Bootstrapping, Babies, and Blasting Off: Meet Jennie Monness, the Founder of Union Square Play and Mo’Mommies

We love vulnerable, shame-busting women like Jennie Monness, the founder and Chief Mom-In-Charge of Union Square Play and the beloved blog, Mo’ Mommies. Jennie, an educator and mom, has built a business that helps all other moms. You’ll hear about the lessons she’s learned from both roles (entrepreneur and mom), and how she’s applied these lessons straight back into both worlds. Jennie also shares with us how she adapted a brick-and-mortar business to the pandemic, and how she overcame obstacles when she was getting started. Her take home message for moms, kids, and entrepreneurs? Trust yourself. We’ll take Mo’ of that, Jennie! Jennie’s bio: Jennie Monness (Moe-ness) began her career in early childhood 14 years ago after receiving her Master's degree from Teachers college, Columbia University in Psychology in Education. Her first job was teaching English to 18-24 month old native Mandarin speaking children, helping to prepare them for entrance to the most prestigious schools in NYC.  Monness then became the Educational Director of several early childhood centers for 8 years, creating programs that used research-based best practices. In 2017, Jennie decided to take a decade's worth of knowledge in early childhood education, and share her  philosophy and learnings with new parents to educate and empower them through her blog Mo' Mommies. She continued to teach classes, speak at events, and use social media to provide timely information about her own parenting and toy recommendations that new parents deeply need and desire. This led to forming mom’s support groups and eventually the creation of Union Square Play. Links: Replay: Straighten Your Crown AMA on Fundraising, Negotiation, and Deal Making Join our club on Clubhouse!