time? It’s impossible. It’s exhausting. It’s crying in a corner of the kitchen. There are things that make you want to throw stuff at the wall. Yes, there are blinking moments of stunning beauty. It’s going too fast.
Why doesn’t anyone say anything?
Why the hell didn’t anyone tell you the truth about it when you signed up for this? Sometimes it feels insane. Like the work world is not designed for working parents. (It’s not! And it’s nuts!)
IT’S LONELY.
What people don’t tell you about running a business—or even any high-powered leadership track—is that it’s really fucking lonely. Why aren’t more people talking about this? And, you wonder, will it be like this forever? It’s such a pickle: you want to connect more with other women, but you feel like you don’t have enough time. You wish someone would just do it for you!
THERE’S SO MUCH MORE YOU WANT TO DO.
You know there’s more inside of you, but you need help sorting—decluttering, figuring, planning, making time—you wish you had a business mentor. And a mentor in parenting. And like eight more adults in your life to handle the load, to be honest…
INFLUENCERS AND PERFECT PARENTS MAKE YOU RAGEY.
You don’t believe the shiny photos on Instagram. It feels like everyone is just faking it and trying to paint a utopian picture of motherhood and parenting that’s just not real. Social media scrolling makes you feel worse about yourself, and also, your house is always messy. Always. Constantly.
IT WOULD BE NICE TO TALK TO PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY GET IT.
You want a moms group — maybe? But you question if they’re actually going to work. You’ve heard it might be good to have a community of like-minded women. If you’re being honest, you’re hungry for a space to talk to other brilliant women about deeper truths. You want belly laughs and deep cries and people who get how hard this can be. Does that actually exist?
YOU WANT SOMEONE IN YOUR CORNER — A COACH, A MENTOR, A GUIDE, ANYONE.
Who do you turn to that’s done this before? The generations before us navigated such different challenges. Is there a mentor or a guide to chat with every so often? You wish there was someone who has been through it, who has gathered the team, who has resources to share. Who can listen to you, and help you through the sticky times.
This is why I made the Wise Women’s Council. It’s a place for honest conversation and actual creativity & ideation alongside people who are living a similar life to you.
“WWC is an incredible blessing. It was a gift I didn’t know I needed. I found companionship, friendship, business support, cheerleaders, and new ideas.
— Lee Price, founder of View Finder Parters & thought leadership consultant.
Core Beliefs
— What we’re building towards —
THE CURRENT MODEL:
❌ Being a working parent is a tremendous challenge, leaving women exhausted, frustrated, spent, angry, and isolated.
❌ Work and motherhood are often pitted against each other, and the higher we go in the ranks of our careers, the more isolated we can feel.
❌ The world of work wasn’t designed with working parents in mind at all—and it especially wasn’t designed with women’s biology in mind.
❌ Advice to push harder, lean in, get better systems, and delegate won’t solve a broken system. It’s deeper than delegation. But the work and exhaustion never stops.
❌ More than 30% of moms leave the workforce after they have kids, even though they don’t want to, due to a lack of flexibility, understanding, and support.
Yet most women want to keep working, and they want to pursue their dreams and ambitions. That’s why we believe, teach, and practice different ways of living, being, and working here at Startup Parent.
THE CORE BELIEFS WE BUILD FROM:
🌿 1.
We don’t have to do things the way they’ve always been done.
Building a business, being a working parent, and navigating this new world of work as a woman is hard. If hustle culture is burning you out and you feel hundreds of miles away from your feelings and your dreams, then the current models of leadership aren’t working. We won’t get through it doing the same things the same way they’ve always been done. In fact, that’s one of our mottos: We don’t have to do things the way they’ve always been done.
🌿 2.
You were never meant to go it alone.
Here in The Wise Women’s Council are women who will get you, who are redesigning the world of work and parenting alongside you. Instead of trying to figure out your next steps on your own, you need to be in a network of kind-hearted, driven, brave women who are sharing knowledge and ideas. This is the advisory board and leadership circle you need to support you as you navigate your life.
🌿 3.
Parenting and work do not need to be at odds.
At Startup Parent, we believe that parenting shouldn’t be at odds with work—and the insights from your parenting journey propels you as a leader that this world needs.
It’s okay to rest, to go slower, and to make space for family. You don’t have to give up a career to have kids. You might have to re-invent it, however.
Because it’s up to us to figure out the new world of work, the path forward in parenting, and to build the world we want to live in.
🌿 4.
Motherhood is an incredible time of growth and development.
We believe that motherhood and parenting are incredible assets in your growth and development. The skills you gain have the potential to transform your leadership ability and give you unparalleled gifts that the executive suites and board rooms need more of. But the current world of work largely ignores these very real puzzles, and as a result, our leadership capacities are stifled.
🌿 5.
Parenting and work can fit together when we edit and update the design of our lives.
At Startup Parent, we believe that parenting shouldn’t be at odds with work—and the insights from your parenting journey propels you as a leader that this world needs. We’ve put together this incubator to help women grow as leaders, supporting you with coaching, a stand-out community, business breakout sessions, and expert guidance in the way of our group advisory board.
🌿 6.
