Celebrating Instacart’s Parents with Parents Month

This April, Instacart’s Parents@ Employee Resource Group (ERG) celebrated Parent’s Month, a special time dedicated to recognizing our incredible parents community at Instacart. The community hosted a series of programming to help parents across the company tell their stories, discuss challenges, raise awareness and celebrate the families at Instacart.

The Parents@ ERG was founded to connect and support parents at Instacart, while educating the company at large on critical parenting issues. Since its launch in 2017, the community has grown to over 750 members. Co-lead Rebecca Younis spoke about the importance of the group, “The Parents@ ERG is an active and supportive community where we bring forward a part of our lives not seen in our day-to-day work. I feel it is incredibly important to normalize having a great career while growing a family. Parents Month is an opportunity for us to shine a light on our work/life balance, acknowledging and celebrating the unique challenges and joys our colleagues with kids face daily.”

During Parents Month, the community facilitated fireside chats where members could speak candidly—parent to parent—and share their experiences on a variety of topics, including:

• Adoption to Blended Families: Parents@ members shared their heartwarming personal journeys of growing and blending their families. They offered valuable insights for all households on creating nurturing environments for bonus children, fostering, and adoption.   
• Navigating the Challenges of Medical Needs: Drawing from their personal experiences, Parents@ members shared how to advocate for your child and navigate the stressors of medical needs on families.  
• Teenagers and beyond: Members discussed the unique demands and pressures of supporting their teenagers through college preparation and athletics. The hosts also shared valuable tips on how to prioritize mental health while pursuing ambitions. 

The community also hosted a learning session with Carrot Fertility, a benefit provider for Instacart. During the discussion, Instacart employees learned about the family planning benefits offered to them, with an emphasis on expanding families, adoption, and LGBTQ+ moms and dads. 

Parents Month wouldn’t be complete without celebrating those who made us parents in the first place—our children! The month ended with Bring Your Kids to Work Day at the San Francisco HQ office. Instacart’s little carrots joined their parents for a fun-filled day of interactive activities and games (and even a meeting or two in between). The day kicked off with a photo booth, coloring station and snacks. Kids decorated cookies and flowerpots, participated in a fun Lego activity, and had some one-on-one time with their parents during lunch. The day wrapped with a kid-friendly happy hour and virtual magic show. 

Working parenthood isn’t easy, but with the right support we can all succeed at work and at home. “Joining this ERG has made such an impact on my time at Instacart. The Parents@ group is truly a community of folks that offers constant support,” said Pillar Lead Jenn O’Shaughnessy. “Most importantly, this ERG constantly reminds me that while I am an employee of Instacart, I’m a mom too. Having that validation at work and that support from an employer is simply priceless.” 

Check out the video below to hear directly from Instacart kids! 

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Instacart is the leading grocery technology company in North America, partnering with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to deliver from more than 80,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. To read more Instacart posts, you can browse the company blog or search by keyword using the search bar at the top of the page.