Helen is a mom to toddler twins, a former stay-at-home parent, and the founder and CEO of Otter. She believes we can build childcare infrastructure that works for all parents by tapping and economically empowering a new community of caregivers: stay-at-home-parents.
Helen’s own experience of becoming a stay-at-home parent during the pandemic propelled her to begin researching childcare so she could understand why she was watching a generation of parents be pushed out of the workforce. She reached out to a few parenting communities and engaged with a group of parents who were looking for other families to swap childcare with. She helped coordinate their swaps and quickly launched 50 childcare swaps.
When she realized the swaps with a stay-at-home parent were the most successful, she convinced the parents who were swapping care to switch to a model where parents who need childcare pay a stay-at-home parent to care for their child. Within six months, she matched 3,500 families who needed childcare with 3,500 families who had a stay-at-home parent who could provide childcare.
Before founding Otter, Helen founded a company focused on helping first-generation college students succeed, and did clinical surgery and population health outcomes research. She earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy with high honors at Smith College, and is a first-generation college graduate herself.
