Have you ever made a choice that felt completely right — and still had to defend it to everyone around you? Have you ever wondered if slowing down and being ambitious could actually be the same move?

Neha Ruch was fresh out of Stanford Business School, climbing fast, and checking every box the Lean In era told her to check. Then she had her son on New Year's Day 2016 — and somewhere around 3 AM, at the end of the internet, something cracked open. Not a breakdown. A clarity: all I need to be is myself, and this kid loves me for it. So she downshifted. Not for her son. For herself. And the world had a lot of opinions about that.

What followed was a decade of slow, quiet, stubborn work — a Squarespace site, a weekly link roundup, five Instagram posts, and a fierce belief that ambitious women who make room for family deserve better than the binary they've been handed. That belief became a bestselling book, The Power Pause, a movement, and a membership community rewriting what it means to be a high-achieving woman in the messy middle of work and motherhood. This conversation goes deep — on identity, on the gold stars we chase even after we know better, and on why the most strategic thing you might ever do is keep the lights on when everything feels like too much.

Tune In For:

• Why Neha downshifted after Stanford — and why it had nothing to do with what was "better for her son"
• How motherhood threatens every identity pillar of high-achieving women — productivity, spontaneity, relevance — and what it actually looks like to navigate that shift vs. spiral
• The girl boss vs. trad wife false binary and what Neha says to women living somewhere in between, wondering if they'd be better at everything if they just picked one
• The Harvard Business Review research that is genuinely one of the most healing data points working moms have never heard — it's not about hours
• "Pause within a pause" — what happened when Neha's second child destabilized everything she'd built, and why "just keep the lights on" is a completely valid strategy
• The New York Times bestseller pit — Neha's honest, still-raw account of wanting the gold star she wrote a whole book about not needing
• What Neha wishes every employer knew about the leadership skills caregiving actually builds — and how to reframe a "career gap" in a job interview
• The "write your ideal day in five years" exercise for anyone whose self-worth is quietly tied to their output

About Neha Ruch

Neha Ruch is the founder of Mother Untitled, author of the bestselling book The Power Pause, and a speaker redefining ambition for modern mothers. After stepping back from a fast-track career post-Stanford Business School, Neha built a movement — and a membership community — proving that a professional pause is a strategic, feminist, and deeply creative choice. Her work has helped thousands of women reclaim their confidence, their identity, and their careers on their own terms.

Resources & Links

• 📖 The Power Pause (book): Available wherever books are sold
• 🌐 Free resources: thepowerpause.com
• 💛 Membership community: thepowerpause.com/membership
• 📸 Follow Neha on Instagram: @neharuch
• 🎙️ Making It with Jess Ekstrom: Subscribe + leave a review wherever you listen

Produced by Making It with Jess Ekstrom

🌿 Soulful Sidebar: The Long Game Nobody Talks About

Nine years. That's how long Neha was building before The Power Pause landed in a cultural moment that was finally ready for it. A Squarespace site. Link roundups nobody read. A second baby that nearly derailed everything. A pandemic that — unexpectedly — turned out to be the unlock.

She didn't blow it up and start over. She kept the lights on.

There's a version of ambition that's loud and linear. And then there's this one — quieter, longer, and honestly harder. The kind where you're not sure it's working, but you care too much to quit. That's not a lack of ambition. That's the long game. And if the data is any indication, it's the one that tends to actually last.