Senior Moms at Work Share How They're Making It Through

When Gabriella filmed her company launch video, she was riding high on professional achievement. But the train ride home brought a parent's worst nightmare: her new nanny had left her two-year-old locked in a car for half an hour while teachers frantically searched for the crying child.

Her story is just one of over 100 that poured in when Fast Company asked senior-level mothers how they were managing work and family. The responses totaled 48,000 words of raw, honest accounts from women trying to hold it all together.

The numbers paint a challenging picture. Last year, men joined the workforce at three times the rate of women, with 572,000 men returning compared to just 184,000 women. Between January and August, 455,000 women left their jobs, and nearly half said caregiving was the reason.

Senior women are feeling the pressure most acutely. Research from Lean In and McKinsey found 60% of senior-level women reported burning out, compared with about 50% of men at the same level.

Rutgers University researchers discovered that caregiving strain is the biggest predictor of burnout and job departure. The impact hits hardest for women who are 10 to 15 years into their careers, right when many are reaching senior positions.

Why This Inspires

What stands out from those 48,000 words isn't just the struggle. It's the determination. These mothers wrote back because they wanted other women to know they weren't alone, and they wanted to share what was actually working.

While the systems may not be supporting them yet, senior-level mothers are finding ways forward through creativity, community, and honest conversation. They're redefining what success looks like and refusing to disappear quietly from leadership roles.

Their willingness to speak up is already creating change, one shared story at a time.