Meet Erin Cutler | Founder of Mom’s Pillow, a nonprofit cause supporting maternal mental health

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erin Cutler and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erin, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I believe we each have our own individual “missions” during this lifetime…and it’s related to the things that make us feel excited. For me, I find that in the wellness realm. I’ve lived it, studied it, and pursued a career in the space for almost a decade after leaving the corporate world.

I also needed a community myself as a new Mom, and a project to challenge me! After not working for 2 years, I missed my role in building and scaling businesses as a freelance consultant. I have always enjoyed that process and I’ve always enjoyed the freedom and agility of being freelance.

I knew I wanted to be able to use my knowledge and personal passion to create something tangibly impactful for women. And given my own experience with postpartum depression and isolation, combined with the current data on maternal mental health, I knew very clearlywhat I needed to create!

Thus, Mom’s Pillow was born.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Mom’s Pillow is a nonprofit cause. It’s completely volunteer run and it operates on the kindness of the community. that makes this project really unique. I think that it’s easy to feel like society doesn’t support moms because of the lack of accessible services catering to busy moms with children, but I find that the general publics KNOWS the importance of advocating for more maternal mental health. After all, moms are literally RAISING the next generation as we speak. And we know that the parent-child relationship is correlated with outcomes in things like adolescent mental health, crime rates & poverty. But I also find that many community leaders don’t always know how to help the moms in their own community. By giving local businesses and leaders the chance to support our cause by sponsoring a meeting, it gives them a place to funnel their appreciation and support for moms. Every venue we’ve used for a meeting, whether it’s a restaurant, community center or private event space, has been donated without any strings attached. I find that once we share our mission and our story, the answer is usually yes. Why? Because our sole purpose is to provide this crucial space for moms to find the social support they need to thrive.

While finding the time as a full-time stay at home mom to build this project has been the primary challenge, I really enjoy working on it because it has reminded me how full of kindness people really are. Especially moms. Even when moms are tired and spent from being there for their own kids, the moms at these meetings really know how to hold space for each other because no one can nurture and love like a mom. We are pros!

My wish is just for Mom’s Pillow to help as many moms as possible find the relief, support and comfort available in a meaningful friendship with another mom.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am from north county originally so my heart will always be there because it has a slow and casual pace. I would start with a beach walk and breakfast somewhere classic like Don’s Country Kitchen in downtown Carlsbad. Then hit some shops in downtown Encinitas and grab lunch at Goodonya before hitting the meditation gardens. I’d pop down to la Jolla cove for sunset and Happy Hour at George’s.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Thanks to all the women mentors along my career path who have encouraged me to follow my heart and assured me I had the skillset to do it 🙂

Website: MomsPillow.org

Instagram: @_erin_cutler_