Radical change happens when we get to show up as our full selves.
We need to show up as our full selves—complete with partnership challenges, marriage struggles, parenting snafus, fertility disappointments, and more—in order to continue to grow in our full leadership potential. Come be seen, heard, supported, and understood.
OUR FRAMEWORK:
Growth happens when we’re deeply connected and supported, not isolated. We won’t get through it doing the same things the same way they’ve always been done. Together, we meet weekly to gather, laugh, cry, connect, and share.We’re here to support you as you lean into your own growth curves and exploring the capacity of your own leadership potential right now, yes, inside of the chaos that life can feel like at any given moment.
All of the Details
The program and calls in more depth — what each session is like.
COMMUNITY ALL-GROUP CALLS
First Thursdays at 1pm Eastern
The first week of every month, we gather together in community and share insights and stories from our lives. Start your month off with a full heart by joining our monthly call. These aren’t teaching calls as much as they are connection calls—so you get to talk, share, and go deeper with other people.
You’ll meet with other people in the community in real time. We’ll pause, breathe, and come together. These are tightly facilitated, vulnerable, important conversations with plenty of time to connect with other women and share where you are on the journey.
Calls are hosted on Zoom and recorded for you to replay later. I highly encourage you to attend these live if you can.
BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGHS
Second week —Wednesdays & Thursdays 1pm Eastern
One of the consistent challenges of parent groups is that we get stuck talking only about, well, parenting. In this group, we host dedicated workshops specifically on business skills to help you level up throughout the year. Every month do live business trainings for everyone in the Wise Women’s Council. Each session is recorded for playback in the online portal so you can dig deep into your peer’s growth alongside your own.
We’ll welcome a host of phenomenal teachers for you to learn from throughout the year.
DROP-IN SESSIONS
Third week, Wednesdays at 1pm Eastern.
The third week of every month, one of our coaches or teachers will lead a drop-in hot-seat session available to everyone in the community. To participate in these sessions, we ask you to share a puzzle in your personal or professional life and join the “hot seat” to get laser coaching time with our coach or with peers. If you want to attend to watch and listen, you’ll get to learn from others going through their own growth journeys.
During drop-in coaching session we select two or three puzzles for a deeper look, and do rapid-fire Q/A for everyone else with questions.
BONUS (OR BREAK) WEEK
Fourth week of every month.
Busy parents have slim pickings when it comes to extra time, so while we also host a monthly book club and bring in expert guest teachers each month, these are optional extras for you to explore and apply as they fit your own life. This is not a course, so there is no grade.
Most people pick 2 or 3 books and listen to just a handful of the guest sessions and report back that it was more than enough to create key insights in their business. It’s not how much you consume, it’s how much you apply and grow. If you need a break, you can take this week to rest or chat with other members!
DEEP DIVE MEMBER INTERVIEWS
Held the first month only—one for every member.
The coaches and I bring every member of The Council into the interview seat and ask you about your life, your entrepreneurial journey, and your parenting journey. We have so much to learn from each other.
One of my favorite places to be is in the dark of evening, by a warm, outside campfire, talking about life stories with friends. The best way to foster connection and growth is through deep listening. I love asking questions—my friends call me a “loving interrogator,” which is accurate! While we don’t gather in person, I try to recreate this experience in my interviews sessions.
Interviews are in small groups, recorded for the community.
PRIVATE VOXER CIRCLES
People RAVE about these circles.
Making a live call is the bane of my existence. School shut-downs? Ice storms? Another Covid variant? All of a sudden my calendar explodes like an overnight zit and I’m like WHY CAN I NEVER GO TO THESE THINGS.
Mama, we got you. The live calls are only half of the program. We also have ways for you to connect outside of live calls—from our private member portal to our monthly Voxer Circles.
Voxer is a private audio app where you get to talk to other people and explore conversations with each other. Whether you’re hiding in your car for a 5-minute break or you listen to the stories from other people while you’re prepping a million meals, Voxer makes connection possible for working moms. We put you in Voxer circles every month along with a coach or alumni member. We give you question prompts to start the conversation, and the best part is you don’t have to get fancy, you’re not on video, and you don’t ever have to make something on time.
We pair you up with around six other women each month to get to know each other deeper, without adding anything to your calendar or requiring much more from you.
“I’m a TOTAL Voxer convert now,” — A mom from last year’s group.
“I honestly don’t know who I would be without the Wise Women’s Council. I don’t know how you led us through this in a pandemic, but it was everything I needed and more.”
— MaryKate, Senior Transportation & Engineering Consultant
Guest Teachers & Business Speakers
Sometimes you need someone on the outside to look at what you’re doing to provide clarity. Every year I invite guest teachers—experts in our themes, and brilliant minds thinking about business, growth, marketing, feminism, and more—to join us and share their wisdom in a private session for this mastermind. Here’s a sampling of some of the teachers that have joined us over the past few years. New guest teachers for the upcoming year will be announced on our newsletter.
JORDAN MANEY: REST IS NOT A LUXURY
Jordan Maney is not okay with being silenced or invisible—something that happens for too often for BIPOC folx, for fat bodies, and for women. She speaks out about the radical act of claiming your rest and joy, and helps people de-program from the programming of white supremacy and patriarchy.
