I was moved by @Hettie 's post on navigating tech and moving to a new country as a single mom. Thank you for sharing your story! It was something I resonated with since I moved from Germany to Ghana with my son last year. You inspired me to share my own journey building my company as a single mother.

The past year of building Hiedberg has been a rollercoaster, to say the least. It's the adventure of a lifetime filled with ups and downs. However, through it all I have embraced the hustle and grind with gratitude and laughter.

The entrepreneurship journey has been glorified as "the dream". You always read stories about founders sleeping on friends' couches and building their companies out of a garage. However, you seldom hear the perspective of what the grind looks like as a single mom founder.

I'm not new to hard work. I worked my way through my PhD program. When I dropped out, I immediately built my career and reputation in international development by working on diverse projects across Africa. However, building a business and raising a son at the same time has been a different level of hustle.

In business, I choose not to divulge too much about my personal life. I feel like I need to show up and move like my male counterparts. However, scheduling meetings means coordinating around morning drop-offs and afternoon pick-ups. Zoom calls may have a sweet, little face pop up from the corner of the screen. Conference means coordinating child care and quick calls in between panels to check in on my son.

However, even with all my effort, I still receive sly comments or get received negatively when I need to push back a meeting to attend a PTA meeting or do an emergency school pick-up. A simple rescheduling request has deemed me 'not serious' by male clients.

I pride myself as a caring mother and venture builder, but it's challenging to balance both and be perceived as the same kind of go-getter as my male colleagues.

Other founders, who are mothers, how do you balance both?