🎧 Mom, freelance & ambitious: Émilie Pitou, or the art of creating everything from yourself
At Kallisto , we create maternity lingerie to support women in all aspects of their lives: the changing body, breastfeeding, fatigue, dreams to come true, and projects that arise with a baby... or despite it.
This is why our podcast, Le Kallisto Club , gives a voice to mothers like Émilie Pitou: real, inspiring women who dare to invent their own model.
In this episode, Émilie tells us how she became a freelance graphic designer, a mother at 20, an aligned entrepreneur and a free woman , by learning to value her time, her talent and her energy.
Becoming a young mother: a fundamental choice 👶
Emilie didn't "find herself pregnant": she chose to become a mother at 20. And this choice, assumed and joyful, influenced the rest of her life. It didn't slow anything down: it started everything.
“I became a mother at 20. A very conscious choice, one I would do again a thousand times. It wasn't 'too soon,' it was just the right time for me. My children are my foundation.”
This early motherhood pushed her to invent a different trajectory. Less linear, but closer to herself. Today, she does not see this choice as a hindrance, but as a lever of freedom , which has refined her priorities and her way of life.
Freelance graphic design: creating your independence ✏️
Émilie studied graphic design, but it was after the birth of her second child that she decided to launch her own business . She became a freelancer, then created her agency: PoWo , an ethical and committed design studio, dedicated to women entrepreneurs.
Her driving force? The freedom to choose her projects , to manage her time, to work from home... without giving up motherhood.
She shares with great sincerity the difficult beginnings: the first clients, the prices too low, the difficulty in legitimizing oneself, in “selling oneself” when one is a young mother.
From freelancer to agency manager: growth... then refocusing
Her graphic design business is growing. She's recruiting, building a small team, and structuring an agency. The adventure is taking on a new dimension... but ends up taking her away from what originally drove her. So Émilie makes a radical choice: she backpedals . She returns to the heart of her profession, to her values, to a simpler, more human structure.
“Backpedaling is success. It’s saying, ‘I tried, I learned, and now I choose better.’”
Mental load & emotional load: the real invisible tasks
In this episode, Émilie talks openly about mental load , the invisible overload that exhausts so many mothers — and even more so when they are freelancers at home.
She also evokes the emotional burden : that of having to manage everything, anticipate everything, without ever mentally switching off.
Her story is valuable for all mother entrepreneurs who juggle homework, client meetings, laundry, solo weekends when their partner is away... and the pressure to "keep it up."
She tells how, with her partner, she ended up reorganizing the family structure , to escape this unbalanced dynamic.
Allowing yourself to talk about money and succeed 💸
For a long time, Émilie didn't dare talk about money. She worked without pay, "waiting for it to take off." And then she realized that being an entrepreneur isn't just about "doing a little thing on the side." It's about producing value. It's about building a business.
“I thought my job mattered less because I was a 'mom.' Now I know I have value. And that I have the right to succeed.”
So she learned to set her prices, to say no, to pay herself a real salary. She deconstructed the myth of the devoted and silent mother to become a woman who embraces her ambition , her desire to succeed — without sacrificing her family life.
Female Ambition: Neither Sacrifice nor Compromise 🧭
Émilie embodies a new ambition. An aligned , conscious, fluid ambition. She doesn't seek hypergrowth. She seeks meaning. Balance. The right impact.
She wants to work with women who share her values , support promising projects, contribute to a more humane economy. And keep time for herself, for her children, to breathe.
It's an ambition on a human scale. And deeply inspiring.
Traveling alone as a mother: a vital need
Among the highlights of the episode, Émilie also discusses her need for solitude and solo travel . She goes away alone for a few days each year, to reconnect, breathe, and regenerate.
She talks without taboo about the right she gives herself to leave , without feeling guilty, in order to come back better. And to show her children that loving others begins with loving oneself.
It is an act of self-care, of responsibility, but also of exemplarity.
👨👩👧👦 Family organization: building your own model
One of the strengths of this exchange is the diversity of the subjects covered: school, couples, work rhythm, parental roles, etc.
Emilie shows that there is no perfect model of family organization , but that it is possible to build your own - according to your energy, your reality, your needs.
A model that evolves with children, with the couple, with the professional project. And which integrates things as simple as:
🗓 shared custody of the evenings
🌙 one solo weekend per quarter
🧺 delegation of invisible tasks
His message: there is no single “successful” family model , but constant adjustments, to be reinvented according to the needs of each individual.
🎧 Listen to the full episode with Émilie Pitou
This episode is a source of inspiration for all women who juggle ambitions, motherhood, creativity and mental fatigue .
🎧 Listen to it on Spotify
To find Emilie:
On Instagram: @emilie.pitou
On her website: www.emiliepitou.fr
💛 Why this story resonates with Kallisto
At Kallisto , we support all mothers who, like Émilie, want to experience it all . Those who breastfeed, who create, who doubt, who undertake, who raise children while raising themselves.
Our lingerie is designed for them:
- Soft, comfortable, feminine, without compromise
- Made from recycled lace and organic cotton
- Tested by mothers who (really) live a thousand lives in a day
🛍 Discover it on our e-shop
🧷 Nursing bras in lace and organic cotton
🩲 Ultra-soft organic cotton postpartum panties
👜Upcycled tote bag made in Belgium
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