MICHELLE FLORENDO: DECISION MAKING
Michelle is a decision engineer who helps executives and leaders make better decisions. Her process of expanding your options and understanding your aims will help you see new possibilities and make even better decisions, especially when the stakes are high.
DACY GILLESPIE: MINDFUL CLOSET
Dacy is the founder of Mindful Closet, and a personal stylist who teaches about more than just clothes: she helps you feel good in the body you have, and find ways to express yourself in a way that feels good to you. She helps us unpack the loaded mindsets women are expected to adopt, and how to rethink what it means to feel good as who you are.
MICHELLE WARNER: BUSINESS STRUCTURES
Michelle Warner has built million-dollar startups and now consults to help people build sustainable businesses that last. A repeat teacher in WWC, she helps you focus on exactly what stage your business is in so you can do the right things in the right order.
NICOLE WALTERS: MONEY & SCALE
Nicole Walters is a former top-selling corporate exec who quit her six-figure sales job and built a million-dollar business in one short year. She knows entrepreneurship, scale, and how to build a rich life.
RENEE ST JACQUES: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
What is EQ and how does it differ from IQ? Speaker, psychologist, and executive coach Dr. St Jacques teaches highly driven executives how to tap into emotional intelligence skills and become great leaders.
PARIJAT DESHPANDE: HIGH RISK PREGNANCY EXPERT
Parijat joins us to talk about structure, daily life, and leaning into what life has for you when it goes completely different than what you expect. She’s the author of Pregnancy Brain, a book about the mind-body connection.
ASHLEY FEINSTEIN GERSTLEY: FINANCIAL FREEDOM
Ashley is an author, entrepreneur, and feminist who is on a mission to end inequality through financial well-being. She is the founder of the Fiscal Femme and author of The 30-Day Money Cleanse.
LAURA ROEDER, BOOTSTRAPPING + STARTUPS
Laura Roeder has bootstrapped multiple major businesses. She joins us to talk about scaling your business, growing it in a way that works with parenthood, and developing into a company leader.
RACHEL WRIGHT: SEX, RELATIONSHIPS + MENTAL HEALTH
Psychotherapist Rachel Wright is recognized as one of the freshest voices on modern relationships and sex. She is an experienced speaker, group facilitator, educator, therapist, coach, and on-camera mental health, sex, and relationship expert.
MARGO AARON: MARKETING
Margo Aaron began her career as a psychological researcher and stumbled into a problem: how do you get people to care, and take actions to do the things that help them get better? That’s when she accidentally ended up in marketing, persuasion, and copywriting.
ADAM SMILEY POSWOLSKY, BUILDING A PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER
Adam is a millennial workplace expert, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of The Quarter-Life Breakthrough and The Breakthrough Speaker. His third book, Friendship in the Age of Loneliness, will be published by Hachette in 2021.
NAILAH BLADES WYLIE: POWER + PLAY
Nailah Blades Wylie is a Life & Leadership Coach who helps women tap into their power and build lives that are whole, good, and full of possibility. She started Color Outside as a safe place for women of color to come together and explore the outdoors.
AMBER ANDERSON: WOMEN + IDENTITY
Amber Anderson is also a creative, a strategist and co-founder of Tote + Pears, the agency that designs and markets products, services and experiences for women and their families. Amber helps businesses and brands connect with women authentically by highlighting the multidimensional experiences that shape their identities.
ANNA LAMAN: MESSAGING STRATEGY
Anna is a messaging coach for freelancers, consultants, and other solo entrepreneurs. Part business coach and part writing coach, she helps people become more articulate, confident, and purposeful in communicating about their work so they can attract better clients.
CHELA DAVISON: LEADERSHIP CALLING
Chela Davison is an Integral Master CoachTM teacher, writer and speaker. She works with those making change and seeking change: renowned authors, entrepreneurs, coaches and leaders in the field of human development.
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Meet Your Coaches
These are the people holding space for you throughout the year. If you’d like to go deeper with 1:1 personalized coaching, we offer 1:1 and small group coaching as an add-on for added clarity, support, and personalized feedback and growth.
Michelle Florendo
DECISION ENGINEER & COACH FOR TYPE-A PROFESSIONALS
Michelle Florendo is a personal and executive coach for Type-A professionals and is known for her analytical approach to coaching. With a BS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Michelle uses a blend of decision engineering, design thinking, and lean startup principles to help her clients map their path forward. Michelle teaches driven professionals how to use the principles of decision engineering to craft careers that energize them.
Michelle has lead workshops at the Haas Berkeley Women In Leadership Conference and guest-taught on career decision making in Stanford’s famous Design Your Life course. She served on the inaugural coaching team for Seth Godin’s altMBA, is a founding member of the Forbes Coaches Council, and is an adjunct faculty member at New Ventures West.
Sara Taylor Tans
CERTIFIED COACH & BUSINESS OWNER
Sara Tans is an ICF-certified coach and founder of Pathways to Parenthood, where she provides strategic support to new and working parents and the companies who employ them.
