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Updated: Feb 6, 2023 55 Comments · by

Introducing… CorporetteMoms, a Request for Guest Bloggers, and Some Kat News

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SO. I've kept a few creative endeavors on the down-low, and now is the time to share! (Gulp!)

CorporetteMoms

The CorporetteMoms Newsletter

Longtime Corporette readers may remember that when I announced my pregnancy with Jack (now 2.5 years old) I ALSO announced that I'd be starting a new newsletter, devoted entirely to pregnancy, navigating maternity leave, and the return to work. Ahem. I never actually got around to starting it, but it's always been in the back of my mind as one of my major goals for expanding this site. So, first up: I am FINALLY starting the CorporetteMoms newsletter! There will be two subscription options:  one for if you're pregnant (along with a free eBook with my very best tips for dressing professionally while pregnant), and a second if you're a working mom interested in news, deal alerts, and other updates.

CorporetteMoms.com

In the process of developing the newsletter, though, one of the things that frustrated me was the huge variation in how the emails looked in different programs — so it was important to me that each post have a home on the web. So: I am also announcing the launch of the CorporetteMoms SITE, now live at http://corporettemoms.com. The newsletter and site will have a lighter publishing schedule than we have here at Corporette, but there will be at least an Open Thread and news roundup every week, as well as deal alerts for women's and kids' clothes and gear. (Because CorporetteMoms has its own database and lives on a separate server for now, it's likely that we'll be testing forum software (!) there first… so stay tuned for that announcement, hopefully soon.)

A Call for Guest Bloggers!

But wait, there's more — I'd LOVE to get some of you guys to be guest bloggers for the CorporetteMoms site. Yes, you! My hesitation in launching a site for working mothers has always been that a) there's a TON of parenting and mom-deal sites out there (to say nothing of mommy blogs), many of which are doing amazing work (and are addictive reads for me), and b) my own work/life balance is an unusual one. But after a lot of thought, I realized that as an editor I could contribute to and facilitate two kinds of conversations:  professional maternity-style posts, and posts about work/life balance from REAL working women. So:

Calling All Maternity Style Bloggers

a) I'm happy to announce that starting immediately, CorporetteMoms will be taking on guest maternity style bloggers. Share your quest to look professional while pregnant, either with snaps of your outfits (send a pic, tell us what you're wearing, and we'll do the rest!) and/or(?) with brief posts about the sartorial struggles you've faced with maternity-wear. I certainly don't expect you to post a daily outfit but I hope you’ll tell us about your MVPs, the work-arounds you've found, and the maternity suits or work-appropriate dresses or trousers you bought (or the ones you left on the rack). I'd like to get 5-10 women at a time to commit to at least 10 (brief!) posts. (For the outfit posts, I'm OK if you want to crop your head out of the picture!) Apply here!

Calling All Mamas Balancing Work/Life

b) I'm also excited to announce that, also starting immediately, CorporetteMoms will be taking on guest work/life-balance bloggers (and if you'd like to stay anonymous, I'm fine with that!). This is the part that I'm really jazzed about because I just haven't found anything like it. I recognize that this will involve a significant amount of work from the guest bloggers — and because I know firsthand that working mamas are crazy-busy, I'd consider all interested parties to be ROCKSTARS. Basically, I've noticed that while there are a TON of work/life balance articles, almost all of them are written by freelance/WAHM types and offer the same tips. Then, there are the interviews with fancy-moms, like Sheryl Sandberg or Gwyneth Paltrow, explaining their juggle. I'm far more curious about the paths of REAL WORKING WOMEN (some of whom, yes, are the breadwinners in the family). I'd love to get another “class” of 5 women or so to commit to at least 10 (brief! 300 words+) posts each, on topics like:

