Carrie (00:00): Welcome to another episode of Mumbition, the podcast where we celebrate the ambition and achievements of women in business, motherhood, and everything in between. I'm your host, Kerri Kwan, and today Lucy and I are thrilled to welcome Letitia Andrak, the inspiring founder of Understanding Zoe, a groundbreaking platform designed to provide real-time insights for families, carers, and educators supporting autistic, ADHD, and neurodivergent children. Letitia's journey is one of resilience, passion, and purpose. Behind the creation of Understanding Zoe is a powerful personal story that drove her to build a space where children can truly thrive, empowering families and educators with the tools they need. In today's episode, Letitia will not only share the heart behind her business but also dive into her own experience as a neurodivergent woman starting a business from scratch. She'll reveal the processes, challenges, and triumphs she's encountered on her entrepreneurial journey. So whether you're a parent, an educator, or simply curious about the intersection of neurodivergence and business, this episode is packed with valuable insights. Let's dive in.

A big welcome, Letitia. We love making business connections. So please, could you share with us your elevator pitch so that we can share it with our business network?

Laetitia Andrac (01:30): Of course, thank you so much, Kerri, for having me and for this beautiful introduction. I was slightly moved. Understanding Zoe is a platform that supports the whole care village surrounding a child with neurodivergence. We address neurodivergency as an umbrella. Many of you know neurodivergency as ADHD or autism, but there is more to it. We help and support parents, educators, and teachers with real-time insights drawn from the knowledge of different therapists, ensuring everyone can apply these insights beyond therapy sessions. We also collaborate with leading professors in the field of neurodivergency to leverage AI for good.

Carrie (02:27): Amazing. From the moment we first met, I know you know a couple of our team members, including Liz, our partnerships principal. It's fascinating to see that this is not your first business idea. I think this is actually your fifth, is that correct, Letitia?

Laetitia Andrac (02:46): Yes, it is.

Carrie (02:51): Your passion for making an impact is evident. We're so lucky to have you in our community. Tell me a little more about how your business helps and who it serves.

Laetitia Andrac (03:02): Thank you. Our business, as mentioned in the introduction, is born out of a personal journey. Zoe is my daughter, and I created Understanding Zoe to support her and the carers surrounding us. This includes support workers, therapists, teachers, and support teachers in the classroom. We help everyone in the village know what to do in the moment and prevent meltdowns by providing instant advice. This advice is tailored to the child's needs, age, and sensitivities, ensuring personalized support.

Lucy (05:22): Your Williams off, Kerri.

Carrie (05:26): It's fascinating. And I just wanted to acknowledge that this is really needed. It's a very unknown area like ADHD. I feel like it's not something that everyone has a great level of awareness about. And on top of that, it's quite unique to the individual. So, yeah, could you just kind of paint a picture about, you know, why do we need this now?

Laetitia Andrac (05:44): Yes. Why do we need this now? Right now, one in five people globally is assessed with a sign of neurodivergency, which is 20% of the population. It's actually a big number. And I'm talking about those who are officially assessed with what is a non-neuroaffirming word, which is a diagnosis, but I'm using the word assessment. What we know is there are way more people in the world who are neurodivergent. So why now? Because it is something that is becoming more public knowledge, and people are starting to open up and remove the stigma around being different. Neurodivergent individuals think differently, act differently, and need accommodations that are different from the norm. We start with children with Understanding Zoe, but the idea is to impact everyone under the neurodivergency umbrella, enabling them to advocate for themselves and ask for what they need. We aim to create a more inclusive and neuro-inclusive society with Understanding Zoe.

Lucy (07:42): We're really lucky to have you running a workshop in a few weeks' time, Letitia, here at Mums and Co for our community, all about how to communicate better and how to support. And I've heard you say support probably no less than 20 times since we've been talking already. It's obviously very key to the work that you're doing, but I want to swing the conversation just onto you for a little bit before we go into Understanding Zoe a bit more because you yourself identify as neurodivergent. And what I find really interesting is the processes and the kind of strategies you put in place as you were creating this business. Now, Kerri shared before, this is not your first business by any stretch of the imagination. It's number five. But what are the kind of things that you need to put into place to support yourself as you're creating Understanding Zoe? Was there anything in particular that you leaned on?

