👀 Scroll for your parent-friendly business news, events + opportunities – but first...

A NOTE  FROM AMY

🚼📊TLDR:

I meant to send this last weekend but couldn't get it out before I went for a surgery. I'm in recovery mode now for the next 4-6 weeks, so here it is better late than never and I've had many full circle moments since.

In late May, we had our cousins from Ireland and England visiting and staying with us here in Ottawa, Canada.

We were three adults + five kids + one house. Full of fun!

Many memories made. Lots of laughs. Plenty of parks and North American sports. Tears shed at the airport and at home.

Thankfully none during the kids marathon, meals or other activities!

When I picked up our three-year-old from preschool and ate dinner with him at home last Friday, he spun the globe and looked out the window while I changed bedding.

He wanted to know where they went. Why we didn't go to the airport with his big brothers and Dad. And when we'll see them next. I told him what may be involved for future trips to London or Dublin.

And he said, "OK fine mummy, I will go on the airplane again."

Last time we took him for a trip to visit the cousins in Europe, he was one-year-old and before that he was seven months...it's tough being the youngest.

The emotions also hit me hard: Maybe it was because of my cycle, prepping for a surgical procedure or running low on nights spent sleeping in my own bed.

Either way, I felt immense gratitude for the life we've created. Despite the knocks, things going a bit sideways, lots of unexpected moments and unforeseen challenges.

We have had many amazing opportunities, blessings, new connections, friendships going on two decades, beautiful souls we've welcomed in and also parted ways with in this lifetime. Adventures. Experiences. Projects.

I can't explain it other than I feel I've lived many lives, many times over, in the same body, in many different places, with souls in places I feel I've been before. And perhaps will be again.

But nothing in life is ever certain so for now, I took a pause, breathed it in, had some cuddles with our youngest, kept tidying up and felt it very strongly: This is what it has always been all about.

Because 15 years ago, I couldn't say for certain I knew it would all work out when I decided to go to Brisbane on a student visa for a year and it turned into a completely different life, work, family, friends, address, phone number, bus pass, identity.

You don't always know how it's going to go when you decide to spend your life with someone from another country (Ireland).

Especially when you're both living in a completely different country (Australia). And are mostly flying by the seat of your pants, trying to pay down your (Canadian) student line of credit debt, while building your career and living on temporary work visas, between frequenting patios and beaches.

AND THEN you decide to relocate to Europe instead of taking a honeymoon and pitch project work to your Australian work connections and figure out how to do it once you land in Ireland in 2014. While also trying to figure out how Irish Permanent Residency works, living out of a B&B and trying to get a good mobile signal for 5 AM phone calls to the other side of the world.

Proceeding to spend time between two sides of the country (Ireland), to be with family when they're unwell. Living out of suitcases, working from your laptop on hospital wards and from cafes which which don't really serve coffee (it's only 2014 and tea all the way).

Jetting around Europe to see other countries on weekends. Before moving to one of the biggest cities in the world (London), to be closer to our Aussie and Irish friends and the very same cousin in 2015.

Figuring out how UK Permanent Residency works as the spouse of an EEA National. While continuing to run your own business as a freelancer. Not straightforward, I'll tell you that.

Interviewing for temp jobs in London which offered to pay less than your 15 hours per week contract work and deciding to keep freelancing from cafes via your laptop, using the Tube for pub, stadium and cultural excursions-only, opposed to regular commuting to the 'City'.

Then you all have a major life change: Becoming parents for the first time within one week of each other, without having a clue what you're doing! Welcoming your firstborns home to your under 500 sq. ft. flats in very quaint corners of West Hampstead and Clapham, respectively.

Both baby cousins get a fancy British Birth Certificates but no UK passport for yours, just Irish and Canadian. You learn new things (again), like how to do feedings with help from midwives, the NHS and at community drop ins, before bringing the baby along to a Google for Startups program for 10 weeks and various networking events around London.

Life surprises you (again-there's a trend here), when your sponsorship application to Canada for your partner gets miraculously expedited and you get a few months to decide when you'd like to move and activate his newly granted Canadian PR status.

You hop on a flight with your first baby, at seven months old, accompanied by only suitcases, stroller, carseat, your laptop and minimal checked luggage one month ahead of your partner.

You've decided to move back to Canada seven years later and Nana is meeting you on the other side of the Atlantic. Your partner stayed back in London to wrap up work, declutter the UK belongings and close out the flat before arriving in your new 'home'.

And that was only a quick glimpse at the first seven years on that part of the journey...whew!

Since we arrived back in Ottawa in 2017, we've bought our first house, I've done more freelance, remote and hybrid contracts around having two more (Irish-Canadian) babies.

Registered as a sole proprietor and then incorporated as a private company. Accidentally became an activist in business settings with all three of our kids, invited to represent parents and primary caregivers at government and industry roundtables, as a social impact movement creator.