Sara believes that every parent could benefit from having a coach. She is passionate about helping women navigate the overwhelm that comes with the parental transition and supporting them in finding ways to continue to grow the spaces in their lives that make them feel like themselves, while still being the parent they want to be. Sara also believes that companies have a lot of work to do to provide the type of work environment that allows families to thrive and aims to provide solution- based guidance to both organizations and their employees. Sara has supported hundreds of working parents through her businesses, Pathways toParenthood and Coaching By Sara. Sara also serves as a Career & Back-to-Work Coach for Maven Clinic.
Mariana Vélez
CERTIFIED INTEGRAL COACH
As a certified Integral Coach, Mariana is committed to helping people develop emotional, embodied and relational capacity, and reclaim territories of peace within themselves, so they can move meaningfully through their lives.
She brings ten years of experience in the non-profit and public sectors to her coaching, including work with the United Nations Development Program and in Mexico City’s Human Rights Commission. Originally from Mexico, her strong intercultural background — including time living in Panama, Ecuador, Canada and the United States — informs her coaching work.
She is a certified Integral Coach from New Ventures West in San Francisco, California and a highly skilled process facilitator. In addition to her role as a coach, she currently works at The Nature Conservancy, strengthening leadership networks around Indigenous and community-based conservation.
We want you in The Wise Women's Council with us this year.
Applications for the Wise Women's Council are now open. Early Bird applications are eligible for the early bird special bonuses.
LEADERSHIP VISION
What we’ve found in running this program for four years is that the community becomes the incubator for your personal and professional growth. The structure—a weekly cadence of live calls and hands-on discovery—is focused on creating space for your own integration and exploration. This is a space for your full self to show up, a place to develop, test, and refine your leadership skills. In doing so, you’ll expand your leadership capacity.
The world of parenting today doesn’t look like what it did in years past. How we work and how we parent are undergoing massive changes.
Leadership growth happens when you show up as your full self.
The Wise Women’s Council is a space for you show up fully across all areas of your life—with the mess at home, or the stress at work, and with all of the callings that still ache inside of you.
Here’s what I believe is missing from modern leadership models:
- Dedicated space with clear boundary articulation so we can have deep, brave conversations and examine some of life’s biggest questions.
- Intimate personal connections built through multiple mediums and layered conversations—the kind that lead to feeling fully seen and develop into life-long friendships.
- A feminine, creative, connective leadership that is dynamic, fluid, and intuitive.
- An understanding of female biology and systems, to complement and engage with our overly rigid, singularly-masculine work and management styles.
- Honor and respect for how parenting, caretaking, and community are essential parts of life, and have so many leadership lessons to teach us.
LEADERSHIP PHILOSPHY
What we’ve found in running this program for four years is that the community becomes the incubator for your personal and professional growth. The structure—a weekly cadence of live calls and hands-on discovery—is focused on creating space for your own integration and exploration. This is a space for your full self to show up, a place to develop, test, and refine your leadership skills. In doing so, you’ll expand your leadership capacity.
Our Leadership Philosophy
— Connection, community, and grounded internal wisdom are missing from today’s world of work —
CONFIDENTIAL, CANDID CONVERSATIONS
Real, brave, human conversations at the intersection of life and work, with people who are going through it alongside you. Space for layered conversations that build over time, month over month both in real time and in our online portal you can access on your own time.
INTEGRATION OF LIFE + WORK
Show up messy and real. Don’t leave parts of yourself behind. There are too many boundaries and edges in how women are supposed to “perform,” and we need to strip back those layers to find who we really are, and lead from there.
STRONG CONTAINERS FOR GROWTH
Our frameworks, ground rules, and core values create a strong container for growth. Many people even adopt and share our models, refining them for their own teams and in their own styles!
EXPERIMENTATION & PERSONALIZATION
The intimacy and confidentiality of the group sessions creates a container for your leadership growth. We support your growth and give you guidance as you implement new tools, frameworks, and mindset approaches. Show up once a week for a year, and grow into the next version of yourself.
HOW THIS ALL STARTED
— Pregnancy was far more difficult than I’d ever expected—
Pregnancy was tougher than I expected.
I was working in tech at a venture-backed startup with a team of young guys. We didn’t have parental leave policies—no one had gotten pregnant before! Plus, my partner and I didn’t have any family around, and I learned how few people have the village of support they need. Work had become so toxic and over-reaching, that building and sustaining community was near impossible.
Within the male-dominated tech world, I was desperate to hear how other women were doing it—how were they parenting, feeding, working?
I started interviewing people to hear from other parents, which turned into The Startup Parent Podcast. It grew to half a million downloads, 175 interviews (and counting!) and 100+ five-star reviews within the first two years.
What I didn’t know then was how healing these stories would be for me. Interviewing hundreds of parents about entrepreneurship, pregnancy, parenting—and the transformational chaos that happens when you invite kids into your life—was my lifeline. From there, I started bringing women together in smaller groups. Our first council was eight women. Our second council was eighteen women. This is the community I needed when I became a parent.
The Wise Women’s Council is a space to bring people together in one of the toughest times of their lives. We support women founders and business leaders in building lives and schedules they can sustain, that bring them joy, and that meet them where they are. We support moms in becoming the next generation of leaders that our world of work needs.
