FEARLESS FOUNDERS | NAVIGATING MOTHERHOOD & ENTREPRENEURSHIP WITH MICHELLE BATTERSBY
In this Fearless Founders spotlight, we sit down with Michelle Battersby—entrepreneur, tech innovator, and new mother—to explore how motherhood has shaped her journey. From her groundbreaking career launches at Bumble and Sunroom to the challenges of balancing ambition with parenting, Michelle opens up about evolving career goals, finding purpose, and redefining success. Dive into her candid insights on navigating this intersection of roles with resilience, passion, and a deep commitment to empowering women.
Tell us about your career journey so far?
I began my career in investment banking as an HR generalist. I worked at companies like CitiBank and UBS where I was responsible for a range of things like performance management, redundancies, managing grievances and overall guiding department leads on their people.
At 25 I realised that whilst I was challenged, I wasn’t passionate about HR. That awareness led me to start chatting with friends about how I could navigate a career change. It was then a bit of fate that ended up getting me an introduction to Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder and CEO of Bumble. It was 2016 and Whitney was looking for someone to launch Bumble into the Australia market. Back then, there were only 6 employees at Bumble, it wasn’t the household name it is now. You might be wondering why Whitney chose a 25 year old with no marketing experience to launch Bumble into Australia…when you have an early stage start up it’s really hard to hire experienced people, most are not willing to take a risk on a company they’ve never heard of. I on the other hand had nothing to lose & no idea where my career was headed so I took the opportunity and was hired as the Country Lead for Bumble in Australia.
That experience changed my life and the trajectory I was on. I ended up becoming the Director of APAC marketing and led Bumble’s market launches into Australia, New Zealand, The Philippines and Hong Kong and spent 4 years in the tech start up world.
In 2020, during the pandemic I met my now co-founder (Lucy Mort) over zoom after being introduced to her by a mutual friend. She was researching the creator economy and wanted to build something to rival Only Fans/Patreon. I was intrigued, one thing led to another & I ended up moving to Los Angeles in 2021 to found Sunroom with her. Sunroom is an app that allows women to charge for their content & connection. We have raised $7M USD and have paid out millions in earnings to the creators on our platform.
How did the idea for ‘sunroom’ come about?
It was 2020 and Only Fans was blowing up, talk of the “Creator Economy” was circulating and everyone was wondering what the next stage of that would be. Creator monetization was becoming normalized by OF and platforms like Patreon but it felt like many creators couldn’t see themselves in those brands, they were looking for alternatives. It was that insight that led us to speak to hundreds of women creators, we slowly unpacked their problems, their needs and used those conversations to inform our product, brand and what we ended up building at Sunroom.
Launching a tech start up is not for the faint hearted. What made you take the plunge and launch ‘Sunroom’?
A feeling. It felt like I would never get an opportunity to do something like this again. Women were looking for a platform like Sunroom, like creator monetization could be as big as social media, that eventually if you’re an influencer you have your social networks, you’ll have your affiliate marketing sites, and you’ll have your monetization platform. That it would soon become a very standard piece of the creator ecosystem.
Many women face unique challenges balancing ambition and parenthood, and your mat leave in particular wasn’t necessarily a traditional one. How has becoming a mother influenced your perspective on success and career goals?
People used to say to me “once you have a baby you won’t care about your career”, “once you have a baby your priorities will change”. I found those statements unsettling at the time, they would make me doubt my ability to have both a career and a baby - something I know many women want, and something many women have.
Those statements don’t get to the root of the emotion for me when it comes to juggling motherhood and career. In my experience, once you have a baby your priorities are challenged. Once you have a baby, if you don’t love your career, or are not passionate about what you do I can understand how it could become very hard to motivate yourself to return to work. Motherhood is a full time role that demands all of you - it also provides tremendous purpose. Going back to work/considering going back to work can be a bit of a come to Jesus moment, it can have you questioning if sacrificing time with your family is really worth it and force you to reassess if you’re in the right place.
When it comes to motherhood, success & career goals, your passion might remain, it might disappear or it might morph into something you’d never considered before. But alongside all of that, a fresh level of motivation is unlocked that you may never have felt before. Once you have a baby you’re no longer ambitious for yourself, you’re no longer working hard to achieve your own dreams, you’re working to provide for your family and you’re working (or not) to show up as the best version of yourself for your baby.