Between learning how to make pottery, helping with studio operations as a remote contractor, then making, exhibiting and selling my own pieces (a six-year story and segue for another day).

All because I decided to give it a go, figure it out, keep showing up as I am and continue to hold space for the kinds of life, work, parenting and creative experiences I wanted to be part of.

It's most likely why you're here or how we met!

You may have already heard parts of my story: If so, apologies for the impromptu monologue. I blame our overseas guests leaving and my post-operative condition.

But I doubt you've heard it all because sometimes I forget that we've lived a lot of different moments, done many ways of working, parenting, showing up and being, before ending up where we are now at this current moment in time.

And the past two weeks, after we said our farewells to our cousins...it hit me hard! I could feel their energy leaving our home, like a deflated balloon.

Not in a sad or bad way.

But it's happened before, "OK, now we know how that feels we can never go back. Things will never be the same."

In a great way.

With lots of adventures had between us all in different cities and countries around the world, I now have even more reasons to keep on keeping on and continue sharing what I've learned to help others navigate the future of work.

I can't say when our next reunion, vacation or home opening up again as a B&B will take place, but I can feel it's not far off and will be ongoing!

After all, life is for living and we're raising the next generation. ✨️

It was a solid reminder for me to keep doing the work I do, anchored in the belief that everyone deserves to design a life that works for them and their family.

It's part of who I am, how I show up, what I do and regularly embody.

Because I remember the same feeling when I settled in a new country and realized every day is a new beginning and I can start fresh or try again.

And when I started working freelance, on the side around my full-time roles and then exclusively remote, how it felt to receive payment from an invoice I sent for work I'd done based on my own imagination via the internet.

The joy of being in a flow state and translating it into value for another person, their business, their project. Seeing things come to life and the impact it could have.

Then finding ways to continue doing it in the margins of raising young kids, working from my mobile phone or the kitchen table between feeds, while they were babies, then toddlers and now school age kids running around our back yard.

Stopping for snacks and interruptions more often, yes, but able to schedule things around wake times, solve problems for others and even feed a baby while having business meetings. I understand it's not for everyone but it worked for me and it's how I've always been as a parent.

Once I knew it, felt it and experienced it...I couldn't unknow it.

Parents have reached out to me to learn more about my previous experiences doing freelance / flexible and remote work for clients and contracts over the years.

If you’re looking to explore different ways of working around your family, going out on your own and working in a way that suits you, I’m thinking of putting together a group program this summer to teach a small number of parents (less than 30) how they can also do flexible and remote work (with kids).

This would look like training, resources and direct support from me, based on what I've been presenting and facilitating over the years for audiences, small businesses and organizations on remote/hybrid work, digital marketing, public relations and validating your ideas, all through the lens of being a parent.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in learning more about, send me a 'reply' to this email or contact me via this form, to discuss further.

Before I went into my June cocoon mode

Aside from our family reunion, I went downtown on May 28th to the Rideau Club to attend a Women's Health Panel Event hosted by Solange Tuyishime Keita (a fellow parent, President and CEO of Elevate International and a guest from Season 2 on the Mixing Babies And Business Podcast).

I met up with people who I've connected with over the past few months online and IRL from Growclass and LinkedIn, inviting them to catch up before I paused my regular activities. Petra surprised me the next day by writing a lovely post about our initial online connection and her experience at the event.

I'm sharing it for you as a reminder to: Keep talking to strangers, putting yourself out there, trying new things, being brave and seeing what magic unfolds.

Now from the June cocoon

I'm writing this on the other side of my surgery as I recover at the family farm: I'm choosing to view it as a rural staycation / remote work retreat, where I am dreaming up future adventures once I'm feeling more like - or perhaps a new and improved - version of myself.

Our three kids are getting through the end-of-school, soccer and swimming lesson season before summer break (and camps) begin, with their Dad and my Mom (Nana) looking after everyone.

I've been bonding with my own (farmer) Dad, watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Blue Jays baseball games and even had a chat with John Deere's social media team about the soya bean crop here!

This weekend, I met one of the local general store owners who also happens to be from the West of Ireland and married a local Canadian, they have kids around the same age as ours.

It was our chat, with him exclaiming, "No way! That's a great story!" to my recounting of how I met a man from Galway in Ottawa at an Irish cultural festival downtown before St Patrick's Day 15 years ago and now this is my life, that had me drafting this email.

If you made it this far...thank you for reading!

Below you will find your parent-friendly business news, events and opportunities roundup, typed between reading the hard copy farm newspapers, resting up and moving more like a turtle than I'd like to admit.

I know it's temporary and things are waiting on the other side of this phase...TBD but I can feel it!

And an invitation for you to reflect on where you're at, as we head into the second half of 2025:

🎤 Anything reminding you of who you are / why you started / where you're headed to lately? Or perhaps the different direction(s) you wish to go in?

