Hi, Im Amy
Where I came from, nobody talked about “building a village.” You just had one. My grandmother lived three minutes away. My aunts showed up unannounced with food. My parents worked, but someone was always there caring for me, my siblings, and many many cousins. Growing up in small town New Mexico in a big Hispanic family, doing hard things alone wasn’t really a concept anyone had introduced to me. I was accustomed to having a safety net in my family unit, no matter what.
Then I grew up. I built a career I loved. I married my husband and we moved around chasing each new career opportunity — New Mexico to San Antonio to Orange County, California, where we decided to start a family. Getting pregnant wasn’t easy for us — as older parents and after months of trying, we decided to go down the path of IVF. It was difficult, but my son Landon arrived at 38 weeks, after 26 hours of labor and three hours of pushing.
I was not prepared for what came next...
Postpartum depression and anxiety arrived like a curtain coming down. Panic attacks multiple times a week. A baby who wouldn’t sleep through the night — not for weeks, not for months, not until he was 17 months old. I went back to work because I had to, managing a team of 19 people while breastfeeding between meetings and pumping through the ones I couldn’t leave. I loved my son with everything I had. And I hated motherhood. For a long time, I hated it. That’s not something I could say out loud for a while, but it’s true, and I think a lot of moms know exactly what I mean.
My husband showed up for us in ways I didn’t know to ask for. He was far from perfect — none of us are in that season — but he stayed present, he tried, and on the days I was completely underwater, he held things together. That was the inspiration for the partner track. Because behind every struggling new mom is usually a partner who is also lost, also exhausted, and also doing their best with very little guidance. They deserve support too.
What pulled me through wasn’t a book or a therapist or an app. It was a group of women — moms whose babies were born within the same month as Landon — who understood without me having to explain. Who were in the exact same fog, the exact same 2am, the exact same confusing mix of love and survival. We still talk almost every day. I genuinely don’t know if I would have survived without them, and I mean that in the most literal way.
When my husband was laid off after 19 years with his company, we came back to San Antonio. I went looking for what I had in California — what I grew up with in New Mexico. I couldn’t find it. So, I stopped looking and started building.
I’m still working full time as an HR Manager, still figuring out how to raise a toddler far from my family, still calling my mom more than I probably should. She flies in every month to see her grandson — has since the day he was born. I’m so thankful for the way she shows up for me, her daughter, when I need her the most. Same goes for my dad. Thankfully, we're now only an hour away from my husband's parents and the difference with support near by is drastic. I can't thank my in-laws enough for their support and the way they love our baby. Point is, support is the only thing that got me through and I want to help provide that for as many families as possible.
I have a master’s degree in HR and have spent my career thinking about how organizations support people through difficulty. It turns out the hardest season of my life had very little organizational support of its own. That gap is what The Parent Project is trying to close.
If The Parent Project helps one mom, one family, feel less alone throughout their parenthood journey, I will have accomplished something real.
The Mission
Why The Parent Project Exists
Parenthood is one of the most significant transitions a person can go through — and somehow, it’s one of the least supported. We send new parents home from the hospital with a car seat and a pamphlet and expect them to figure out the rest.
The Parent Project exists because community is not a nice-to-have in early parenthood. It’s essential. And not just any community — the right community. People who are going through the exact same week of pregnancy or parenthood as you are. People who understand without explanation.
Everything we built is designed around one belief:
“Parenthood is as beautiful as it is hard — and you shouldn’t do it alone.”
What We Believe
Community is the intervention.
There are no right answers — only supported choices.
Perfect parenting culture causes harm.
Partners matter and deserve support too.
The village didn’t disappear — it became intentional.
Referring Providers
The Parent Project works alongside OBs, midwives, pediatricians, lactation consultants, and postpartum therapists — not in place of them. We see ourselves as a complement to clinical care: a place where patients find community, normalization, and peer support between their appointments with you.
We are actively building our expert network and welcome providers who would like to refer patients or explore being an expert guest in one of our sessions. Expert contributors are compensated for their time.
