Beyond the Paycheck: Redefining Breadwinning for a New Era
It became clear: there was a hunger for a platform that celebrates - not apologizes for - Breadwinner mothers. A space that asks "Why not both?" instead of forcing impossible choices.
From that one powerful dinner, The Breadwinners platform was born.
In March 2025, during SXSW in Austin, 30 remarkable women gathered around a table. Empire builders, industry leaders, and mothers who were financially leading their families while redefining what it means to nurture them. What started as an intimate evening of breaking bread became a national conversation we can't look back from.
The response was immediate and overwhelming. Messages poured in from women across the country saying, "Yes! This! I feel so seen..." Corporate brands asked how they could support this community. The flood gates had opened.
The Breadwinners began with a serendipitous dinner
We're a multi-channel platform celebrating and redefining what it means to be a “Breadwinner” in today’s society and culture - moving it from a footnote to the headline of modern motherhood.
The Breadwinners began with a simple question: What if breadwinning isn't just about bringing home money - but about bringing financial richness, emotional richness, and the power to change systems?
What we're building
To quiet the mental overload of working motherhood by creating a supportive and empowering community that replaces guilt with confidence.
We exist to make every mom feel less guilty - about raising their children, spending time with them, nurturing their partnerships, taking care of themselves, their health, or their careers. We replace individual struggle with community and agency.
Our mission
The women at our table don't fit into single boxes. They're:
Executive-partner-advocate
Entrepreneur-caregiver-changemaker
CEO-mother-athlete
Founder-parent-community leader
Doctor-wife-artist
These aren't separate identities competing for time and energy - they're integrated dimensions of whole, powerful lives.
They're not just succeeding within existing structures - they're proving that the structures themselves need to evolve to accommodate the reality of multi-dimensional women.
This is what makes them system-changers.
The Breadwinners have rejected the myth that they must choose one hyphen over another. Instead, they've built lives where their professional ambition informs their parenting, their family insights enhance their leadership, and their multiple roles create a richer, more complete version of success.
The systems we're changing will benefit all working families. We're contributing our voice to the chorus, not drowning out others.
Inclusive Impact
We recognize that system-changing work often happens within supportive relationships. We celebrate partners who champion growth and create families based on mutual support and shared vision.
Partnership-Oriented
We build bridges rather than walls within motherhood. We learn from mothers in all seasons and roles, recognizing that strong families take many forms.
Community-Minded
We celebrate strength, not suffering. We showcase integration, not sacrifice. We champion women who refuse the false choice between career and family - while honoring that this is one powerful path among many valuable ones. And that as mothers, we go through various seasons of motherhood and careerhood, the ebbs and flows, and make strategic choices for whatever season we’re facing in the present and planning for the future.
Celebration, Not Struggle
our approach
Our Values
Rejecting fragmentation and compartmentalization in favor of integration, authenticity, and presence across all domains of life.
Wholeness As Standard
Moving beyond individual adaptation to actively redesigning systems and cultural narratives that can accommodate whole, multi-dimensional women.
Systemic Transformation
Embracing professional drive and financial leadership without shame or unnecessary justification - in all our multi-hyphenate complexity.
Unapologetic Ambition
Bringing others along, sharing wisdom, and building supportive networks across all our hyphens.
Collective Elevation
Creating new definitions of achievement that honor all dimensions of contribution, not just the ones that fit on a resume.
Redefined Success
Celebrating the unique power that comes from containing multitudes - embracing that Breadwinners are both/and, not either/or.
Strength in Multiplicity
Professional ambition and maternal nurturing aren't competing forces - they're complementary strengths. Multi-hyphenate identities make us more capable, not more fractured.
Integration Over Segregation
The Breadwinners Platform Today..
What Began as One Dinner in Austin has Turned Into....
A growing network of women supporting each other through the journey of integrated, multi-hyphenate success
Our Community
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Insights, strategies, and stories delivered to thousands of breadwinner mothers and allies
Our Newsletter
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Intimate gatherings in major cities across the country, building community one table at a time
The Breadwinners Dinners
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Intimate conversations with remarkable multi-hyphenate Breadwinner mothers, and experts that are your digital tribe, to help you build your whole self.
The Breadwinners Podcast
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Hi! I'm Alexis!
Alexis Contos founded The Breadwinners after recognizing a void in how we talk about working motherhood. Living the reality herself (financially contributing to her family while deeply present for them, wearing multiple hyphens in the process), she knew there had to be other women craving a different narrative. One that celebrates rather than apologizes. One that says "why not both?" instead of forcing impossible choices.
That first dinner in Austin proved her instinct right. These women are ready to be seen not as women making sacrifices, but as pioneers rewriting the rules entirely.
Meet our Founder
Us
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The conversation has started. The community is growing. And we're just getting started.
Whether you're already a multi-hyphenate Breadwinner mother, aspiring to grow your career while building your family, or an ally supporting this evolution - there's a place for you at our table.
