Stephanie Fornaro

I launched my nationwide household staffing agency 4 years ago after leaving a career in medical device sales, though I've been in the field of childcare and managing childcare for over 20 years. My company helps parents hire domestic support - everything from nannies to family assistants to house managers - that allows them to remain in the workforce. What drives my work is the reality that in the last 12 months alone, 400,000 women have left the workforce due to a lack of childcare. Much of my work sits at the intersection of policy reform and advocacy. I'm working to reframe how we view childcare in this country - not as a luxury or perk, but as workforce infrastructure. Today, families who hire in-home care become employers, operating as micro-businesses within their homes, yet they're paying their employees with post-tax dollars. That would be like telling Google to pay 100% tax on revenue before paying payroll, which would never happen. My advocacy focuses on legislative reform to change this. My personal story fuels this mission. My biological mother left when I was 5, and I spent my life wondering how a mother could leave her children. When I became a mother myself, I set out to be the mom I didn't have. After having my second child 13 years later, I went through postpartum depression. My husband kept encouraging me to hire a nanny, but I resisted because I thought it meant defeat and that someone else would be raising my son. My pediatrician finally convinced me, and hiring a mother's helper who became our full-time nanny changed everything. I finally understood - mothers leave because they don't have the right resources and support postpartum. The difference between my story and my mother's was access to support. I attribute my nanny to saving my marriage. Now I run this agency, but the real undertone is legislative reform and advocacy to ensure more women have access to the support they need to stay in the workforce and keep their families intact.