Fired on Maternity Leave, She Built a Business That Honors Mothers

After being fired during maternity leave, Kat Rogers didn’t just bounce back—she rebuilt her life on her own terms. As the founder of Mariposa Mastermind, she helps working mothers shed burnout, rediscover themselves, and lead with intention. In this Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight, Kat shares how survival sparked purpose, why she rejected hustle culture, and how gratitude—not tech—became her most powerful business tool. Her journey is a raw and inspiring reminder that success isn’t about speed or scale—it’s about alignment, autonomy, and honoring your humanity.

Hi, Kat! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?

I’m the founder of Mariposa Mastermind, a leadership and mindset platform supporting working mothers who are navigating careers, businesses, and identities that no longer fit the traditional mold. I serve women who are capable, intelligent, and deeply committed—yet often burned out from carrying invisible labor, emotional load, and unrealistic expectations at home and work.

Through small group programs, workshops, digital resources, and community spaces, I help women reconnect to themselves, clarify what they want next, and build sustainable ways of leading without burning out. The impact of my work isn’t about doing more—it’s about helping women feel grounded, confident, and supported as they make decisions that actually honor their lives.

Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.

My shift isn't connected to money-earned like you might expect. It's much quieter than that. It happened when I stopped trying to build my business like everyone else said I “should” and I stopped looking to "experts" for guidance. I've always known I wasn’t meant to scale fast, perform confidence, or out-hustle burnout and overwhelm. I became an entrepreneur when I trusted myself, my lived experience, my perspective, and my values enough to build something slower, with intentional, and human-centered.

That moment came when I committed to serving real people in real seasons of life, instead of chasing validation, algorithms, or external benchmarks of success.

Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.

I was fired from my job just weeks after giving birth, while on maternity leave. That experience fundamentally cracked open my identity and shifted how I understood work, myself, and security—especially the sexism against women and mothers in particular. After that, I spent years trying to fit back into systems that no longer felt safe or aligned, while raising young children and navigating significant personal loss.

Entrepreneurship became less about ambition and more about survival, autonomy, and reclaiming myself. I didn’t leap because I had a perfect plan. I had no plan and no choice, so I leapt with a need to build something that honored both my humanity and my responsibilities.

Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?

The most significant game-changer in my business has nothing to do with technology or software—it was discovering gratitude as a daily practice. I read The Gratitude Diaries by Janice Kaplan during a dark, postpartum period of my life, when I had allowed myself to feel deeply broken and be relentlessly self-critical. As I read her story, I immediately saw my own patterns — and realized I was even harder on myself than she was.

Reading about her struggle, her awareness, and ultimately her transformation showed me that change was possible. I realized, perhaps for the first time, that the pain I was holding onto was not inevitable—it was learned. Practicing gratitude helped me retrain my brain, soften my inner dialogue, and reconnect with myself. It was simple, yet incredibly difficult—but it changed everything.

That practice didn’t just support my personal healing; it reshaped how I lead, how I serve others, and how I built my business –– rooting everything in presence, compassion, and sustainability. Tech will change, but if I stay grounded in gratitude, I know I can navigate whatever happens next.

We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.

Every success and every failure has brought me to this point—but failures have been my greatest teachers. They teach you how to pivot. The real lesson, though (and one I’m still learning), is understanding how much you actually need to pivot. Our gut reaction is often drastic—scrap it all and start over—when in reality, it’s usually just one or two thoughtful changes that make all the difference.

For me, this lesson showed up through burnout. I believed that a day off, a spa visit, or a short getaway would be enough to reset me. It wasn’t. My burnout wasn’t caused by a lack of rest—it was caused by carrying an unsustainable mental load.

I was constantly forecasting, problem-solving, and holding responsibility for our family, our home, our pets, my business, and supporting my partner in his work—all while telling myself I just needed to “push through.” It wasn’t until I named that mental load and had honest, hard conversations about it that real change became possible.

That experience fundamentally shaped my work. I won’t let other women repeat my mistake of minimizing burnout, ignoring its root causes, or letting it drag on longer than it ever needs to. Once women feel stable enough to breathe again, that’s when real, sustainable change can happen.

What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?

One unconventional strategy that has significantly shaped my business is my commitment to not working 40+ hours a week —and to holding that same standard for my team. In a culture that often described as "live for work, not work to live", I’ve intentionally built a business around realistic human capacity, so we can live our lives too.

I don't focus on nonstop growth, nor assume everyone is constantly availability or nonstop growth. I design my work—and my team’s work—to fit within the lives we’re actually living. I want us all to have time outside of the job because it can inspire creativity within! This does mean I have to get real clear about priorities, set boundaries, and hold respect for focused, intentional effort over sheer volume of hours.

While this choice hasn’t always been the fastest path, it has allowed me to build a business that feels aligned, humane, and sustainable —and one I can continue to grow without burning myself or others out.

What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?

Trust yourself. You know more, can do more, and are capable of learning far more than you give yourself credit for. You may not know everything you need right now—but you are fully capable of learning, failing, learning again, and growing as many times as it takes to get where you want to go.

Experts can be incredibly helpful guides along the way, but don’t ever hand over ownership of your vision. Seek support, ask questions, and learn from others—but stay rooted in your own perspective and purpose.

Want to dive deeper into Kat's work? Check out the links below!

• Follow Kat Rogers's on Bluesky app: @iamkat-hearmeroar.bsky.social
• Follow Mariposa Mastermind on LinkedIn: Mariposa Mastermind
• Find Mariposa Mastermind on Facebook: Mariposa Mastermind
• Follow Mariposa Mastermind on Instagram: @mariposamastermind
• Subscribe to Mariposa Mastermind's Youtube: @MariposaMastermind
• Follow Kat Rogers's on Tiktok: @iamkat_hearmeroar