This Friday I’ll close my laptop and start my maternity leave.
And to be honest, it feels strange and huge and exciting all at once.
I’ve been “the woman in tech” in so many rooms:
- the only woman in the meeting
- the one asking “why are we building this, who does it actually help?”
- the one balancing ambition with everyone’s favourite question: “But what about kids?”
Tech taught me to move fast, iterate, break things, fix them, ship again.
Pregnancy is the opposite: slow, physical, messy, absolutely not under my control.
And somewhere between those two worlds, a lot of women quietly get scared.
- Scared that if they disappear for a few months, their career will disappear too.
- Scared they’ll come back “behind”.
- Scared they’ll be seen as less serious, less ambitious, less “in the game”.
I’ve felt that fear too.
But I don’t believe the story that you’re either a “serious woman in tech” or a “mom who’s distracted”.
I think both identities can feed each other.
I want my kid to grow up seeing their mom build things, make decisions, lead teams, and also show up fully at home.
And I’m really lucky here: I have the most amazing team at Chatbase.
We’ve been building so much this year, and they’ll keep shipping while I’m on leave.
I’ll still be around online, reading, writing, sharing what I learn – just with a slightly different schedule.
I’ll be back at work in March.
So that’s my update:
woman in tech,
starting maternity leave,
coming back in March.
And to be honest, it feels strange and huge and exciting all at once.
I’ve been “the woman in tech” in so many rooms:
- the only woman in the meeting
- the one asking “why are we building this, who does it actually help?”
- the one balancing ambition with everyone’s favourite question: “But what about kids?”
Tech taught me to move fast, iterate, break things, fix them, ship again.
Pregnancy is the opposite: slow, physical, messy, absolutely not under my control.
And somewhere between those two worlds, a lot of women quietly get scared.
- Scared that if they disappear for a few months, their career will disappear too.
- Scared they’ll come back “behind”.
- Scared they’ll be seen as less serious, less ambitious, less “in the game”.
I’ve felt that fear too.
But I don’t believe the story that you’re either a “serious woman in tech” or a “mom who’s distracted”.
I think both identities can feed each other.
I want my kid to grow up seeing their mom build things, make decisions, lead teams, and also show up fully at home.
And I’m really lucky here: I have the most amazing team at Chatbase.
We’ve been building so much this year, and they’ll keep shipping while I’m on leave.
I’ll still be around online, reading, writing, sharing what I learn – just with a slightly different schedule.
I’ll be back at work in March.
So that’s my update:
woman in tech,
starting maternity leave,
coming back in March.