#DREAMMATERNITY
&Mother’s story starts with our founder: Olympian, Global Medalist, and seven-time USA Track & Field National Champion,
Alysia Montaño.
Montaño became a viral sensation when she competed at the USA Nationals Championship in 2014 while eight-months pregnant with her daughter, Linnéa. This moment in the spotlight earned her the nickname, “The Pregnant Runner,” and gave the public pause as they started to reconsider the archaic limits set on pregnant bodies. 3 years later, Montaño went on to compete again in the 2017 USA Nationals Championship while five-months pregnant with her second child, Aster.
Shifting the narrative around what women’s bodies were capable of, and the importance of exercise while pregnant or post-partum for physical and mental health, was just the beginning.
In 2019, Montaño brought worldwide attention to the barriers, biases, and ultimately career-shattering consequences that professional athletes face when they choose motherhood in her New York Times op-ed: “Nike Told Me to Dream Crazy, Until I Wanted a Baby”.
The op-ed initiated the #DreamMaternity movement, characterized by several high-profile professional athletes coming forward with their own stories and widespread media coverage demonstrating the universality of the problems that working women face when making this choice.
Building on the momentum of the #DreamMaternity movement, &Mother launched on Mother’s Day 2020 to bring impact to mothers everywhere choosing to thrive in motherhood and career, across all industries and spaces.
The sporting world continues to serve as a platform to demonstrate and broadcast our work. We aim to empower and support all women to become the driving force that breaks down a system that has historically dismissed, undervalued, and discriminated against them.
Since transitioning from movement to impact, #DreamMaternity and &Mother has helped meet an overwhelming need for family support for mom athletes, professional and non-professional alike.