Women are great at so many things: planning, scheduling, multi-tasking, peace-making, anticipating, worrying, over-thinking, agonizing . . . We can solve serious problems with a bobby pin and Chapstick. We are also great at things like carrying guilt. We can carry guilt way better than a man can. That is one of the things that prompted us to start the MomSource Network.
In 2013, I was fairly new to Tennessee and was juggling a full time, in-office corporate job, a 3 year old, and balancing household duties with a husband who worked out of state during the week. Luckily, I had a best friend,—Courtney Jones. Courtney was a Tennessee native, had two kids, a husband, and a successful career. In short, she seemed to have it all together. What was the difference? She had an employer that valued her contribution, her work ethic, and her talent—and was completely flexible with her desire to work from home and prioritize her family.
The more we spoke with our friends about how difficult it is to juggle the demands of work and home, the more we realized we were surrounded by two types of women. The first was a stay-at-home mom who was highly educated and had a very successful career but had decided to prioritize her family and stay home to be the primary caregiver. The second was the working mom who was working 40+ hours in someone else’s glass office downtown, trying to figure out how to get from work to tee ball practice, and how to explain to her employer that she had to take another day off because her kid was sick again (cue the guilt). Courtney noticed that there really didn’t seem to be an option between being a full-time stay-at-home mom and being a full time 40+ hour per week employee. Something had to change and someone had to be the advocate for these highly successful, educated women who wanted to work—but wanted to do it in a flexible way that allowed them to prioritize their families.
In August of 2013, the MomSource Network was founded in Knoxville, TN with the humble mission of Changing the Way Americans Work. We advocate for flexible employment on behalf of educated professionals (not just moms) and connect them to forward-thinking, family-friendly employers. We specialize in flexible, full-time, permanent part-time, job share, telecommute, and freelance positions. We expanded to Chattanooga in 2014 and to Nashville in 2015. We are getting ready to launch a new software platform and will be expanding nationally during the first half of 2016!
We have placed hundreds of candidates in flexible positions. These candidates—like ourselves—wanted to continue their careers, grow their skill sets, maintain their business contacts, and stay relevant in their fields—just in a way that allowed them could prioritize their families. Maybe that means only working from 8:30am to 2:30pm Monday through Friday in an office so they are able to drop their kids off at school and pick them up as well. Maybe that means working full-time from home. Maybe it’s a hybrid of both of those options. The possibilities are limitless!
We invite you to go to our website at MomSource Network, register as a candidate, speak to one of our candidate advisors, and see what the possibilities are for you and your family. We are working hard every day (flexibly!) to spread the knowledge of the benefits of flexible employment to CEOs, hiring managers, business leaders, and community leaders. We also love to connect with candidates, mom’s groups, PTOs/PTAs, church networking groups, and would love to hear your thoughts and ideas about groups we could connect to in the Nashville area. We are passionate about seeing women succeed and advance, and we hope you will join us in fulfilling our mission! (Just don’t forget your bobby pin and Chapstick!)
Andrea is a native of Mohnton, Pennsylvania and currently resides in Lascassas, Tennessee with her husband and son. She obtained a BA in International Relations with a minor in Women’s Studies from the University of Delaware in 2004 and has a background in Business Operations, Human Resources, and Legal Support. Prior to moving to Knoxville, Tennessee in 2011, Andrea lived in New York City for several years, working for a private equity investment firm and traveling the world!
Andrea was the second MomSource employee and came on board in January 2014 as a Recruiter, shortly after MomSource was founded. In June 2015, Andrea relocated with her family to launch MomSource in the Nashville area as the Director of Market Development for Nashville.
When she is not chasing her son and dog, Andrea enjoys cooking, reading, the arts and traveling with her family. She is a passionate advocate for women’s issues and finds great satisfaction in the work she does with MomSource. Andrea is a current nominee for the Nashville Emerging Leader Award and is honored to further MomSource’s mission of Changing the Way Americans Work!
