A couple days ago, parents across the US felt the gut punch of another school shooting. It reminded me of December 14, 2013 when I was pregnant with my eldest child and stood watching the news. I thought, "I don't want to bring a child into this world." My now 8 year old asked if the teachers in Uvalde had the student do their lockdown routine. This is the world I've brought two children into -- elementary students practice lockdown drills, sometimes those safeguards aren't enough, parents fear for their kids' safety at school, parents struggle to communicate this travesty to their kids. And just how does this affect my startup? Well, my productivity this week has tanked as my heart has been ripped asunder. We're encouraged to bring our whole selves to work. That's especially important to me as an entrepreneur working with families. That makes weeks like these all the more painful. As people cry out about rights and protections, I want to curl up into ...

Today I'm writing to remind myself of what female founders are capable of. I'm writing something I can revisit in moments of doubt and imposter's syndrome. Near the end of this day, I lamented the overdue social media post, the pending follow-ups to prospects, the presentation for a startup accelerator that won't write itself.  But then I paused that voice in my head. Yesterday, an advisor described the vision in my head of supporting ALL parents and primary caregivers of children with disabilities, especially those most marginalized. She wants to help me create that system change. Today, I had two amazing conversations -- one person wanting to introduce me to a major company to pitch a pilot of Empowered Together  with its employees and one agency wanting me to present to its partner orgs about ableism and intersectionality.  Those are big wins right now. They also come against a backdrop of juggling five medical appointments across two days. As a female founder, I ...

When I was in college, I applied for a scholarship and my faculty interviewer said, "this is a really competitive process. If you don't get the scholarship, be upset for a nanosecond and then refocus yourself and move on." For anyone who's known me since childhood, it'll come as no surprise that I wasn't accustomed to failure. In my mind, that scholarship was already mine. Turns out I needed the professor's advice. I didn't get the scholarship and I was upset yet there were more important things for me to focus on. Fast forward to last night. I got my first opportunity to pitch Empowered Together to an audience. Despite a strong presentation, I/Empowered Together didn't win the pitch competition. I allowed myself a nanosecond of disappointment and then got back in the game. There was still a whole evening of networking ahead of me. Honestly, I walked away with things that are even more invaluable as I build the business: contacts and offers of warm...