Founders exchange: Creating community for working moms with Jessica Chang of Upwards

Hi, Brittany Stewart here. As the co-founder of Burst, an angel investor and venture advisor, I have the opportunity to spend time with incredible entrepreneurs everywhere. Many of them are moms like myself. They are full of brilliant advice for working moms who want more, and I want to share one of these conversations with you. Today, I'll be talking to Jessica from Upwards for a Founders Exchange. She's created the largest childcare network in the United States. And she isn't stopping there. So please enjoy our recent conversation on healthcare disparities and finding strength in community. Hey, Bursties. Brittany here. I am so delighted to introduce you to my friend Jessica. She is the CEO of Upward, formerly known as WeCare. And we are going to talk to her today about everything related to being a CEO, a super mom, and a superwoman. So Jessica, welcome.

Thank you, Brittany, for inviting me. This is awesome.

So I obviously know all about your business. I'm super impressed with it. And I would love for you to share with the Burst world what it is that you do and why do you do it?

Well, first of all, the passion always comes from being a mom and having to leave my job because I decided to start a family. So that was really the starting point to it. But what our company does, so maybe I should talk a little bit about our company. We are on a mission to solve care for good. What that means is we work with employers and government and we create childcare benefit programs for families to, for example, subsidize the cost of childcare so more families can afford childcare and then childcare providers get paid what they deserve.

So basically via your service, you actually work with the employer to provide the childcare solutions for their end employees?

Correct. So a lot of times, and we're nationwide, so we work with a lot of families like low-income families, hourly workers, people that work non-traditional hours potentially on the weekend or even that second or third shift, really targeting families that truly need childcare. To get out of poverty, to be able to sustain just being able to go to work. And we work with their employers like manufacturing, healthcare, retail, hospitality companies, and we create childcare benefit programs for them to solve that for their employees. And we customize it for them. Same on the government side.

If I were a business and I were interested in working with you, do I need to be a certain size? Do I need to be in a certain industry or part of the country, or can you, can you help Anybody who's running a business out?

Generally, we can help everyone. If they're a small business, right, that's what people classically classify something that's under 500 employees, which is, by the way, most employers. We will work directly with their municipality, local and county to create a program that supports them. If they're 500+ employer, companies. Generally, we work with employers directly.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

So this thing that you've built, I think, is changing the lives for a lot of people who are, you know, typically wage earners. You know, I think the dynamic there is that if they don't go to work that day, they don't make money because they're hourly. That's really the crux of what's happening for these people. And so you've provided a solution that They can have a reliable childcare option, even if there's no school that day, even if the kid is sick that day. You've sort of covered all those bases.

Yeah. So we cover all childcare needs. So you'll have people that are looking for Monday to Friday care where they're, they're maybe their child is getting a little bit older, they're going back to work and they need a full-time solution, but they can't afford it. Or they're looking for emergency care where their full-time solution, maybe that's their friends, family networks. I think grandmas is helping to take care, but Grandma's gotten sick today.

Yep.

Where they need something, it's like, hey, I can't go there. And if I don't go to work, my shift gets canceled. I don't get paid. I need a solution. So it's every type of situation from what we call 0 to 12 years of age.

Okay. So this whole thing is very impressive. Walk people through a typical day in your life.

Ooh. So I've got 2 kids of my own. It starts out me waking up at 6 AM and sneaking downstairs before my kids wake up and prepping them breakfast. And then by the time they wake up, my husband takes on the duty of making sure they get dressed and brush their teeth and they look generally reasonable. Then they get downstairs and I go upstairs to do the rest of what my day starts off at, right? It's like I brush my teeth, I get dressed, I make sure I look presentable, and then we drop off the kids to school. We try to do it together because I think that's a little family bonding time. And afterwards, I start my day and deal with a lot of operations stuff in the company, making sure that things are working, decisions are being made. I'm generally in meetings almost the whole day. And then come 5 PM, you know, we get our kids, they do their activities, they do homework. And yeah, there's a lot of homework for kids these days. I don't know some of it. And then, you know, we try to play with them, get them fed, get them bathed, and then that ends their day. And then my day continues on until I get most of my work done, and then it's sleep time. And somewhere in between, hopefully I've worked out.

Hopefully, right? So it sounds like basically your day is filled with either work or the work of being a mother. And that's pretty much it from sunup till sundown.

Yeah, that's last person to think about is myself.

Well, right. I mean, that's the phase and stage of your life. So then, okay, but let's, let's brag about yourself a little bit. Of all the things that you're responsible for, whether that's personally or professionally, what would you braggadociously say you are like amazing at?

Multitasking.

Huh.

