I was standing in the Fort Lauderdale airport a couple of weeks ago, heading home after Easter.
You know the scene.
Everyone lined up at the gate… half paying attention, half people-watching… waiting for Group 1 to pretend they’re not already hovering at the rope.
In front of us was a family of four.
Mom. Dad. Two kids.
And the daughter… maybe 18 or 19… was quietly crying.
Not dramatic. Not loud.
Just tears sliding down her face, every now and then a sniffle.
After a few minutes, I hear the dad say gently, “Honey… there are a lot more boys in the world. He wasn’t the one.”
Apparently, her boyfriend broke up with her by text while they were in Florida.
By. Text.
So I did what any rational adult woman would do in that moment.
I leaned forward and said,
“Oh honey… who is this boy?
Let’s go kick his ass.”
Her mom laughed.
From a few rows back, another woman yells, “WHAT’S HIS NAME AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER? I’ll find him in an hour.”
Now we’ve got momentum.
Another mom chimes in,
“I know a guy who knows a guy. Just give me a picture.”
At this point, the entire gate area of women has formed what can only be described as a highly unregulated, emotionally supportive task force.
Everyone’s laughing.
The girl is laughing and crying at the same time.
Women are telling her she’s beautiful.
That she deserves better.
That he’s an idiot.
And her mom?
She turns around, looks at all of us, and mouths, “Thank you.”
By the time they called boarding…the tears had stopped.
She was smiling.
And I thought to myself…
Why are working moms not at the top of every employer’s hiring list?
Because what I just watched wasn’t random.
It was instinct.
It was leadership.
It was emotional intelligence in real time.
It was a group of women reading a situation, stepping in, lifting someone up, and changing the outcome in under 10 minutes…
Without a meeting, a strategy deck, or a Slack channel.
Working moms do this every day.
They de-escalate chaos.
They build trust.
They create environments where people feel safe, supported, and seen.
You can teach systems.
You can train skills.
But that?
That ability to walk into a moment and make it better for everyone in it?
That’s gold.
And a lot of companies are still overlooking it.
#HireMothers
#WeAreLikeSleuths
#WomenLiftingYouUp