The Risks, Rewards and Realities of Entrepreneurship with Maria Locker

Maria Locker knows a thing or two about making a career pivot. 

Fifteen years ago, she was teaching primary school. It was a profession she had dreamed about since she was a little girl. She loved her job and enjoyed being around children who wanted to learn. It was her calling — or so she thought.

When she had two kids of her own, within 18 months of each other, things… changed. 

“I turned to my husband, who’s also a school teacher, and said, ‘Look, babe, I don’t think I really want to go back and teach 30 other kids and leave my two with someone else,’ Maria recently told Leading With Nice. “This just is really not sitting well.” 

So she quit teaching and freelanced for a couple of years. During her down time, she’d walk her kids to the local park. 

“I would meet these women at the park and I’d always ask them, ‘What do you do?’ and nine times out of 10, they were entrepreneurs and they were super quiet about it,” Maria says. “They wouldn’t really talk about it. It was like I was trying to pull information from them. I started talking to more and more women and I just found, you know what? We need to talk about this more. We need to be together and support one another more.” 

So she did something about it. 

As founder and CEO of The Mompreneurs Organization (2010-2020), and now founder and CEO of RevolutionHER, Maria and her team have welcomed over 30,000 members and subscribers, presented over 800 events, and given back over $200,000 in funding and business mentorship to women entrepreneurs through their annual awards programming. Maria and her team are dedicated to bringing women together worldwide with impactful events and a community of like-minded peers, providing support and inspiration to help women unleash their potential and live their lives to the fullest.

Check out the Leading With Nice podcast below to hear Maria share her experience on what it was like to launch one organization and then grow it into what it is today. She also gives great insight into how you can support entrepreneurial woman in your life.

PLUS! Leading With Nice is such a fan of what Maria is doing that we’re giving away five memberships to RevolutionHER, including the Entrepreneurship option. All you have to do is sign up for the Leading With Nice email list and we’ll randomly select five lucky subscribers. Winners will be contacted by email. Good luck!