Meet Michelle
Michelle Yu is the co-founder and CEO of Josie, a company dedicated to supporting working parents through one of life’s most challenging transitions. Guided by her own experiences as a parent and her belief in human-centered leadership, she helps organizations and individuals build practical, empathetic systems that honor both careers and families..
Michelle Yu moves through her work with a quiet steadiness, the kind that comes from having navigated the very gaps she now aims to close. She didn’t set out to become a founder; she simply followed a feeling that working parents deserved better than what she once faced herself. Today, she stands at the intersection of care and leadership, building solutions that honor both the complexity and the courage of becoming a parent while building a career.
Early Journey
Michelle began her career in healthcare strategy consulting, immersed in data, complex problems, and high-stakes decision-making. But even then, beneath the analysis and the structure, she cared most about people, how they moved through systems, where they struggled, and what shaped their choices.
Becoming a parent shifted that lens from professional to deeply personal. Suddenly, the gaps she once observed were now lived realities. The lack of support was not conceptual — it was tangible, disorienting, and urgent.
“I became a parent and realized how wildly under-supported working parents are, especially in healthcare, That moment shifted everything.“
Michelle’s roots offered her a quiet blueprint for resilience. Her mother emigrated from Taiwan in the 1970s, built a thriving optometry practice, and sustained it for 35 years. Watching her work with determination and care taught Michelle what leadership looks like in practice, steady, human, and unwavering.
She created a life and a business through sheer determination,
” Michelle reflects. “It shaped how I lead, how I work, and how I show up for my own kids.”
The Turning Point
The moment that changed everything arrived in a stark, unexpected sentence. When Michelle reached out to her OBGYN for support before returning to work, she was told, “Go on psychologytoday .com and find someone.” Those exact words stayed with her a reminder of how deeply overlooked parents are at one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives.
“It was a pivotal moment, I realized that support for working parents, especially in the perinatal phase, was severely lacking.”
Founding Josie came with its own emotional terrain. In consulting, people responded instantly, her expertise was sought after, valued, and respected. Entrepreneurship introduced a very different rhythm. “Rejection shaped me the most, And the ghosting, wow, the ghosting!!!”
She laughs about it now, but the shift was humbling.
She learned to detach her worth from the outcome of a cold email or a pitch. The silence, she says, became a teacher. “It taught me grit, patience, and how to separate my identity from the outcome. Every no now feels like part of the process, not a reflection of my value.”
What kept her grounded was the impact she could see, the parents who felt less alone, the clinicians who finally had language for their exhaustion, the leaders who learned to support their teams with empathy rather than assumption. She keeps a “Feel Good Folder” of client thank-yous to turn to on the hardest days.
“Challenging times are part of the founder job description, But knowing we made someone’s life a little easier, that keeps me going.”
Their Work Today
Today, Josie supports working parents at one of the most overlooked moments in their careers: the transition around parental leave. Through pre-leave and return-to-work coaching, events for Parent & Caregiver ERGs, and on-demand content designed to feel more like a conversation with a trusted friend, Michelle’s team helps people navigate one of life’s biggest changes with confidence and dignity.
The impact extends far beyond individuals. “Support doesn’t just help parents,” Michelle explains. “It helps teams communicate better, helps managers lead with more empathy, and helps organizations retain incredible talent they might otherwise lose.” In healthcare, an industry where burnout has become almost synonymous with the job, this work has the potential to strengthen entire communities.
Closing Reflection
For Michelle, success is not measured in milestones or visibility.
“I define success as building a life that aligns with my values, kindness, humor, creativity, and growth,”
Her journey, like the parents she serves, is a reminder that meaningful work often begins in moments of uncertainty. Her message for those standing on the edge of their own leap is simple: don’t wait for perfect conditions. Move one step closer. Ask for help. Trust the tug. And build a life that feels like your own.
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