Today, I’m figuring out how to build this for more people—so that all the parents who need space like this can find a group to connect with. We’ve grown to over one hundred members so far, and creating intimate containers for small groups while also space for knowledge sharing and wisdom, is our next adventure. Join us.
MY STORY
I’m Sarah Peck, the creator of Startup Parent and the Wise Women’s Council.
I’m Sarah Peck, the creator of Startup Parent and the Wise Women’s Council.
At my heart, I’m a writer and a community builder. I’ve hosted retreats, masterminds, and group programs for over a decade. Whether it’s in-person or online, small or big,—you name it, I’ve done it. What I do best is connect people: to ideas, opportunities, and to new friends.
My professional journey: My background is in design, marketing, and entrepreneurship. I’ve worked and consulted at venture-backed startups, created a freelance company, built an online product shop, wrote a blog for 10 years, started a podcast that became one of the top 1% of podcasts globally, and then founded this company after I had kids. Before that, I worked as a communications consultant and marketing expert for architecture companies. My writing and work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, Psychology Today, Fast Company, 99U, Forbes, Inc, and more.
When I was growing up, there was a whole lot of pressure to do well in science and math from a very nerdy academic family. I do love math, but my skill is actually with people, especially when it comes to seeing the big picture and synthesizing complex ideas into language people can understand.
I’m happy to own how much I love reading, studying, note-taking, and being a nerd. I did an undergraduate degree in psychology and a thesis on the study of environmental design and human behavior, and then a master’s degree in landscape architecture & regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania’s school of design. After spending five years of working in city, regional, and urban planning and design, I pivoted to the world of communications and storytelling. In 2021, I completed my MBA from Quantic School of Business and Technology.
What I learned from the architecture world is that ideas and visions matter, but communicating them effectively is really hard. It requires translation through drawing, writing, speaking, and storytelling. I bring a mix of media tools and design techniques to our sessions in order to facilitate transformation in profound ways.
Here are a few of my core life philosophies that I strive to live up to:
The first is a commitment to growth, which means making your Self the best place you can to be, since we are embodied selves. Another is experimentation, and a willingness to know you don’t have to do things the way they’ve always been done. “Let’s try it and see” is a phrase we use often in our household.
I believe in whole-life integration. I don’t see work, community, presence, spirit, or health as separate entities. For example, movement has been fundamental to my life—from swimming in college as an NCAA athlete, to becoming a triathlete and a yoga teacher, so learning to sit in a meditation style that works for me, it’s all part of life.
I’ve always been incredibly driven, and love doing new things and meeting new people. But my drive has edges—it must be internal, rooted, and wise to me. Learning to distinguish external pressure from internal energy has made all the difference.
Currently I live at home in New York City with my husband and our two boys. I’m a huge fan of camping, hiking, outdoor adventures, reading books, getting deeply nerdy around ideas, and hosting dinner parties at my house.
We want you in The Wise Women's Council with us this year.
Applications for the Wise Women's Council are now open. Early Bird applications are eligible for the early bird special bonuses.
What People Are Saying:
MEMBER PROFILE
Meet Pavla Loka,
Founder Storyteller
Pavla joined us in 2020 as a new mom to twins, and joined us again in 2021 and 2022.
MEMBER PROFILE
Meet Alicia Jabbar,
Women’s Leadership Coach
Alicia joined us in 2021 and 2022.
MEMBER PROFILE
Meet Erin Simpson,
Founder & Principal of Brick Lane PR
Erin was pregnant when she signed up to join The Wise Women’s Council in 2019.
I had been devouring the podcast and found it really inspiring as I was mentally piecing together what life as an entrepreneur, working mother, wife, might look like. I said “Ahh, these are my people!” I knew I’d transition into becoming a mother during the course of the WWC so it felt like the perfect way to learn, grow and get support from and connect with an amazing group of like-minded women during this vulnerable and uncertain time.
You’ll be surprised how big of an impact WWC can have on your life, and how much you grow by being connected with these women, and what you’ve probably been missing in other areas of your life.
After WWC, I am more honest, more vulnerable, more open and also am challenging myself to be really kind to myself. I am used to just being heads down cranking away and taking the time, space, and care to just sit with new feelings was scary but so rewarding. I feel like I just can see things differently now.
It was amazing was how kind, helpful and loving these people I hadn’t met in person could be, and sometimes I felt more seen and heard by them than people I see and talk to every day.
MEMBER PROFILE
Meet Alexis Grant,
Founder of The Write Life
Alexis is a media entrepreneur who helps grow companies, teams, people, and profit. She helped grow The Penny Hoarder from a small team to 100 people, and now she’s building They Got Acquired. She joined us for four years and is now a proud WWC alumni.
I joined WWC because I wanted to connect with other women who were juggling both career and family in a supportive space. I loved the support we all provided each other through career and personal decisions and transitions. Being in the company of these women constantly reminded me that all the sometimes-conflicting feelings I have about family, business and life are normal, and that other women are working through a lot of the same challenges.
