We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jackie Cook. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jackie below.

Jackie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Expecting professionals are busy with work & life. They focus on getting to the birth – but often not what comes after. When work isn’t well transitioned, and postpartum problems arise, the 4th trimester can be ROUGH. It doesn’t need to be such a struggle.

I support busy professionals who are growing their families. Together, we proactively prepare for the transition into parenthood. So that they can thrive in their new roles, with their new family, across work and home.

Before starting Popins, I spent over 15 years in implementation & customer support within the healthcare IT space. I’m a mom of 2, lover of checklists, and mediocre cook. My 1st baby was born in the Netherlands, where I was leading large projects and managing a division of about 50 people.

My pregnancy came at a bad time for work – one of the first things that went through my mind after seeing that positive test strip result was that I’d be having a baby a couple weeks before 1 large customer go-live and a month before another. I felt so nervous about telling my boss and guilty for what I was putting on my colleagues. I was lucky – my boss offered only support and congratulations, my customers were happy for me (and…yes…nervous for themselves. They wanted to know our plan to support them). My colleagues stepped up and took their roles in stride.
When we brought our son home – about 2 hours after he was born – we had an in-home caregiver who supported us for the first week, STANDARD in the Netherlands.

Fast forward a couple years and, back in the US, we found out we were pregnant with our 2nd baby.

The timing was “fine.” In my job at that time, I was leading a growing team at a growing company, with responsibility to about 50 clients.
My upcoming maternity leave was an opportunity with a deadline – to uplevel high performers on my team, scrap meetings that were no longer serving a good enough purpose, and tidy up documentation & processes so that my team & our customers could keep things humming while I was out.

After a healthy pregnancy and birth, we brought our daughter home, and despite having friends & family close by, quickly missed the caregiver we had had in the Netherlands.

I started Popins after hearing countless stories of new parents struggling postpartum, at home and after returning to work. So many of the challenges go unresolved, either because parents are too busy, too tired, or don’t know that support is available.

Having a baby is a life changing event. You don’t get a practice round – and there’s a lot you can’t control. And, there’s a lot you can influence with some preparation. Popins supports the journey into parenthood with a Plan to Thrive.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Getting ready for baby is a LOT – Making your baby registry list. Setting up the nursery. Medical appointments. Family expectations. Figuring out your maternity leave plan.

Popins supports busy expecting professionals to be prepared for parenthood, at work and at home.

Our Professional Parent Series helps clients plan for Parental Leave & easing the return to work after baby.
Grandma Camp prepares family & friends to provide the Best Support for you.
Community Connection & Baby Gift Registry Consult services make sure that clients have the Postpartum Support & Baby Gear they need.

I love working with busy professionals to save time, stress less, and get the support they deserve as they grow their family.

To keep these great professional parents in the workplace, Popins also works with employers to uplevel their parental leave experience. We help make sure benefits & guidelines are clear for the expecting & new parents looking to them.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Consistently showing up and patience. I’ve done a lot of in person and on-line networking with employers, friends, former colleagues since starting Popins to understand the resources that are already out there, poke into what expecting parents are focused on, discuss strategies for surviving the first year of working parenting, and share knowledge.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.popinsfam.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/popinsfam/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PopinsFam
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/popins-llc/