Laetitia Andrac (08:33): Yes. So what I'm going to share here is based on my own lived experience and what's working for me. Within the beautiful neurodivergent spectrum, there are a lot of differences and different lived experiences. What's working for me may not work for you, but as you're listening to this, maybe one of the things that work for me may work for you. For me, what's really working is I need to sacralize time for myself. This is like sacred time where I can go back and replenish my cup. We all have different sizes of cups. Some of us have an espresso cup, and some of us have a big jar. It may take longer to refill, but it also takes longer to empty it. I know that personally, I have more of an espresso kind of cup. So I do this podcast, and then I will spend time to refill, be in my cave with a blanket and a warm tea, going for a walk, being outside of the screen so that I can give my best in a short period of time. That's how I learned that a nine to five, nine to seven PM, which used to be my rhythm when I was a strategy consultant or a general manager at Telstra, is not something that works for me. It often led me to burn out. I work very well, very intensely, knowing that I'm autistic and ADHD, in a very short period of time. I deliver what someone else would deliver in four hours in a very short period of time. But then my espresso cup is empty. So I need to go back and refill it. And then I can drink my espresso and go. In saying that, I don't drink coffee anymore. I decided to go without coffee because I realized it's impacting my anxiety and focus. So I decided to quit coffee this year. Wish me good luck to hold that intention till the end; we're only at the beginning. So, sacred time is essential. Another thing that really works for me and may not work for everyone is having noise-cancelling headphones, even if I am in my home office and it's super silent for anyone else, but it's not very silent for me. So I need to have my headphones on, and this is a signal for my brain that we are going into deep work. When I work about one or two days a week from an office space that I have in the city, I know that I am not as productive, and that's okay because it's only one or two days, but I need my noise-cancelling headphones. I'm very sensitive to noise. Another one is my sensitivity to light. I shared this story openly with Startup Daily. We published an article about how I advocated for my needs when I was going through an accelerator called Techstars a few months ago. The light in the office was way too bright, and I started having headaches and migraines very quickly. So I had to advocate to ask for dimmers to be installed. It was hard, but they finally installed the dimmers in the building. Then I could put the dimmer on when I arrived in the office. What's even more beautiful is when you start doing this, you have allies coming up for you. When I would arrive in the office, other founders would dim the light for me, knowing that it was something I needed to thrive. So you can always delegate. Something else that helps me is delegating to allies my own needs. Being open about your needs so that people can be there and look after you. So time to replenish, knowing my needs around sensitivity to noise and light, and also relying on allies to help me advocate for my needs.

Lucy (12:12): They're wonderful self-affirming tips that I think are relevant to everybody, but they're really powerful. Thank you for sharing. And what about in terms of, you're also a mom, so you're a business owner and a mom, very reflective of our broader community as well. You have little Zoe and another daughter, if I'm remembering correctly.

Laetitia Andrac (12:29): Yes, Lou is six and Zoe is eight.

Lucy (12:35): How do you support yourself through motherhood and business? Do you apply those same techniques?

Laetitia Andrac (12:43): Yes, my daughters know that mommy needs sacred time and sacred space. So every day, I have a bath at the end of the day to really help me tune in, wash the day away symbolically, but also physically. That is a very sacred time. They know that when I get in the bath, there is nothing I can do apart from having this moment for myself, and they are really respectful of that. They are six and eight, and they both are neurodivergent. Zoe inspired the app, but Lou is ADHD, so she also has special needs. They understand this boundary, which is a sacred boundary for mommy to be able to cook dinner and be present with them. For me, it's very important to have sacred boundaries with your kids as well. And empathetic ones, of course. If one of them hurts themselves or something is really going wrong, I will step out of the bath and be there for them. But very often with kids, it's those false urgencies that get you to do things. I think it's the same thing in business. Sometimes I say, what is it that I'm doing right now? Is it really serving the long-term vision of my business, or is it a distraction? Am I serving someone else's long-term vision in business? As founders, moms, entrepreneurs, and leaders, we tend to be distracted by someone else's to-do list rather than focusing on what is really the to-do list that we need to focus on. Something else that's helping me is a non-to-do list. I have a very clear non-to-do list for my business, but also as a mom. There are very clear things that my daughters are empowered to do themselves. They are actually very capable of cooking an egg, cooking pasta or gnocchi. It's not because I'm French that they know how to cook; it's just that I taught them from the beginning with those beautiful Montessori chairs where they could come and look at me and do it with me. They even know how to cook a risotto thanks to the Thermomix. I'm not an affiliate to the Thermomix, but it's just very helpful. They do that themselves. Empowering your children is the same as empowering team members and really delegating and supporting yourselves.

