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Alexis Ohanian Is Committed To Fighting For Family Leave

After Alexis Ohanian started a paid parental leave policy for his employees at Reddit, he didn’t think he would become one of the most prominent paternal leave advocates in the United States. Since taking four months off from work after his daughter with Serena Williams was born back in 2017, Ohanian has become an unexpected leader in the fight for paid paternal leave.

“We implemented a policy that I didn’t think I was going to be using anytime soon, but a few years later I found myself using and talking about [it] publicly.” The Reddit co-founder said in an interview with Business Insider. “Before I went on leave, I planned to use my entire four months and was casually asked about it on CNBC. I didn’t think anything of it other than, ‘Oh, here’s this great policy, and I should use it.'”

Now, not only is Ohanian advocating for his beliefs on social media, but he’s taking the fight all the way to Congress.

In October, Alexis ended up spending an entire week on Capitol Hill lobbying business leaders and lawmakers for a national family leave policy.

“Because Olympia’s birth was such a complicated one and I watched everything that my wife went through and persevered through … I realized that we had so many advantages and yet this was still such a traumatic experience,” Ohanian recalled. “I couldn’t imagine anyone being put in [that situation] without the peace of mind knowing that they had paid leave.”

Since the birth of his daughter, Alexis has been using his social platforms to celebrate fatherhood and the way it has transformed his outlook on life. He has become a serious advocate for paid paternity leave, recently partnering with Dove Men+Care to promote The Pledge for Paternity Leave: a program offering grants to working dads to help them care for their newborns full-time.

Last month, Ohanian spent a week away from his venture capital firm to meet with Congressional leaders and discuss legislation for federally mandated paid leave. He believes a federal mandate for paid family leave is the best way to ensure all workers–especially those in low wage jobs and with disabilities–can take time off to be with their families.

Fathers getting time off to spend with their little ones is so important, good on Alexis for fighting the good fight!

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