Day: October 22, 2025

• I was 26 when I had my son, and I didn’t realize how important it was to have mom friends.
• I tried to make some at first, but when nothing stuck, I sort of gave up.
• Then, a good friend of mine had a child, and I saw the benefits of being friends with other parents.

When my son was born, I was 26. I was a new mom, and not only did none of my good friends have kids yet, but they also didn’t live close by. I didn’t have anyone my own age to talk to about all of the mom things that would come up. Every time I needed parenting advice, I called my aunt, and she was patient with me.

But talking to my aunt was not the same as talking to someone going through parenting milestones at the same time. She had her son 10 years prior to me having mine. Often, she didn’t remember what she had done in any given situation, and she would tell me I needed to “try to make some mom friends.”

When my son was born, I tried to make mom friends at first

I went to story times at the library, popular playgrounds, and local swim lessons for moms and babies, but I never hit it off with anyone. Many of the moms were older and married, and I felt like I was in a different territory as a younger single mom.

After a year of failed attempts, I stopped trying so hard. That’s when one of my good friends had a son, and we slowly became closer over the shared experience of being a boy mom.

We had been good friends in college and ever since, but becoming moms at around the same time took our friendship to a new level. I think we each care a lot about being a good parent, and that brings even more mutual respect into the relationship. I’ve found it so helpful at times to put our brains together and break down different parenting issues with her.

My son is now almost 12, while her three boys are all younger. My son’s whole life, I’ve given them the clothes and toys he outgrows. It’s really special when I recognize them wearing something like one of his old shirts. It feels like we’re all more connected.

I didn’t realize how many benefits there were to being friends with other moms

I went on for the first three years of my son’s life without any other friends who were also parents. Before then, I envisioned the main benefit as being someone to talk to about your kids. However, being friends with someone who recognizes me as the person I am, not just as a mom, is actually the greatest benefit of having friends who are also mothers.

Now that I’ve experienced the support that comes with being friends with other moms, I’m really sad that I missed out on that when my son was at his youngest. Being a new mom, I felt totally isolated. It would have been really helpful to have more allies, and to cheer each other on.

Having friends who are also moms and understand how all-encompassing it can be helps me feel understood and makes me feel connected to myself again. My friends and I have also made a habit of checking in on each other, because we just…get it.

I have individual relationships with a few moms now who are close friends. Besides them all being in my wedding, I mostly spend time with each of them separately. I love that with any one of them, we can hang out with our kids, which is our preference, or do something together kids-free, like go out for coffee. Either way, I’m sure we’re talking about our kids half of the time.

I had told myself it wasn’t important to be friends with other parents

During the years I was navigating parenthood alone, I had honestly given up on the idea of finding any mom friends. I had family and child-free friends, and told myself I didn’t need anything else. But once I experienced bonding with another mom, I realized just how valuable it is to find someone who understands that experience.

I believe being a parent is the most important job I’ll ever have. Finding such a good friend in someone who feels the same way has actually made me even better at it, because I no longer feel alone. It feels like I’m part of a team that just wants to do a really good job at being a mom.

• Google’s Chelsea campus underwent bedbug treatment over the weekend.
• A pest-control company said bedbug sightings in commercial spaces have increased as employees return to offices.
• Bedbugs pose an icky problem for employers, who should have protocols in place to avoid legal issues.

More workers are heading into the office with laptops, lattes — and, in some cases, bedbugs.

Google sent a memo over the weekend informing New York City employees that it was treating its Chelsea campus offices for the pests.

The company’s Real Estate & Workplace Services team “was recently informed of a possible bed bug issue at our Chelsea campus,” the Sunday memo, acquired by Business Insider, said. “Today, exterminators inspected the NYC-9TH, Chelsea Market, 8510, and Pier 57 buildings with a sniffer dog and found credible evidence of their presence. Initial treatment has been completed on the affected floors of the Chelsea campus.”

For a time during the pandemic, workers logging on from home didn’t have to worry about creepy-crawlies in their cubicles. Now, as more employees return to the office, bedbugs are coming along for the ride.

