Startup Parent

#007 — Rebuilding war-torn Columbia. How do you work your way back after experiencing the severe trauma of a great loss? What if that trauma was wrapped up in living through an armed conflict, either as a victim or aggressor? And what if a culture of violence was the only life you’d ever known? Today we talk to Natalia Quiñones of Dunna: Creative Alternatives for Peace. The people of Colombia have been endured armed conflict since the mid-1960’s, when the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and other guerrilla movements began fighting for influence in the country. Propelled by marked inequality in Colombian society, the violence among the FARC, the Colombian government, and paramilitary groups led to the deaths of more than 220,000 people, most of them civilians. More than five million civilians were displaced from their homes between 1985 and 2012, and one in three of the 7.6 million registered victims of the conflict were children. A peace agreement between the Colombian government and FARC was finally reached in November of 2016. Natalia Quiñones grew up in Bogotá, Colombia, but knew little about the armed conflict. She was born to a privileged family and educated by American teachers in private bilingual schools, so it wasn’t until after graduation that Natalia became aware of the violence born of disparity that was happening right around the corner. Yoga had helped Natalia cope with the loss of a close friend, and she believed that it could help heal and rebuild war-ravaged communities in Colombia—but the practice was only available to the elite. In 2010, Natalia and María Adelaida López founded Dunna: Creative Alternatives for Peace, to introduce basic poses to both the poor, mostly rural victims of the conflict and the guerilla fighters who once terrorized them. The yoga classes have proven to reduce the symptoms of PTSD and equip locals with the tools to heal themselves. Today Natalia shares the science behind yoga’s ability to heal, the similarities among victims and aggressors of the conflict, and her surprise at people’s capacity for change. I also ask about her unique parenting journey as part of a gay couple who adopted a daughter, which had been illegal in Colombia until November of 2015. Listen in to understand how becoming a parent changed Natalia, revitalizing her commitment to make the world a better place and cultivate creative alternatives for peace.  FULL SHOW NOTES: Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at www.startuppregnant.com/007 EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER: Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Aeroflow Breastpumps. They are dedicated to making the hassle of getting your breast pump a little bit easier—actually, a lot easier! Head to www.aeroflowbreastpumps.com/startup to have them help you qualify for a free breast pump through insurance.  All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors LEARN MORE ABOUT NATALIA QUINONES Natalia Quiñones is the Co-founder and Legal Director of Dunna, a nonprofit created to research, design and implement intervention models in yoga and the arts, with the intention of constructing a peaceful society in Colombia after the armed conflict. Natalia is also a partner with Quiñones|Cruz, a consultancy in international taxation and tax litigation. She has served as both the president and chair of the Scientific Committee of the International Fiscal Association’s Colombian Branch as well as the editor-in-chief of the Colombian Institute of Tax Law Review. Natalia received her degree from the New York University School of L

#006 — Tamsen Webster, the Executive Producer of the oldest and one of the largest locally organized TED talk events in the world, describes herself as "pattern-driven." But pregnancy changed everything. Today, we talk about her journey into parenting, and how her ideas for pregnancy (and even marriage) were very different than reality. She dove into her first pregnancy with a plan: she would have a natural birth and breastfeed her baby, as the research suggests. Her employer was supportive, agreeing to a shifted schedule when she returned from maternity leave. But nothing went according to plan. And later, when she returned to work, Tamsen discovered she had a new boss who wasn’t okay with the predetermined agreement. “Once you’ve been through a series of things that are so defying of … what you thought you could handle, it resets your horizon—higher, broader, better.”  Today, Tamsen shares her challenging parenting journey, admitting that having her sons ‘knocked her sideways.’ I ask her how pregnancy and motherhood prepared her for entrepreneurship and why we have such a narrow view of what it means to have children. Learn how the divorce made Tamsen a better mom, and listen in for her take on doing the ‘right thing’ as a parent.   The birth of her second son presented its own set of unexpected circumstances, and having kids exposed cracks in her marriage. Tamsen made the difficult decision to leave, but the resilience she gained from surviving those challenges, and the support of her second husband, helped give her the courage to take the leap into entrepreneurship. Today, Tamsen Webster is a sought-after keynote speaker, ‘idea whisperer,’ and message strategist. She helps people and organizations like Verizon, Ericsson, and Disney uncover and communicate the power of their ideas. Tamsen also serves as Executive Producer of TEDxCambridge, one of the largest locally organized TED events in the world.    FULL SHOW NOTES: Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at www.startupparent.com/006  EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER: Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Meet Edgar! Grab your free two-week trial of Meet Edgar, a social media scheduling tool that allows you to create content once and re-use it as much as you need, at http://ed.gr/startuppregnant. All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: www.startupparent.com/sponsors   LEARN MORE ABOUT TAMSEN WEBSTER: Tamsen’s Website // YouTube // LinkedIn // Facebook // Twitter // Speaker Lab Podcast RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE: Tamsen’s Make-Sense Mandate Post The Barefoot Executive: The Ultimate Guide for Being Your Own Boss and Achieving Financial Freedom by Carrie Wilkerson ‘On Children’ by Kahlil Gibran Sweet Honey and the Rock

