Women's Business Development Center Entrepeneurial Champion

As Hedy mentioned I am an opera singer, and usually when I am onstage and staring into lights I'm about to sing a death scene or aria, and so to be here in front of you as a businesswoman, instead of a saucy 17th century maid, is a welcome change.

As most of you know, being a modern businesswoman requires about eight arms, two brains and three bodies. You need to be a consummate professional, a dedicated mom and an exciting spouse. But this is an impossible combination, as any of you who have ever tried to fuel the minivan, find soccer shoes, finish a presentation and do yoga all in the same hour have found out.

Newsweek, the Economist, Oprah, Fortune and innumerable other press sources have run major features in the last year about the myths surrounding the perfect mother and the modern woman. But despite the attention, the pressure continues to mount on women to be perfect - in all thee of our lives at the same time.

If Thoreau thought that the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, it's only because he didn't know the 21st century working woman. The mass of us lead three lives of noisy desperation, constantly wishing we could sit down for five minutes and take a rest.

And yet, women should not need to give up any of these three lives of mother, manager and wife. Each is a distinctive part of our personality. Throughout my life so far, I've learned that the answer to being a healthy woman lies in not trying to do it all alone, but in building a team that can promote and support you, and ease the strain so that you can go back to living one life again.

As a woman, your team may be your spouse, your workout partner, or for an increasing number of us, our psychologist. Sittercity is a lifestyle service dedicated to helping working moms find a crucial team member-a trusted nanny or babysitter that gives you back precious time to go on a date with your husband, go out with friends, or manage your work life more effectively.

When I had the idea for Sittercity.com back in 2001, it seemed like a no-brainer to me. 34 million moms across the country desperately needed help finding the care that was right under their noses. Using the model of an online dating service, Sittercity's spent five years now matching hundreds of thousands of parents and sitters online and offline. But as Hedy said, investors initially dismissed the idea as a "babysitting club." One investor told me had his wife took care of that sort of thing.

When I moved Sittercity.com in Chicago in 2002, I walked into the WBDC searching for someone that would understand my concept and aid me in implementation. The first person I came face-to-face with Kelly Mizeur. A very pregnant Kelly Mizeur. And I thought: THANK YOU!

Three years later, the members of the WBDC have helped me in more ways I can count. With their help, Sittercity's database now includes over 100,000 excellent babysitters, nannies, petsitters and housesitters nationwide. We have a community of parents the size of a small city in constant discussion every day about crucial work life balance issues.

We've even introduced a corporate program for modern employers who want to help their employees remain sane, because America's business world is now realizing that the answer to including women is not to turn them into men, but to work with them based on who they are.

We may be a baby-sitting club, but we're the biggest one on the planet. In just the short time I've been talking to you, four or five parents have gotten relief on Sittercity.com. And the tables have turned. In the last few months venture capitalists have been calling us, not the other way around. That's progress.

So today I'd like to honor to Kelly Mizeur, Linda Darragh, Lois Eichacker, Hedy, Mia and extend a huge thank you to the WBDC for understanding that women's issues are not just embarrassing things for women to deal with, they are opportunities for big business. It takes a woman to understand that. I also have to thank my Sittercity team, especially the amazing brother sister duo of Dan Ratner and Stacy Ratner (no relation to Hedy), for fighting every battle alongside me.

I think the person who finds the final solution to dispelling the myth of the perfect mom will be America's next billionaire. I'm working on the problem, but I haven't got the full solution yet. I encourage each of you to think about it. I'm confident that with a little thought, we can build a new prosperity and quality of life for women one step at a time, or in our case, one babysitter at a time.

THANK YOU!