From the Founder: The Real Cost of Doing It All

Founder's Note

5 MINUTE READ

The Real Cost of Doing It All

There is a quiet exhaustion that lives in the lives of working mothers. Not the dramatic, burnout-on-Instagram kind. The everyday kind. The kind that shows up between school drop-offs and deadlines, client calls and packed lunches, ambition and guilt.

Working mothers are not short on advice. We are surrounded by it. How to be more productive. How to manage our time better. How to “find balance” as if it were something we simply misplaced.

What we are short on is support that actually understands the reality of our lives.

We are expected to perform at full capacity in systems that were never designed with us in mind. The workplace still largely assumes an uninterrupted worker. Marketing often assumes endless emotional and financial bandwidth. The media regularly celebrates the idea of “having it all” without interrogating the cost of maintaining it.

And the cost is high.

It shows up in chronic fatigue. In careers that stall or quietly shrink. In businesses built late at night when everyone else is asleep. In the constant mental load of remembering everything because someone has to.

Despite this, working mothers remain one of the most engaged, loyal, and influential audiences. We make decisions for households. We invest in brands we trust. We share resources, recommendations, and warnings with speed and conviction. Yet too often, we are spoken to, not spoken with.

This is where the gap lies.

There is a disconnect between how working mothers live and how we are represented, marketed to, and supported. Many brands want access to this audience, but few take the time to understand her context. Visibility is offered without relevance. Messaging is polished but shallow. Support is implied, not built.

WorkingMama exists in that gap.

Not as a loud voice, but as a considered one. Not to tell women how to cope better, but to create space for honest conversations, meaningful visibility, and content that reflects real life. We believe working mothers deserve media that respects their time, their intelligence, and their complexity.

We also believe brands can do better. When visibility is thoughtful, when stories are real, and when alignment replaces noise, everyone benefits. Readers feel seen. Brands earn trust. And the conversation shifts from selling to supporting.

This is not about doing more.

It is about doing things differently.

The Real Cost of Invisible Labour No One Accounts For

Beyond the visible roles working mothers hold, there is an entire layer of labour that goes largely unrecognised. The planning, the remembering, the anticipating. The constant background processing of family logistics, emotional needs, and future risks. This mental load does not pause during working hours, nor does it clock off at the end of the day.

Many women carry this alongside demanding careers or businesses, expected to perform with the same consistency as colleagues whose cognitive energy is not split across multiple lives. The issue is not capability. Working mothers are more than capable. The problem is that systems continue to measure output without accounting for context.

This imbalance forces many women into quiet compromises. Scaling back ambition. Choosing flexibility over progression. Delaying growth until “things settle”, a moment that rarely arrives. Over time, this shapes not only individual careers but entire industries, as capable women become underrepresented in leadership, visibility, and decision-making spaces.

Many women carry this alongside demanding careers or businesses, expected to perform with the same consistency as colleagues whose cognitive energy is not split across multiple lives.

Where Media and Marketing Fall Short

Much of the media aimed at working mothers is either overly idealised or relentlessly instructional. We are shown curated versions of balance or given endless lists of solutions, often disconnected from the realities they claim to address. Media and marketing often fail to reflect the experiences of working mothers. Understanding the real cost of these misrepresentations is essential if we want brands and society to value their contribution.

Marketing follows a similar pattern. Working mothers are frequently positioned as an audience to be tapped into rather than understood. Campaigns focus on moments instead of lives, purchases instead of patterns, sentiment instead of substance. The result is messaging that feels well-intentioned but hollow.

This is not a failure of effort. It is a failure of proximity. When those shaping the narrative are too far removed from the lived experience, the output reflects that distance.

Why Working Mothers Are Not a Niche

Despite being treated as a niche, working mothers represent one of the most economically influential groups globally. We make long-term decisions. We value reliability. We reward brands that demonstrate consistency and respect.

Trust matters deeply to this audience. Once earned, it translates into loyalty, advocacy and repeat engagement. Once broken, it is difficult to recover. This is why surface-level visibility does not work here. Exposure without alignment is quickly dismissed.

For brands and businesses, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Reaching working mothers is not about louder messaging. It is about relevance, timing, and tone. It is about understanding that attention is earned through value, not demanded through volume.

Trust matters deeply to this audience. Once earned, it translates into loyalty, advocacy, and repeat engagement.

What Meaningful Visibility Looks Like

Meaningful visibility is not about constant presence. It is about considered placement. It shows up in stories that feel grounded, partnerships that make sense, and platforms that protect the integrity of their audience.

When brands choose to be visible in spaces that prioritise trust, they benefit from association, not interruption. The relationship becomes one of alignment rather than persuasion. This is where visibility begins to support rather than distract.

As media platforms, we carry responsibility here. The way we curate, feature, and frame content shapes how audiences perceive not only the stories being told but also the brands associated with them.

The Role of Curated Platforms

Curated platforms serve as bridges. Between readers and resources. Between brands and communities. Between intention and impact.

At WorkingMama, our role is not to amplify everything. It is to be selective. To create space for content, conversations, and collaborations that reflect the realities of working motherhood without exploiting them.

This approach requires restraint. It means fewer features, clearer standards, and a long-term view. It also creates an environment where trust can grow naturally, benefiting both readers and partners.

A Different Way Forward

Supporting working mothers does not require reinvention. It requires attention. Attention to context. To language. To lived experience.

When media reflects reality, when brands engage with intention, and when visibility is earned rather than imposed, the dynamic changes. Working mothers are no longer positioned as problems to be solved, but as individuals to be respected.

That shift is subtle, but powerful.

And it is long overdue.

Elize Fisher

Founder, WorkingMama

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Want to dive deeper into the realities of working motherhood?

Explore:  Managing the Mental Load as a Working Mama