Image: From right to left, Margot Schmorak, her husband, Ari, and her daughter, Eden, at Disneyland.
Born both Chinese and Jewish, Margot Schmorak has often felt caught in a perpetual identity crisis.
Growing up in Minnesota, “I felt like an outsider wherever I went,” she said. “I was Chinese in a mostly white school and community. I remember walking around the mall and noticing that my mom [who is Jewish] and I were the only two people with black hair. I remember going to the makeup counter and having this lady who was doing makeup on me say, ‘Oh, wow, your eyes are such a different shape.’”
‘A sense of otherness’
Despite her parents’ support and encouragement, Margot grappled with a sense of otherness into young adulthood as she navigated the complex dynamics of race, gender, and religion.
“It was rough because even though I was strong in academics and high achieving, I socially never felt part of things,” she said.
“Even when my husband and I were getting married, we decided we wanted the rabbi to certify me as Jewish. If I was white, that would have not been necessary. The only reason why I had to be certified as being Jewish is because I’m Chinese, and in the Jewish community, I would be assumed to not be Jewish. So it’s like everywhere I go, I literally have to legitimize myself.”
But these painful experiences led to something good. They imbued Margot with a sense of compassion and empathy toward others who are excluded and a drive to advocate for inclusion at her children’s schools, in the startup world, and in the vacation rental industry.
“Take the least normal and that’s what my life felt like,” Margot said. “But actually it served me well.”
Trailblazing female leadership
Margot co-founded Hostfully with David Jacoby in October 2015. A year later, she assumed leadership of the company as CEO, and then in 2017, the company merged with Orbirental, bringing on co-founder Stephan Osmont. And yet as a female CEO, Margot felt like an outsider because there were so few women who were startup founders or CEOs.
She started writing on Medium about her experience of starting and leading a company to help empower other women entrepreneurs to seek leadership.
Later, she founded VC (Venture Capital) Backed Moms, an organization that provides meetings, networking, and a private Slack channel for moms who are trying to raise venture capital to found a company.
With VC Backed Moms, Margot has created a global community of support, providing a forum for women navigating the intersection of motherhood and entrepreneurship.
The group came out of a discussion at an investor event where a group of women discussed the challenges of being a mom while trying to raise venture capital.
“Many venture capital investors believe that if you have any competing priorities, there’s no way you could possibly run a successful company,” Margot said. “We were sort of joking that we were kind of a group of weirdos because we were doing both and, and we were like, we should start a little group because we’re dealing with dynamics and needs that are really different from what the rest of other founders have to deal with.”
The group started with less than 10 members and now has over 420 women in the group with new applications coming in nearly every day.
“People talk about all sorts of things in here, from fertility problems to I have to shut down my company or I have to let somebody go,” Margot said.
The organization now has regional groups in the Bay Area, New York City, Israel, Austin, Texas, London, and Paris, France, where they have in-person meetings.
Protecting work-life balance
Work-life balance has been part of Hostfully’s ethos since its founding. The company is 100% remote.
“We share a lot of the same values,” Margot said of her co-founders, David and Stephan. “We share priorities of being really active and present parents. David and Stephen are both very involved in taking their kids to doctors’ appointments and being coaches with their sports teams and musical performances. So like the three of us, don’t ever argue about anything when it comes to things like, what’s ethical? What’s the right thing to do? How do we know what culture we want to create? And that’s been great. I mean, a lot of companies fail because of co-founder issues. So we’ve been really fortunate to have a really high-performing and high-functioning team.”
About 43% of the team are caretakers of children and parents.
Hostfully’s leaders are also committed to fostering a culture of inclusivity, flexibility, and environmental conscientiousness.
“We wanted to create a company where people don’t have to burn ourselves and other people out in pursuing the mission,” Margot said. “We don’t ask for more than 40 hours a week unless there’s something special going on. And we give people the ability to take time off during the day, whatever they need to, to do the other things in their life, and for all of that we gain their trust in their loyalty and a lot of patience and goodwill from the team around getting things done.”
“Creating a thriving company that has an amazing work culture has been a dream for me,” she said.
DEI advocacy
As the head of the Vacation Rental Management Association’s (VRMA) Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, she spearheads initiatives to create a more inclusive industry, from advocating for diverse representation on expert panels to implementing practical solutions like pronoun stickers.
“Part of this committee is to show that the VRMA, as an organization, is inclusive, wants to welcome in new people, is going to advocate for people who don’t feel included, and then also does practical things that will help everyone be aware of that,” Margot said.
Serving as the committee’s co-chair has helped Margot to pay more attention to including people with disabilities through other members like Lorraine Woodward, founder of Becoming rentABLE, a platform for accessible vacation rentals. Lorraine has muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness, and relies on a wheelchair for optimum mobility.
Read more: How Lorraine Woodward made a platform for accessible vacation rentals
“She’s focused on creating more rentals that cater to people with disabilities. I’m really grateful to have her as a real vocal person on the committee,” Margot said. “I’ve built a relationship with her, because that’s a blind spot for me. I’m not good at recognizing disabilities or thinking about it within the group of topics. And so I want someone to be on the team who is going to be advocating for that.”
Recognizing one’s own limitations is part of being a good leader, Margot said. “It’s being upfront about the fact that we don’t know the answers, and we’re just trying to figure it out together.”
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