“Vote Like a Mother” this presidential election

by
Jenna Vassallo
Jun 4, 2024
Mother stands at voting booth

There are 85 million mothers – about a quarter of the total population – in the United States.

The Chamber of Mothers, a non-profit that aims to unite mothers as advocates for policy change at the local and federal levels, is on a mission to get as many of those moms to vote according to their interests in this year’s presidential election and beyond.

Their bipartisan campaign, Vote Like a Mother, aims to help moms confirm their voting status, register to vote, clarify the causes they stand by, learn more about the candidates and what measures align with their beliefs, and download a sample ballot.

The Chamber of Mothers is launching this campaign to help mothers have information readily available to them in one place so they can make more informed decisions efficiently.

What is The Chamber of Mothers?

The Chamber of Mothers was founded in 2021 when Congress cut paid family leave from the Build Back Better legislation.

Upset and angry, eight women came together to start a movement to unite mothers and advocate for a better America. That movement is now grounded in community and state chapters around three main pillars of advocacy:

  • Paid family leave
  • Affordable childcare
  • Maternal health

Why these three pillars? These are issues that affect most mothers regardless of background and socioeconomic status:

“What we've found is that the childcare crisis is impacting women who are upper middle class, it's impacting women who are working class, it impacts the middle class,” said Chamber of Mothers’ Co-Founder Raena Boston. “All of these things are a common experience that we share. And while we may not agree on the means of how we get [policies to support] those things, these are things that are impacting our experience as mothers and don't allow us to show up and as our best selves.”

These are also all issues that women can “vote like a mother” for:

“Moms have so much on our plates. You don't want to go into the election feeling unsteady,” said Erin Erenberg, another Chamber of Mothers co-founder. “You don't want to go in just influenced by external sources. You want to be able to download your sample ballot, take a minute when the kids are down, when you can think straight, when you can go on and Google who are these candidates, what are the issues, what do I care about?”

What you can do to get involved

There are several ways you can get involved with both the Chamber of Mothers and the Vote Like a Mother campaign:

  • Text “mother” to 26797 to register to vote
  • Follow the Chamber of Mothers on Instagram
  • Join a local chapter, or start your own
  • Donate to these important causes via the CoM website
  • Subscribe for different ways to advocate

To celebrate all we’ve accomplished, our team shared what they’re most proud of since joining the team:

I'm most proud of how much we have done to improve the single hardest moment for women's careers (going on parental leave) ... one that is often shrouded in insecurity and fear. We've been able to help advocate for so many women (and men!) in a way that is empowering and truly life-changing.

Allison Whalen, CEO & Founder

What am I most proud of? Growth! Growing a category of support that didn't exist before Parentaly. Growing from a one-woman bootstrapped operation to a global team of 25+ employees and coaches. Growing our overall impact for working parents, with companies investing in our parental leave programming to support employees all over the world. And growing as humans: new babies, new friends, new life experiences... all while tackling new and exciting work challenges together.

Rich Burke, Head of Growth

When I reflect on what I am personally most proud of during my time here, it's working alongside a team where we constantly evolve and optimize everything that we do in order to deliver the best possible experience for the folks going through our programs. It sounds cheesy, but there are processes that my team and I used to do 100% manually that are now completely automated and systems in place that have become second nature to how we operate. Working with such thoughtful, smart, and creative people is incredible.

Sara Ophoff, Senior Program Manager

I’m most proud about doing work that makes parents feel confident and empowered about their careers during a time that can be overwhelming and challenging – not only for our clients and users who go through Parentaly’s programs, but also with our advocacy work on LinkedIn, through our podcast and other big campaigns that make a difference. It’s been pretty rewarding to build a brand people know and love because what we’re doing resonates with so many employees’ experiences in the workforce.

Jenna Vassallo, Head of Brand & Marketing

I am so proud of the way we've approached growth with such care and intentionality - with every adjustment we've made to our offerings, we've never lost sight of our goal to provide the most supportive and valuable experience for our users. I love looking back on the early stages of conversations and building that have led us to the experience we offer today. Personally, I am extremely proud of the work I've done to scale and automate our backend!

Rachel Andes, Program Associate

I am most proud of the work we do every single day to make a positive impact on working parents! Everyday I get to work with an amazing group of people…we work hard but we also have fun.

Sarah Gruber, Client Partner

I'm proud of scaling an employee experience that consistently delivers positive outcomes for new parents and their organizations. Our north star has always been the user, and we never sacrifice our high quality bar!

Mansi Kothari, VP of Product & Experience

I feel a sense of pride that I get to work behind the scenes supporting everyone. I’m proud to see all of the collaboration between the team and how Parentaly positively impacts employees.

Leo Manalo, Executive Assistant

I'm most proud of going through the Parentaly program myself! I'm so proud to work for and promote this company in a time where parental leave and supportive policies are at the forefront of a national conversation. But beyond this, I'm most proud to call myself a participant.

Emmy Carragher, Enterprise Partnerships

I’m really proud of the work I did to expand our coaching bench globally at Parentaly. It was so rewarding, not to mention insightful, to connect with talented coaches from around the globe. This expansion not only enriched our coaching offerings but also strengthened our commitment to making a meaningful impact on families all over the world.

Nicole Hagemann-Bex, Senior Coaching Operations Manager

I have tremendous pride in the knowledge that what I am doing will change the career landscape for new parents, particularly mothers. This will make it more likely that my daughter can have a career AND a family without worrying about the unintentional negative impact of taking parental leave. Nothing makes me prouder than that.

Mindy Himmel-Brown, Strategic Partnerships

In my short time at Parentaly, I'm proudest of the work we're doing with our clients' ERG groups to elevate the stories and advice of actual working parents. It's such an impactful way to spread the word about Parentaly as an essential resource for all people growing their families, and the managers who support them!

Alex Diskin, Enterprise Account Manager

I'm most proud about using LinkedIn to connect with others. I was recently able to share a helpful return to work doc with 50+ new people looking to make a difference at their company. Was pretty cool that people from Chewy, McDonald's, Honda, Cisco, AWS, Walmart and more want to integrate just a piece of what we have to offer. Also...I'm so proud of the way I feel as an employee at Parentaly. For the first time in my career my personal interests align with my professional interests and I've never felt more motivated.

Jenny Hurwitz, Strategic Partnerships

I'm really proud of being able to help the Experience team by handling the supportive functions so they can focus on the bigger picture. It feels great to know that I’m making things easier for them and contributing to the team’s success.

James Mango, Executive Assistant
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Hear more about the Chamber of Mothers and the Vote Like a Mother campaign

Listen to the full episode of The False Tradeoff!