I can, Same time, be on a conference call while cooking, checking homework, and making sure that I'm like cleaning the house at the same time. But I think most women are good at multitasking. I can probably do comfortably 7 things at the same time.

That's wild. That's a lot. So then on the flip side, right, you know, I know that for myself personally, There are just certain things that come with the job of mom or work, but I just, I've never not been able to hate them. So like, what is that thing? Like, so for me, for example, interviewing people. I don't know what it is, but interviewing people, I'm, I just dread it. And I don't know why, but do you have something like that that like, if you could wave a magic wand, you would not have that on your task list?

Probably the one thing is patience with my kids doing a task that I know they know, but they're just screwing with me.

Hmm.

Right? You know, that it's like, I think I'm really good with generally people if they're liking to learn and do things. Like, I could do that with my team. But when it comes to my kids and they'll be like, oh, 1+ 1 is 11. It's called monkey math. Just, it would drive me up the wall.

So your kids messing with you is like your number one?

Yeah, it will drive me up the wall because I know that they know it and they just know that's my pressure point and they'll keep pushing at it and keep pushing at it and they're just waiting for me to get mad. And then I like, I bring my husband, I like really call out for him like, wait. And he comes, he's like, what? Are we tag teaming right now? I'm like, yeah, tag team it.

Okay, so now we're gonna shift to some fun, right? Because you're not just Jessica the CEO, you're not just Jessica the mom. So we've got some questions for you on the personal side.

Awesome.

All right, your guiltiest pleasure?

Eating sour worms when my kids are asleep because they're not allowed to have candy. So we have a secret stash in our closet. And I will sit there watching the worst, like, dramas possible because it's my way to kind of shut down my brain. I'm like, I have to watch something that's so unbelievable, and it's like every scene is like a stopping point. It's like, oh.

What are you watching right now that's terrible?

K-dramas. I completely don't understand. And obviously, if this was real life, no one stands for like 10 seconds In a screenshot where the screen moves and they're about to kiss, but they don't. They just have their 2 faces next to each other. Got it. But it's fun to watch and I'm like, oh, and I cry through it. And my husband has no idea why because I don't really understand it either. But I can kind of get what's going on and I try to read the English subtitles as fast as I can.

Okay, so like K-dramas, sour worms after the kids are asleep. This is your guilty pleasure. Okay, so then, all right, talk to me about what are, what are your hobbies outside of the work life, the mom life? Like, what are you into?

I love wine, so I will go explore it, learn it, certify myself.

You are probably one of the most talented wine tasters.

Uh, I've had many years, many years under my belt.

Just so everybody understands, you know, I went to Napa with Jessica and we actually There was a contest about if someone could name the grape, the year, the country, and Jessica got every single one, like, like out of that movie Psalm. So I have to ask you, and you're, you know, you are the informed person, of all the places you've been to go wine tasting, what's been your single best experience in terms of like actual winemaker?

Um, Weirdly enough, it was in China.

Okay.

And so maybe my expectations of it was China doesn't make wine. And I was pleasantly surprised because the winemaker actually like studied in France, brought over grapes from like vines from France. And I was like, whoa, this is great. And then we had this like 2-hour discussion because no one was visiting anyway because we were like, China makes wine? No way. And so like I got in with the winemaker and then they brought me back to kind of taste some of the barrels that weren't ready. So you can taste how sweet it was. And then they were doing some mixing at that time. So I was brought in to help with some of that mixing. And I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. This is fun. But that was like my best experience because I got to see behind the doors and it wasn't like the behind the doors tour. It was, Random, talked to them for a very long time. They were like, why don't you come back with us? And we'll like bring you through what we never show anyone else. So that was pretty cool. I have been getting into pickleball, which is a form that like it's easier on my shoulder because I've dislocated it. And so I'm like, okay, let's do pickleball. Let's do mom's pickleball if we ever find time. But been getting into that to just stay in shape and have some competitive edge. And I think the other stuff I like doing is I'm big on strategy games, so I'm trying to get my kids into them, like the old school, like Risk, right? I really love those.

I mean, I'm about to reveal, like, what a dork I was in high school, but, like, we used to have parties where we would play Risk. And our parents would let us stay out past curfew because we were in a deep game of Risk. And also, super nerds. They're like, there's nothing right now. You're, they're in the middle of like taking over a continent. Okay. Last rapid fire. Are you a shower person or a bath person?

I am a shower person, though I took a bath yesterday, so I, I can't. But I am a shower person cuz I'm like a, I need to get things done quickly. 5 minutes in, 5 minutes out.

Okay. Walk us through your morning self-care routine. Like, what do you, what do you, what do you do?