Lucy (15:03): Beautiful.

Carrie (15:04): I don't know, Letitia, but I'm actually thinking I need to set up a conversation with my two boys and you about boundaries. Because the one time they need you is such an urgency when you're in the bathroom or on the toilet, and it's like, "Mommy, mommy, I need you." It's like, "Can I eat a snack?" And I'm like...

Laetitia Andrac (15:10): Yes.

Carrie (15:26): Yeah, it's just checking in, just checking in. Yes, beautiful boundaries.

Laetitia Andrac (15:32): Yes.

Carrie (15:33): Okay, boundary. I was just thinking Lucy had the next question and back to me. Now, okay. So this is a three-part question, Letitia, but the same question, just different time zones. What's one of the things that you wish you knew before you started your business, when you were actually in the flow and things are going steady, and then potentially, you might want to apply this to one of your previous businesses, but when you wanted to actually quit or when you exited.

Laetitia Andrac (16:00): Great. So one thing I wish I knew before I started Understanding Zoe, let's take this one, is I wish I knew how some people would not understand what I'm doing and would troll what I'm trying to do. I wish I knew that because I was thinking that going into an impact-driven business with a powerful vision and understanding of the problem from lived experience and being a mom and surrounding myself with the most beautiful expert team, I would not be trolled. But actually, trolling is everywhere. I was recommended a book which I haven't started, which is here, and I need to start it, which is around trolling. So I am going to read that book and tell you how I'm handling it. When you start an impact business and a business for good, what I've been told is actually people want to tear you down even more. So I'm just going to have to grow this thick skin. Suffering from RSD, which is a trait of being neurodivergent and more specifically ADHD, I know I suffer a lot from rejection and I always want to please everyone. So I take this rejection or those attacks very deeply and personally. I wish I knew this could happen when I actually thought, my gosh, this is going to be an easy ride because I'm doing something for good and something with an intention of impact. But actually, trolls are everywhere. So that's what I wish I knew. But now, now that I know it, I know how to address it. But I wish I knew because maybe I would have not gone down the rabbit hole of doing this business. Then something I wish I knew when I'm in the flow is just savor the flow because the flow...

Carrie (17:47): Just on that, Letitia, we are so glad that you are in this business. And, you know, there are moments where it is quite disappointing and surprising that people would want to troll, but maybe that's because you're doing something really, really important too.

Laetitia Andrac (17:48): Yes, thank you. Yes, that's what I've been told. Thank you for saying that, Carrie. Thank you so much. Because it's really hard. Of course, some people are ableist, so they're negating the fact that neurodivergence even exists. Some people think it's trendy. It's not. Trust me. If you're neurodivergent, you know that it's not a trend to be neurodivergent. So yeah, I'm just trying to address this. But thank you for saying that because I actually, you know...

Carrie (18:11): Yes.

