Motherhood, Business, and Becoming: The Individuation Path of a Mompreneur

This year was full of firsts for me. I attended and presented at two conferences: APA 2025 in Denver, Colorado, and IAAP 2025 in Zurich, Switzerland. On paper, these may sound like straightforward professional milestones. But for me, they carried a very different weight: the IAAP conference was my first international trip since becoming a mother, and also the longest stretch of time I’ve ever spent away from my child.

It was a stark contrast to my active conference trips before 2020.

My last conference presentation was in IAAP 2022, which was supposed to be in Buenos Aires. I had submitted my abstract nearly two years in advance and was so excited about the trip. But by the time the conference arrived, I was in my late pregnancy. Traveling was no longer an option. Thankfully, the hybrid format made it possible for me to present virtually—but still, I felt the sting of missing out.

So yes, finally being able to attend in person this year felt rewarding. But it was also… different.

The combination of daily childcare responsibilities, my not-so-young body, and the emotional labor of separating from and then reuniting with my child took a real toll.

In fact, I came home sick from both trips.

I made the conscious choice to skip tourist activities altogether and instead used every spare moment to rest. This is the reality of being a mompreneur—a woman who builds and manages her own business while also raising a child.

The Unique Challenges of Mompreneurs

Life as a mompreneur means constantly living in the push and pull between two worlds. The challenges show up in so many ways:

• Pregnancy and timing almost never line up with career milestones. In 2022, my desire to travel collided with the physical limits of late pregnancy. Jung’s idea of the Tension of Opposites comes alive here: I didn’t have to choose either ambition or motherhood. Growth came from holding both truths and accepting that they shape each other.

  
  

• Childcare logistics multiply when you’re self-employed. Planning for conferences, finding support at home, and managing shifting developmental needs of kids take an enormous amount of energy. Here, I often feel the pull toward Anima/Animus integration—cultivating relational care and sensitivity, while also tapping into agency and assertiveness to protect my business priorities.

  
  

• The emotional labor of separation and reunion is heavy. Each time I travel, I carry guilt, exhaustion, and sometimes resentment. Society tells us to hide these feelings in the name of being the “selfless mother.” But that’s exactly where shadow work comes in—naming the guilt and fatigue instead of burying them allows me to reclaim a sense of power and authenticity.

  
  

• Gender expectations add invisible weight. Even when I’m traveling for work, the assumptions around household chores, caregiving, and emotional caretaking follow me, even my partner is extremely supportive.  The expectations of the “perfect mom” or “ideal entrepreneur” is exhausting to maintain. Behind the expectations, the real me longs for space to be imperfect, tired, and human.

Creating Space to Name and Acknowledge

One of the most important practices for mompreneurs is simply naming what we carry. We’re not just mothers. We’re also entrepreneurs, partners, daughters, leaders, or even immigrants or holding other identities of minority. Each role layers on expectations, and without awareness, these pressures sink into the shadow and quietly drain us.

I’ve had to learn to acknowledge my limits, too.

Fatigue, emotional strain, and even moments of irritability with loved ones—all of it is information.

Jung’s Great Mother archetype reminds me that nurturing energy is powerful, but when it tips into endless self-sacrifice, it becomes devouring. Recognizing my boundaries helps me stay connected to individuation instead of disappearing into roles.

Reclaiming Resources and Redefining Support

I’ve also had to rethink how I use my resources.

For me, that looked like skipping sightseeing in Zurich so I could sleep. It looked like finally allowing myself to accept help with childcare, not as a failure but as a choice for sustainability.

This ties to the Creatrix archetype: the mother who doesn’t just birth children but also creates businesses, art, and innovation. Creativity needs energy, and for mompreneurs, that means giving ourselves permission to claim support systems.

We can’t keep producing without nourishment.

Mompreneurship as Individuation

When people talk about entrepreneurship, they often focus on freedom—the ability to choose your clients, shape your vision, and pursue your passions. Motherhood, too, reshapes identity in profound ways.

Put together, mompreneurship becomes a uniquely layered individuation process.

The key isn’t about achieving some ideal balance. It’s about holding the Tension of Opposites: freedom and dependence, ambition and devotion. Individuation isn’t about solving these tensions but living within them, allowing them to transform us.

Honoring the Inner Journey of Mompreneurs

To be a mompreneur is to walk a path of weaving.

We take strands of care, creativity, leadership, and identity and braid them together, day after day. It’s not tidy. It’s not perfect. But it is resilient, alive, and uniquely ours.

And maybe that’s the heart of individuation—not the fantasy of doing it all, but the courage to embrace the messy, evolving complexity of who we are becoming.

Mompreneurship is learning to hold both devotion and ambition—finding balance not by choosing one over the other, but by walking the tension with courage and grace.