The Returnity Project: Tell us a little bit about both of you and MOR!

 

Emily & Erica: MOR is a purpose-driven consulting firm that offers expertise and best in class inclusion practices for working moms.

 

MOR partners with companies to understand their current offering to support moms in the workplace and what their organizational goals are. We lead a comprehensive needs assessment to evaluate strengths and opportunities. From there, we develop strategic and tactical recommendations to improve the experience for working moms that also support their org’s goals. MOR offers the facilitation and implementation of the agreed proposal, along with guidance for measurement — how do you know what you are doing is working?

It’s simple — we want to help companies do what’s right!

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Erica is a mother to Hayden (5), Xander (2) and Carson (1). Erica brings over 13 years sales experience across the payments, logistics and ad tech to MOR. Most recently, Erica is a member of the board for Helping Mamas.

Emily is a mother to Lauer (5). Emily brings over 15 years of human resources experience to MOR. Most recently, Emily is the Director of Employee Experience at Root Insurance. In addition to co-founding #TwitterParents, Emily founded Lyft Nashville’s UpLyft Parents employee resource group.

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TRP: What inspired you to create MOR, and what gave you the courage to start your own business?

 

E&E:  Our passion for empowering working moms and their communities is a direct result of our experience building and scaling Twitter’s Parents Employee Resource Group. As the founding members, we led the strategy, partnered with executive leadership and launched several groundbreaking programs that still live on today, such as 20 weeks paid parental leave and breast milk shipping for business trip over 48 hours.

When we left Twitter, we knew we would work together again one day — building a company that would continue the work we started at Twitter. Two years later, we reconnected and realized now was the time. We didn’t know how we would make our dream come true, but like most moms do — we just figured it out! Oh, and lots of Marco Polo’s, texts, FaceTime, Hangouts, calls at all times of the day to share a thought, anxieties and most of all our excitement. Long story short, we drew courage from each other.

 

 

TRP: Many of the stories we've shared on The Returnity Project focus on both the challenges and beautiful moments of motherhood; specifically the return to work. What was the return to work like for you? 

 

E&E:

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Erica: I was equal parts guilt-ridden and ready to go back to work. Our first child was not a good sleeper - no naps, poor night time sleep, etc. so I had very little free time to feel productive or take care of myself.  I hoped going back to work would be a good reset. As a remote employee in a small office I did not feel connected to other moms in the company. I also didn’t have access to the facilities available at HQ (my pumping room was an office used for multiple companies in our Regus space).  I was sad and stressed and also felt guilty because I received a generous 16 week paid leave and what more did I want? As a sales person, my work required that I travel a lot. I was pumping on airplanes, in taxis, before my flights in airport bathrooms, at my hotel in between meetings, etc.  I also wasn’t sleeping well because my son wasn’t sleeping well. My work hours changed from always available to leaving early and offline until 7:30 (and that’s if bedtime went as planned). I didn’t feel I had anyone to talk to about my challenges. More importantly, I didn’t fully understand that I should be ok operating differently; I was not the same person I was before I had my son and the way I did my job needed to evolve.  This need eventually led to me connecting with Emily and two other moms, which led to #TwitterParents and now, MOR.

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Emily: During my leave, our family relocated from Chicago to San Francisco for my career. My husband left a job he loved, I was starting a new position with Twitter and we knew no one in the Bay Area. I thought returning to work would help “normalize” the craziness of moving cross-country, and help ease the postpartum depression I had battled the past 20 weeks since Lauer was born. The day to day of my work I found easy to settle back into, but I quickly learned I wasn’t the same person post baby and I needed to make changes — starting with a more flexible schedule. I confided in my manager (a man that was not a parent) that I needed to change my hours so I could see my baby each day and work from home one day a week. He was nothing but supportive and approved my request on the spot. I am so thankful for him listening and supporting me. From there, it took a good nine months before I felt settled in my new schedule (I also switched jobs a few months after returning). The highs and lows started to even out with time. The support from my managers and Twitter kept me committed to the company and drove me to want to do MOR for other moms. Which takes me to how I met Erica and bonded with her over the challenges of returning to work as a mom and how I wanted to do more and give back back to other moms. Never could I have imagined that I would also build a deep and honest friendship that I have today with Erica. I feel blessed to this strong, smart and loving woman in my life and as my partner.

 

TRP: What advice would you give to other working moms? 

 

E&E:

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Focus on motherhood as an advantage in the workplace (it is!). If you see a gap in how your company supports working moms, bring it forward (MOR can help!). When working mom guilt starts creeping in, remember quality time with your children matters more than quantity.

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TRP: What are you most proud of?

 

E&E: Launching MOR, and raising kind, tiny humans. 

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TRP: Anything else you want to share?

 

E&E:

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Erica: My favorite manager told me that when she was pregnant, she had meetings with all male leadership team everyday at 6p. When she felt frustrated, she would look around the room and then at her stomach and say to herself, “I am creating a life in my body and no one else here can do that.”.

 

Emily: Be present, that the best gift you can give yourself each day.