“They are old enough to climb over the sofa and get into all kinds of trouble. “You can’t just run after them, because you’re in the middle of a Zoom call, so everything has to be baby-proofed to the max,” Koenigshausen says. The pair, who work in real estate and private investment, are in the process of moving to a new apartment, so they have a bunch of cardboard boxes lying around - which they pile onto the floors into child-stymieing labyrinths when they anticipate lengthy meetings. To keep their adventurous 16-month-old twin girls, Clara and Tessa, from getting into too much trouble during work calls, Eric Sadkin and his husband, Klaus Koenigshausen, have recently become master maze designers. Remote work is now Demby’s long-term plan: “I have zero intentions of ever going back into an office,” she says. She keeps a rolling cart of diapers, wipes and work materials by her side so she can work alongside her daughter in any room of their Harlem apartment. As a first-time mom and Black woman in corporate America - where I already felt I had to show above-average results just to be visible - I really struggled.” Noah Olivia is now almost 2, and Demby has brought a bit more of her personal life into the Zoom window.

I could not keep her from interrupting meetings. But the reality was, I could not keep this little baby from crying. “Out of desperation, I tried so hard to keep her out of the camera and to keep her quiet so that I could still present myself as, like, competent and doing great work. “The first time I had Noah Olivia in a meeting, I didn’t know what to do,” says Demby, who works as a creative-operations program manager at Cash App. For Sheena Demby, remote work as a new parent felt utterly paralyzing at the start.

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