Faced with a potentially unsafe childcare predicament in her own home, Dr. Sarah Nadimpalli knew working parents in Rhode Island needed better options. She didn’t want others to experience the care crisis she found herself in while rushing out the door to work five years ago. That morning, amidst the goodbye kisses and hugs to her son, she slowed to realize something was off. She realized that that morning, the family’s nanny had arrived to work seemingly under the influence. At that moment, Nadimpalli knew a monumental change was needed, not only with her own childcare situation, but with options for all working parents. Parents desperately needed a better way to access reliable, safe, and genuinely caring in-home childcare in general.

Not finding the options she was looking for on existing nationwide online care registries, and knowing the exorbitant cost of a full-time nanny agency placement service,  Nadimpalli started to create the change she wanted to see on her own. Nadimpalli’s vision, a “dream of a world where parents can unleash their full potential, purpose, and meaning outside of their caregiving roles” turned into the vision for her entrepreneurial venture, MomPros.

Informed by her background in academics at Northwestern and Brown University, Nadimpalli used her 5-years of experience starting up and leading a women’s cooperative on Aquidneck Island alongside her expertise developing an online course with nanny industry experts to help caregivers, nannies, and families to work together, to create MomPros. Through it all, she wanted parents to remain at the center of the MomPros model, because as Nadimpalli believes, “what’s best for and serves parents, is also often what’s best for their kids.”

Nadimpalli (R),begins the intake vetting for a MomPro shown on the left.

MomPros has expanded beyond the East Bay to include East Greenwich, because Nadimpalli said, “I’ve found East Greenwich moms have particularly engaged and the premise of the platform resonates with them.”

A MomPro is different from a traditional babysitter, Nadimpalli insists. MomPros are adults who are pre-screened using several methods advised by premiere nanny agencies; they are ready to help with in-house or out-of-house tasks such as childcare, laundry, meal preparation, grocery shopping, organization, and more. In Nadimpalli’s words, “MomPros are on-demand family assistants who care for parents first.” They are pre-screened, curated caregivers that are background-checked, have passed an extensive 1:1 interview, references have been vetted, and have completed the online MomPros course Nadimpalli designed. The MomPros platform provides a place for MomPros and parents to meet, know each other’s needs or schedules, and find unique matches for their specific needs. Scheduling and payment can happen privately – a feature enjoyed by current beta members because no transaction fees are currently in place. 

The MomPros online platform launched mid-September of this year. The beta phase of the trial may conclude in March 2023, to ramp up for further expansion in other areas depending on user input. Currently, there are 17 parent members on the MomPros platform and about 13 MomPros, numbers that are steadily growing. Nadimpalli’s goal is to have 30-50 active members before March. MomPros has caught the attention of Silicon Valley technologists given early client numbers and positive reviews of the service, Nadimpalli says. The beta platform continues to expand, but Nadimpalli is keen to maintain a needed balance within the supply and demand of the marketplace to ensure families and MomPros providers find good fits for the help they are willing to provide, and to continue to make good matches for the needs parents actively identify.

Access to the platform thru March 2023 is $97 for members, a figure Nadimpalli values closer to $500 taking into account the open access to the vetted, coached, and trained MomPros each user enjoys. MomPros determine their own hourly rates, but tend to average $20-$25/hour with an average of 4-6 hours per shift. 

*The author of this article attended a free MomPro webinar information session, and subsequently paid to register as a MomPro member with no promise of a positive review.