Gain an individual spotlight via Motherly on your journey as a parent & founder

We are thrilled to pass along an opportunity to get featured via Motherly for an individual spotlight!

Motherly is the leading storytelling platform for modern moms, featuring stories and advice that doesn’t pretend motherhood is easy—but aims to make every reader feel less alone. The multi-platform brand engages over 40 million moms every month across its site, social platforms, podcast, and newsletter.

They are super excited for Dreamers & Doers members specifically to contribute to their Motherly Stories series with an individual essay (~700–900 words) on your journey as a parent and entrepreneur/leader (here’s an example of this style of article written by D&Der Alli Kushner!).

They’ve sent us an exclusive list of pre-approved story angles to source from you as D&D members and, along the way, you’ll have the opportunity to work with our very own Editorial Director to polish your story before submitting it to Motherly, increasing its chances of getting published and letting you shine in the best light! 💎 #VIPtreatment

We will be working directly with Motherly to produce 1-2 stories a month on specific topics they’re looking to prioritize.

Topics include things like how parenthood inspired your company or makes you a better leader, how you balance the complexities of being a mother and a founder, and how society needs to change to support more parent founders.

*You can see the full list of topics at the bottom of this post!*

You are welcome and encouraged to submit ideas for more than one topic to increase your chances of being selected! 🎉

➡️ Pitch your Motherly feature story idea(s) #DDExclusive

⏰ While this is an ongoing opportunity, we will be submitting our first batch of ideas in early July, so if you’d like to be considered for that please submit your pitches by 7/1. We will be submitting new pitches roughly every two months, so please continue to submit ideas even after that date has passed! We will remove a topic from the document if we’ve found a contributor for it.

Note: While this opportunity offers direct, exclusive access to this outlet with about 15 pre-approved stories to be published, only one member can be selected per slot (unlike our #PRHypeMachine #ExclusiveMediaPlacement opportunities—our signature offering crafted by our in-house editorial team—which offer a close-to-guaranteed chance of getting featured). Pitching more than one idea for this Motherly opportunity will help increase your chances of being selected for one of these features! 💫

Pro tips: When you pitch, think authenticity, specificity, and lived experience. Each piece should reflect something only you can tell—an authentic narrative with heart, clarity, and reflection. On the flip side, what will prevent your ideas from getting selected are over-the-top self-promotion (of yourself or your company), generic experiences, and a lack of specific examples to support your idea.

✨We're so excited to receive your submission(s).✨

Imminent topics

These are articles we’re working on with Motherly in the next couple of months.

Motherhood stigma in fundraising → Raw, vulnerable, and honest account of navigating motherhood stigma in funding conversations. E.g., “I breastfed on investor Zooms. They told me to turn off my camera.”
Micro-productivity during motherhood → A hyper-specific breakdown of what it looks like to make micro-moves with massive impact during early motherhood. E.g., “I built my business in 15-minute nap increments—here’s what I learned about momentum.”
Redefining success as a parent → A founder reflects on how having a child made her redefine success and embrace slow, sustainable growth. E.g., “The startup world glorifies hustle. Motherhood taught me to prioritize rest.”
The complexities of being a working parent → Guilt, pride, purpose—and the complexity of raising kids while chasing big dreams. E.g., “My daughter asked why I work so much. Here’s what I told her.”

Upcoming topics

These articles will have longer lead times (~3-8 months), but we’d still love your ideas now!

How motherhood gave you the courage to start a company → A powerful origin story from a mom who launched her business after becoming a parent—and how that identity shift cracked her wide open. E.g., “I didn’t lose myself in motherhood—I found the courage to start my company.”
An argument to stop underestimating moms → Combines personal narrative with a takedown of the motherhood penalty and what’s lost when moms are underestimated. E.g., “Becoming a mother made me more ambitious—why doesn’t the world see it that way?”
Overcoming mom-founder imposter syndrome → A reframe of the imposter syndrome so many mom-founders feel. E.g., “I stopped saying I’m ‘just a mom who started a business’—because I’m not ‘just’ anything.”
How motherhood made you a better leader → From boardrooms to tantrums—how being a parent shaped her approach to managing people and building teams. E.g., “Motherhood is the best leadership training I’ve ever had.”
How you manage to do it all → A look into the (often invisible) labor that powers female-founded startups. E.g., “I hired a team, raised a baby, and grew my company—all without childcare.”
Fighting for paid leave → Great way to weave in themes of unpaid labor, motherhood equity, and policy (like paid leave). E.g., “I run a business and a household. One comes with a salary. The other should too.”
How failure became a part of your parenting → A founder opens up about how normalizing failure at home became part of her parenting and leadership style. E.g., “My kids watched me fail—and that’s exactly what I wanted.”
My business solves problems moms have → The founder-to-mother-to-problem-solver loop that so many in the Motherly audience resonate with. E.g., “I built a product I couldn’t find during my postpartum breakdown.”
The advice you wish you had before running a company and a family → Highly shareable, real-talk listicle-style piece with a personal throughline. E.g., “This is the advice I needed before launching a business with a baby on my hip.”
The traits you gained from motherhood that support your business → Positioning moms not just as builders, but as long-term dreamers and systems thinkers. E.g., “Motherhood made me more than a founder—it made me a visionary.”
Why being a mom founder is inspiring → An inspiring call to own ambition because of motherhood, not despite it. E.g., “I didn’t want to be a mom who worked. I wanted to be a mom who led.”

We can’t wait to see your stories come to life 😍

*This is a D&D-exclusive opportunity, please don’t share this outside Dreamers & Doers. Thank you!