It can be really lonely struggling to balance career and family, especially as a new parent. This group added the layer of support I was craving. In my first few years as a working mom, I felt like it was just so hard, and how the heck was everyone else doing it? My ah-ha moment during this mastermind was that it’s hard for everyone else, too. Sometimes just knowing you’re not alone in your struggle, and having someone else to talk to about it, is enough to get through it.
JOIN US
THE WISE WOMEN’S COUNCIL
Membership Options & Pricing
- All Group Gathering Calls—the first week of every month.
- Business Breakthrough Sessions—the second week of every month.
- Drop-in Coaching Sessions—coaching sessions every month for guided laser coaching and workshopping with your peers and a coach.
- 1:1 Deep Dive Interview with every member in the community—described as “one of the best things I never knew I needed—I love LOVE getting to know everyone this way!”
- A private podcast featuring you and your fellow council members so you can get to know everyone while going about your daily life.
- Small group audio chats where you will be matched with peers at your level to check-in on progress and discuss the themes throughout the year. New groups start every six months.
- A private, highly curated member portal to connect and talk with everyone in the community.
ANNUAL PROGRAM
EARLY BIRD TUITION
$375 / month
Plus a one-time fee of $1,175.
Payment plan: A non-refundable deposit of $1,175 to hold your spot, plus twelve (12) monthly payments of $375.
Pay-in-full: Save $475 when you pay your tuition fees in full.
ANNUAL PROGRAM
PROGRAM TUITION
$475 / month
Plus a one-time fee of $1,175.
Payment plan: A non-refundable deposit of $1,175 to hold your spot, plus twelve (12) monthly payments of $475.
Pay-in-full: Save $475 when you pay your tuition fees in full.
HALF YEAR
HALF YEAR TUITION
$575 / month
Plus a one-time fee of $1,075.
Payment plan: A non-refundable deposit of $1,075 to hold your spot, plus twelve (12) monthly payments of $575.
Pay-in-full: Save $325 when you pay your tuition fees in full.
A few important details. Tuition is due in full by the time we begin the program together. If you enroll in a payment plan, you are responsible for all payments—your space in non-refundable and non-replaceable.
Refund policy. As a service-based offering, we do not offer refunds after the program begins. There is a non-refundable deposit, and any payments you have made are non-refundable. In the case of emergencies or extenuating circumstances, we will work with people on a case-by-case basis and enroll you in a future session.
Scholarships. We have a select number of scholarships available in pursuit of social equity and social justice. All of the information about our scholarship program is on our application form. When you apply, select on the application that you’d like to apply for a scholarship.
EARLY BIRD 2023
APPLICATION DEADLINE
SEPT 14
REGULAR 2023
APPLICATION DEADLINE
SEPT 28
FALL COHORT KICKOFF
OCT 3
Extras
During the program, you’ll also get complimentary access to our library of how-to guides and mini-books, an invitation to our monthly book club, and an all-access pass to our private member portal. My ask of you? Take only what you need, and customize it so it suits you perfectly.
MONTHLY BOOK CLUB
If you enjoy reading together, we’ll have one new book each month to share and read alongside each other throughout the year. For those of you who don’t have time to read, we’ll share shorter articles, quotes and questions so you can follow along in the club, even if you didn’t have time to read all the books. The last weekend of the month, we’ll have a casual book-club in our Slack channel around the book of the month. Scroll down to see what books we’re reading!
Held in a virtual Slack room.
Don’t know Slack? Don’t worry. We’ll teach you.
MONTHLY THEMES
Each month, I’ll introduce a new theme and topic for discussion: from boundaries to focus to visibility to money, we’ll go there. This is the place for us to talk about all of it. We’re not afraid of real talk or depth. But getting to the good stuff can be hard.
That’s why I lead us into it—I’ll kick it off with a set of stories, and share questions and reflections to get the conversation going. Our book club pick will be related to each monthly theme. We’ll also share a few prompts for you to write about your own experiences with our topic.
All available in our private member space, voxer circles, and all-group calls.
PRIVATE ONLINE DIGITAL SPACE FOR THE COMMUNITY
A private Slack channel and website for members of the group only. This will be a space for you to connect with other members, post questions, and have ongoing connection. Every week, there will be a community prompt posted. I’ll lead us with question prompts. This works across web and mobile devices.
Always available, digital space for our community only. Sarah and coaches drop in 1-2 times weekly.
ASK-ME-ANYTHING PODCAST WITH SARAH
Want my brain on a puzzle? Curious how I solve something? Each month I’ll answer your trickiest Q’s on a private podcast. Submit your questions—from business to marketing to parenting and more—and I’ll record an in-depth, thoughtful answer to help you move forward.(Plus, you’ll get access to the archives, too.)
One new episode each month. Download and listen whenever—a private podcast while you do laundry, dishes, workout. You do you.
More from Alumni:
— Testimonials and experiences from previous alumni, including a few notes from mastermind participants who were in the earliest group program iterations before this officially became the Wise Women’s Council) —
I knew going into 2021 that it would be a hard year to establish new friendships in person, so I thought that it would be a great opportunity to meet new people online in a similar stage of life to me.
