Meet Orli Cotel, Senior Advisor,
Paid Leave for the U.S. (PL+US)…

Orli cortel

Number of children:

Jonah, age 7 and Maya, age 4

list 3 ways that being a parent has positively influenced your life:

Being a parent has caused a huge boost to my productivity at work! After all of the multitasking that parenthood requires, it feels like a gift to be able to sit down at a desk and be laser-focused on delivering results. And as someone who works for an organization that fights for working families, I also find myself even more motivated to fight for a better world for my kids to grow up in.

Please share any tips or insights you can offer to other working parents.

Be kind to yourself. We're all doing our best with the impossible task of juggling work and parenthood during a global pandemic. And if it feels like the system is rigged against you, well...it is. Which is why you shouldn't blame yourself -- you should channel your rage into fighting for systemic change so that parents and caregivers can succeed in the workplace *and* at home. That could mean talking with HR to try to change your workplace's paid leave policy, or emailing your senators in support of legislation that help working families, or coming up with other creative ways to support your friends and colleagues so that we can show up at work as our whole, authentic selves.

What’s your latest working parent win and/or other important info you would like to share?

Our non-profit has helped win paid leave for nearly 8 million people at Walmart, Startbuck, CVS, and more -- and now we're fighting to pass national paid leave legislation through Congress. It was a huge win to pass paid leave through the House of Representatives this fall, and now we need to get it through the Senate. Help us win paid leave for all by emailing your senators: https://paidleave.us/email-your-moc