In this episode, I’m joined by Brea Starmer, founder of Lions & Tigers, a company she started after being laid off while seven months pregnant and serving as her family’s primary income. What began as survival quickly became a new way of thinking about work: flexible, skilled, sustainable, and built around real life.

We talk about the myth of stability in traditional employment, why so many women and caregivers are pushed to the margins, and how blended teams and fractional work are giving people more agency than ever before.

And of course, we talk about the real-life side of it all- parenting, logistics, exhaustion, boundaries, and the seasons where everything feels like “a lot”… and also deeply purposeful.

In this episode:

• The layoff that sparked Lions & Tigers
• How Brea built her own maternity leave through freelance work
• Why blended teams are becoming essential in enterprise companies
• How AI, caregiving, and shifting workplace norms are reshaping careers
• What it actually looks like to build a business while raising three kids
• The skill of knowing what’s worth your time (and what you can let fall through the colander)

Connect with Brea:

• Lions & Tigers: lionsandtigers.com
• Workforce Reimagined study
• Connect with Brea on LinkedIn

Connect with Ashley:

Website: https://www.ashleyblackington.com

Podcast website: https://www.andbothpodcast.com/

Dovetail® App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dovetail-app/id6744341822

Instagram: @mydovetail.app

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyblackington/