For Mother’s Day, ATN spoke with female founders and leaders across the fitness and wellness industry about how motherhood has changed their approach
For many women, motherhood changes what strength looks like, how routines need to evolve and what kind of support makes wellness sustainable. While much of wellness culture still treats discipline as the missing ingredient, many female executives in the industry point to a more practical reality: pregnancy, postpartum recovery and caregiving can reshape physical goals, career ambitions and the systems women need to keep showing up for both.
For Mother’s Day, Athletech News is spotlighting founders and leaders across the fitness and wellness space who are building companies, communities and platforms while navigating motherhood themselves.
Embracing the Ups & Downs of Pregnancy
For Katie Austin, founder of The Katie Austin App, a shift became especially clear during her pregnancy. In the early stages, she said a realistic approach to fitness often means letting go of old workout standards.
“Honestly, it’s just doing what you can to survive,” Austin told Athletech News. “For me, I felt guilty a lot for not being able to push myself like I normally did, so the change-up was humbling and mentally tough. You go from feeling strong and capable to suddenly needing more rest, more breaks, and more grace.”
credit: Katie Austin
Austin said pregnancy forced her to accept that her body could override the plans she was used to making. Even a short workout, she added, helped her feel more like herself during the first trimester.
“Even if it’s just 5-10 min, though, during the first trimester, it helped me feel like myself again,” Austin said. “I would tell myself that’s all I needed.”
Pregnancy also changed the purpose behind her workouts. Rather than training to maintain weight, muscle or energy in the same way she did before, Austin said she began thinking about movement as preparation for labor, postpartum and motherhood.
“I keep saying the main thing in pregnancy is to ‘redefine strength’ or redefine what a good workout is,” Austin said. “If you tell yourself your good workout is going to look the same as pre-pregnancy, you’re setting yourself up for way too much pressure.”
That pressure can be especially complicated for women whose careers are tied to fitness, content and physical performance. Austin said pregnancy has changed how she shows up for her audience, but not in a way that makes her platform less valuable.
“If anything, this season has made my content and my platform more meaningful and relatable to my audience, because I’m not pretending it’s business as usual,” Austin said. “I’m showing the modifications, the lower-energy days, the reality of what it actually feels like, etc. There’s power in showing that you can adapt without losing your identity.”
Supporting Mothers in Their Fitness Journeys
Morgan Kline, the co-founder and CEO of boutique fitness franchise Burn Boot Camp, has also built much of her Mother’s Day message around moving away from perfection.
Burn’s “A Moment for Moms” campaign was shaped by Kline’s own experience with postpartum exhaustion after having her third child. For Kline, the issue was often not motivation, but whether women have the support and space to prioritize themselves.
“Most moms don’t lack motivation,” Kline told ATN. “They lack support. They lack space. And they don’t always give themselves permission to take time for themselves. That’s what Burn wants to change.”
At Burn Boot Camp, that support includes Childwatch, the brand’s childcare offering that allows members to work out while their children are cared for on-site. Kline said removing barriers like childcare can have a measurable impact because it makes consistency more realistic.
“Women want to prioritize their health, but when working out feels impossible to fit into real life, it’s usually the first thing sacrificed,” Kline said. “That’s why Childwatch matters so much. It gives moms the ability to walk through our doors and fully focus on themselves for 45 minutes without guilt.”
Kline said Burn has seen that when women feel supported, consistency increases, community gets stronger and retention improves. More broadly, she said mothers are more likely to stay committed when the experience is designed around their actual lives.
“Moms are far more likely to stay committed to their wellness journey when they feel like the experience was built for their life, not working against it,” Kline said.
Motherhood Changes How You Lead
Carolyn Williams, a Bar Method franchisee and mother who owns three studios in Vancouver, said motherhood has also changed how she leads. Before having children, Williams said she measured success by how much she accomplished in a day. Now, she thinks more about impact and energy.
“Motherhood has completely rewired how I lead,” Williams said. “Before kids, I measured the success of each day by how many boxes I could check off of my to-do-list that day. Now, I measure it by impact and energy: mine, my team’s, my clients’ and my kids’.”
Williams said motherhood has also made her a stronger advocate for fitness that builds women up over time, rather than workouts framed around depletion.
“On the fitness side, motherhood made me a better advocate for strength and longevity over punishment,” Williams said. “I want my kids to see their mom strong, capable, and present, not depleted from a workout. That’s the same standard I hold for our community.”
For Williams, the practical advice is to stop waiting for the perfect time to prioritize health. She said small, realistic commitments often matter more than an idealized version of self-care that does not fit most mothers’ lives.
“Stop waiting for the perfect window, it’s not coming,” Williams said. “The version of self-care that requires 90 free minutes and a quiet house is a fantasy that most moms can’t afford. What actually works is showing up imperfectly and consistently.”
Finding Time for Yourself
Rochelle Jacobs, the co-founder of Naturally Serious Skincare, brings another perspective on wellness, motherhood and care.
Nearly nine years ago, the brand was introduced to the head of patient experience at Lenox Hill, part of the Northwell system, who was looking to elevate the patient experience beyond medical care alone. Naturally Serious Skincare was selected and began providing welcome kits for overnight patients around the same time the brand was officially launching.
What began with overnight patient welcome kits later expanded into maternity wings and other Northwell partners, a development Jacobs said has been personally meaningful.
“For us as a brand, it was about helping elevate the patient experience one person at a time,” Jacobs told ATN. “And personally, being able to support new mothers with products that genuinely help during recovery was incredibly meaningful, especially since it was something I never had myself.”
Rochelle Jacobs (left) with fellow Naturally Serious Skin co-founder Sarah McNamara (credit: Naturally Serious Skin)
For entrepreneurs balancing motherhood, Jacobs said one of the hardest lessons is accepting that it is not possible to operate at full capacity every day.
“It took me longer than I care to admit to accept that it’s okay not to be Wonder Woman every day,” Jacobs said. “Balance isn’t something I believe you achieve daily; it happens over time.”
Jacobs said each day, and sometimes each hour, requires choices about where priorities need to be. Her advice is for women to ask for help without shame and protect small moments of time for themselves.
“Women should feel empowered, not ashamed, to ask for help,” Jacobs said. “And no matter how busy you are, I strongly believe you need to carve out a small moment for yourself. Whether it’s a few quiet minutes, a bath, a walk, or even mindless TV. It doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be yours.”