Becoming a parent is overwhelming for anyone, let alone for people with prominent careers. How do you and your husband manage the delicate balance between your professional obligations and parenting?
That is the biggest challenge. We live in Los Angeles with our families back in Australia, so we don’t have trusted safe homes we can drop Alfie off at to clean the house or buy the groceries… a reality for so many!
Whenever I used to hear people say “it takes a village” it would give me anxiety because I knew we wouldn’t have one of those. Where we’ve landed is we have a nanny 15 hours per week and my fiance takes Alfie Thursday and Friday. We are able to make it work with two very engaged parents and a nanny - so your village can be 2-3 people!
Routine/scheduling also really helps us - we have a whiteboard, we run through the week together ahead of time and work out when I will have Alife vs. Bill vs. our nanny, and we make sure we each have time to exercise & time to just be with each other.
One little thing I do to alleviate any guilt I feel for separating from Alfie to work is that I must make him cackle before I leave him, so I’ll play a game or make a silly sound or throw him in the air to get some giggles out. The best way to start the day!
What tech do you rely on to keep life running as smoothly as possible?
Ironically, although I am a tech founder I am big on no tech. Airplane mode/DND is the best thing you can do for productivity. So when it comes to work I am very much offline and check my emails/slack a few times/day.
When it comes to managing Alfie and his needs we use huckleberry, our nanny is also logged in so on the 3 mornings per week we have her I know what he’s been up to and Bill/I can carry on once she departs.
In moments of self-doubt or career hurdles, what practices or routines help you stay resilient and forward-focused? What does self care look like for you?
I journal and I recently got an LED facemask that makes me feel way more human! 10 mins in bed at the end of the day goes a long way!
An exercise I love to bring me back to reality whenever I feel like all is turning to shit is to write down my problems, anything that’s going wrong/not working - document it and be brutal. Re-visit in a week or a month - usually you’ve made it through your biggest problems!
Are there qualities you’ve developed as a mother that have translated into your professional life that have influenced the way you inspire and lead your teams?
One thing becoming a mum has done to me is that I look at everyone and think “you’re someone’s Alfie”, and it’s made me more compassionate.
On the flipside, becoming a mum has also forced me to ruthlessly prioritize. I only work on tasks that generate revenue and my ability to let things go has improved.
Has becoming a mother suddenly opened the flood gates to a whole new industry of business opportunities you’ve been able to observe and be inspired by, or are you feeling firmly planted in the social media and tech space?
Oh god yes. There are so many gaps around postpartum care and support.
Authenticity is so important in motherhood and entrepreneurship, and you’ve reinvented yourself a few times as your career has evolved over the years. How do you stay true to yourself and your values while juggling multiple roles?
One thing has remained consistent amongst all of my work. I am inspired and motivated by helping women. I want to work on products that make their lives easier, that open up opportunities for them. So when it comes to career that is always what it has come down to for me and that is my north star.
Has there been a career highlight that stands out to you?
I’m most proud of having come up with a brand that led my team and I to raise $7M USD. Only 2% of venture capital goes to women founded businesses - to be able to break through that barrier and then deliver a product that puts money back in women’s products feels really good.
What advice would you give to other aspiring female founders who are also juggling motherhood?
To be a business owner and a mother at the same time is fucking hard, but you already chose hard when you decided to start a business so you’re built for this challenge and if anyone can do it, it’s you - remember that.
Our Fearless Quickfire
- Early bird or night owl? Early bird
- Wine or Gin? Gin (dirty hendricks martini)
- Favourite productivity hack? Airplane mode
- Best source of motivation? Alfie
- Are you a planner or lastminiute.com? Planner
- Must-have item in your entrepreneur/mum survival kit? Portable breast pumps.
- Go-to stress-relief technique? 3 deep breaths at the end of every day in bed
- Favourite podcast or book for inspiration or business insights? Bending reality (book)
- One thing you wish you had more time for? I haven’t had my nails done since giving birth, would love a manicure
- One word that describes the intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship for you? Disarming
Shop Michelle’s top picks, featuring the Black On-The-Go Bag and the Neutral Houndstooth Limitless Carrier.