Oh boy, I'm gonna get in trouble for this one. So I have a total of 5 minutes to get myself ready before the kids go out the door. So everything's 5-minute chunks for me. So generally I will brush my teeth and that will be maybe a minute and a half. Okay, we're gonna put that next to you. Maybe a minute and a half. And then it's like, I'll wash my face. I will put on, you know, I've got, I've got a lot of— okay, this side. See in the background right here? Like, I've got my, my tonics, my vitamin Bs, my lotions, and my sunscreen. So that will take probably the remaining 3 and a half minutes. of me trying to make sure that I protect my aging skin from the sun. And that's, that's me in the morning.

And then what about evening? Do you have more than 5 minutes in the evening?

Um, so I'm also— I gotta get into my K-dramas, and I, and I have to do it after I've eaten all my sour worms. So, so I would say the evening's a little bit longer. So brush teeth, um, you've gotta have some mouthwash because, you know, gotta go to sleep and not feel like sour worms are rotting in my mouth. And I've got, I would say, flossing, but lazy flossing because I can do it in front of the TV.

Okay.

But it's like, you know, you kind of just go at it for a while and see how far you can go. I'm much— and that's really the routine for the brushing part. And then I'll do my whole facial routine, which is like, yeah, that takes a good 10 minutes. I've learned real well from those K-dramas that if you want dewy skin, You gotta do the 10 minutes.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, has better skin than the actresses in K-dramas. It's like, it's like the sun itself is illuminating from their skin and shining upon you. So yeah, I, I agree with that. So listen, I am so thankful for you sharing a little bit about your business with me, a little bit about yourself. And so I've actually sent you some things Yeah. As it relates to your morning and evening routine, my goal is to get you excited about taking the full 2 minutes to brush and really going deep on the floss. So, if you want to pull up what I've sent you, I'm going to walk you through what I've sent you and why.

Okay. I've got it right next to me because I'm curious to learn. These look really cool.

All right. Just show me the first one.

Big package.

Okay, so this is our ProSonic toothbrush. So the ProSonic toothbrush is, in my opinion, pretty, pretty close to a fact, the best electric toothbrush on the market. So this has 5 modes, an LED screen that will give you a brushing score. I know you're very competitive, so at the end of it, it's going to tell you whether or not you brush for your 2 minutes and how well you brushed. And that's a pressure sensor to make sure you're not pushing too hard. It has a 9-month battery life on a single charge, and obviously it looks like really great in that beautiful bathroom setting that you have there. So I sent you the Pro. What else did I send you?

I've got another toothbrush and I'm trying to figure out what this one does. Is this a travel one?

This is for when we go on adventures. Okay, the Curve. So the Curve has got its own cute little travel cap, ventilated.

Mm.

It's got a 75-day battery life on a single charge. 2 modes. My same super soft interdental bristles with a tapered cut, which is like, you know, just, you know, nerd speak for really good for your gums. So you can bring this like in your purse, in your carry-on, anywhere that you go. It's an amazing companion. So you kind of keep the Pro on your bathroom counter. You take the Curve everywhere you go. So actually when we went glamping, this was the toothbrush that I had. And I was like very pleased 'cause I had also forgotten toothpaste, but at least I was getting like a dry cleaning, you know?

And then what I did remember, okay, this is teeth whitening strips, which I probably do need 'cause mine are—

Honestly, they're like one of my greatest beauty hacks. So there's 2 different ways. So the reason that these are so good is they're 6.5% hydrogen peroxide. So they actually work. They have this no-slip grip. So it's sort of like Saran Wrap on your teeth. And I, my methodology is like, if I have something where I need to like look really good, whether it's like a conference call or an evening event, I'll put them on and do blow dry my hair and do my makeup and then take them off at the end. And then I feel like this extra pop of white. And so I don't do them like as prescribed by our hygienist and dentist, which is to do them in a row. I do them when I'm about to go do something else that I really want to that extra zhuzh because I'm a coffee addict, and so I have to reverse the signs of that. I'm also a coffee addict, do love some red wine, so it helps greatly with those 2 things. So I just sent them to you, so for any time you just want to be like a little extra fancy. And then did I send you something else?

Oh yeah, I've tried these, so I know they're great.

Oh well, yeah, the greatest, the greatest floss in the world. So, um, that is actually a refillable container, so we'll just send you the bobbin, it pops right in, so we don't produce produce any plastic waste. And as you know, our floss is the best. So I don't need to tell you that because I've given it to you before.

Yes. And you've given it to me right after we ate barbecue, which is like everyone's teeth are like, oh, something stuck somewhere. And then we're talking and everyone's just like flossing. It's like, ooh, it expands. And it's like, it got everything. I was so surprised. I was like, I took a picture for my husband.