  • how you prepared for maternity leave
  • if/how you negotiated flextime or reduced hours
  • how your career (and career plans) changed (or didn't change!) once you went back to work
  • how your household changed once you went back to work
  • how you handled your first big project (or meeting or trial) after your maternity leave
  • if you were a SAHM for a period, how you went (and felt) about going BACK to work

and more. I'm a bit mired in the early childhood years right now because I and most of my close friends have toddlers, but judging by Anne-Marie Slaughter's famous article in The Atlantic, the balancing struggles continue long after the preschool years, so I'd love to get working mamas from all walks. In my grand vision we can tag the bloggers by city and by profession, so if you're a lawyer in Chicago about to have your first baby and searching for work/life balance tips, you don't have to recreate the wheel. (Is it just me or is that how all working mothers feel, like we're recreating the wheel all the time?)

To those of you who don't have kids, I don't mean to disrespect your struggles with work/life balance — depending on how this goes at CorporetteMoms I'll consider bringing on a similar guest blogger feature here at Corporette (and hey, possibly even personal style bloggers here as well). Otherwise, there are no plans for Corporette's content to change.

Some Kat News

Finally… there's one more little creative endeavor to mention. You may wonder, gee, why is Kat suddenly so obsessed with maternity stuff and work/life balance issues? What made her revisit those ideas? So — at last! — I am happy to announce that we're expecting our second child. Announcing this was inexorably tied in my mind to bringing the CorporetteMoms newsletter and site to fruition, so this announcement is rather delayed. Let's just say that I'm well into the Waddling Weeks and probably officially in the Whale Weeks of pregnancy. My new editor, Kate (who I should really introduce you guys to in a separate post!), and I are hard at work preparing lots of great content and guest posts for the summer when I'll be on some semblance of maternity leave.

To those of you curious about how this second pregnancy has gone:  It's about 180 degrees different than the first, in that the pregnancy is such an afterthought. Jack and the blog(s!) take up the majority of my brain capacity, with whatever's left going to the general family concerns, myself, my husband, and my marriage, so there just hasn't been a lot of time or energy for worrying about the baby or reading a million pregnancy books. One big change: Having a kiddo in daycare and other classes while having a weakened immune system has not been easy. I caught not one but two stomach bugs in my first trimester and lost about 12 pounds (which freaked me out but didn't worry my docs at all), and had three head colds in January alone. The food aversions and cravings have been totally different too — Jack was something of an ice cream baby and I couldn't even look at chicken, fish, or beans when I was pregnant, whereas this kiddo is much more of a pickles baby and has been a-ok with pretty much all foods, with a particular craving for vinegar-y hot sauce. Go figure! Otherwise, the baby and I have been healthy, so please send good vibes that it'll stay that way.

So… I hope you guys will like the new site and newsletter, and I can't wait to see how they change and grow once we start building a community like we've built here at Corporette!

About Kat

Kat Griffin is the founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Corporette. You can read more about her here.

Comments

  2. JJ

    Congrats, Kat!! It’s so true that the second pregnancy is pretty much an afterthought, especially if you’re chasing around a toddler boy at the time.

    • Ellen

      Yes, Congratulation’s on the new baby! I wish I were haveing a baby so that I could help you out on the websight, but right now I am VERY focused on findeing a guy who will MARRY me and impregenate me (in that ORDER, I am still olde fashioned), and then support me and our children! YAY!!!! But so far, as you must know, I have NOT been very sucessful in finding that Guy. If I had a dollar for every guy that told me I should be the mother of his children, I could retire (almost). But those guy’s JUST wanted to have sex with me, Dad says, b/c they would not be around if they did manage to impregenate me. So I just followed Dad’s advise, and was VERY carful if I went out with them at all. I did NOT have sex with them NOR did I allow them to have roveing hand’s. I also did not want them askeing me to do anything with their weenie’s that mom would not do with dad. Also To many men stick their hand’s (and weenie’s) where they do NOT belong and I did NOT want that for me b/c they tell their freind’s what they did on their date’s and I did NOT want to be just another statisstic. FOOEY!

      But anyway, I hope to be MARRIED soon and then with child so then I can become active on your new blog’s! YAY!!!!!!