Laetitia Andrac (18:35): I'm sharing here very vulnerably how I felt because this happened last week, and I really had this moment where I was like, why am I even doing this? You know, so you have those moments of self-doubt and fear of rejection. And of course, you can't please everyone when you're a business owner. So you have to trust the mission and the passion and the why you're doing it. Every time I look at Zoe, I'm like, huh, that's why I'm doing it. So yeah, that's a good, powerful reminder. So then the second part of your question is what I wish I knew when I'm in flow. What I wish I knew when I'm in flow, and I'm trying to remind myself of this every day when I notice myself being in this beautiful flow that I have in moments of my full espresso cup, is to savor it. Savor this moment. Take a moment to just be like, oh my gosh, I'm in flow. Look at this, I'm doing this, I'm in flow. This is beautiful. The other day, I had literally in half an hour, three different emails that were amazing. One of them was someone from South by Southwest asking me to be on a panel. Another one was a corporate asking me to come and do a speaker engagement around neurodiversity and inclusion. Another one was a beta client sending me feedback on the products that were amazing. And the third one was our app being under review by the app store to be released. I had like in 30 minutes, all of those things that were beautiful synchronicities and confirmation that everything was going well. So I paused and was like, that is flow. So taking a moment to reflect, and I wish I could catch myself every time doing this. Taking a moment in the flow to savor the flow because we know that the storm is coming after the flow. We know that it's the ebbs and flows in business. So we know that. And then your last question around what I wish I knew when I exited a business. So out of my previous ventures, one is still running. Essential Shift Consulting is still running. So my fourth business is still running at the same time as Understanding Zoe. And I'm not yet ready to let go of Essential Shift Consulting because as I'm doing an impact-driven business, of course, I'm not able to pay myself with Understanding Zoe yet. So I have to sustain myself. So my consulting business and coaching business are sustaining me. And I think that's very important for anyone listening to this. You don't have to go all in to be successful. You need to go in a way that works for you to not be starving and not be from a place of lack, but more from a place of I can give because I have what I need to thrive. So that's very important for me. But for my previous venture, one of them that I wish I knew before I exited is how to make sure that in the communication to the clients, to the partners, that you make it clear why you are exiting the business. For this venture, I was doing it with a very, very good friend of mine. We decided that it was better for her to carry on on her own because we were not aligned anymore on the vision moving forward. I wish I had spent more time educating around why we made that decision and why it was the best decision for the business. It would have set her up for better success moving forward and myself for better success in my next venture. There is nothing like over-communication when you exit a business. It's actually very important to communicate clearly to your clients, your partners, everyone who's been on the journey with you. There is nothing like, "my gosh, I'm going to bore them with that." It's actually very important to do that towards the end. So I stayed very good friends with that friend because we decided to part ways before it became yucky, and I'm very grateful we did that at that point in time. But I should have communicated clearer to all the partners and the clients that I was not abandoning the ship. It was better for everyone that I was focusing on something else.

Carrie (22:34): Three very generous and powerful shares. I think they will be very appreciated by our listeners as they are at different stages of their growth. So thank you, Letitia, for that. I will just spend a moment reflecting on it because it's still with me. It's still with me. You're like, how dare these people look at your business. It is actually just having that perspective sometimes, and maybe it is coming from ignorance and maybe it is coming from whatever place they are in at that point in time. We've had it at Mums & Co as well. We've actually had, "Why aren't you doing this for dads?" or "Have you thought of the other groups that might need it?" And it's...

Laetitia Andrac (23:16): Yes.

Carrie (23:26): Well, right now, this is where we want to focus. This is where we feel like there is the most impact that we can make at the moment, where we're hearing from our customers that they really need this help and this support. So that's where we're focused. What about you? Where would you like to focus? Where are you making your impact? And it's because they're underrepresented, like in our case.

Laetitia Andrac (23:41): Yes. Yes. Yes.

Carrie (23:53): We are here because you've been underrepresented, you've been underfunded, and therefore we need to address this. So please keep fighting that fight, and we are here alongside you.

Laetitia Andrac (23:59): Thank you.

Carrie (24:08): Now, let's shift our focus to another area that we often ask our business-owning community. We're really fascinated by the ways that we have a relationship with risk and how that impacts the way we actually do business. How would you describe your relationship to risk?

