Maternity Leave

I am unable to think of Wiley Canning Company without thinking of motherhood. I began Wiley when I was pregnant with my son, Sullivan, and I signed my contract for The Wiley Canning Company Cookbook three months before giving birth. The values, products, and work you see flow from Wiley are the values, products, and work created by a first-time mother. I am proud of this.

However, the relationship between Wiley Canning Company and motherhood was not symbiotic at first. I resisted, fervently, the idea of melding my role as a business owner and my role as a mother. What is more, I resisted, fervently, the idea of melding my identity of ‘business owner’ and my identity of ‘mother’. My identity of ‘business owner’ came first, chronologically, and because of this, it is what I grasped most tightly throughout my pregnancy. I feared I would lose Wiley—its momentum, community, and success—if I allowed myself to create room for a very new, unknown identity of ‘mother’. This white-knuckle grip of my work caused me to suffer. My attempt to silo my endeavors in this way was antithetical to my humanity, my undeniable and innate ability to manage the complexity and integration of a multi-faceted life.

It was not until I demolished these silos and rebuilt a single, spacious, and colorful personhood that my relationship between Wiley and motherhood became not only symbiotic, but also nurturing and sustaining of one another.

At first, I asked, “What will I miss at Wiley because I am with Sullivan? What will I miss with Sullivan because I am writing my cookbook?”

These questions became, “What will I write because I am Sullivan’s mother? How will I mother because I love my work?”

At first, I asked, “How will motherhood hurt my career?”

This question became, “How will motherhood strengthen my career?”

At first, I asked, “How can I protect my time spent on Wiley?”

This question became, “How can I evolve my relationship with time and flexibility to move my work forward in a variety of circumstances?”

Once I began to healthily integrate my roles and identities as a business owner and a mother, I immediately noticed the ways each benefited, far more than suffered, from one another. When others describe motherhood as transformative, this is, in part, what I believe they mean. This series of perspective shifts was profoundly transformative.

I am nearly four years into business ownership and motherhood, and I know this for certain: I am a better business owner because I am a mother, and I am a better mother because I am a business owner. I am deeply in love with my work, and I am deeply in love with my son. The unification of my work and my son is the well-woven fabric of my day-to-day life, a life I cherish, behold, and honor.

As I enter my second maternity leave, I do not enter it in fear. What will I create at Wiley Canning Company in 2025 because I am a mother to two children? How will motherhood aid in creating value for others through my work at Wiley Canning Company? How will my relationship with time and flexibility continue to both humble and embolden me, as well as my career?

I look forward to bearing witness to these answers.

I will be on maternity leave beginning Monday, October 07, 2024 through Monday, January 06, 2025.

What does this mean for Wiley Canning Company?

What does this mean for Wiley subscribers, as well as the Wiley community?

How can you engage with Wiley during this time?

Find out below!

My top priority during my maternity leave is the Wiley Subscription.

Content for Wiley subscribers will not be put on pause. I predict my routine offerings may be interrupted from time to time, but in general, I plan to proceed as normal for all Wiley subscribers.

This includes:

1 subscriber-only Wiley Weekly Newsletter every Friday

1 Wiley Recipe, 1 In Dialogue interview, and / or 1 Founder’s Talk with Chelsea J. O’Leary every month

10% off all photographic prints

Access to the Wiley Weekly Newsletter archive

First access to all News Feed publications

Wiley Workshops, community events, and retreats will return beginning May 2025. See more below.

Wiley Workshops, community events, and retreats will return beginning May 2025.

Before then, Wiley subscribers are able to register for our annual New Year’s Recipe Exchange on Saturday, January 11, 2025. Registration will first open through the subscriber-only Wiley Weekly Newsletter.