We're Momming Today! w/Lauren Simonetti · FOX News Podcasts

Rent the Runway Co-Founder & Mom-Boss Jennifer Fleiss On Bringing Her Entrepreneurial Skills Into Raising Three Kids

·22 min·1 clip

Jenny Fleiss says Jet Black lets members text for paper towels, birthday gifts, or a designer handbag.

Jenny Fleiss sits down as the CEO of Jet Black, a text-based personal shopper, and co-founder of Rent the Runway. The conversation opens on the obvious tension between startup life and raising three children. Fleiss says she has gone back to the earliest stage with Jet Black and jokes that it feels like having another child. She also says it is rewarding to use what she learned building Rent the Runway in a new venture. The questions keep moving briskly. She is asked how being a woman and a mother shapes the way Fleiss deals with Walmart and potential investors. Fleiss says having more women in leadership roles matters. She also says she is proud to bring a busy working-mom perspective into the companies she is building. The discussion turns to the larger ecosystem around working mothers. It points out that there is a whole economy around helping moms get through the day, from childcare to the tools and services that keep family life moving. They also talk about technology and whether convenience can tip into outsourcing too much responsibility. Fleiss answers with a grounded example about reordering paper towels. Her point is that families are not getting extra credit for repeating tasks if a tool can simply make sure the job gets done on time. She frames that as part of a newer version of the village. It agrees that the village looks very different now. The host then asks what younger women bring up when they talk to Fleiss. Fleiss says they often ask about balance. She says they also ask whether they should fundraise if they hope to have a baby within the next year. Her answer is simple and blunt: there is never a great time. The episode closes on a lighter domestic note. The question turns to favorite sweatpants, and Fleiss leans into the joke. The whole conversation stays warm, direct, and rooted in the daily tradeoffs that sit under ambitious careers.

As heard by us

A founder-mom offers a candid, practical look at startup life, parenting, and the work of balancing both.

Jennifer Fleiss comes across as someone who can move between startup life and home life without forcing a divide between them. Lauren Simonetti keeps the focus on working motherhood, leadership, convenience, and the uneasy question of whether modern tools ease the load or just…

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Why you'd press play

You get a founder-mom's take on startup life and three-kid life.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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