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At the 2014 USATF Outdoor Championships, Montaño made international headlines when she competed while 34 weeks pregnant with her first child, a daughter named Linnea. One year later, she claimed her sixth 800-meter national title at the 2015 USATF Outdoor Championships while still breastfeeding. Later that summer, she competed for Team USA at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing. Two years later, she competed again while pregnant with her second child, a son named Aster.
British Man Runs Sub-3 Hour Marathon in Crocs “pregnant runner.” But privately, she was struggling to maintain her sponsorships, the main source of income for professional runners. In May 2019, she shared her experience in an op-ed published by Ewa Swoboda Is Now a Barbie Doll, in which she said she was unable to secure maternity protections from her former sponsor, Nike.
Now one year later, Montaño is continuing her advocacy by creating &Mother, a nonprofit for athletes who are mothers. Supporting Montaño is cofounder Molly Dickens, Ph.D., who is the head of content and community at Bloomlife, a maternal health startup based in San Francisco. Dickens and Montaño met while producing a video series that shared how Montaño prepared for labor.
Just as Montaño claimed the description “and mother” while running professionally, she wants other athletes to feel empowered with the support to thrive in their many roles.
“I hope that they gain the confidence to recognize that motherhood and a career can go together,” Montaño told Runner’s World. “They don’t have to feel like they are devalued because that is part of a space in their life in which they want to fill. [They should have] the confidence to know that there’s nothing wrong with their choice of career and motherhood and ultimately that they deserve the support to pursue both.”
Facing scrutiny and public outcry Ewa Swoboda Is Now a Barbie Doll op-ed. In the months that followed, more athletes felt empowered to share their own experiences with Nike, notably Olympic champion Allyson Felix. Facing scrutiny and public outcry, Nike announced a new maternity policy in August 2019 for all sponsored athletes. Several other companies also responded by adding maternity protections to support female athletes.
Sharing her story changed Montaño’s career. “It basically allowed me to work toward building out a greater idea of what I felt was necessary to help elevate women that choose to become mothers,” Montaño said.
British Runner Is Attempting a Marathon Every Day, she signed a contract with Cadenshae, a maternity activewear company that plans to support Montaño’s role as a spokesperson regardless of her running performances. She started a social media campaign called Dream Maternity, which encourages women to thrive in their careers. And she created a podcast called Keeping Track, A Part of Hearst Digital Media Molly Huddle and Roisin McGettigan discuss topics in women’s sports. To top off the busy season, two months ago, she gave birth to her third child, a boy named Lennox.
Drawing from her own experience and conversations sparked from Dream Maternity, Montaño realized that she wanted to create a nonprofit “that helps support women in all of the spaces in which support is lacking.”
To determine where support was needed, Montaño observed and discussed ideas with professional athletes at the 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships. She was inspired by watching Felix run three rounds of the 400 meters and finish sixth in the final all while taking care of her infant daughter, Camryn, and seeing Nia Ali finish second in the 100-meter hurdles as she balanced mom duties with her son Titus and daughter Yuri.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted plans for the nonprofit, Montaño and Dickens would like &Mother to support track athletes in training and at major championships when racing resumes.
One of the nonprofit’s goals is to provide a house at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials—which were postponed to summer 2021—dedicated to assisting mothers and their children at the competition. They would also like to provide lactation stations for mothers at meets. In the future, Montaño would like to see special lodging accommodations for athletes with families, such as a double room without roommates, so that children can travel with their moms.
“It would have been really nice to have a space where my child could stay while I was competing,” Montaño said. Outside of competition, Montaño and Dickens would like &Mother to assist athletes in training too, by offering support in the form of childcare and sleep trainers.
With most races being canceled or postponed because of COVID-19, Montaño and Dickens are focusing &Mother efforts on storytelling and partnerships while they accept donations for the cause. Through social media, a documentary that’s in the works, and a podcast, they hope to increase awareness for athletes who are mothers.
Ultimately, they want women to take the “and mother” description back.
“This is a bold statement. This is strength. This is a value add,” Dickens said. “We are champions and mothers. We are talented and mothers. We are all these things and mothers. We should be proud to wear it as a statement of who we are.”
Taylor Dutch is a sports and fitness writer living in Chicago; a former NCAA track athlete, Taylor specializes in health, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in SELF, Runner’s World, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner. When she’s not writing, Taylor volunteers as a coach to up-and-coming runners in the Chicago area.
