BEN: Name?
EE: Erin Spahn Erenberg

BEN: Age?
EE: 47

BEN: Food you can’t live without? 
EE: Pasta.

BEN: What do you feel most proud of accomplishing or doing in your life so far and how does it make you feel?
EE: It’s a tie between:

One-Producing a moment on the Academy of Country Music awards show where people with Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic condition, sang “Music from the Heart” with Darius Rucker - a song they’d written at a music camp I’d helped establish at Vanderbilt University. They sang in front of a 40 million person television audience and raised funds for other people with Williams Syndrome. I remember sobbing with pride and gratitude in the back of the MGM arena in Las Vegas watching the joy on their faces and knowing I played a part in bringing them to that moment. 

Two-Cofounding Chamber of Mothers in 2021. We had a vision of pooling mothers’ power and interests to demand that mothers’ priorities, like paid leave, affordable childcare, and improved maternal healthcare, become the law of the land. We turned that dream into 43 state chapters, 100,000 members, and a monthly reach of 40 million mothers – all in just a few short years. I feel in awe of the mothers who make up this movement, and I feel a sense of duty to look after this movement and sustain its success. 

BEN: What led you to Chamber of Mothers? What were you doing before? Was there a definitive pivot moment?

EE: When I had my first child, a conviction came over me that I would use my sense of discombobulation, shock and isolation as a woman who’d just become a mother, and use it to be of service to other women and mothers. I pivoted from my career as a senior technology and entertainment executive at places like Indiegogo, Omaze, and William Morris Endeavor (WME) and launched a platform called “Totum Women”, providing products, events, and services to new moms. During the pandemic, when it became clear to me that what moms really need is law and policy change, I found a collection of other mothers who wanted to join forces and launch a movement. That movement is now an established national nonprofit. 

My pivotal moment was an emotional one. I was lying down next to my oldest son in his hospital bed in the pediatric ICU, the day after Mother’s Day in 2020. He’d just been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, a lifelong condition with no cure (unlike Type 2, Type 1 is autoimmune and requires multiple daily insulin injections for survival). I was scared, shaken and knew the rest of my life would now involve a heavy care weight. I decided to use my working hours wisely and deliberately, focusing only on work that would make a real difference in other mothers’ lives. We carry too much alone.

BEN: Tell us about CoM.
EE: Chamber of Mothers is the largest nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for maternal rights in the U.S, working across party lines to create meaningful change. We unite mothers to drive change on three key issues: paid leave, affordable childcare, and maternal health. Through grassroots movements, local chapters, and community-building, Chamber of Mothers drives change on the state and local level, and brings people’s stories straight to elected officials, across the political spectrum, in Washington,

D.C. Founded in 2021 by a powerhouse assembly of thought leaders on motherhood and policy after Congress cut Paid Family Leave from President Biden’s proposed Build Back Better legislation, Chamber of Mothers launched with the provocative statement “We Won’t Build Back Bleeding”, catching lightning in a bottle and immediately capturing the attention of tens of thousands followers and collaborators. Follow us on Instagram @chamberofmothers.

BEN: You are an advocate for women day in and day out, what do you feel propels you forward - what gets you out of bed in the morning still committed to the fight?

EE: I stay in this work because I love women, I believe that motherhood is the final frontier of feminism, and I see our work leading to the changes mothers need in order to live more joyful, complete, supported lives. Our work is working. I can’t stop!

BEN: When do you feel most inspired?
EE: In the shower, when no one is asking me for anything.

BEN: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
EE: I get way more out of a long walk with a good friend, just venting, sharing, and listening to each other, than I do from “advice”. 

BEN: What’s your favorite color? 
EE:Gray

BEN: What’s your favorite movie from growing up ? (impossible we know) 
EE: Say Anything

BEN: What has been a challenge that you’ve faced in your life, how have you lived with it, and what has it taught you for the future
EE: Our son’s diagnosis. It’s taught me patience, compassion, and in time, it’s developed grit in both him and me. 

BEN: All time favorite song? (also impossible, so sorry)
EE: Passin’ Me By, by the Pharcyde

BEN: Which BEN piece are you and why?
EE: It was SO hard for me to choose between Ace and Karma because I’m a Libra, and I have a lot of trouble with decisions between two amazing things. In the end, Ace because Tequila and Heathers and I like to be underestimated (there’s always an Ace in my back pocket).