Making Business Travel and Breastfeeding Easier with Kate Torgersen

Have you ever had to go on a business trip while you were still breastfeeding?

In this episode, I'm talking with Kate Torgersen, Founder of Milk Stork all about how to make business travel while breastfeeding and pumping easier. We talk about what lead to Kate founding her company to better support working moms as well as what companies can do to better support parents and caretakers.

Finally, if you're interested in talking to your company about benefits like Milk Stork, Kate provides some guidance on the best way to do so.

Highlights:

• Kate's background and the event that lead to her founding Milk Stork
• How she came up with Milk Stork and how it works
• Tips for smoother travel while pumping
• How we can normalize breastfeeding and the need to pump at work
• Why it's important for companies to support breastfeeding moms
• Other ways companies could better support parents or caretakers of all kinds
• Kate's thoughts about what she'd like the future to look like for working moms and parents
• The best way to approach your company to provide benefits like Milk Stork

Today’s Guest:

Kate Torgersen is founder and CEO of Milk Stork®, the first breast milk shipping service for business traveling, breastfeeding moms. Launched in August 2015, Milk Stork provides working moms with everything they need to ship or tote their “liquid gold” home to their babies. For progressive, family-friendly companies, Milk Stork provides an in-demand employee benefit that helps attract, retain and supports working mothers.

As a full time, working mom of three kids, Kate was committed to breastfeeding all of her children for the recommended 12 months despite the many challenges of pumping at work. In 2014, when faced with a four-day business trip, she struggled to get her breast milk home to her eight month-old twins. After returning from her trip with two gallons of breast milk and eight pounds of melting ice, she was determined to create a solution. Within a year, she launched Milk Stork, effectively lightening the load—both physically and emotionally—for countless hardworking, business traveling, breastfeeding moms across the U.S. Fueled by grassroots word-of-mouth among moms, Milk Stork quickly became in-demand, employee benefit with many of the country’s leading companies and firms.

Kate’s mom-led innovation and entrepreneurship have been chronicled in publications such as the Harvard Business Review, New York Magazine, Lifehacker, Fortune and Travel + Leisure. In 2016, Kate was named one of Red Tricycle’s “Power Moms of the Food World” and, in 2015, Business Insider named Milk Stork, one of the “19 Coolest Companies in San Francisco”. 

While launching Milk Stork, Kate was senior executive communications manager at Clif Bar & Company. From 2000 to 2007, she served as the company’s national field marketing manager. Prior to joining Clif Bar, Kate chased her wanderlust to the Sierra Nevada Mountains where she worked as an archaeologist and wild land firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service. In the winter, she was a professional ski instructor at Squaw Valley–Alpine Meadows ski resort.  

Kate holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley and she earned her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. When she isn’t working, playing with her kids or picking up Hotwheels, she is running or pursuing her quest for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Resources:

She Reaches Mastermind www.milkstork.com Milk Stork on Facebook Milk Stork on Instagram Milk S