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The Power Mom Life almost hardly ever goes the way we think it will, and sometimes, throws unexpected challenges out of the blue. It’s what we make of these challenges (and of ourselves in the process) that defines us! One such extraordinary story is that of Sehreen Noor Ali. She’s many things – entrepreneur, CEO, board advisor, market-maker, visionary, business executive, volunteer, ex-consultant, ex-diplomat, and perhaps the most challenging of all, mother.    Sehreen is a graduate of Brown and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She began her career at the US Department of State, acting as a liaison to the White House for diplomatic response to execute President Obama’s initiatives in the Middle East and South Asia. Her career subsequently took her to consulting and business development in the education and EdTech sectors. It was after this that her life suddenly changed. A call from a doctor brought to Sehreen the news that her child was struggling due to an underlying condition that had gone unnoticed. With that experience, Sehreen’s entrepreneurial journey was born. As we continue our series of portraits of inspiring women entrepreneurs, is this feature, we walk you through the ups and downs of Sehreen’s life. We’ll learn from the challenges faced head-on, the biases fought, the accomplishments earned, and the power of the entrepreneurial spirit. Let’s dive in! Spotting Opportunity in Chaos Sehreen struggled as a special-needs mom. She had to juggle her responsibilities as Vice President and Head of Business Development at Noodle and then Kaplan, while also doing her best to raise her two girls. She would feel guilty for taking time off work for her child and would spend hours digging around for answers on Facebook groups for a symptom she was showing. Sehreen’s struggle to find useful, dependable and timely information, alongside the rising use of tech for family health acted as the motivation for her to envision a ‘GPS’ system for child health. Opportunities are usually abundant. They require a visionary to spot them, commit to doing justice to them and building something worthwhile. Sehreen co-founded Sleuth as a health-tech startup. She designed it to marry the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ from parents on the platform with other parents seeking advice for medical care and treatment for their toddlers. She calls Sleuth the ‘Waze for Early Childhood Health’. Sehreen was able to prove that there was a demand for a crowdsourced, tech-enabled solution for childhood health.  She was able to spot signals to make an entire market where none existed, and her advice to other entrepreneurs is to do the same! Rise and Rise Sehreen has worn her multiple hats with a panache and proficiency that will astound many. Equipped with a strong educational background, she has risen through roles of public service, accumulated successes in the corporate world, and founded EdTechWomen and Sleuth. That’s not all – she advises on the boards of SXSWedu and other startups, guiding them in developing and executing their ideas.  Many of us are familiar with the well-known quote by Dorothy Neddermeyer: “Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.” Sehreen has not only faced and resolved differences of opinion, but also overcome biases (whether overt or subtle), at every step of her journey. In dealing with expectations at executive positions in the corporate world, it’s unfortunately not unheard of to feel guilt while taking time off for personal reasons. Sehreen eventually took a year off to care for her daughter, and confidently went on to build a tech ecosystem for other struggling parents like her. While in Sehreen’s case, being a mother helped her as she represented a consumer to potential investors, she admits that the tech funding world is predominantly male. What are her suggestions for other minority entrepreneurs? She recommends building and trusting supportive social networks. She recommends being forthcoming and outspoken, because in many cases, people are welcome to change for the better. She leads the way by being bold enough to point out bias. And if it isn’t well received, she suggests accepting that some people just aren’t the right investors / collaborators. Sehreen exemplifies perfectly well how one can select one’s responses to negative triggers. To perfectly encapsulate Sehreen’s story and to find inspiration from it, we must remember the words: “Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.” – Deepak Chopra

Share with us @tryverima or comment below what choices you are making to ensure sustainability.   As a concerned mom worried about the health of the earth our children will inherit, I often have conversations with my kids about ways we can make small changes to lessen our negative environmental impact.  The other day we were driving home from Southern California and we passed a ranch where there here literally hundreds of thousands of cows crowded into muddy pens either standing at the feeding stalls or just lying in the dirt.  A couple miles up the I-5 and we see herds of cattle grazing on grass, roaming freely on the hills.  The children and I discussed everything from animal welfare, to choices we could make with our money ranging from eating a plant based diet, to cutting back on red meat and the different tiers of meat ranging from conventional to organic, to grass-fed, pasture-raised, etc.  We also take care to purchase organic (locally grown when possible) produce, compost our food scraps (thankfully, our city collects it, I have not yet started my own compost bin), recycle what materials we can.  But one aspect I have not fully explored is the environmental impact our clothing choices have on our planet.  The statistics are bleak.  The fashion industry is accountable for 20% of global wastewater and 10% of global carbon emissions.  This is more than both the aviation and shipping industries combined!  Cotton is an incredibly water-intensive crop that requires enough drinking water for one person for ten years to produce a single pair of jeans.  