Have a great week/end + stay scrappy 🐢

– Amy Lynch (+ Family)

Founder + Podcast Host

Mixing Babies And Business™

P.S. Keep showing up (as and when you can). It all matters. To support you in that, I've relaunched the Mixing Babies And Business™ Community in 2025 for a flat fee of $25 CAD for the year.

P.P.S. Want a look behind-the-scenes (BTS)? Here's a website page I created to share some of the digital tools, resources, books, podcasts and programs which have helped me grow alongside my business over the years.

 PARENT-FRIENDLY  BUSINESS NEWS / OPPORTUNITIES / EVENTS

⬇️ Not sponsored links ⬇️ simply spreading the word + business goodness for parents like you. I hope it helps! Please forward to your connections if you think they'd be interested. If I've missed any important updates, please hit 'reply' and send them my way.

ADVOCACY: Bonnie Chiu a fellow parent and founder, highlighted via her recent LinkedIn post the absurdity of being rejected from attending a corporate event because of bringing her baby presenting 'health and safety' challenges. I didn't think nearly nine years after bringing our first baby into events in two different countries and being looked at like I was an alien, that we'd still be having these conversations but here we are. There is still work to be done.

ADVOCACY: Thanks to The Financial Diet for this Instagram post, summarizing ways to reclaim your time and energy from a system designed to extract resources and unpaid labour from you, in perpetuity.

ADVOCACY:Happy Pride Season, celebrating across the country with this post from Egale Canada via Instagram and a #PrideIsPolitical reminder from ROCLGBTQTogether via Instagram to be supported year-round and every day.

POLICY: Congratulations to Canada's new Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Secretary of State for Tourism and Small Business, the Honourable Rechie Valdez! As Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah mentioned in her LinkedIn post, advocacy made this happen and continuing on from your former portfolio as Minister for Small Business, I'm looking forward to seeing what initiatives and policies are rolled out to support primary caregivers and their families over the coming months and years.

STARTUP: This National Indigenous History Month the Women's Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) is celebrating through their recent report, See It. Be It. A Showcase of Indigenous Women Entrepreneurs, via this Instagram post. Did you know 35 per cent of Indigenous women entrepreneurs incorporate traditional knowledge, blending ancient practices with modern solutions?

STARTUP: This update from Elaine Alec via her LinkedIn post spoke to me and resonated with many others. She wrote about being done with consulting after 20 years and moving to a different model of building a learning platform and community, something I have done alongside continuing to work with clients, as I transition from a 1:1 to 1:Many approach for more lasting impact and sustainability.

FUNDING: Congratulations to Cindy Gallop on the response to her keynote talk at SXSWLondon via her Instagram post --- so much goodness, hope for future impact but I don't want the filters to stop me sending this through! Learn more about her mission, vision and you can now do tax-deductible donations through their philanthropic partnership.

FUNDING: Authors Jennifer Fernandez and Amanda Jane Jones, in partnership with sponsors will award three inspiring moms over $20K USD in cash and prizes via The MOTHER / FOUNDER Scholarship to support their dreams of building or expanding their businesses. You must be a US resident to apply and contest closesJune 15th, 2025.

FINANCE: Set yourself up for a strong summer with these six financial literacy wellbeing tips from the Finance Cafe via Instagram.

FINANCE: Congrats to Clare Seal, fellow parent and founder, for making The Sunday Times Alternative Rich List! Her candid journey, ways of sharing through the ups and downs and financial wellbeing movement she's built are deserving of the recognition.

CAREER: Thanks to Shawna Tregunna via her LinkedIn post for the practical tips and reminders for post-event connection follow up! Two weeks or less to make an impression and continue building those chance encounters into a relationship.

CAREER: Cruz Corral's take on the different generational reactions to micromanagement via this LinkedIn video made me chuckle...hopefully it will give you a laugh or at least make you feel seen!

WELLNESS: Thanks to April MacLean, fellow parent and founder, for reminding us to keep going and carry on because no one catches onto what we're worried about, via her LinkedIn post.

WELLNESS: Thanks to Amy Kean for sharing snippets of her talk via Instagram, a reminder on why being weird is good for you, your creativity, for wellbeing, for social impact and for your brain.

WELLNESS: A woman after my own heart and the originator of a phrase I often quote in my talks in this reminder from Instagram, Grace Hopper said: 'It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission."

WELLNESS: A welcome reminder from Sheena Brady, fellow parent, founder and former Season 2 Mixing Babies And Business Podcast guest, in this interview for Women of Influence+ on building without burnout being the new flex.

As always, thank you for reading, supporting this work and advocating for the needs of parents in business settings!

More from Mixing Babies And Business™:

• Join the Community in 2025
• Explore the digital resource hub
• Tune into the podcast on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Website
• Connect with me on LinkedIn

**Thanks for reading, I hope it helps you (share with friends if you think they'd be interested). Please reply if you have feedback or questions about the above! I aim to respond within 72 hours Tuesday–Friday**

An independent newsletter crafted with 💜 and care in Canada

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