In 2018, Moms at Work was created to fill a gap for women looking for a professional association for them. It was designed to bring together mid and senior level career women. Women who were leaders, women who were returning to work after a career break and entrepreneurs. We crossed industries, areas of expertise and shared one thing in common - we were all mothers looking to grow our careers while raising our families. Within a year, we reached 3,500 members, mostly in the Greater Toronto Area. We networked, we met for lunch, we hired each other and we pushed for change.
In March 2020, everything changed. COVID-19 came to Canada and while the world ground to a halt - Moms at Work sprang into action. Our members left the workforce in record numbers as they were forced to choose their career or their children. Many were laid off as the pandemic hit female dominated careers hardest.
Moms at Work rallied our members and experts who helped navigate EI changes and legal issues and created a safe space for collective sharing, suffering and listening. As the world stayed apart, Moms at Work came together.
By mid 2021, we had been quoted in close to 100 media interviews, created a Directory to support our members' small businesses, produced a Holiday Gift Guide featuring local independently-run businesses, hosted both Pay Equity Commissioners along with various thought leaders in our virtual speaker series, created a Pay-What-You-Can webinar series for skills building and job hunting. We were invited by the Prime Minister to showcase what Moms at Work had done and to talk about the changes we felt were needed to support working families post-pandemic. That was when we realized that our community deserved representation as we prepare to ramp up.
Moms at Work is now Canada's first professional association for working mothers. Our new, customized community platform provides a safe, inclusive digital space for our members to connect, support, and learn from one another. Members have access to Moms at Work live and on-demand programming including our virtual speaker series, hiring panels and Masterminds. We will continue to work collaboratively with employers to help them rebuild their female talent pipeline and implement workplace policies that better support women and parents.
Over the next year, we are committed to building a new Job Board, launching our employer training program to improve maternity leave processes, hosting dozens of events and building a network of Moms at Work chapters across Canada among other things!
If you would like to join us as a member go check out our community fund for more information.
