The Mom Project Works to Help Get Mothers Back to Work
*By Amanda Weston*
When Allison Robinson first became a mother, she, like may new parents, struggled to balance her full-time career and family. Eventually, she transformed her frustration into "The Mom Project," an online marketplace to pair moms with parent-friendly workplaces.
The Mom Project announced Monday it's joining forces with UrbanSitter to provide mothers with a $75 credit in free babysitting.
"One of the things that we kept hearing from moms who use our platform is that 'gosh, it's really hard to line up childcare in a minute's notice,'" Robinson, the platform's founder and CEO told Cheddar.
"In just simply giving them free childcare to make sure that they can get to that interview, we hope we'll make an impact and give them one less thing to worry about," Robinson said.
The concept has already become a success. The marketplace connects more than 100,000 women with more than 1,000 companies across the country.
The Mom Project also received [$8 million](https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/17/the-mom-project-a-job-site-for-moms-returning-to-work-nabs-8m-from-initialized-and-more/) in Series A funding in December 2018. Robinson believes investors are excited about the company's vision.
"Building a better workplace for women and mothers in the businesses they support," Robinson said. "I think the issue that we're tackling is so personal for so many people, and they're really excited to really make that a reality."
While mothers can face many challenges when they re-acclimate to the workplace Robinson thinks there's hope.
"We're starting to see some good shifts," Robinson said. "I think a lot of companies are offering more generous parental leave policies, and generally just policies that better support navigating work and family. We're also seeing that this is a talent pool that companies are really eager to attract and retain."
"About 43 percent of skilled women in the U.S. leave the workforce after having children, and companies are seeing that this is a highly underutilized talent pool and are starting to create more structures and vehicles for these women to be able to re-enter the workforce successfully."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-mom-project-helps-job-seeking-mothers-get-free-babysitting).
Nestlé has dismissed its CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate. The company announced on Monday that the dismissal was effective immediately. An investigation found that Freixe violated Nestlé’s code of conduct. He had been CEO for a year. Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive, will replace him. Chairman Paul Bulcke stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the company’s values and governance. Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 and has held various roles, including CEO of Nestlé's Nespresso division since 2024.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