Laetitia Andrac (24:26): I am definitely not a risk-averse person. I packed all my stuff and moved to Australia in a heartbeat, 24 hours away, leaving our apartment in Paris with my hubby and being like, "You know what, we'll just rent it and we're going to go and explore this land, the promised land of Australia so far away," and we had never been. So I'm definitely not a risk-averse type. I am more someone who sees risk as a necessary path to growth. Risk-taking, of course, I'm not talking about putting all your eggs in the same basket, but moderate risk-taking is often an opportunity for you to grow. I love white spaces, and maybe it's my background in consulting. I love to see white spaces, to see things that have never been explored before as an opportunity to innovate, an opportunity to learn, and an opportunity to grow. I've always been that person within my strategy background in consulting or within my corporate background to go after crazy ideas or crazy for other people. But I always knew that whether I'd be successful or it would be a complete failure, I would learn along the process. So what is very important is having, when you take the risk, knowing what you're going for and being prepared for the worst-case scenario. Very often, you know that the worst-case scenario is not that terrible. So I love to always have risk as something I want to do. I know it's risky using AI for the missions that we have. I know it's risky putting myself into an impact-driven business with a low-cost subscription. I know it's risky. I know all the risks, but I'm doing it anyway because I know I'm going to learn so much and I'm going to impact so many people along the way. But at the same time, I mitigate it. As I've mentioned, I'm keeping Essential Shift Consulting alive. I'm keeping speaker engagements through that business. I'm keeping some consulting work through that business. So I'm not putting all my eggs in the same basket. I'm not risk-averse, but I'm not someone who is just going completely all in without any oversight of everything that could go wrong as well.

Carrie (26:40): Thank you for sharing that. I love the concept of white space that you've just shared and how to actually have the perspective to approach that. Because I think as entrepreneurs, that's where we thrive. It's the art of the possibility and what you can do. But you've actually also mentioned you're not going in blind. You've got ways to mitigate it. You've got Plan A, B, C, D, and as you kind of support a new venture.

Laetitia Andrac (27:07): Yes.

Carrie (27:09): Fascinating. You are obviously... This question is, you mentioned before that you're using AI. So we're looking at what role has AI played in your business so far? How do you feel about it? Where do you find...

Laetitia Andrac (27:15): Yes.

Carrie (27:27): Where do you find that sort of capacity to actually... Do you feel like you need to spend more time reaching your customer about this fairly new technology?

Laetitia Andrac (27:37): That's a very good question. So about AI, I have worked in AI since 2014 in Telstra. I was actually incubating and then I created what is now a very successful arm of Telstra, Telstra Spatial Insights. At the time, it was called Telstra Location Insights. So I have been in AI since 2014. So I know the power of AI. I'm not one of those people riding a wave, "Oh my gosh, Gen AI just came out and I'm going to talk about AI." I've been in AI for a very long time, like 11 years now. So I know the power of AI, but I also know how AI needs to be used ethically with guardrails and with responsibility. So what we call responsible AI. Within our business, within Understanding Zoe, AI is at the backbone of our business. It is first and foremost an AI-powered platform. All of the documents that parents upload, all our knowledge that we put on our platform, then when they go and ask a question or when they go and enter a journal entry, all of that goes into the machine learning and the modeling so that they get the right answer at the right time when they need it in the right format, phrased the right way in a neuroaffirming way and all of that. So all of that is modeling, all of that is AI-driven. I couldn't do it myself. If I had to go through all of those documents and type the answer, it would take thousands of hours, right? So that's where I see the power of AI. But what I am going after with Understanding Zoe is actually correcting bias in AI. Because AI, where you need to be careful with AI, is AI is based on all the knowledge that has accumulated. So whatever knowledge you gave it in the past is going to give it to you. So what I say, crap in, crap out. So if it has crap in, it will get crap out. So you need to make sure that what you put in are the right things. More than ever, AI right now is having gender bias. It's ableist in the concept that we are working on with neurodivergency. It's racist. So we need to correct all of those biases. We see this as a big mission of Understanding Zoe to make sure that in our modeling, we contribute to correcting those biases. So it is safe for our users to use it. It's not going to come back and gaslight them saying, "Oh, neurodivergency doesn't exist." "Oh, this is a trend." No, it's going to come back with the right answer, something that is relevant for their daughter. Because you also have a lot of misinterpretation, misunderstanding around neurodivergency, because boys tend to be more diagnosed than girls. It's just because girls are masking better neurodivergency. I am a late-coming-out autistic because I was masking it very well with being gifted and autistic and ADHD. So it's like my giftedness masked my autism for a very long time. So we're trying to correct all of this. So AI, I love it, but I think we need to put around it the right ethics, the right framework, and we need to be careful about who is using it and how they're using it and in the way they're using it. So that's why we collaborate with NYU professors, a New York University professor around ethics and AI. From the get-go, Understanding Zoe was GDPR compliant, Californian Act compliant, Australian compliance. So I'm very huge on this because I worked in a space that is highly sensitive with data, and we put the right boundaries around it in a telecommunication company. We didn't want our brand to be impacted or its brand to be impacted by a project like the project we were undertaking. So I love AI, and I think we need more women using AI. I'm actually helping a lot more and more business owners use AI in the right way because we need more women using it so that it's built with women for women, not just a few dudes in San Francisco putting their biases into the AI. That's what I have to say. I should stop here because I'm going to become very, very, very activist.