#005 — Why do we only show outgoing, extroverted, and confident business people as the model for success? In a world where most successful entrepreneurs and business owners are afraid to show any weakness, Morra Aarons-Mele is a breath of fresh air. The author of  Hiding in the Bathroom: An Introvert’s Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You’d Rather Stay Home), Morra admits that we’re all just faking it, as she explores how to harness the power of your “only-ness” and make the work environment work for you. “My daily life is a negotiation between the piece of me that wants to hide and stay in bed … and the piece of me that wants to get out there and kick butt.” — Morra Aarons-Mele By the time Morra turned 30, she had quit nine different digital marketing jobs. Assuming the work itself was making her unhappy, she applied to graduate school to purse social work and began freelancing to finance her education. Much to Morra’s surprise, she found herself working harder than ever and truly enjoying the job. It wasn’t the work itself that had her crying in the bathroom, it was how she had to do it. As an extreme introvert, the flexibility of freelancing afforded her the opportunity to do her best work. Today, Morra shares her approach to working from home, explaining what her ideal work week looks like and how she maintains a connection with peers. She addresses her ambition to speak up for people who don’t normally have a voice, her struggle with antenatal depression, and her ongoing quest for balance between professional satisfaction and quality time with family. I ask her about the challenges that come with being a ‘hermit entrepreneur’ and how her parenting journey aligns with the evolution of her business. Listen and learn how to sell as yourself and navigate the professional world as an ambitious introvert. SPONSOR SHOUT-OUT: HippoGive is a new app that donates your change by rounding up your everyday transactions to the nearest dollar and gives it to the charities and non-profits of your choosing. All you need to do is create an account, choose your charity and then set a weekly donation cap. Head to HippoGive.com to sign up. For every user that signs up through the Startup Parent podcast, they’re going to match your first one-time donation AND send you a $5 amazon gift card. Use the promo code PREGNANT to go help people and get yourself a gift card. Thanks, HippoGive! Check out the rest of our sponsor offers and grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startupparent.com/sponsors FULL SHOW NOTES: Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at www.startupparent.com/005 LEARN MORE ABOUT MORRA AARONS-MELE: Morra Aarons-Mele is the founder of Women & Work, an award-winning social impact agency, and the author of Hiding in the Bathroom: An Introvert’s Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You’d Rather Stay Home). A prominent figure in the world of digital marketing, Morra has been working online since 1999, launching campaigns for the likes of the United Nations, the Malala Fund, Hillary Clinton for President, President Obama, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She has written for a number of well-known publications including The Harvard Business Review, The Huffington Post,  The New York Times, and The Guardian.

