Who We Mean When We Say “Moms”

At Rise & Lead Moms, when we say “moms,” we are not talking about a single identity, family structure, or experience.

We are talking about caregivers.

We work with people who carry ongoing responsibility for the care, emotional labor, and well-being of others — often while also leading, organizing, advocating, or serving their communities.

Some of the moms we support are:

  • Birth mothers

  • Adoptive, foster, and kinship caregivers

  • Step-mothers and bonus parents

  • Queer, trans, and non-binary parents who identify with the experience of mothering

  • Primary caregivers raising children alone or within extended families

  • Caregivers supporting children with disabilities, chronic illness, or complex needs

  • Parents caring for both children and aging family members

What connects the moms we serve is not how they became caregivers, but the weight they carry — and the impact they are already making in the world.

Caregiving + Social Impact = Increased Burnout Risk

Many of the moms in our community are deeply engaged in social impact work, including:

  • Nonprofit and community leadership

  • Grassroots organizing and advocacy

  • Political and civic engagement

  • Mutual aid and community care

  • Volunteering and movement building

They are often the people holding communities together — while also holding families together.

This combination of caregiving responsibility and public leadership is powerful, but it is also exhausting. Too often, it leads to burnout, isolation, and disengagement — not because these leaders lack commitment or capacity, but because the systems around them were never designed to support caregivers in leadership.

Why we center moms

We center moms because caregiving labor is real labor — and it shapes how people lead, organize, and sustain themselves over time.

Caregiving affects:

  • Time and capacity

  • Economic stability

  • Emotional bandwidth

  • Physical and mental health

  • Ability to stay engaged in long-term leadership

Ignoring caregiving realities pushes talented leaders out of movements.
Acknowledging them keeps leaders rooted, resourced, and resilient.

Our commitment to inclusion

Rise & Lead Moms is committed to creating a space that is:

  • Inclusive of diverse family structures and identities

  • Respectful of how people self-identify

  • Grounded in lived experience, not labels

  • Centered on care, dignity, and sustainability

If you see yourself in the experience of caregiving while trying to create social change — you belong here.