Additionally, cotton fields only make-up 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land, yet use 10% of the pesticides and a staggering 22.5% of chemical insecticides used in the entire agricultural industry.  Unfortunately, the move to man-made materials still leaves us with hard choices.  My kids live in stretchy gym pants and moisture-wicking tops and polyester is inexpensive, lightweight, easy to clean, and durable.  But approximately 70 million barrels of oil are used each year to make the polyester fibers and a polyester shirt produces more than double the carbon dioxide than it’s cotton counterpart.  Not to mention it takes hundreds of years to decompose while releasing microfibers into our water supply with every washing.  UGH! So what is a mom supposed to do especially with three children who grow out of clothing every season, every year?  Here are some ideas I am thinking of implementing to try and make small changes.  Buy Less, Buy Better Quality It is just so easy to grab a couple t-shirts from Costco, Target, Zara or H&M or hop on Zappos, or Amazon and be done with our kids’ wardrobes, but some studies estimate that nearly 40% of our wardrobes go unworn.  Do our kids really need 20 t-shirts when they only wear the same 7 or so of them?  Additionally, (and I am so guilty of this) purchasing items to try them on, and then returning them can essentially double the carbon emissions from transporting the good back and forth.  I think we may need to take a page from our childhoods, go to the local shop, purchase a couple of pairs of pants, a some shirts, and be done.  Our kids don’t need 5 pairs of jeans (actually neither do I) and please don’t mistake clearing out your closets as permission to purchase more clothing!  Pick brands committed to sustainability Many companies are starting to get the sustainability memo and we should reinforce their good behavior by supporting them with our consumer dollars.  Some companies are turning towards organic cotton (which eases pesticide use, though still very water-heavy) and recycling the polyester/using recycled polyester.  Companies like Patagonia do all of the above.  They will repair items for free, use organic cotton and earth-friendly dyes, sell used items and then recycle the items that are no longer wearable.  Because of all of these factors, a significant portion of my children’s wardrobes come from Patagonia.  Additionally, the good quality assures that items can pass from my oldest son to my youngest.  And if they need repair, Patagonia will do that as well!  Look for companies that are on the forefront of Bio-Couture: fashion made from environmentally sustainable materials such as wood, bamboo and fruit.  Set-up a Hand-Me-Down Chain We are all too familiar with the pristine clothing that no longer fit our children (or in my case, my children just refuse to wear) and luckily I know some great families with younger/smaller children to hand down the items to.  Additionally, we are grateful to the families who hand-down to us.  In fact my particular daughter will more readily wear clothing that she knows an older girl (who has way cooler taste than I do apparently) has worn vs the items I pick out for her. We even hand-down the hand-me-downs.  You can also join your local Buy Nothing Group and post the items you would like to give away.  If you have an active group, most items will be taken off your hands rather quickly!  And lastly but perhaps not leastly: PRIMARY COLORS ARE YOUR FRIENDS!  My children’s birth order is boy-girl-boy, so even within my own family we hand down plenty.  For bigger ticket items like winter coats and ski-gear, I only purchase primary colors which means all kids can wear them!  Shop Second Hand Ok, this is one I have to work on.  Most moms are too busy to browse through racks of used clothing to cobble together wardrobes for our children.  And some moms like me, don’t really enjoy shopping and would rather go online and just buy a t-shirt in each color.  Or sometimes, we have something specific we are looking for (example: kid needs navy slacks for a choir concert) and I just need to go somewhere I am sure will stock it.  For moms who enjoy browsing for clothing, make a list of local thrift and second-hand shops, and make it the first go-to before heading to the large box-stores.  And for those of us who are more retail-adverse, check out sites like www.thredup.com which allows you to sort by brand, size and item type.  Donate/Consign Clothing So, I know especially here in the Bay Area, a lot of us moms are guilty of just scooping heaps of clothing into garbage bags and dropping them off at Goodwill.  There is nothing wrong with this and Goodwill does many good things for the community.  Same as the Salvation Army.  You may also want to consider finding some local organizations and then donating to women/children’s shelters.  Recycling at the End of Life So, approximately 11.3 million tons of textiles end up in our landfills each year. . . . basically 70 pounds per U.S. citizen.  So, if you have exhausted the options above, check out some of these programs that will recycle textiles.  Terracycle  is a company that allows you to purchase a box, fill it with your textile waste and ship it back.  The contents will be appropriately sorted, up-cycled and recycled.  The downside to this is that it is quite expensive.  An 11x11x20” box will cost you a hefty $123. So, more reason to only purchase what we need/use! Council for Textile Recycling has a locator that will help you find where you can recycle textiles.  Nike has a Reuse-A-Shoe program where they set up bins outside some of their retail locations.  They will accept athletic shoes (sneakers) of any brand which are then ground up and used to make playgrounds and courts.  Patagonia, as I mentioned above, will take Patagonia threads back and recycle it and give you store credit.  Whatever you decide for your children, even making one or two of these choices for our families is a good start.  Share with us what steps you have taken to ensure a more sustainable future for our children!  Share with us @tryverima or comment below what steps towards sustainability you are taking in your family.