Carrie (31:23): That's okay. We need to have your leadership in this space. Absolutely, we just need to participate because we have to have all the voices included in that. Thank you. That was very informative. You're at the forefront of the adoption of AI, and you're actually thinking of all those considerations that perhaps we haven't considered, right? Are you making sure that your data quality is absolutely sound? Have we removed all the biases? What's missing? What's the space that's missing? We've got a lot of stuff there, but what's missing?

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (31:32): Letitia, obviously you and I have had a few chats about our very similar lived experiences being neurodiverse women and having late diagnoses. I'm the only one that's neurodivergent on the Mums & Co team. I think that's been a real gift for everyone because it really has opened dialogue and created a pathway to have these conversations and just really continue to advocate internally, but also in our larger business and NRMA. So thank you for your vulnerability because I know from experience we're making it look very easy, but it is not. So thank you so much for opening your heart and sharing with us. There are a few things that I wanted to say that have really resonated with me.

Laetitia Andrac (32:46): It is not.

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (32:56): Why the time is right, I think now with AI being ready to sort of properly deliver these interventions in such a way that the technology has advanced where you can rely on the quality of the response provided that not only is the data robust, but that you have the right leadership in place. Because those two things are absolutely critical in order to deliver those interventions in the right way. This is something that Lucy says on our team, that there is no magic without risk.

Laetitia Andrac (33:27): Mmm.

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (33:27): I know that you use a lot of the energy healing properties of the universe in some of your consulting work. So I thought that would be something that you would appreciate. We wanted to ask a question that is a core challenge for women who are in our community, and that's visibility. I know that you've been part of Techstars, which I have to say was... I go to a lot of pitch nights. That was...

Laetitia Andrac (33:46): Mmm.

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (33:53): I was absolutely blown away by the quality of the businesses that were there. I know Kirsten Hunter, who is the MD, really made an effort this time around to have a very inclusive environment for the cohort. That would help with visibility, but that's a core challenge for a lot of our community. A lot of those women that we serve are sole traders. They might be graphic designers, delivering professional services. We wanted to ask, can you share some wins you've had in this area and do you have any recommendations for the women that are in our community?

Laetitia Andrac (34:06): Yes, of course. Thank you for sharing all of those beautiful insights, Liz. Yes, I love the universe. I love the stars. I'm an astrologer, a numerologist, a healer, and all of that. So yes, definitely, that speaks my language. In terms of visibility, definitely Techstars helped us. But I think Techstars was a moment in time. For me, I was like, I'm going to go and create this business because a friend of mine was like, you need to create this as a business. I was like, I'm going to go only if a big accelerator, which has like a 1% success rate to be selected, says yes. I had been in the selection process of Murudi, which was Telstra's accelerator. So I know that the selection process is quite high. If I'm selected to go through Techstars, then maybe I'll give it a go. That was the sign that I was asking the universe. Then I got selected into Techstars. I was like, okay, I'm going to give it a go to Understanding Zoe becoming a business. Initially, I was like, it's just to support Zoe. It's called Understanding Zoe. It's just for Zoe and our family and our support village. So definitely Techstars helps with visibility, but Techstars is just a snapshot in time. Then it is your role as a business owner and the founder to keep the ball rolling. What I would give as advice for anyone around visibility is...