“These are what we tend to call ‘take-your-bedbug-to-work events,'” said Gil Bloom, an entomologist who is president of Standard Pest Management in New York. “They’re primarily hitchhiking, unfortunately, from home environments” via items like backpacks and clothing.

Bedbug issues in New York haven’t reached the level they were prior to the pandemic — but there’s been an uptick in sightings at commercial locations since life began returning to normal, Bloom told Business Insider.

Offices aren’t immune

Google isn’t the only employer to deal with this issue. Earlier this year, bedbugs were discovered at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation office, and staff from the affected area had to leave while the building underwent treatment, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

In 2017, BuzzFeed’s Manhattan headquarters similarly had to get bedbug treatment. Hotels and airlines have also had to deal with the wingless insects.

New York City ranked second among the most bedbug-infested cities in 2018, dropped to fifth place in 2021, and climbed to third in 2023, based on data from 300 Terminix branches in the US. As of June, New York is back in second place.

Bloom said when companies suspect bedbugs are in a workspace, exterminators typically bring in detection dogs to confirm their existence and identify affected areas. While an employee might accidentally bring bedbugs into work, offices usually lack the ideal infrastructure for the insects to settle in.

“There’s no great hotspot,” Bloom said, referring to the lack of beds in most offices. “So it’s like finding a bedbug in a haystack.”

Identifying the location of the outbreak allows companies to narrow down the treatment area and resolve the problem, Bloom said. He describes such instances as “introductions,” rather than full-blown “infestations.”

A liability issue for companies

While bedbugs might be unpleasant, Jerome Goddard, a medical entomologist at Mississippi State University, told Business Insider that there is little to no transmission of disease from the pests. Often, the biggest challenge is dealing with the ick factor.

“The main effects are emotional and psychological,” Goddard said. “And I’m not saying that’s not real.”

Companies, however, could face legal consequences if they don’t take steps to kill the bugs.

Employers have a duty to provide a safe workplace per OSHA requirements, and failing to protect workers could create a liability, said Andrea Whalen, a senior HR business strategist at consulting firm Clark Schaefer Strategic HR.

Bloom said companies don’t usually provide extermination services to individual employees unless there’s a repeat situation and the office is trying to find the source to avoid future introductions to the office.

Whalen told Business Insider that companies should establish clear, written rules that cover different kinds of infestations or outbreaks. Those policies could include considerations about paying workers if they have to be sent home while pest-control professionals treat a worksite.

Because employees have a “moral and an ethical responsibility” to tell their employers if they have bedbugs, policies should include a way for employees to report an issue confidentially, she said.

“You want a way for an employee to come forward and say, ‘I have this issue,’ so that it protects the rest of the team,” Whalen said, adding that it should be addressed with “empathy and discretion.”

After all, she said, places where people often think of outbreaks occurring — like hotels, schools, and hospitals — are themselves workplaces.

“It can happen to anyone,” Whalen said. “It can happen to any place.”

Have a tip? We want to hear from you. Reach out to the reporters via email at aaltchek@insider.com and tparadis@insider.com, or via the secure messaging app Signal at aalt.19 or tparadis.70.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that the dates of a summit meeting between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump had yet to be set, and added that neither Putin nor Trump wanted to waste time.

• Goldman Sachs published a new 25-page guide for founders generating life-changing wealth.
• Among the report’s primary takeaways: Plan early to structure deals and capital considerations.
• Goldnan partner Kerry Blum says founders “only get one first sale”—so it’s critical to get it right.

Dealmaking is heating up again, and founders eyeing an IPO or sale are facing a new kind of challenge: what to do with the sudden wealth that follows.

A new 25-page report published by Goldman’s private wealth and investment banking professionals lays out the decisions founders need to prepare for once they cash out. It outlines six steps that company leaders should take: be clear about your business’s future, consider tax structures, set up a family and estate plan, organize liquidity, factor in existing loans and liabilities, protect your assets and family, and develop a philanthropic strategy.

