Introducing ‘In Confidence’: A Documentary Series from The Breadwinners.
Inside our latest docuseries about the courage to confide. And the confidence to lead.
Our LA Breadwinners Dinner was held on a warm October evening in Los Angeles. Thirty women. Seated on the grass. And a simple premise: that the women who are financially, emotionally, operationally, and systematically leading their families deserve a room where they don’t have to explain themselves.
We asked each woman we interviewed the same essential question, in different forms: What does breadwinning actually mean to you? What are you carrying? And what are you bringing home?
The answers were not what I expected. They were deeper.
And it came with a through-line that ran through every single answer: this word: Breadwinner - is ready to be reclaimed. Not as a burden. Not as a badge of sacrifice. As something richer, more complex, and more honest than the definition we inherited.
What You’re About to See
Today, we’re releasing a documentary series called In Confidence - filmed entirely at our LA Breadwinner Dinner, built from our unscripted conversations, and shaped around the questions that kept coming up around the dinner table.
What does the word Breadwinner actually mean?
What are we carrying that nobody sees?
What are we bringing home that we forget to count?
What are we building - for ourselves, for our children, for the women who come after us?
Each episode follows a different theme. Each one draws from multiple voices at the table.
Who You’ll Hear From
You’re going to hear from the author, Anna Malaika Tubbs, who is raising three kids alongside her husband while building a body of work she hopes will change history. Morgan Zanotti, who co-founded Primal Kitchen, sold it to Kraft Heinz, and is now doing it all over again building a protein water company called Waay - with three boys under seven and a stay-at-home husband who she keeps calling “the poor guy.“ She’s working on that.
You’ll hear from Shilpa Shah, who started her company, Cuyana, in 2011 with a toddler and an infant at home, before Instagram existed, before anyone was putting female founders on panels. She got three to four hours of sleep a night for years. Her eldest’s college essay is about how his mother chased risk and fulfillment over the safe path.
You’ll hear from Carli Roth, co-founder of Norms, who hasn’t yet had her first child but is about to - and who showed up to this dinner to understand what she was walking into. Her answer about what breadwinning meant in her own childhood was one of the most expansive of the night. You’ll hear from Amy Kiska, a founder who pitched investors ten days postpartum. Kelly Hubbell | Sage Haus who talks about the showing her children the importance of presence, more than anything.
And you’re going to hear one of the most honest answers - from Elaine Welteroth, who admitted, out loud, that she sometimes doesn’t know what her unique contribution is at home. That she knows she’s needed at work - nothing moves without her. But at home, with the village in place, she’s wondered: do they actually need me here? What is my job description?
And then she talked herself right back into her own worth. Just as it should be.
Why We’re Calling It ‘In Confidence’
Because that’s what our Breadwinners dinners are built on.
The women who come to these dinners do not show up to network, to posture, or to perform. That is not what these evenings are. There are no name badges, no pitches, no carefully curated personal brands on display. What happens at the table is something purer: women who are used to being the most capable person in the room, finally in a room where that’s assumed, and talking honestly about what it costs and what it gives.
Not everything said at the table makes it out of the room. That’s by design. But some things deserve to travel further - not because they’re polished or packaged, but because the woman sitting next to you at your own dinner table needs to hear them. Because you need to hear them.
In Confidence is our attempt to bring the dinner to you. The real version. The one without the filters.
Where to Watch
You can watch each episode here on Substack, as well as on Instagram & YouTube. All 5 episode are posted on our Breadwinners website.
And I will be posting an episode of The Breadwinner Podcast where we play all 5 episodes consecutively.
If someone in your life needs to listen to these messages, as a reminder of how incredible she is — please send her this. That’s how The Breadwinners grows. Not through ads. Through women who recognize each other.
A Special Thank You
This series would not exist without the people who showed up - not just to attend, but to give something of themselves.
To our partners at the team at Hearth - thank you for believing in what we’re building and for supporting the kind of community that makes evenings like this one possible.
And to Elaine Welteroth and the birthFUND team - thank you. What you shared in that interview required real courage. You sat down and told the truth about something most women carry alone and never say out loud. The fact that you’re willing to tell your story of motherhood - fully, honestly, without the edited version - is exactly what this community is for. We are so grateful you’re in this room.
This is The Breadwinners. This is In Confidence.
The courage to confide. The confidence to lead.
And most importantly, Happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate.
Thanks for being here,
Alexis
Watch the full series here.
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Wonderful idea!