#004 — Most new moms head back to work about 12 weeks after giving birth. The problem is that this is often several months before women are physically and emotionally ready. Scientific data and anecdotal evidence point to the six-month mark as the time when moms start to feel adept again (and for some women, it takes longer). The United States is one of the worst countries in the world (bottom three) offering zero paid maternity leave for new parents, often putting women, partners, and children in tricky to dire situations that don’t help with those early days of recovery and new life. But return to work we do, and Lauren Smith Brody, the founder of The Fifth Trimester movement and the former editor of Glamour magazine, dubbed those sleep-deprived transition months after the newborn days the “fifth trimester,” or the period when the working mom is born. So how do we navigate this ‘fifth trimester’ when we’re still in the newborn haze? By asking for the things we need. When Lauren Smith Brody returned to work after having her first son, she was very transparent about what she was going through. As the executive editor of a prestigious magazine, she wanted to mentor younger colleagues and change the perception of parenthood in the workplace. And after having her second son, Lauren was inspired to take her mentorship to the next level, making the shift from publishing to entrepreneurship. She wrote The Fifth Trimester, a book to help new and expectant mothers prepare for working motherhood, and now she’s moving to Phase B of the business, consulting with companies to upgrade policy and foster support of new parents in the workplace. Today, Lauren shares her advice for new moms returning to work and her vision of ideal workplace culture. I ask her about the impetus for writing The Fifth Trimester, the shift from publishing to entrepreneurship, and what she would say to aspiring entrepreneurs. Listen to learn what friends and family can do to support new moms, the concept of self-soothing for parents, and your most important job as a woman and a new mother: getting really good at asking for what you need—both at home and at the office. Sponsor offers, full show notes and more from the episode: Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Taskerly! They’re a virtual assistant company that helps busy parents and entrepreneurs get more done at work by doing the things you can outsource of don’t have time for. Check them out at www.taskerly.co and mention the Startup Parent Podcast to get 10% off of your first three months working with them. All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startupparent.com/sponsors And get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at www.startupparent.com/004  Learn more about Lauren Smith Brody Lauren Smith Brody had a 16-year career in publishing culminating in the role of Executive Editor for Glamour magazine. After becoming a mom, Lauren conceived of the Fifth Trimester Movement to help parents and businesses revolutionize workplace culture. Her bestseller, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, and Big Success After Baby was released in April 2017.

#003 — "If you can parent, you can be an entrepreneur: because you don’t know anything about what you’re doing, and you’re doing the most important job in the world." Nicole Walters is a mother of three kids and the CEO of Monetize Thyself, a consulting firm that specializes in income makeovers. I met Nicole at a conference for bloggers, and her energy and enthusiasm made us fast friends. Her unconventional path to motherhood and business ownership made her an ideal guest for the Startup Pregnant Podcast.  Four years ago, she met the children who would become her daughters. Her concern for their well-being and safety led her first to become their mentor, dropping off meals and picking them up from school. But when their mother went to jail and the girls were headed into the system, Nicole and her husband applied for custody of the sisters. Nicole also shares a story she doesn’t share very often: the story of her own childhood growing up in Washington, D.C., as the daughter of African immigrants, and how she came to attend prestigious private schools with the likes of Chelsea Clinton. I asked Nicole how her background prepared her for entrepreneurship about how navigating these two worlds affected her self-perception. She explained the tenets of her ‘rich friend’ mindset and offered advice around being a disruptor and a creator. Listen and learn Nicole’s secret to reconciling with ‘imposter syndrome’ and her infectious enthusiasm and storytelling ability. Some quotes from the episode: “I’ve started writing down [real life accomplishments] because they are moments of growth for me, and they deserve to be celebrated.” “What kids need—more than stuff and love—is a consistency of presence. That’s parenting.” “I will always, always, always try to do something to give back. Isn’t that what a legacy is really about?”  “I am a hot mess, but I am a functional hot mess. That key word is the difference.” “Failure is an event, not a person.”  About Nicole Walters Nicole Walters has 10-plus years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies as a client-facing sales and marketing executive. In November of 2013, Nicole quit corporate America to bring her expertise in monetizing multibillion dollar corporations to solopreneurs and small business owners. She founded NapNic, LLC, to teach clients the systems, processes, and metrics necessary for entrepreneurial success. Sponsor offers, full show notes and more from the episode: Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Aeroflow Breastpumps! Aeroflow Breastpumps makes the process of getting a breastpump covered by insurance easier for new mothers. Head to http://Aeroflowbreastpumps.com/startup to sign up with them today.  All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startupparent.com/sponsors And get the complete show notes with episode quotes and photos at www.startupparent.com/003 Learn More About Nicole Nicole’s Website Nicole on Facebook Nicole on Periscope Nicole on Twitter   Resources ConvertKit Conference Seth Godin Startup Parent

