Why seeing a pregnant CEO on the cover of a business magazine is a big deal

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Lauren Haber Jonas was three months pregnant. Like many women in their first trimester, she didn’t feel great. But unlike many pregnant women, she feared losing millions of dollars if a few key people found out. 

The 28-year-old solo founder of plus-size fashion startup Part & Parcel, Jonas was traveling around the country fundraising venture capital for her company. Constant morning sickness forced her pitch meetings into an uncomfortable routine: Check in at the front desk, throw up in the closest bathroom, pitch, then probably throw up again before leaving. 

She did this all in secret, out of fear that she wouldn’t get the capital she needed if investors knew she was expecting a child.  

“It was a battle,” said Jonas, who ended up securing a $4 million seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. 

Only 2.2% of U.S. venture capital investment went to female founders like Jonas in 2018. As for pregnant founders, the numbers are much, much smaller. Jonas didn’t have many examples to learn from. “The women that I could find were all women in later stages of their businesses with assistants and other help. I was launching the company by myself with a two-month old,” she said. 

That’s why when The Wing’s co-founder and CEO Audrey Gelman became the first visibly pregnant CEO on the cover of a business magazine last week, it sent shockwaves across the Internet. Gelman is changing our perception of what corporate leaders look like in real time. 

“You can't be what you can't see, so I think it's so important for women to see that it's possible to run a fast-growing business and also to start a family," Gelman said.

Ann Shoket, the former Editor in Chief of Seventeen Magazine and an expert in Millennial women, wrote recently about a “baby boom” in the C-Suite. Several notable CEOs — including Rent the Runway’s Jennifer Hyman and LearnVest’s Alexa von Tobel — are growing businesses while pregnant. 

“The more we see working mothers leading companies, the closer we are to getting to a place where it isn’t news to see a pregnant CEO,” Shoket said. “Audrey [Gelman] is trying to normalize the idea that having children doesn’t have to be in conflict with your ambition. In fact, they probably go hand in hand.” 

Past media coverage of working mothers has focused on the conflicts they face between their life at home and at the office. The message, whether intentional or not, is that you can’t have both. That’s why Liz Tenety and Jill Koziol launched Motherly, a lifestyle brand and media company “redefining motherhood on behalf of a new generation of mothers.” 

In an economy that necessitates dual-income households, Tenety and Koziol can’t believe motherhood is still treated like a niche by many publications. 

“The media was feeding into this outdated equation and it was creating this narrative around the ‘mommy wars’ and choosing whether or not to be a working mom,” said Koziol. “Our mission is to change the definition of what it means to be motherly, so it's not just nurturing, but strong and nurturing. So it’s ambitious and nurturing.” 

And while media outlets like Motherly are using their platform to accurately depict what modern day motherhood looks like, Part & Parcel Founder Jonas is now doing her part as well. She has yet to find herself on the cover of a business magazine, but she feels like it’s critical to be transparent about her journey as a female founder with a seven-month-old at home. 

Jonas, pictured here, frequently posts on Instagram candid accounts of her struggles with everything from pumping breast milk in airport bathrooms to being away from her daughter for stretches at a time. 

Her hope? The same as The Wing’s Gelman. 

“If you don’t see it, you don’t know it can happen,” said Jonas. “I want to show [other women] that it is possible to build a business while being a parent and also pumping.” 

PLUS: Check out my live discussion from Bloomberg's Global Economic Forum with NYSE's Betty Liu where we talked about Audrey's cover and other topics important to the #WorkingTogether community.

What’s Working

Young people will save us all. No matter what your take is on the work ethic of Millennials, one thing is clear: They want a different relationship with work. Younger workers are pushing back on the notion that you have to be physically in the office to be productive and it could make work more flexible for all of us. [NYTimes]

Most powerful. Alongside it’s annual Most Powerful Women list, Fortune published a list of 10 female execs on the rise to watch. Competition was fierce this year to be included: Of the 36 women now running Fortune 500 companies, only 22 earned a spot. [Fortune] 

Big stage for equal pay. In her acceptance speech at the Emmy Awards, Michelle Williams encouraged leaders in entertainment to respect women, particularly women of color, with equal pay. “The next time a woman — and especially a woman of color, because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white, male counterpart — tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her,” she said. [Axios]

What Needs Work

No female CEOs. Despite taking the stance publicly that diversity and inclusion is important, no major bank on Wall Street has ever had a female CEO. Interviews with more than a dozen high-profile women in finance revealed that outright sexual harassment is no longer common place. But a lack of real sponsorship combined with “microaggressions” against female leaders are curbing them from getting to the top. [Fortune] 

More than words. Companies who define themselves in their mission statements with language that prioritizes action over thinking have more discrimination complaints filed against them, according to new research. The employers who didn’t have any complaints filed against them by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission tended to focus on language that indicated assessment and critical thinking were just as important as action. [Fortune]  

Who’s Pushing Us Forward

Leading in tech. When we looked into the shortage of women making it to senior management ranks at tech companies, two big themes were revealed: Unconscious bias is alive and well and sponsorship is key to women succeeding. That’s why I wanted to share two new courses from LinkedIn Learning hoping to address these issues: Technology leader Rashim Mogha walks through the difference between sponsors and mentors and Lori Mackenzie, a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business and executive director of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, shares tips to breaking bias. 

What topics do you want to discuss next week? Let me know in the comments below using #WorkingTogether