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (35:39): Mmm.

Laetitia Andrac (35:47): First of all, what really helped for me is going into places where the people that can give you visibility are. For instance, I went to Remarkable Demo Day Night because I know Remarkable is an accelerator supporting entrepreneurs who are addressing the disability landscape. I went there and met Simon, who is the editor of Startup Daily. I went to talk to him and introduced my startup and all that. Then he was like, oh my gosh, I'd love to feature your startup and share your story. So I asked for his email and then I sent the first email, second email, third email, don't know how many emails. Journalists are very busy. They have a lot happening. So it was nothing against me; they just had a lot happening. Then when the time was right, we published an article on Startup Daily, which you can read around being a neurodivergent founder and things like that. But that was a story of resilience. So my tip for anyone listening to this is if you know of key places that you'd like your business to be featured, I know the one was Smart Company. So we got an article published by Tingen Jones. Again, same thing. It's about resilience, going and asking and following up, but really building relationships is also very important. So first of all, with media wins for Understanding Zoe, it was a story of resilience and being in the right place at the right time and asking the right people. The other thing is what I love to always say is if you're like, I live in regional Australia, I can't go to those events, so I can't meet that. Look at who you know in your network and who knows someone that you know in your network and ask for those beautiful introductions for those people to help you. Actually getting the article on Smart Company was through an introduction of someone that I know who introduced me to Tegan. That's how I got in. So it's not always just on you. It's about asking your network. As you're part of Mums & Co, you can potentially ask, does anyone know someone, and then getting on those podcasts, getting on those media landscapes. Media visibility is built through relationships and leveraging your existing relationships is really important. Liz and I met through Murudi Accelerator. So definitely we go way back. I don't even remember which year it was, but we go way back. This is where you can definitely connect back with people who you knew. I actually didn't know that Liz was working for Mums & Co, but we met at the Westpac Women in Business event and we started chatting. So it's like going to places where you know you can gain visibility and putting yourself out there. Asking friends for a favor, asking for introductions, doing this kind of work, which is a work based on relationships. Nurturing your existing relationships is a key thing.

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (38:16): Yes.

Laetitia Andrac (38:38): But also not being afraid of asking and not being afraid of sometimes not receiving an answer or sometimes having to follow up three times. It's okay. We are asked for even more resilience than ever, but I want us to create this girls' club. Like there is a boys' club, I want us to create this girls' club where we uplift one another. I know right now there are some founders who are raising and thanks to Techstars, I was introduced to many investors. We had some investor speed dating and so on. I'm always open to making those introductions. Yesterday, I introduced a woman who I met at another event who is raising right now to many investors because women only get two cents of a dollar. So 2% of the funding goes to women founders, which is pretty bad in the ecosystem in Australia. It's 3% in the US. It's not that good. It's 10% in France. So it's not amazing. I'm not saying that Australia is worse than any other country. It's more or less the same trends everywhere.

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (39:23): Yes.

Laetitia Andrac (39:33): But it's how can we support even more one another? So if you're looking to get visibility, ask someone that you know, that knows that person so that they can give you a leg up to be on that podcast, have this article, be on that blog, and also being creative around partnerships. I know that partnerships really help. So finding partnerships and co-creating events together, co-creating a masterclass, a podcast, whatever it is, but being creative and leveraging partnerships. In the early days of Essential Shift, I really relied on partnerships to grow my business and my visibility. That worked really well. My first partnership was with Fishburners. Then I built another one. So it's like building partnerships with the people who have the audience that you'd like to help and serve. Right now with Understanding Zoe, I'm trying to build partnerships with you, Mums & Co, but also ASPEC, which is an NGO that serves autistic children, and Yellow Ladybug, which serves girls with autism. I'm trying to build partnerships, and it's not done yet, right? I'm having conversations and trying to build relationships and really getting something that is a win-win-win—a win for them, a win for the community, and a win for us. Finding those opportunities can really help. Sorry, I went for a long answer, but those are a few tips.