The message is especially important for founders right now: mergers were up this past quarter, and the IPO market was regaining steam before the government shutdown. But the bank didn’t generate the report because of the hot merger market; instead, its findings are meant to be educational for founders anytime, Kerry Blum — global head of the firm’s equity structuring group, which helps some of the world’s wealthiest business people structure their portfolios — told Business Insider.

The report — “Beyond the Build: A Wealth Planning Guide for a Business Exit or IPO” — walks readers through how to structure a deal, manage new liquidity, and prepare the next generation for a sudden influx of wealth.

“When I look at the work that we do with founders and entrepreneurs, we really have to think about the entire life cycle” across the corporate and personal lenses, said Blum, a Goldman partner.

Here’s a look at four of their top takeaways.

Start planning early

Founders should consider “personal planning” — how they’ll handle their newfound assets — around the time they begin diligence on potential acquirers or even before. Why? “The timeline of a delay could be derailed entirely by delays stemming from personal planning objectives missed in the early stages,” the bank warns.

Founders should be upfront about their goals — including the selling price and ongoing ownership structures — and should be deliberate in selecting the right exit plan. A merger? A private sale? Sales and public offerings can convert years of illiquid equity into cash, the report says, suggesting that the sudden liquidity landslide can be overwhelming without support.

Each path comes with its own tax considerations, as well as the level of control, cash, and future influence the founder will maintain. “I’ve seen entrepreneurs who very much want to maintain a sense of control as part of the exit,” Blum said, adding: “I’ve seen entrepreneurs who have decided that maybe in their next phase they want to pass off some of the operational elements.”

Get the right team together

Assembling a strong team well before a transaction closes can help crystallize such decisions, the bank says. At Goldman, “in many cases, it will be that the banking team is well engaged with the client, and they think there’s an opportunity for the client to benefit from the expertise that we can offer on the wealth management side. And so they will introduce a two-way dialogue,” Blum said.

To that end, Goldman urged, do not delay in appointing these trusted advisors. CEOs need to bring together not just their C-suite counterparts, but also personal advisors, including wealth managers and trust officers. The questions this team can help you answer are manifold: Should you sell to a strategic or a financial sponsor? Is a public offering really the right route?

“We try to make sure founders carefully evaluate how their day-to-day would be different and the type of scrutiny they’d face if taking their company public, compared with selling to a sponsor or strategic buyer,” Alekhya Uppalapti — a managing director in the investment bank’s global technology, media, and telecommunications group — says in the report.

Tackle tax and estate planning

The report’s most technical section delves into different kinds of business structures that founders should consider: an S-corporation doesn’t pay federal taxes at the corporate level, whereas a C-corporation pays taxes on its profits.

Navigating the thicket of this jargon can be confusing, so the firm suggests using an estate planning attorney to “align” immediate-term goals around tax efficiency with long-term needs like setting up a professional trustee to protect newfound wealth. Trusts such as grantor-retained annuity trusts or charitable lead trusts can help transfer wealth and reduce tax exposure.

Blum said tailoring those choices to each client’s objectives is one of the most complex steps in the process. “That is certainly one where understanding the individual’s goals and objectives,” she said, “whether it’s regional or generational wealth planning, philanthropy, et cetera, is incredibly important. And matching that with the jurisdictional considerations is key to getting it right.”

Beyond that, entrepreneurs should consider organizing a will, a revocable or living trust, a healthcare proxy, and guidance for end-of-life medical instructions, the bank added.

Prepare yourself for the new realities of wealth

It is not only the founder’s life that changes after a major sale or IPO, the report suggests, but also the lives of family members. Goldman’s guide devotes an entire section to preparing the next generation.

“Regularly scheduled family meetings, which can be facilitated with the support of your financial advisor, can help effectively convey lessons on the responsibilities of wealth and philanthropy,” it says. Blum said Goldman brings clients together in small forums where they can share insights and experiences, a think tank of sorts for those about to step into a new way of life.

Privacy is also a consideration. “Different types of transactions bring different levels of visibility,” Blum added. The report recommends consulting your financial advisor about a wide range of topics, including physical and digital security protocols, as well as private aviation.