You, as a working mom, encounter unique challenges each day as you step foot from your home into the world. However, a community of driven moms who have been there and done that are here to impart wisdom gained through their years of experience.
In our moms on a mission series, we gather advice from women who started companies, ran marathons, became experts and have developed into better employees due to becoming parents.
As our Mom on a Mission series continues, we are excited to share a recent chat we were honored to have with an awesome mama who is on the move to change corporate America. Amy Nelson is a married mother of three (soon to be four) and the founder of The Riveter.
When she first went back to work after having a child, she struggled to figure out how she was going to fit in as a working mom. She, like fellow Mom on a Mission Amy Henderson, began to do her own research — she found at 43% of highly trained women stop working after having children. Staggered by the statistic, she felt compelled to do something about it; she began taking classes at various coworking spaces, an experience that gave her an idea, which helped that idea begin to come to life.
That idea was the principle that led to her founding The Riveter – a co-working space built by women for everyone. When creating this, Nelson’s mission was to not only support working moms by including such things as mothers’ rooms, but to support working dads also.
The Riveter offers offsite childcare, dry cleaning, allows parents to bring in their babies after they reach six months, and much more – all geared towards making being a working parent just a little bit easier and less hectic.
We asked Amy what her advice would-be to mamas who have may be on leave and dreading the process of returning to work after having their child, and her recommendation is to find allies (both moms and dads) in the workplace, who understand what it is to be a working parent. Build a support system for yourself, and don’t feel scared or unsure about asking for things you need as a mom, such as a place to pump, or time set aside for pumping.
Work environments like the Riveter, and people with vision like Amy Nelson show that we are on the right track to helping working mamas – and dads! – get what they need to get ahead as parents and professionals.