Mommies on Stage #1

Join Mommies on Stage! Our first physical meetup for women on maternity leave by Women on Stage, powered by monday.com!

**Note that the event will be in Hebrew and open to all genders. Participation is free of charge but pending approval.

We know maternity leave can be challenging; it doesn’t matter if it’s your first or third time around. We also understand that you might feel like your brain is not as sharp as it used to be, and that’s ok; you’re tired and going through a significant transition in your life. We know; we’ve been there too.

That’s why we partnered up with monday.com to host this meetup for women in R&D on maternity leave, aimed exclusively *for you*! We want to make sure that you’re also taking the time to take care of yourself and YOUR needs.

monday.com is a perfect match for hosting this event since they are extremely proud of their moms employees and have made it their priority to enrich the community with empowering content.

If you’re eager for some professional and inspiring content and for some networking with top industry leaders who know what you’re going through, this is the event for you (along with your baby)!

Agenda:

• 10:45-11:15 Gathering & networking
• 11:15-12:00 Anat Rapoport - Navigating Your R&D Career Through Motherhood Dilemmas
• 12:00-12:30 Break & networking
• 12:30-13:00 Moran Weber - Winds of Change: Maternity Leave as an Opportunity

//Navigating Your R&D Career Through Motherhood Dilemmas

I once participated in a forum for women managers in engineering. We realized that most of us had either lost our jobs or lost our positions when we came back from maternity leave, even though it’s illegal in Israel. It included me.

There is a lot to consider when you go on maternity leave, both personally and professionally. You have to plan ahead and make sure you navigate common pitfalls strategically, in advance. Some women think they will take a year off and stay at home. But when they actually give birth, they freak out after three months and want to get back as soon as possible. Others realize they really like spending time with their child. Thing is, that it’s really up to YOU.

In this talk, I will discuss what to expect and how motherhood might impact your career. I will share my personal story of the difficulties I faced along the way, both conceiving and parenting, and most importantly, the lessons learned in the process.

Anat Rapoport, Former VP R&D @ Zencity, GM Data Analytics @ Panaxia:

Anat Rapoport is an experienced development manager with a Master of Science in computer science from Tel Aviv University. Her career in tech spans over 20 years. She is an Israel Defense Forces 8200 alumni and a fierce advocate for women in tech.

Anat is a mom of three and lives in Tel Aviv with her family.

//Winds of Change: Maternity Leave as an Opportunity

It’s 3 in the morning. I just finished breastfeeding my baby, and I am dying to go back to sleep. But my mind is preoccupied. What should I do? Where to go next? I used to have a great career in tech and my own identity, and all I have now are these lousy pajamas filled with baby spit-ups.

Some of you may find this situation familiar. Many new mothers face it. When you’re on maternity leave, and away from work, you start to wonder about your next moves, but your brain is just not the same as it was. Many women try to take a step back, and that’s totally understandable, but I say it doesn’t necessarily have to be the case! You can take small reasonable steps to remind yourself of who you were before becoming a mom, and you can even upgrade your career during this time!

In this talk, I will share my perspective on how you can do that, one day at a time, and release the guilt, just as long as you’re faithful and forgiving to yourself.

Moran Weber, CEO & Founder of Women on Stage:

Moran Weber is the CEO & Founder of Women on Stage; a platform to showcase, book, and train women professional speakers for any tech event, conference, meetup, or webinar. She’s currently on maternity leave working as a Dev Training Manager at Torii and formerly Tech Lead at Wix with 10 years of experience in software development. In addition, she is a Social Psychologist, holding an MA in Social Psychology, along with a BSc in Computer Science and Psychology from Tel-Aviv University.

Her unique background as a Software Developer, a Social Psychologist, and as a woman in tech drove her to embark on a mission to amplify women's voices everywhere.

About monday.com:

monday.com is a work operating system (Work OS) where organizations of any size can create the tools and processes they need to manage every aspect of their work. By combining building blocks, like apps automations and integrations, teams can build or customize the workflows of their dreams. 

These days, as a rapidly scaling company we have especially ambitious goals to expand our R&D team with an emphasis on diversity in general and women specifically. As engineers, our responsibilities extend far beyond code. We’re all product people and are committed to creating an amazing user experience and product. We propose new features and develop them end to end, taking them from ideation to post-deployment analysis. We do our own QA, communicate directly with our customers to hear their feedback, and truly care about making an impact.