How Leaders Fail Returning Moms | Alexa Starks
Reentry Isn’t a Moment—It’s a System: Designing Support That Works with Alexa Starks
What if “welcome back” wasn’t the plan—just the starting line?
In this episode of Human Side Up, host Natasha Nuytten sits down with Alexa Starks—Founder & Chief Strategist of Executive Moms and host of The Reentry Room—to unpack how organizations can move beyond good intentions to build practical, repeatable frameworks that retain high-performing parents. Drawing from her own return-to-work experience and a decade in corporate ops, Alexa explains the “reentry gap,” why so many managers default to silence, and how leaders can co-create 30/60/90 re-onboarding plans that adjust goals, measure output (not hours), and make flexibility real. They get specific on scripts and shared language for managers and parents, weekly capacity check-ins, resetting OKRs, and the difference between policy and practice when it comes to boundaries. While the focus is parent reentry, the lessons apply across life events—because compassionate leadership and clear expectations improve outcomes for everyone.
Highlights & Takeaways
💡Reentry is a process, not a date: co-create 30/60/90 plans and reset OKRs
💡Measure output, not “green dots”: flexibility that’s tied to clear goals
💡Policy vs. practice: manager behavior is the culture
💡Shared language: scripts for managers and parents to ask for—and offer—support
💡Beyond parenthood: compassion + clarity build stronger teams in any life event
Human Side Up
What happens when we stop following the playbook and start writing our own? Hosted by Natasha Nuytten, CEO of CLARA, Human Side Up cuts through the noise to reveal how real leaders create workplaces—and lives—where people can thrive.
Connect with Natasha:
🎧 Spotify
📺 YouTube
Connect with CLARA:
🌐 Website
📺 YouTube
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