7 Lessons I've Learned as a First-Time Female Founder and New Mom
The biggest mindset shifts, business mistakes, and career lessons I've learned while building multiple companies and raising my daughter at the same time.
Two years ago, I became a first-time mom while building my first company.
It wasn’t exactly how I imagined either chapter of my life would unfold. Motherhood wasn’t part of the plan at that moment, and almost overnight I felt this pressure to figure out how to be a great founder and a great mom at the same time.
If you had asked me a few years ago what I thought would be the hardest part of becoming a founder, I probably would have said raising capital, hiring the right team, or figuring out product-market fit.
Then I became a mom.
Suddenly, I wasn’t just thinking about customers, investors, and company strategy. I was trying to build a business while raising my daughter, functioning on very little sleep, and learning how to show up as the leader both my company and my family needed.
For a while, it felt like those two parts of my life were constantly competing for my attention.
If I had a productive day at work, I’d wonder if I should have spent more time with my daughter.
If I stepped away from work to be fully present with her, I’d find myself thinking about the emails, decisions, and problems waiting for me when I opened my laptop again.
I kept waiting for the day everything would feel balanced. It never really did.
Instead, I’ve realized that balance isn’t something you achieve once and then keep forever. It’s something you redefine in every season of life.
Looking back, becoming a founder and becoming a mom have taught me many of the same lessons.
They’ve forced me to become more intentional with my time, more comfortable asking for help, and more willing to let go of the idea that I have to do everything perfectly.
Most of all, they’ve changed the way I think about leadership—and what success actually looks like.
These aren’t lessons I’ve mastered. They’re lessons I’m still learning every single day.
But if you’re building a career while raising—or hoping to one day raise—a family, I hope these seven lessons remind you that you don’t have to have everything figured out.
