MANILA -- Becoming a mother builds a very powerful resume, said Edamama chief executive officer Bela Gupta D'Souza.

D' Souza founded Edamama, a mother-and-child retail platform, in 2020, and has since made over 4 million package deliveries to moms.

She also sells more than 95,000 products on her online store, and has opened four physical stores in the Philippines.

"I think moms make excellent leaders," she said in response to a question about what she can tell women about balancing their family and professional lives.

"So rather than seeing it as a setback in your career, I would say becoming a mother builds an incredibly powerful resume, for you in terms of really being able to multi-task, be able to really apply a lot of empathy in your leadership, because these are skills that you are forced to practice at home," she said.

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The executive said she believes that there’s really no right time to start a family, so women have to find a way to weave their personal lives with their professional lives.

"Embrace it. Embrace motherhood. I think there’s a way to balance both and decide what matters more to you and find that prioritization for your family," she said.

--ANC, 14 March 2024