This interview is with Alexa Starks, Founder at Executive Moms.

Alexa Starks, Founder, Executive Moms

Can you tell us about your professional background and how you’ve come to be known as an expert in business, leadership, and working motherhood?

My career began in advertising tech and operations, where I spent over a decade leading cross-functional teams and strategic initiatives. I thrived in fast-paced environments and eventually earned my Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership, which deepened my focus on how people, culture, and systems intersect.

But it was becoming a mom (I have two toddlers now) that exposed me to the invisible gaps in our workplaces. Even in progressive companies with parental leave benefits, I saw talented women, myself included, burning out or leaving, not because they lacked ambition, but because there was no real support when they returned from maternity leave. Managers wanted to help but weren’t trained, and culture shifted into silence just when it mattered most.

That realization led me to found Executive Moms and create The Reentry Blueprint and the Parent-Forward Culture Workshop. These programs equip HR leaders and managers with the tools and language to support working parents, bridging the gap between policy and practice. Along the way, I’ve been recognized as the Best Workplace Culture Innovator in the U.S. (2025), become a published author, and expanded into speaking and one-on-one coaching for moms in their first year back at work.

I’ve come to be known as an expert because I bridge two worlds: I bring the strategic, systems-driven lens of a corporate leader, and the raw, lived experience of a working mom. That combination allows me to deliver solutions that are both empathetic and executable, helping companies keep and grow the very women and parents who so often feel pushed out.

What inspired you to pursue your current career path, and how has your journey as a working mother influenced your professional decisions?

What inspired me wasn’t a single moment; it was the accumulation of countless small ones. Coming back from maternity leave myself, I noticed how invisible and hard that transition was. I was a proven leader, yet suddenly I felt like I had to prove myself all over again, while also managing the exhaustion, identity shift, and guilt that comes with new motherhood.

At the same time, I watched other women – equally talented, equally ambitious – quietly step back or step out altogether. Not because they wanted to leave, but because the systems around them made it almost impossible to stay. And that lit a fire in me.

As a working mom, I couldn’t just accept that this was “the way it is.” My journey made it personal; I know what it feels like to be overlooked and to smile through the struggle. It pushed me to use my leadership background and my lived experience to build something better.

My professional decisions since then have all been guided by one question: How do we make work work for parents?

As a leader in your field, how do you balance the demands of your career with the responsibilities of motherhood? Can you share a specific challenge you’ve faced and how you overcame it?

Balancing leadership and motherhood is less about perfect equilibrium and more about constant recalibration. I don’t believe in the myth of “having it all.” I believe in designing systems that make what matters most sustainable. And it’s important to acknowledge that some days will be harder than others, and that’s okay. Outsource what you can so that you can have time back to focus on other important tasks. As a business owner, it has been hard to turn off my work brain when I’m with my kids. Creating those boundaries has helped me be more present during those set times and also realize that it’s okay to not be perfect every time. At the end of the day, it’s really about accepting the imperfection of balancing career and motherhood.

In your experience, what’s the most underrated skill or quality that working mothers bring to leadership roles, and how can they leverage this in their careers?

Honestly, I’d say the most underrated skill is patience, and not the serene, yoga-teacher kind. I mean the kind you develop when you’ve repeated, “Please put your shoes on” 17 times before 8 a.m. That kind of patience translates directly into leadership. You learn to stay calm when projects derail, when tempers flare in meetings, or when timelines slip.

Working moms bring resilience and emotional intelligence too, but patience is the secret sauce. It’s the ability to sit in the discomfort, keep your cool, and guide everyone forward without losing your mind, or at least not showing that you are.

You can leverage this by naming it as the leadership skill it actually is. Too often moms downplay these strengths as “just part of parenting,” but in reality, organizations spend thousands of dollars training leaders to develop what moms practice daily. When you frame patience and emotional intelligence as strategic assets, not just personal traits, you shift how others see your value, and how you see your own.

You’ve mentioned the importance of creating systems that support employee well-being. Can you share a specific strategy or policy you’ve implemented or observed that has significantly improved work-life balance for working parents?

One of the simplest but most effective policies I’ve seen is establishing core hours with flexible start and end times. The idea is that everyone is expected to be available during a shared block of hours – say 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – but outside of that, employees can flex their schedules to fit around school drop-offs, daycare pickups, or simply their own energy patterns.