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (40:52): No, that was amazing. It flows really nicely into another question that we have from our community. Aside from joining the beta of Understanding Zoe, obviously, can you recommend some helpful organizations or even a tip for friends and family members who are trying to support neurodivergent children?

Laetitia Andrac (41:06): Yes, definitely. Some things that I found very helpful are the resources that you have on the Yellow Ladybug website. It's an NGO. I'm going to their conference in June in Melbourne. I know it's sold out, so maybe you can get a ticket online or something. But Yellow Ladybug is actually a beautiful foundation supporting girls with autism, really trying to close that gap. It would be an ideal partner for us with Understanding Zoe. They have beautiful resources online. Then there is a beautiful book that you can read if you have kids with neurodivergence, which is called "The Brain Forest." It's been written by Sundar Yemenon, who is an amazing neuroaffirming child psychologist. I know that for Zoe, it was very helpful when we were going through the diagnosis to have this book in hand and go through it. I've also done some of her content and online courses and offerings that she has, and she's truly beautiful. Another book that is really aligned with our vision and another content creator who I really love is Sony Jane Wise, a lived experience educator. They are really amazing in that space around educating everyone about what it is to be neurodivergent and what it means to have intersectionality—being non-binary and neurodivergent, being queer and neurodivergent. Really helping and educating so that people can be educated. Of course, you can join Understanding Zoe or look at our blog as well, our website. We're always sharing resources and books. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel; I'm trying to expand and enhance what is existing today so that it is accessible to everyone.

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (42:56): Yeah. I really love that too because I think something else that you are doing that I think is really helpful is modeling the behaviors that you want your children to see. You know, taking the breaks, talking about mom's sacred time, those sorts of things are actually embedding in your daughters and can be used by other members of the community. These sorts of things are actually normalized. When you have these early interventions, it's much easier for those children to thrive. I think many late-diagnosed women have really struggled for a very long time with masking and with burnout because there's now a groundswell of support, but it is so imperative for those early interventions to really get better outcomes at scale.

Laetitia Andrac (43:28): Completely. I love when I see Zoe advocating for herself because she sees me advocating for myself. When we had our family members visiting from France—not to say my in-laws, but you get it—and Zoe was with her headphones. It's not something that they are used to seeing, a child with headphones at the dinner table, but it was because it was too loud for her. There were a number of people, and it was too loud. One day, I decided to come with my own headphones on as well. Then they couldn't tell her to remove it, and she didn't have to advocate and say, "But I need it because it's too loud," because then it's an adult coming with it. So it's like, how can you support your child by also being there for them and mirroring their behavior as they will mirror your own behavior? I think there is a lot to learn as well from witnessing our children advocating for themselves and being like, "Hey, why am I masking? Can I unmask? I actually love to have my headphones right now, so you know what? I'm going to do it." We always see our children mirroring us, but I think there is a beautiful pathway as well to mirror them as having early intervention and learning so much about themselves. Zoe very often will really voice what she needs to thrive. I wish I had that voice all the time. So I'm learning a lot from her.

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (44:46): Yeah.

Carrie (45:12): Beautiful. Thank you so much. You are truly role modeling in so many ways for the next generation. It's been a pleasure having you on Mumbition today. Thank you for joining us on Mumbition. If you'd like to find out a bit more about the amazing Letitia Andrak, you can connect and find her on our Mums & Co membership directory.

Laetitia Andrac (45:15): Thank you.

Elizabeth (Liz) Kaelin (45:27): Thank you.

Carrie (45:39): We hope today's story has inspired you, and we'd love to help support you on your own business journey in 2025. At Mums & Co, we help women in business start and give them the community to grow. Our three tiers of membership provide strategic guidance, access to deep networks, and opportunities to be more visible. So head over to mumsandco.com.au for more details or to book a one-to-one call with our experts, myself, Liz, and around 20 other amazing businesswomen today. If you've enjoyed this podcast, make sure you let us know. We love hearing any reviews and feedback, and it really does help women in business to find us so that we can support their business journey too.

Carrie (46:25): Amazing, Letitia. Wow. Thank you for being so generous.

Laetitia Andrac (46:25): Thank you. Thank you so much.

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