Growing a family and building a business at the same time can feel overwhelming, but for Sydney Mulligan, it was an opportunity to do both - after she was laid off while on maternity leave. Yes, you read that right.

Sydney shares her journey of founding EMMIE Collective, a marketing and revenue operations agency. She walks us through the challenges she faced as a new mom starting a business, how she balanced career and motherhood, and how she leveraged her layoff to advance her entrepreneurial goals.

She also shares the unique perspective of growing a business while caring for young children, the importance of support networks, and her approach to building a flexible, family-friendly work environment.

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Meet Sydney Mulligan

(05:01) Building an agency-ish as a "third child"

(07:22) Why 12 weeks of paid leave isn't enough

(07:57) Navigating return-to-work inequity

(13:49) Job hunting for 6-month parental benefits

(18:04) Getting laid off while on maternity leave

(21:37) Networking strategies during a leave of absence

(23:14) Choosing entrepreneurship over a W2 role

(26:23) Scaling EMMIE Collective’s freelance model

(27:44) The risks of planning your own maternity leave

(34:25) How to backfill roles during parental leave

(37:04) Solving for a systemic lack of parent support

(42:27) Save of the week

Connect with Mallory Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorylee/

Connect with Shannon Curran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-sweeny-curran/

Connect with Sydney Mulligan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydneymulligan/

Check out EMMIE Collective: https://www.instagram.com/emmiecollective

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius

www.shareyourgenius.com

If you’ve ever wondered whether building a flexible career is really possible without losing yourself or missing the moments that matter most at home, this episode will feel familiar.

Join us as we talk with Rachel Johnson about going fractional, redefining identity beyond job titles, and choosing a career path that gives her more control over her time, her work, and her family life. From hard lessons in high-pressure roles to the wake-up call of realizing work had become too central to her identity, Rachel shares how she found a different way forward and why that shift changed everything.

We also get into the practical side of what this looks like day to day: setting firm calendar boundaries, protecting time for school pickups and cheer practice, creating contracts that support real life, and being present for the micro moments with kids that can so easily slip by.

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Meet fractional marketer Rachel Johnson

(01:20) Rachel’s first fractional summer experiment

(04:19) Daughter’s surgery became the breaking point

(05:18) Putting motherhood above job titles

(06:51) Fractional work brought freedom and control

(11:52) Why micro moments with kids matter

(21:19) Setting client expectations

(25:38) How Rachel blocks her calendar

(27:55) Fractional work drama on LinkedIn

(29:25) Gatekeeping around the operator label

(38:52) VC pressure and startup hiring reality

Connect with Mallory Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorylee/

Connect with Shannon Curran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-sweeny-curran/

Connect with Rachel Johnson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-m-johnson/

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius

www.shareyourgenius.com

Building a big career while navigating motherhood is already a lot to organize, but once you throw travel into the mix, it can feel nearly impossible.

Join us as we talk with Sandy Robinson about her path from sales into sales operations leadership, the mentors who helped shape that transition, and the decisions she made about career and motherhood. From being the only woman in early sales roles to stepping into RevOps leadership after having her son, Sandy shares how her career evolved and what it took to keep moving forward while raising a family.

We also get into the day-to-day logistics of working parent life, from coordinating travel and family schedules to raising a gifted child who started college at 13. Sandy shares how she balances support and independence, stays present as a parent, and makes time for herself through coaching, fitness, and time away with friends.

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Meet Sandy Robinson

(02:14) Identity shifts after motherhood

(07:00) Choosing career first, motherhood later

(09:53) Tradeoffs when traveling for work as parents

(11:22) Why solo parenting sometimes feels simpler

(17:03) Parenting a 14-year-old college junior

(26:27) Saves of the week: coaches, nannies, and AirPods

(37:30) Advice for working moms

Connect with Mallory Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorylee/

Connect with Shannon Curran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-sweeny-curran/

Connect with Sandy Robinson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandyrobinson/

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius

www.shareyourgenius.com

If you’ve ever felt like you needed a childcare plan before you were “allowed” to tell anyone you’re pregnant, this episode will feel familiar.

Join us as we talk about childcare: the waitlists, the deposits, the sticker shock, and the identity shift that can hit when your work life and family life collide.

We share what we’ve actually done across different seasons: daycare, sitters and part-time help, an au pair experience that changed everything, consulting with a baby, navigating shutdowns, and figuring out after-school coverage once the “daycare era” ends. We’re not here to tell you there’s one right answer. We’re here to remind you that you can change your mind, build your village over time, and make a plan that fits your life.

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Why childcare decisions feel so heavy

(00:21) The reality of parental leave in the US

(01:03) Daycare waitlists, deposits, and finding the right fit

(06:25) Weighing the budget & identity shift

(10:16) Nannies, au pairs, and the true cost of daycare

(16:38) After-school coverage when school ends at 2:45

(17:26) Starting a consulting business with a baby

(19:03) Making maternity leave work when self-employed

(22:26) Childcare options & building your village

(28:54) What saved our lives this week

Connect with Mallory Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorylee/

Connect with Shannon Curran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-sweeny-curran/

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius

www.shareyourgenius.com

If excelling at work and motherhood at the same time feels harder than it should, know you’re not alone.

This is Full Stack Moms, a show for working moms navigating high-performing careers, motherhood, and life - just like we are. In this episode, we share our own stories of balancing full-time roles, staying home, consulting, fractional work, and everything in between.

This conversation sets the tone for the show by making one thing clear. We are not experts. But we are here to help you feel less alone, normalize how hard this phase can be, and create space for honest conversations about work, parenting, and life in the middle.

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Welcome to Full Stack Moms
(00:29) Navigating Career Transitions

(01:11) The Stay-at-Home Struggle

(04:12) Tech Industry Demands vs. Family Life

(07:21) Flexibility in Tech
(08:46) Fractional Work

(10:37) Breaking the "Perfect Mom" Myth
(14:34) Managing Expectations
(16:57) What to Expect from the Podcast

Connect with Mallory Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorylee/

Connect with Shannon Curran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-sweeny-curran/

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius

www.shareyourgenius.com

Work like you’re not a parent.
Parent like you don’t work.
What if that whole system is wrong?

This is Full Stack Moms, and we are Mallory Lee and Shannon Curran, two working moms navigating tech careers, parenting, and everything in between. We talk about why the traditional rules of work don’t fit modern parents and how women in tech are doing things differently. Through honest conversations and behind-the-scenes stories, this show explores careers, caregiving, ambition, and the messy reality of having it all, just not all at once.

Connect with Mallory: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorylee/

Connect with Shannon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-sweeny-curran/

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius

www.shareyourgenius.com