We all say we want a village.

But are we willing to accept the inconvenience that comes with belonging to one?

Tracy Skelly grew up inside a culture of collective responsibility – one in which children belonged to everyone, help was expected and someone else’s needs sometimes came before your own. That foundation helped carry her through a formidable career spanning Teach for America, Harvard, an education startup and Amazon. But becoming a mother changed what she required from her work.

“If it was going to take me away from my child, it had to matter.”

That conviction ultimately led Tracy to found Little Cocoa Bean Co., a mission-driven food business inspired by the bold flavors of her Panamanian and Caribbean heritage and built around a larger purpose: ensuring that children are nourished, families feel seen and mothers do not have to carry everything alone.

In this conversation, we talk about meaningful work, building a business while raising children, asking for help even when the reason isn’t “important,” and why community demands more than occasionally offering support when it’s convenient.

Because the village so many mothers desperately need is not frictionless. It may disrupt our routines, challenge our preferences and require us to make room for someone else. But Tracy believes that is precisely the point.

This episode is about what becomes possible when we stop treating independence as the highest form of success – and build lives in which achievement, service, family and community reinforce one another.

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The Mothers is a production of Backline Media.