Congrats on your baby and your business! Another great example of the boxes these labels try to put us in. You are obviously strong enough to reject the mommy track label others try to put on you and your choices. But I fear not everyone is so strong, and I wonder how many big dreams became much smaller when someone said, “Oh are you going on the mommy track now?”

Best,
Cali

Excellent point. These labels just limit everyone. Time for them to go!

Best,
Cali

I completely agree that it’s time to lose the limiting labels. They just get attached to concepts of “good” and “bad” and I suspect that serves no one positively.

The whole concept of “The mommy track” has been an interesting one for me, and I agree that it limits the ability of men to move into the slow -er lane. What I’d add is that it also limits the ability of women without children to do so. Children, it seems, give legitimacy to time away from work in a way that nothing else does. And yet, there are other things in life that give it meaning.

Both by choice and circumstance, I don’t have children. Yet I have my “babies” in my interests in creative writing and therapeutic pursuits. I think this kind of thing needs to be okay too. Frankly, without them, my mainline business career (which, by the way, I’ve now carved outside of the corporation) would by two dimensional.

Being a new mom and an entrepreneur, I had a few people comment that they thought I would be taking the mommy track after I had the baby. While I am proud to be a mom, something about that term just made me angry. It made it sound like it was “less than” or not as worthy as being a full entrepreneur. I’m proud to be able to run a business and raise my child. The other interesting thing is that no one made a comment about my husband being on the daddy track even though we own the business together. There is still that double standard as if women are just running a business until the next family crisis or need comes along.

Thanks for the insight,
Leila

You are an amazing woman and an amazing inspiration. I am so glad you are using your experiences and insights to help others.

Best,
Cali

Thanks for sharing what you are learning in your research, and I am very much looking forward to your new book. As the moms you’ve interviewed, your husband and your brothers have seen there is no right “answer” only the flexible work+life fit that works for you and your job day-to-day and at major career and life transitions. As a result, there are no valid labels. And I agree with you that the danger of labels is that they place limits on what we see as being possible or “good.” Your example of women hearing “mommy-track” and thinking that’s what good mommies do is a perfect example. I had a similar problems with the “on ramps/off ramps” craze–many, many young women would ask me to share tips for helping them develop their “on ramps/off ramps” strategy. In my head I would be thinking “What?!” Most of these young women weren’t even married much less had children. But the “label” made them think this was the answer.

Best,
Cali

I became an entrepreneur when my daughter was 14 – a mindful choice after my brother’s sudden death created a new definition of success. For more than 13 years I have had a thriving closely held boutique training business. I now have a grown daughter whose memories of being the last kid to be picked up have been replaced by a clear sense of values and respect developed by witnessing the pros and cons of her mother’s many roles. Yes, it’s time to lose the limiting labels or create our own. They can call mine the choice of a lifestyle entrepreneur…. I call it success beyond my wildest dreams!