My father was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer. What I know is that I will try my best to be there for him but I absolutely do not know what this means for me and my business. How will providing care for him impact my business decisions?… I started House of Gristle to have more freedom, pursue my passions, and create change in my community in a way that I want to. Being an entrepreneur should not come with a cost to my safety net. The change I want to create in the community of women in the culinary industry can be better supported by legislation that addresses the racial and gender gaps when it comes to caregiving. The pandemic has shown that we need to reinvest in small businesses by prioritizing the care economy and getting paid family medical leave passed.

Shortly after opening, our son had an accident on his bike while out of town and needed emergency surgery. The experience brought home the need for paid family and medical leave for those times when the unexpected happens. Everyone, whether an employee (as our son is!) or self-employed (as I used to be) or small business owner (as we are now!) needs paid time off to care for their own health or that of a loved one.

Early last year, I had decided to pursue my business full time in an effort to provide myself with a more flexible and stable work environment. After working 8 years in the massage industry, one of the biggest takeaways was that I was disposable to my employers. That was not a great reality to carry into our plan to start a family. Thankfully, my husband’s employer had very good insurance and benefits that allowed us to continue our plan and further supported my efforts to become a sole proprietor. For three months, I worked on my business plan and on March 6th 2020, I resigned from my former position. And then the world shut down due to COVID-19… What happens when life throws us curveballs? What happens when a pandemic changes the whole world? There is no safety net, no job security, no infrastructure in place to protect us. What about sole proprietors like me and my husband who have no options for paid leave?

Child care businesses already struggle to pay their employees what they deserve and simply do not have the capital to offer paid leave. A National paid leave policy would help child care businesses recruit and retain talented employees who provide a vital service to the workforce and help shape our future. Senator Manchin, support our small businesses with permanent paid leave.

I found out I was pregnant just as the pandemic was starting in 2020. As a sole proprietor, without any national paid leave program, that meant I had to plan for my business to take a hit for my maternity time, and then COVID happened. The confluence of a major economic downturn, with a new baby on the way and no safety net was incredibly stressful as a new mom, and a business owner. We need a national paid family and medical leave program to support self-employed job creators like me.

Then I had surgery at the end of 2019 to take care of the fibroids that had bothered me during my pregnancy (and continued to bother me after). Between recovery from that and the pandemic starting in March 2020 and now Ava being home (daycare was closed) - I knew I had to close The Orange Owl. It was a gut wrenching decision because it was a brand I built over 10 years. But it was the right one for me and my family after the incredibly stressful time we had had. It didn't take all the stress away completely, but helped to reduce it. I am self employed so I can’t access paid family leave or medical leave like people in some regular jobs do. But if there was some provision available that could have helped me during that time, I know it would have reduced the stress we went through.