Until each and every woman is financially independent, Reena Gupta says she still has a job to do. A 20-year veteran of the talent industry, Gupta created Mom Relaunch in 2018 in order to nurture women who have taken a career break and prepare them to rejoin the workforce.
While many programs work to match moms with flexible work that meets their needs, Gupta has created a process with Mom Relaunch that relies on instilling confidence in moms who sign up with them. Mothers receive career assessments, customized training, real work experience and mentorship that helps them leap the career gap, makes them ready and relevant, and provides them with the confidence often lost during a career break.
“I tell them, don’t feel guilty about taking the break. That was the decision that worked at that time for your family,” Gupta explains. “That’s my biggest desire: that when these moms speak, they speak with confidence that if companies are not hiring them, it’s their loss.”
Instilling confidence aside, there’s another piece to this puzzle. “You just can’t continue to empower women yet have a workplace that is not good enough,” says Gupta. “It’s like building cars with no roads.” By collaborating with a program like Mom Relaunch, Gupta says companies can address what’s causing mothers to leave the workforce in droves, rather than simply checking boxes.
While many companies are, in Gupta’s words, “gangbusters” about hiring college interns, corporate America has yet to appreciate the value of hiring mothers, who prove to be equally as talented but far more loyal to companies that have given them an opportunity. Gupta’s ultimate goal is to have Mom Relaunch branches in every city, though she admits, “I cannot do this as a single person.” Luckily, she will have an army of moms ready to build upon her vision.
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