Her Story
About Michelle
I'm the founder and CEO of Workplace, a family co-working space with on-site childcare and programming for working families. Before starting Workplace, I was a startup attorney, and before that, a social justice attorney. I had always wanted to work with marginalized communities and help people through action. When I became pregnant and had my first daughter in San Francisco, I was born into the startup world where everyone was building this techno-future, and I didn't feel like I had a place in it. I had assumed as a working woman, as a professional woman who'd achieved a lot in life, that I would obviously be able to have kids and have a career, and it would not be a thing. But it was definitely a thing. I got very obsessed and started dreaming of a place where I could go and work and have my daughter with me, and have community and support. I tried pitching it to investors, but everyone thought no one would want to work nearby their kids. Then there was a pandemic, and everyone was forced to work from home with their kids. I started looking for spaces and ended up opening the first location on the Upper West Side of New York City. We've been operating for 3 years and have supported hundreds of families through just being a supportive space for them to go every day, or occasionally, or bring their friends or colleagues. Their children have quality care and they're nearby. Our infant program is very popular because a lot of women have to go back after 3 months, and they can still be nearby their baby. A lot of them are nursing or helping with nap or dealing with sleep issues. We do a lot of workshops to help them through the basics like sleep and nutrition. We're a space where you can have in-person connections with your baby, other people's babies, other people with babies, just people in general, and not be isolated and trapped at home.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Michelle
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think creativity and being open-minded to different ways of doing things. Also, stubbornness and persistence. I'm surprised how much you can bend and not break, and I feel like I've taken myself to very the limits of almost breaking, but I'm still bending. For some reason, maybe women are just more resilient like that, that we can bend but not break. We're gritty. We know our abilities, and we'll just work harder to prove ourselves. I feel like I'm constantly proving myself, and I think women feel that pressure. Actually, in a way, it's good, because there's no option to fail. I feel like failure is just a luxury that in the startup and tech world, it's fine to fail. But for me, it's not so good for me to fail. I have a lot of responsibility, people rely on me, and I don't necessarily get many chances, because I'm perceived a certain way.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I hate this kind of advice, but it is true: don't take things personally. I do take things personally, but you also have to not take things personally. Also, you won't know until you try. For most things, you just have to try.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You do have to be the best you can be. You are going to be judged more harshly. So you just have to be smarter, you have to be better, you have to be more, you have to kind of just be better in order to even be seen. And then be aware that not everyone has your best interest at heart. You have to be aware of who are your friends, and who are not your friends. Having really good work friends, or good friends in general, can really help you through a lot. But then, you know, be aware that maybe not everyone will play that role for you. Go find your good people. You really have to find the good people for you personally and for you professionally, because you're gonna need someone to talk about things with who you trust, and who knows you, and who cares about you.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
There are so many opportunities. Childcare is so undersupplied at the moment, in this city and in the state and nationally. Most of the work is being done unpaid by women. We just need to create more spaces for childcare and services to be supporting women. There just isn't any. The fact that we're in this childcare crisis, and have been in a childcare crisis for so long, I do think of it as an opportunity, because I know that what I'm doing works, and it just needs to be replicated. It's not rocket science, and it's not like the Middle East. I think it's a solvable problem. I think there's a lot of problems out there that cannot be solved, but I think this is a solvable problem. I just did it in a small way, in this neighborhood. As for challenges, I can definitely be taken advantage of, because I have a very nice and friendly approach to work, and I think that can be taken advantage of. So learning to have boundaries helps, so that it's very clear what my role is. This project has been very good for me, because I've had to be a leader here, and I want to be a leader on my own terms, and I want to define what that is for me. But that's been challenging.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I definitely noticed in law school that I'm always gonna put family first. I know that about myself. I really like the poem, everything I need to learn in life I learned in kindergarten. It's like, you know, share, take turns, flush the toilet, wash your hands after you go, be kind. Just those basic things. It's a poem, everything I need to learn in life, I learned in kindergarten.
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