Jessica Arencibia, Healing Arts Massage - Vermont

This past year, like for so many people, has been one of adapting and surviving for my family.

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.

As I had resigned from my job, I wasn’t eligible for unemployment and had to wait almost three months before I received just $191 a week in benefits through the enhanced pandemic unemployment program (PUA). It was an incredibly stressful time for us all and then it was made even worse when my husband was informed that he was no longer furloughed but was laid off completely. There we were, not working, no health insurance, barely a paycheck coming in and no clue when things would go back to normal.

Fortunately, I was able to use my stimulus check to fund the opening of my business in early June and with the support of close professional friends, I was able to find a location and began to build my clientele. I’m proud to say that I survived most of last year through sheer determination and grit. No matter what, I was going to stick with my plan and make it work, the best that I could. I’m grateful that I was able to endure and thrive and also proud to say that my husband has become an entrepreneur as well and is pursuing his dream of opening a restaurant. But, there’s still one part of this story that doesn’t have a solution, amidst all of this success.

How are we going to afford to have a baby? How do we provide for my 16 year old step son, run two businesses, and also stay home after the birth of our child? Once we have a child, how much will it cost to find child care? How many days will I be able to work so that our bills are paid but still be able to be there for my newborn?

Historically, women in this country have been marginalized when it comes to starting a family. This can especially be true for women of color, like myself, who make up a larger percentage of our service workers (such as providing child care for other families) and who are now moving in greater numbers into sole proprietorship. Most of the time these workplaces do not provide benefits that will allow women to stay home, let alone her partner to, as well. These risks for women and families as a whole to have the courage to choose a career path that makes life better for them often present as a lot of sacrifice. I have a colleague who has taken the last few years to do everything she can to save up around $10,000 in an effort to provide herself with some kind of leave for when her child arrives. That's an amazing accomplishment to be able to save that much. But, 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. I have had multiple prenatal clients on my table in the past year who have expressed that they are not sure they will be able to financially stay home past the 4 weeks their employers have provided. What about sole proprietors like me and my husband who have no options for paid leave?

No parent should have to choose between bonding with their newborn child and a paycheck and I am so happy to be able to lift up my voice on this issue and hope that we can finally get this across the finish line for all workers and families.