ABOUT US

It's a familiar story for many pandemic-era moms. Working from home with an infant who preferred my company above anyone else's. My employer at the time had strict "camera-on" policies, but somehow I'd also get in trouble for having my baby visible, especially on client calls.

 

My name is Aelsa Woods, and when I was in that place, I was loving being a mom and I was doing well at work, but I was not enjoying life. I knew I couldn't be the only one going insane, so I threw an idea out onto a moms Facebook page in my town: who would want to get together once a while and cost-share childcare in the same vicinity while we moms got stuff done? 

 

So was born as the Bloomington-Normal Work-From-Home Mom Cooperative.

 

We met once. Despite having more than two dozen moms interested, only one mom showed up to our planning meeting (one conference called in) and of those two moms, only one showed up.

 

I couldn't get any traction after that. It's possible the absurd number of words and dashes in the name of the thing had something to do with it. But that still led to what we are now, and what we are continuing to become.

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Now, The Village Collective exists to support central Illinois mothers through in-person coworking meetups, a no-cost directory for business owners and salespeople, child-inclusive events, and, frankly, just (but maybe most importantly) access to people who get what it takes to be a mom.

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Newly announced is our Village+ membership, a paid subscription just for moms who own businesses that provides access to new levels of networking, connection, marketing, and business support.