For working parents, it’s game-changing. It removes the stress of trying to be “on” from 9 to 5 while juggling very real caregiving responsibilities. At the same time, it gives the organization predictability, and teams still have overlapping hours for collaboration and meetings.

When I’ve seen this policy put into practice, the impact has been huge: employees report higher satisfaction, managers say productivity actually increases, and parents feel trusted instead of judged. It’s a simple shift in structure that signals, “We value outcomes, not just hours in a chair.”

That one change alone has improved retention and morale more than any pizza party or wellness app ever could.

How has your approach to wellness evolved since becoming a working mother, and what advice would you give to other mothers struggling to prioritize self-care amidst their busy schedules?

Before becoming a mom, wellness for me meant long workouts, uninterrupted mornings, and elaborate meal prep; basically, things that no longer exist in my reality with two toddlers. But now my approach to wellness has shifted from perfection to practicality. And I’ll admit I haven’t perfected self-care, but sometimes it’s giving myself permission to order takeout instead of cooking from scratch after a long day, or an early morning workout before the kids get up, or just stretching next to them and it usually turns into fun wrestling. It’s less about the ideal and more about what actually sustains me in the middle of chaos.

My advice for other moms is to rethink your definition of self-care. Stop waiting for a full spa day or two uninterrupted hours because you’ll burn out waiting. Instead, ask: what’s one small thing I can do today that supports me? Even a glass of water, a quick stretch or stroll outside counts. Wellness isn’t about creating a flawless routine. It’s about building resilience through small, consistent acts of care. And when you care for yourself in those small ways, you show up more fully in both motherhood and leadership.

In building your personal brand, you’ve mentioned dealing with negative reactions. How do you stay true to your authentic self while navigating criticism, and what advice would you give to other women leaders facing similar challenges?

The truth is, if you’re visible, there will always be critics. I’ve had people push back, dismiss the work I’m doing, or question whether focusing on working mothers “really matters.” And at first, I took that to heart, and it stings. But I’ve learned that I can’t build a brand, or a life, based on pleasing everyone.

What keeps me grounded is my north star: helping others. If a manager leaves my workshop feeling more confident about supporting a mom on their team, or if a mother I coach tells me she feels less alone and more equipped to stay in her career, that’s what matters. That impact will always outweigh the noise.

My advice for other women leaders is this: don’t waste your energy trying to convert the haters. Focus on the people who are ready to hear you, ready to grow, ready to change. Criticism will always exist, but if you stay anchored in your purpose, you’ll never lose your direction.

Based on your experience, what’s one common misconception about working motherhood that you’d like to debunk, and how can organizations better support mothers in leadership positions?

One of the biggest misconceptions about working motherhood is that having children makes women less ambitious or less committed to their careers. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen talented moms sidelined from big projects or promotions, not because they lacked capability, but because someone assumed they’d “want less” after becoming a parent.

In reality, motherhood often sharpens leadership skills like resilience, patience, emotional intelligence, and prioritization. It doesn’t diminish ambition; it redefines it. Most moms aren’t asking for fewer opportunities; they’re asking for the systems and support that make it possible to say yes.

Organizations can start by rethinking what leadership support actually looks like. Offer parent-forward policies like core hours with flexible schedules. Train managers on how to lead through reentry with confidence and empathy. And most importantly, stop making assumptions about what moms want—just ask them.

If we can break that misconception and support working moms in leadership positions with intention, we won’t just keep more women in the workforce; we’ll unleash some of the most capable, innovative leaders companies could ever hope to have.

Looking ahead, what’s one area of business or leadership where you believe working mothers can make the most significant impact in the next five years, and why?

I believe working moms are poised to make the most significant impact in reshaping workplace culture around flexibility and humanity. Over the next five years, we’re going to see companies forced to confront the reality that rigid, outdated systems don’t work anymore; not just for parents, but for everyone. Working moms are often the ones pushing for policies like core hours with flex time, hybrid options, and sustainable workload models. Because they understand what it takes to keep people engaged without burning out, and those shifts benefit entire organizations. When working moms step into leadership positions and advocate for these changes, they don’t just improve life for parents; they set new standards for how companies can thrive. In five years, the leaders who’ve listened to and elevated moms’ voices will be the ones attracting, retaining, and growing the strongest teams.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I care so deeply about changing the system because I lived it, and because no mom should have to choose between her career and her family. And no manager should feel unprepared to support someone through one of the biggest transitions of their life. So if you take anything away, let it be this: supporting working moms and parents isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s how we build stronger, more human workplaces for everyone.