How the Trials of Motherhood Inspired This Ad-Sales Exec to Start a Hiring Platform Based on Flexibility

When she joined Microsoft, she was the youngest account manager in the company's history. She was an executive in Silicon Valley by the age of 28. After starting a family and seeing how the traditional workplace is sidelining millions of talented people, she decided to change her career path. She set out to build a new kind of staffing platform. Olson's Rolodex was full of advertising and marketing executives who needed teams for events, campaigns, and social media initiatives. She built a virtual platform with her own money to help independent marketers find work. Private equity funding valued the company at $110 million. The personal health crisis would have to be lived through.

After the birth of my first child, I felt like fallible. Post­partum depression and anxiety went undetected for a year and a half while I was a sales director. To raise my hand and say "I can't keep up this crazy pace" was how it taught me humility. I don't want to go to New York City for a week at a time and not be able to feed my daughter. I moved to a startup where I was the only mother among hundreds of employees, and the only woman in leadership. The culture didn't like boundaries or mothers. It wasn't easy.

When I had a baby, I felt like I needed to work 65 hours a week. I think we underestimate the power of rage to push us to change. I saw how many people are marginalized by how work is done. Women have sexism. It's called racism. It is possible to be ableism. Is it ageism? The hours that don't line up with children's school schedules are included. I wanted to find good work for people who need it and treat them with respect. This is how we were born. I need to be made pretty uncomfortable to leave a seven-figure job because of that experience. I was on the hamster wheel.

My father grew up without a mother in a refugee camp in Palestine. My dad worked in a mall so I could play softball when I was younger. People who have sacrificed so much for my success are on my shoulders. I felt a huge responsibility to use the resources I had been given to do more. I wanted to make a difference for my daughters.

It became a personal mission when I started my company. I named it after my oldest child. I didn't get a paycheck for two years. The small team was invested as well. My employees were burning out. Some were so focused on the mission that they didn't want to take the paid time off.

We were not on the walk. We had to deal with mental health issues. Employees are forced to take five days off each quarter if they want to get their full bonus. We needed a tinkerer's mindset when it came to employee benefits. Change is needed. What employees need to be asked over and over. It is not possible for culture to be compassionate. In order for leadership decisions to happen, they need to happen in a way.

We call them Rosies because we have 15,000 of them on our platform. We use technology to find people and teams for jobs. 40 hours a week is the cap on contracts. We file more than one résumé. What lights you up is one of the questions we ask. The marketing industry as a whole is not as diverse as we are. The current system of work hasn't changed in a century. Systems put into place by society can be changed.