Welcome to Half Moon Hustle

Hi, I'm Tamara Hinckley.

Growing up as an immigrant, I was raised to hustle. I believed that if I worked hard enough, I could make anything happen.

That mindset carried me from Wall Street to Harvard Business School to Silicon Valley, where I built a thriving career in tech and eventually became a product leader at Pinterest.

Each milestone pushed me to climb higher, and I was determined not to let anything, especially motherhood, slow me down. I believed that if I stayed ambitious, organized, and disciplined enough, I could successfully do both.

But motherhood disrupted the operating system that had always made me successful.

After struggling with infertility and being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, I was overjoyed to finally become a mom. Maternity leave was far more destabilizing than I expected, so I returned to work early hoping to feel like myself again, only to realize I had changed in ways I couldn’t yet name.

My scope at work kept expanding while I navigated sleep regressions, constant illnesses, and the coordination required to sustain two demanding careers without family nearby. As I struggled to sustain the pace and intensity that had always defined my success, I started wondering: if I can’t give everything to work anymore, am I still ambitious?

But I had very few role models for this stage of life. My managers were all men, and I was often the only female product leader in the room with young kids.

I kept searching for a playbook - reading books, listening to podcasts, trying therapy, anything that could help me find more time, feel less guilty, and make it all work.

When I became pregnant with my second daughter, I realized the way I was living and working was no longer sustainable. I was navigating a difficult pregnancy while managing toddler tantrums, constant exhaustion, and the pressure of pushing for a promotion at work. For the first time, I couldn’t optimize my way through it.

Around that time, I started having more honest conversations with other ambitious mothers. Many of us were struggling, but I noticed that the women who were thriving were not trying to “do it all.” They had built a different model for work, motherhood, and ambition.

Slowly, I stopped trying to fit motherhood into my old life and started redesigning how I worked, lived, and led. And as I became more deliberate about where I focused my time and energy, I became a stronger leader.

When I was seven months pregnant with my second daughter, I was promoted to Director of Product.

That’s when I understood that my ambition hadn’t disappeared after motherhood. It required clearer priorities, stronger support systems, and a different relationship to time, energy, and success.

Eventually, I left Pinterest to start Momentum Rising because I wanted to create the kind of support I wish I had during those early years.

Today, I help senior women redesign how they lead and live during early motherhood so they can build ambitious careers through a more intentional way of operating. My work helps women integrate ambition and motherhood, build more equitable partnerships, redesign their work and home systems, and make bold career moves during early motherhood.

As a mother of two girls, I care deeply about helping more senior women advance into leadership roles so they are at the tables where decisions get made.

We’re told having kids sets women back professionally. I believe motherhood can become the beginning of a more grounded, intentional, and powerful chapter.

Half Moon Hustle is an extension of that work.

This is where I write honestly about ambition, identity, motherhood, and the complicated process of building a meaningful life while raising young children.

Half Moon is my favorite yoga pose - a symbol of focus, balance, and quiet strength. Hustle reflects the drive that has shaped so much of my life.

Together, they represent the tension I think so many ambitious mothers are trying to navigate: building a big life without losing themselves in the process.

If you’re trying to redefine success, redesign how you live and work, or build a more intentional version of ambition in motherhood, you’re in the right place.

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