Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mary Kay Ziniewicz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Mary Kay, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard
Bus Stop Mamas is a new lane for employers to find talent. The high tech, high touch platform is designed for employers to quickly meet talent that is experienced, eager to work and off market–moms.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
The idea of Bus Stop Mamas was conceived at the bus stop. My daughter was 10 and I was standing at the school bus stop for the very first time with my daughter, along with all the other mamas in the neighborhood–all of whom left very promising careers to care for their children.
Prior to this point in my daughter’s life, my husband was the stay-at-home parent. He, like many people who stay home, was feeling kind of sad–he wanted to be around adults, he wanted to exercise his other talents, and, importantly, he wanted to contribute to our household income. All of these things make us whole. We are multidimensional people. My husband loved being an at home parent, but as our daughter grew, hours in the day opened up. So he went back to work and I brought my business in house. I owned a consulting practice and worked with law firms around the country.
Now I stood at the bus stop, and noticed that the moms at the bus stop had time where they wanted to do something more. Many of these moms attempted to go back to work, to no avail. These moms got quick rejections or no rejection at all. Their self esteem suffered. I knew that if the people I worked with had the opportunity to meet these mamas, they’d hire them in an instant. The problem was, employers never got the chance to meet these exceptional, experienced people. And that’s what I set about fixing.
Bus Stop Mamas instantly connects employers to talent. Talent that is eager to work, with one click. The Bus Stop Mamas method is unlike any other workforce platform. Bus Stop Mamas makes email introductions, just like a friend: Employer, meet mama. Here’s a bit about the employer, and here is a bit about the mama.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Bus Stop Mamas is truly solving a BIG problem for women, solving a BIG problem for business and solving a BIG problem for the community. The solution is bigger than the product, for certain–and that is super exciting! We are living during revolutionary times, and Bus Stop Mamas is leading the great organizational shift! WooHoo!
That said, it has not been easy to hold our position on our market difference and communicate the enormous economic value that we bring to the market–but we have done so.. We were told to change our name. We didn’t. We were told that we were not inclusive enough. We are. We were told to focus on highly educated candidates. We chose all moms. We discovered a way to correct the organizational model to include mom too. No one else has. We are ushering in a new world that includes mom, mama and motherhood–we are uniting women! This is a revolution, baby!
Our focus on moms continues to pay off for everyone who believes in what Bus Stop Mamas is achieving–we are paving the pathway to equity for women and moms.
Together, we are strong. Together we can move mountains. Together, we can assure that employers get her back and keep her at the boardroom table too. Bus Stop Mamas is the future of work!
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Bus Stop Mamas was bootstrapped year one. One day, a lawyer contact of mine was meeting a client of hers for lunch. When her client sat down, he said “moms make the best employees”. My friend told her client, you need to meet Mary Kay. I believe poetry is all around us and we are blessed when we catch a glimpse. This introduction was poetry. Bus Stop Mamas met an early investor who helped me raise a bit of capital in a convertible note in early 2020. Money that helped Bus Stop Mamas survive during the early days of Covid. As moms were cooking, cleaning, masking, sanitizing, feeding and teaching their kids, our moms did not have time to add a job to the new schedule. The money raised allowed Bus Stop Mamas to continue to grow the mama network and business network too. Today we have over 12,000 moms in the network and over 600 businesses hiring every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.busstopmamas.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/busstopmamas/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BusStopMamas/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/35679583
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BusStopMamas
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/be.INVOLVD/videos/627504195271352 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZPkDA1faVg
Image Credits
Phyllis Welch