  4. Coach Laura

    Congratulations! That is so exciting for your family. Reading the tea leaves made me suspicious that you were pregnant with #2 but I kept my suspicions to myself.

    Congratulations on the new blog too!

  7. Lyssa

    Wonderful news on all counts, Kat! I’ve been reading this blog for so darn long that I seriously feel like I know you and am as happy for you as I would be for a personal friend!

  10. LAFnLegs

    Congrats Kat! We’re expecting our first in July… Your new blog is coming at the perfect time for me.

  12. Reix

    Congratulations!

    And I would love to be one of the guest bloggers on work/life balance, if you will take a non-lawyer, non-US reader… would you?

  13. Meg Murry

    Congrats! Since I took a step back from the corporate world, the new site will be much more up my alley. Only problem is that I rarely have a need for the featured items on the main site so I’m not tempted often – I’m afraid the new one will require more restraint.

  14. Philanthropy Girl

    Congrats, Kat! I’m just hitting the beginning of my waddling days (ha! I was just beginning to feel a bit like a penguin) and I’m looking forward to hearing all your helpful tips!

    May you be blessed with a smooth and wonderful remainder of your pregnancy!

  21. EC MD

    Congrats Congrats Congrats! Wishing you a happy healthy pregnancy and a beautiful healthy child!

  22. Anon99

    Congrats on everything!

    Will there be an RSS feed for the new site at some point soon? I am also in the waddling-transitioning-to-whale stage of (my first) pregnancy, and would like to read, but am never going to remember to manually visit. I read the articles and comments here on the site directly, but use the RSS feed to tell me when to go look.

  24. Anonymous

    Congratulations to you and your family, from a long-time lurker! I’m glad a number of your readers look to be excited about the new blog and the growth of your business. To be honest, I was mainly struck that the plan seems to be to get a lot of its content from other women – unpaid. Rockstars indeed…!

    • Reix

      I do think you have a point.

      But at the same time: I come to this site mainly for the comments, not so much for the shopping features that make the bulk of the content Kat posts. So, I come here for what other women -unpaid- write.

      • KLG

        I agree. It’s been hard to find an online community of career women to talk to about “mommy stuff.” I’m willing to provide unpaid content in exchange for Kat setting up the community I’m looking to exchange ideas with.

        Kat, congrats on #2!

    • Wildkitten

      I noticed that too. Hopefully the unpaid guest content is just a temporary plan to get the site off the ground while everything is being set up, and not a permanent business model.

      • new york associate

        I sure hope there’s a plan to compensate them. Kat’s asking for a lot of work for free. And offering linkbacks to a writer’s own blog just guarantees that the people who contribute are going to be predisposed towards the WAHM/blogger crowd – and I can read about their work-life balance just fine in every other media outlet.

  26. Jess

    I’ve been reading often, but don’t post much…but would love to guest blog. I’ve done about every variation of momming possible :)

  28. Olivia Pope

    Genius! I am not in the “pregnancy corridor.” I thought that if I ever was, I would use google to compile all the threads on thissite about all those issues. How much easier it will be when there’s a whole blog about those issues!

  36. kjoirishlastname

    Congrats! Big news for sure. I hope this doesn’t mean the split of moms v non-moms across the sites, though. I appreciate the big jumbled heap of women from all walks & stages on this site, and I hope that the addition of CM won’t divide the population too much. That is my biggest worry.

  38. Legally Brunette

    I am thrilled for you and your husband, Kat! Congratulations. I’m also really happy that you have launched Corporette Moms. I recall you mentioning it a few years ago and always wondered if you were going to get around to starting it. Kudos to you! Best wishes for a safe, healthy, pregnancy and birth.

  40. Crockett

    Congrats, Kat! I’m also expecting my second this summer and have a 2 year old. Nice to know I’m not alone in the exhaustion, fighting horrible sicknesses over the winter/spring, and just forgetting to pay attention to this pregnancy! Can’t wait for the new site.

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