What I didn’t expect was just how expansive WWC was for me. The people I met, what I learned both about myself and the world – it truly expanded what I thought was possible about working parenthood.
We want you in The Wise Women's Council with us this year.
Applications for the Wise Women's Council are now open. Early Bird applications are eligible for the early bird special bonuses.
It’s time for you to lead.
So often I see women looking around, asking for mentors, questioning, “What’s next?”
You’re next, my dear. The time is now. You are the leader that the world is looking for.
The good news: if it feels like it’s confusing, overwhelming, and intimidating—you’re well on your way. We’re a group of women dedicated to doing things that have never been done before, which means it is bound to be a little messy.
So what? We’re #boss when it comes to wiping up shit, managing the motherload, and negotiating with toddlers. Even after all that, we still get to work. That’s what it’s all about.
Leadership is big. It’s a lot. We’re here for you and your growth. It you’re here, I know that you are building something big with your life and your work, and it’s time for you, me, and all of us to step into our strength.
But leadership shouldn’t mean doing it alone. Nope, not here. Here at Startup Parent, we build up the next generation of female founders and business women by leaning on the strength of each other.
We can’t do things the way they’ve always been done and expect different results.
Let’s forge a new path of working, parenting, and being. Together.
We’ll go deep. Talk about the important stuff. We’ve got big things we need to discuss, and we need to be in conversation with each other. Things break down when people are separated and isolated from each other. That’s why we need to be in community. We’ll be together for much of the year, discussing the things that matter, sharing on topics that need to be discussed.
Motherhood, entrepreneurship, pregnancy: it is currently way too lonely. Kurt Vonnegut once wrote that we need at least fifty people in our lives. I agree: we need way more people in our lives. More good people. The goal here? Meet new and familiar faces as we journey together through these challenging, but so rewarding, years of our lives.
We need other women in our lives. Not after-work drinking buddies. Not light professional connections. Not fake friendships. We need people who are in the trenches with us, thinking big, tackling the challenges of our generation. Women who are changing what it looks like to be a working woman and what it means to raise children.
Come for the yearly program. Make connections to change the rest of your life.
It’s not always easy to see where you’re going—or the fullness of your own potential. We’ll help you see both.
EARLY BIRD 2023
APPLICATION DEADLINE
SEPT 14
REGULAR 2023
APPLICATION DEADLINE
SEPT 28
FALL COHORT KICKOFF
OCT 3
You’ve Got Questions
I’ll do my best to answer all of them.
What is the time commitment?
We average 90 minutes a week for the live calls and expect around 30 minutes a week in Slack or Voxer. Think of this like a weekly meeting three times a month, plus the best chat room you never knew you needed.
Our goal is to offer you flexibility and choice. We know that the last thing you need is more on your to-do list. That’s why this community has been designed and refined over many iterations to fit the lives of most busy working parents everywhere. You can come more when you want to go deep (you might have a big month and need more support), and if you have to skip a week, totally fine.
Start with the all-group call on your calendar. The first Thursday of every month, 90 minutes. That’s a must. Add one business breakthrough (90 minutes) and the coaching call (join when you can—when you need it). That’s the framework and the foundation. Miss one? Watch the replay or trust that you’ll connect again next week.
We offer a couple of options for you to engage: 90 minute calls at the start of the month, small group coaching, drop-in sessions, guest teachers, Voxer circles, and more — you can spend several hours per week connecting, or a few hours per month. The content is downloadable and streamable offline; we focus on audio, on-demand, and asynchronous as much as possible so you can listen while folding laundry, driving, running errands — or whatever you’ve got going on.
Do you have to be a parent to join?
Want to support other mothers and women in their journeys? You can still join.
This is a space for women to be around other women who are thinking about these issues and navigating these choices alongside you. We will spend a fair amount of time talking, thinking, and workshopping parenting issues, so consider this if you want to apply.
How are the Zoom calls led?
The goal is to create expectations and offer structure, so that the time we spend together is supportive and fills you up, instead of becoming just another meeting to dread.
For more about group guidelines and what makes our calls so special, check out this blog post.
How many people will be part of the community?
Every time we grow, we add coaches, create breakout cohorts, and facilitate small groups to retain the intimacy necessary for deep conversation.
We are aiming for 30-40 women in our upcoming cycle, but we’ll welcome as many as we can confidently provide support for.
Will you be offering scholarships or work-study programs?
We also offer scholarships in support of social justice + equity, and award as many as we can each year to marginalized groups. If you identify as BIPOC or LGTBQIA+, if you’re a single mom, in a low-income or non-profit position, or you would otherwise like to apply for the scholarship, all of the details are on the application form.
Please indicate on your application that you are interested in being considered for this option, which reduces the program fee by up to 30%. There are limited spaces available each year.
What is Voxer?
We use Voxer for small group conversations between our live calls, so that you can feel connected even if your schedule doesn’t align perfectly with our meetings. It creates the opportunity for real-time conversation, or a place to catch up when we’re ships passing in the (jam-packed) days and (sometimes sleepless) nights.
The app is free to use, and participation in Voxer circles is optional.
Do you need to be an entrepreneur?
