I distinctly remember laying in my bed when I was in the thick of my infertility journey and seeing the first photos of the Chamber of Mothers pop up on my Instagram feed. The founding mothers had their arms linked, firmly planted on the lawn of the United States Capitol. Each of them carrying a tote-bag that read, The Mothers Will Save Us All. Goosebumps covered my skin, and I said to myself: I want to know these women. I want to stand beside these women. Fight with these women. Build a more supportive and fair country with these women.
I made that dream a reality and you can too. We are uniting mothers as advocates. The Chamber of Mother’s is officially starting a New Hampshire chapter and we have our first meeting at Laney & Lu in Portsmouth on May 29th at 6 PM.

If you’re not familiar with the Chamber of Mothers, it is a collective movement to advance maternal rights in America through national and local advocacy.
The three pillars we attach ourselves to are: Paid family medical leave for all, affordable and accessible childcare, and improved maternal health outcomes.
It all started in November of 2021 when Congress cut Paid Family Leave from President Biden’s proposed Build Back Better legislation. That night, the founding mothers texted each other in outrage and built a plan to take action into their own hands.
While running companies, folding laundry, feeding newborns, and making dinner, they decided to assemble and advocate as a collective force to give voice to millions, including myself.
All women face barriers from birth, but for black and brown women the barriers are greater and deeper. When I stepped into the motherhood planning phase of life it felt absolutely unmanageable. Every woman’s story is unique, but this was the moment when the switch flipped for me.
I personally started to question my career. How was there time for a family when I had a high stress, always-on sales leadership position? I started to question our healthcare system and my body. Why did I feel so alone in my infertility? Why did I know nothing about IVF, or really about how my body really worked? I began to feel furious about, and question, the gendered division of unpaid labor. Why don’t we value unpaid labor? Why does care and domestic work fall so heavily on women? It made me question the laws, policy, and benefits that actually mattered to me. I began questioning why our maternal death rate is so high; the absence of federal paid family leave policy; and why parents have no access to childcare support.
I’m proud to be co-leading a NH chapter that’s rooted in my why: ensuring that my daughter and all of our children don’t have to ask these questions. I want them to feel like that support and solutions outweigh barriers and hurdles. It’s also important to feel like caregiving work has value and is more evenly distributed, because we have laws, policy and support in place to ensure this. I want to unite today’s mothers as advocates, so the mothers of tomorrow feel supported and empowered.

I know we all have so much on our plates already, but I don’t want this to stop you from getting involved if you want to.
There’s no mandatory commitment. It’s okay if you show up to one meeting, then skip three.
This is a place to unite mothers as advocates. We’ll use the connections we make to come up with ways to make New Hampshire a more supportive place for moms. If this excites you too, please register to attend our first meeting here!