Margaret Wright on being a working mom and a leader at work

When Margaret Wright returned from parental leave last year she was asked to run Elastic® 's west coast commercial growth team — a promotion from her previous role managing the small medium business sales team. 

Margaret has held a variety of roles in her more than three years at Elastic, ranging from direct sales to leadership positions. This January, she was asked to step in as interim regional vice president. She now runs the growth teams on the east coast, west coast, and central regions. 

Advancing to leadership was a goal of hers when she started at Elastic, Margaret says. Previously she was a seller with an informal leadership role. 

“I knew that this was a place I could grow,” Margaret says. “It’s such a fast growing company. There is so much positive change that has happened as we continue to grow as a business.”

During the hiring process, she expressed she wanted to get into leadership. She led various projects, and when headcount opened, she got the opportunity to make the leap.

“We continue to grow and innovate — which has given me a lot of opportunities.” Margaret says. “There is this element of newness that keeps things exciting.”

And her increasing responsibility at work wasn’t the only thing new and exciting in her life. In 2023 she and her husband welcomed their first daughter.

It’s been a journey, Margaret says. 

“My first couple of months back were really hard — it’s so hard to be the person you were before,” she says. 

Becoming a mom changed her perspective, and helped her prioritize.

It helps me focus on what’s most important, she says. “I have to be really efficient with my time. I know what I need to get done and I acknowledge what is a less urgent priority.”

“I want to be able to show my daughter that we can be hardworking women. We can be successful, we can have a corporate job, make decisions, lead people and also be a mom.”

There is a lot of goodness that comes from being a working mom, Margaret says. 

“It’s given me a renowned sense of purpose. It’s really a time in your life where you get to see two different sides of yourself. It's cool to come to work and be both of those people. It's made me more compassionate and caring and empathetic to my own team.”

And thanks to Elastic’s distributed by design set up, she’s able to spend time with her daughter. 

“That’s really comforting to me,” Margaret says. “Working remotely has been a huge help in transitioning back to work and feeling like myself.”

But it’s OK for the back-to-work adjustment period to take time, she says. 

“Just because it’s your first day back to work doesn’t mean you’re going to have everything figured out. There aren’t that many women that talk about it. It really is a different category and I think a lot of the time, we don’t pay attention enough or ask enough how they’re [working parents] are doing.”

It comes down to being open and honest, Margaret says. 

“It's important to communicate so people know what’s going on. People do care.”

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