#002 — 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.  Annie Dean is the Co-CEO of Werk, a company that pre-negotiates flexibility with top companies and creates a standard model, with definitions, of what flexibility looks like in the workplace. For too long, the idea of flexibility has been poorly defined, and they quickly changed that. Annie shares her belief that flexibility is the future of feminism. Her company seeks to create compatibility between the objectives of the employer and the needs of the employee via simple modifications to the structure of work. Too many women are quitting or opting for less ambitious roles in a forced choice between career and care, and Werk is on mission to update company policies to reflect modern realities and provide women with the opportunity to reach the highest ranks of leadership. Today we discuss the public’s response to Werk, from the backlash from both liberals and conservatives, to their highly discussed piece in the New York Times and how Annie faces the challenge of changing the narrative around women in the workplace. Sponsor offers, full show notes and more from the episode: Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Meet Edgar! Grab your free two-week trial of Meet Edgar, a social media scheduling tool that allows you to create content once and re-use it as much as you need, at http://ed.gr/startuppregnant. All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: https://startupparent.com/sponsors/ And get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at https://startupparent.com/002. About Annie Dean and Werk Annie Dean spent six years in corporate law, negotiating billion-dollar real estate transactions for institutional lenders and equity owners. After giving birth to her first son, Annie realized that the expectations and pressures of 16-hour days at the firm were setting her up for failure. Ever the overachiever, she co-founded Werk to repair the leadership pipeline and make the workplace compatible with parenting. Werk Website Werk on Facebook Werk on Twitter Werk on Instagram   Resources Books by Anne-Marie Slaughter Startup Parent Startup Parent on Facebook Startup Parent on Twitter Sponsor the Podcast

#001 — Four reasons why we decided to start a podcast, and why we need new stories of work, parenting, pregnancy, and entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship and parenting are filled with deep, difficult, and joyful lessons about what it means to be a person and make work in the world. “We are just trying to figure it out one day at a time—one sleep-deprived, coffee-fueled, bleary-eyed day at a time.” No matter how much prep work you do, there is no way to anticipate the singular experience of having a baby or starting a business. In fact, there are a number of parallels between pregnancy and startups, and this podcast explores those intersections with the hope of learning what the two worlds have to teach each other. Along the way, we’ll talk about reinventing the way we think about parenting and work. In today’s episode, I give you a bit of the behind-the-scenes about who I am, and why I started this show. In 2014, I interviewed with One Month, the Y Combinator venture-backed startup focused on teaching people tech and coding skills, to join their rapidly growing team. While I interviewed, I was transparent about my plans to start a family. Eight months in I was promoted to VP. One month later, I realized I was pregnant. So today, two years later, I bring One Month founder and CEO Mattan Griffel on the show to discuss the perceived risks of hiring women who want to start families, and why he realized that this false cultural narrative is actually limiting himself in the search for great talent. This desire to start a new story about what it takes to grow businesses and babies — and the overlap between entrepreneurship and parenting — was the impetus for starting this podcast. In today’s episode, I talk about the main four reasons I made this podcast a reality, including The flawed narrative of what it means to be pregnant as portrayed in popular culture, The backwards methodology of startups that are self-described as disruptors, Why it’s important to create new ways of working, and Why I ultimately needed to find and listen to other women’s stories to root myself into the place and sense of what it meant to be a pregnant entrepreneur, and then later, to become a working parent. I share the highs and the lows: Vomiting into a grocery store at Whole Foods. Feeling my little one kick for the first time. The sense of isolation both at work and in the company of moms-to-be. Using this as a springboard for launching my next project, then company. Reckoning with colleagues and city-dwellers who didn’t pay attention or notice made me dislike the city’s seeming lack of empathy. This podcast is the start of a conversation about the overlap between entrepreneurship, pregnancy, and parenting. Listen in to why we got started, and I’ll also tell you about some of the inspiring people you’ll meet in the first series to come up ahead. The goal of this podcast is to interview 100 women in a rich tapestry of stories. Along the way, I hope you’ll enjoy discovering the similarities between starting a business and starting a family, and together, we can transform the way the world looks when it comes to working and parenting. About Sarah K Peck, host of the show Sarah K Peck is an author, startup advisor, and yoga teacher based in New York City. She’s the founder and executive director of Startup Pregnant, a media company documenting the stories of women’s leadership across work and family. She’s a registered yoga teacher (RYT-200), a 20-time All-American swimmer, and an entrepreneur. Her writing has been featured in more than 70 different blogs and publications, and she’s spoken at Harvard, Penn, Berkeley, the University of Virginia, and at conferences around the globe. She’s currently writing a memoir of working in the tech startup world while pregnant