You can be anywhere in your business journey — whether that’s as a leader at a company, building a side hustle along a job you love, or thinking about taking the leap into something new.
Our entrepreneurs come in many shapes: small business owners, side project makers, authors and creatives, freelancers, venture-backed startups, angel investors and people looking for board members, and senior-level managers and VPs looking to start a new project or venture in the coming years.
We have female founders who have been entrepreneurs for years, and we also have badass leaders in all sorts of industries who recognize how important it is to be surrounded by other women who are passionate about making great work in the world.
In the words of one of our past members, “I know there’s a big move coming for me this year, but I don’t know what it is yet. I want to be able to be around other women while I make these big career moves.”
If that sounds like you, then you’re our kind of people.
What are you looking for in a community member?
We are interested in forming a community where people don’t feel alone, or like the “only one” of their identity or situation. Whether it’s single motherhood, divorce, adoption, disability, race, gender fluidity, we strive to create a community that is supportive of all walks of motherhood.
If you identify as any of these things — if you are an intra-preneur, or feel entrepreneurial and creative — come join us! We’d love to see you apply.
How much time and access to Sarah will I have?
In addition, you’ll have the online portal and I’m in the community often — every week — throughout the program. My goal is to try to start conversations and get going on the big, meaty stuff that might feel hard to talk about. With strong guidelines (you’ll get our community rules when you join!), we can create containers for good, open conversation.
If you want to work 1:1 together, check out the executive coaching options or the small group coaching program.
We have some extraordinary coaches on staff who can give you space, energy, and time to figure out your next moves. The group coaching program is one of the best all-around coaching packages out there, and an extraordinary value.
That said, I don’t go small with what I do and am committed to knowing each participant. I read every word of every application, and keep a chart on the wall by my desk of every single member. I cherish the connections we make and getting to be a part of your life.
Can my company support me in this? How do you get your business or company to help pay for this?
I encourage you to ask at your workplace, and tell them you’re looking at a yearlong leadership coaching program or leadership training program. (If you run your own company, this is an education & training expense that you can file with your accountant.)
Great companies are invested in supporting their women leaders and often don’t know how to support women going through the shifts in pregnancy, parenting, and life changes that come at the same time as great leaps in business. Keep in mind that they want to help, and it often needs to fit within the umbrella of what they understand and have done before—although we’re big champions of starting new initiatives, too!
Reach out to us at hello@startupparent.com if you’d like support with this conversation.
How do I tell my work, team, or partner about these calls?
Be proactive with your team and clue them in to your schedule. “This year, I’m enrolled in a women’s leadership training course, and we meet three times a month at 1PM-3PM eastern. Classes from March to September, and I’ll be blocking off my calendar accordingly. I could use your help in keeping those dates/times clear. Do you see any conflicts with this schedule, or anything I can switch around to make this work?”
If you already have a regular meeting at that time, reach out and ask your peers, “Can we switch the monthly all-hands an hour earlier, or can I show up partway through?”
For partnership and spousal dynamics, this is a great opportunity to start a conversation and to set up a clear boundary. The calls happen at nap time on the east coast, and we’ve tried to make a time that most US-based people can come to because it’s very close to lunch or late morning for most folks.
In our family, my husband and I now have a calendar system where we tag our calendar events as @social @meeting @important for the level of interruption we’d prefer to have. The @important tags are ones where the other person is on “interruption duty” when the kids are home, even if we both have meetings at the same time. (In one case during the pandemic, my husband had switched his therapy session to the same time I was teaching, and that week in the pandemic, he took interruption duty with his therapist, because a pandemic is not normal times.)
You don’t need to adopt this exact system, but you can use it as inspiration to start your own conversations about what is important to you and what you’d like support with. This is, after all, a space for leadership — and leadership also means being true to yourself, your needs, and communicating clearly what you need to the other people in your life, and, finding a system or a solution that works as well as it can for everyone.
More Questions?
Email us at hello@startupparent.com and we’ll do our best to answer whatever questions you have!
EARLY BIRD 2023
APPLICATION DEADLINE
SEPT 14
REGULAR 2023
APPLICATION DEADLINE
SEPT 28
FALL COHORT KICKOFF
OCT 3
*Pssst—If you’re thinking, “Who me? I’m a freaking disaster—I don’t have my sh*t together. How can I join a mastermind when I’m barely managing the motherload of parenting and running a business?”—I totally hear you.
On a good day, I feel like there are two dozen balls in the air and someone has tied my hands together with a sock. There’s a lot that needs to change about how we show up to parenting and work, and it’s really hard. If it were working, we’d all keep doing things the way we’re currently going about it.
But it’s not really working, is it? That’s the thing. I believe we need to lean on each more other to get through the madness. Don’t believe the world that tells you that you need to hustle harder or dig your heels in a little more.
Come be messy, together.
By the way, here’s proof. Here’s a picture of me, with a 3-year old trying to join me while the baby is nursing and simultaneously punching me in the neck. I was attempting to read a little but that didn’t happen. I was behind on a deadline and I texted my girlfriend to help with a class I was teaching. She helped me brainstorm my outline and it got done.
Together.
