* This pledge was sent Motherly staff on June 8, 2020, updated in January 2021 and June 2021. While we’re proud of the progress we have made, we know it is not enough. We will continue to drive forward for meaningful diversity and inclusion improvements in 2021 and beyond. We will continue to update this page as further commitments are made and tangible action is taken.

We believe #BlackLivesMatter.

We believe that every mama deserves to be supported on her journey and that every mama has a home at Motherly.

We commit to continuing to use our platform to advocate for systemic change that advances equality and justice for all Black mamas and their families.

We commit to establishing KPIs to ensure more inclusive content and updating our editorial manual to provide additional inclusiveness filters to help all mothers find a home at Motherly.

  • January ’21: 2021 goals are being finalized now for 2021 to include specific diversity and inclusion measures and targets across our organization. Making sure all mamas are reflected in all we do is a top goal for 2021.
  • June ’21: Our revised editorial manual and photography manual provides for additional inclusiveness filters and we remain committed to publishing more inclusive and diverse content to tell the stories about, and by, BIPOC mothers.

We commit to activity seeking more diverse writers and content contributors.

We commit to ensuring all mothers and all mothers’ needs are represented in the products we curate and develop.

  • January ’21: In 2020 we leaned into diversity on our Shop and worked to achieve 10% of the products we sell in our shop to be from minority-owned businesses by the end of 2021.
  • June ’21: In 2021 we are evolving our focus to a curation of primarily Motherly owned and developed and committed to ensuring our products and services are developed with all mothers in mind and that all goods developed feature a diverse range of mothers and their experiences.

We commit to increasing diversity and inclusiveness in Motherly photography and videography.

  • January ’21: We are working to represent more diverse faces and topics in our visuals and strive to show more black and brown faces as we strive to reflect the state of all mothers. We require a minimum of one-third of images featured in articles, email, and video to represent BIPOC, body diversity, and multiple ability faces.
  • June ’21: One third of images featured in articles, email and video represent BIPOC, body diversity, and multiple ability faces, with an aim to reach 40% by the end of 2021. Our photography guidelines are updated to ensure additional inclusivity language.

We commit to deliberately recruiting more employees of color, especially to leadership positions.

  • January ’21: With every opening on our growing team, we are prioritizing recruitment of qualified talent from diverse candidate pools to help align our internal team composition with the composition of today’s modern mamas with specific growth targets for specifically BIPOC leaders.
  • June ’21: To achieve our goal of hiring more employees of color into leadership positions, we have implemented additional diversity targeted requirements for all open positions into our hiring strategy.

We commit to establishing mechanisms to retain, develop and promote employees of color and ensuring they are treated and paid equitably.

  • January ’21: Motherly conducts regular salary benchmarking studies to identify any pay inequities within our organization and are proud of our record of equal pay. Additionally, Motherly has been working to increase the percentage of team members who identify as people of color. 18% of Motherly staff identified as non-white women in 2019, improving to 22% in 2020; 20% of Motherly senior leadership identified as non-white women in 2019 improving to 29% in 2020.
  • June ’21: To date, we have a 99.96% retention rate for employees that self-identify as people of color, and strive to ensure equitable pay for all employees of color through annual salary benchmarking, compensation reviews, and our culture of equality.

We commit to creating a more inclusive workplace, educating and training all team members on how to examine our own biases, ensuring all on #TeamMotherly feel seen and supported.

  • January ’21: Motherly invested in unconscious bias training for our entire company in 2020 and are committed to continued investment in diversity and inclusion training in 2021.
  • June ’21: At the core of our values is embracing diversity and differing perspectives to foster a workplace culture of inclusivity. Through intentional TeamMotherly training on diversity, equity and inclusion we continuously challenge our thinking to maintain our inclusive workplace.

We commit to staying open to feedback from our team and our community, and to continually seek to do better to make all feel welcome and valued.

  • January ’21: We take our role seriously as the voice of today’s modern mama who is frustrated by lack of meaningful representation. We are not perfect, but are on a committed journey of continuous improvement as we work hard to raise issues of empowerment and well-being for all mothers.
  • June ’21: We actively monitor for feedback, respond and do better with each article we write, each social post we do, and every step we make toward building our brand devoted to helping mamas thrive and encourage our entire team on a weekly basis to speak their truth so we can continue to grow.

We believe in the power of mamas to change the world as we fulfill our mission to redefine motherhood, empowering every mama to thrive.

Jill Koziol + Liz Tenety, Cofounders of Motherly