I keep floss in every bag that I have because I feel like no matter what, you will never be mad that you have floss on you. Like, you go eat lunch, you're in the bathroom like, oh, thank goodness I have this in there. Because especially like, so for me, my big ones are spinach, meat, and strawberries. Those are the 3 that I'm like, oh, I just gotta get it out.

Everything.

Making me—

Everything. I love it because it expands because my back teeth are the worst. You know, having grown up in Asia, you know, dental hygiene was not a thing. So I always had to go, like, my teeth in the back are like so many repairs and I'm like, it's really hard for me to get in there, but yours just end up going real nice.

So you are the first person that we've interviewed who, you know, primarily grew up in another country. So, you know, in China, what was the 6-month dental hygiene visit? That's not a thing that happens. That wasn't You know, so what is the context that you have with the dentist or hygienist?

Well, first of all, I think when I was younger, there was no going to the dentist. There was like no dentist, period. And it was like part of the hospital. Like if you had, if your tooth accidentally got knocked out, that's why you went to the dentist. It was like emergency care. Got it.

So there's no preventative care as you're growing up. You just have to wait till something's horribly Then you have to go see someone in like an ER.

Yeah. So, but that was like the first half. And then suddenly, you know, when China started really developing, there was this concept of like, hey, you should go see a dentist. But it's not like the US where, you know, your insurance pays for the fact you can go see the dentist twice a year. Everything, there's no like recommended anything, just go see the dentist. So it was really like when you're Toothache, that's why you would go see the dentist. And so when I was growing up, as you can imagine, everything was aching because we didn't have really good hygiene. So yeah, I saw the dentist quite a lot.

So I thank you for sharing that because what I have learned in my time, I have this community of BURST ambassadors, which is nearly 40,000 women who practice dental hygiene and dentistry, right? And the amount of suffering that comes from not being able to go regularly see a dentist or hygienist I did not understand the extent of that. You know, I am very privileged in that I did go see the dentist. My parents paid for an orthodontist to straighten my teeth when I was young. And so these things, I never experienced them. And I have really learned the story of how you can't just brush your teeth at home. You do need to go see a dentist. And so to hear from somebody who just in the formative years of their life did not have the opportunity to, I think it's a really important message of care to share with everybody. So then one other thing I just want to touch base with you on. So for us, the most important part of our journey has been this community of women. So in my life, I don't— I'm fairly certain I will never do anything quite so impactful as create a community that economically and emotionally empowers women. So as you think about your journey of empowering parents and maybe even more specifically The female parent. What do you think you've learned about community? What have you learned about how important it is to empower mothers in the workforce?

Oh, wow. This is, this is a deep question. It's super important. What makes us who we are is our community. And I can yell at the top of my lungs why it's so important. But ultimately, if your community doesn't buy in, You're not really doing what you're supposed to do. But if your community does, it's like a 10x for what you're trying to push for. Ours is like, how do we self-care for good? So the community is like mostly women. It's usually moms that are affected. And a lot of them, a lot of times it's moms that don't get paid or moms that get paid less. And they're the ones that are forced to leave the workforce because of it. So this is, this is a big thing for us and where we would always be. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for our community.

That's amazing to hear. You know, I feel like one of the things, one of the pillars of the Burst business has been that we see and acknowledge that you have this life outside of us. And so we've tried to create a really open dialogue within our full-time employee circle that The business of being a parent is going to pop up. How can we get in front of that, talk to you about it, and not taboo the conversation? So, I feel like one of my North Star goals is women who work at my company, as well as the men, should feel comfortable raising their hand and saying, my kid has COVID today. And I have to be that person today, and I will figure out how to make this up later. And I think we've done a pretty good job of it, but it is still shocking to me how many people will go to work with COVID go to work with the flu, go to work with strep because they can't miss the time or there's no one to take care of the kid. It's a very— I think we are on the precipice of change, at least in this country, about how we think about the work-life balance for parents.

The blessing in disguise for COVID was It did force the parent agenda, the women leaving workforce agenda, the pay gap agenda to really be put forward because 5 million women left the workforce. Many million never returned because they couldn't find that childcare solution that worked for them. So that has been a big pivotal moment for us being like, well, look what happened. Here's a real life example. Not from the '50s. This was like a couple years back.

Yeah, this is now. Well, listen, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. I feel that people are going to really enjoy hearing your story. I know they're going to particularly love hearing about your oral care needs. And, you know, I just want to say that we are so supportive of what you do. If there's anything we could ever do to support Upwards, you let us know if anyone wants to get in touch with you. I feel like we'll we'll we'll get your information if anyone watches this. We'll make sure that they're able to connect with you.