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When twin founders Taylor Capuano and Casey Sarai announced a company-funded child care benefit that quickly went viral, it touched a raw nerve for working parents. Now, nearly a year after their TikTok clip reached millions, the sisters are trying to turn that attention into a coordinated effort for business-led change as child care costs and workforce strains grow more acute.
The policy they introduced at their lingerie-adjacent startup offers employees a child care stipend worth up to $3,000 a month — a level of support that drew 2.4 million views on TikTok and thousands of reactions from parents who said the gesture reflected a deeply felt need.
From viral moment to organized push
Capuano and Sarai chose to publish the details of their benefit because, as they put it, there was no clear template for small companies wanting to do this. What began as an internal program has become the seed of a broader initiative they call the Cakes Childcare Movement, aiming to recruit other employers and press for policy changes that make such programs easier to adopt.
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In mid-April they convened business leaders and child care advocates in New York to build momentum and center employer voices in the conversation about federal incentives — particularly the expansion of the employer-provided childcare credit. The sisters argue that businesses have been underrepresented at the advocacy table even though unreliable or unaffordable child care regularly affects company performance.
“We want to show businesses care and then work together to map out realistic steps for change,” Sarai told attendees, emphasizing that the goal is practical uptake, not applause.
Why this matters now
Child care expenses have climbed to the point where, in many places, families pay more to look after two young children than to rent a home. Research highlighted by child care advocates shows that interruptions in care cost U.S. employers roughly $70 billion each year in lost productivity, turnover and absences — a figure that frames employer-supported solutions as not only a social issue but a business imperative.
As costs bite, a disproportionate share of the burden falls on mothers, who more often reduce hours or exit paid work entirely. The sisters say their program is designed to remove that forced trade-off between earning a living and providing adequate care.
What the Cakes stipend looks like
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Monthly support | Up to $3,000 per child for employees with children under public school age |
| Eligibility | Company employees with caregiving responsibilities for young children |
| Company size | Applied at a startup of about 30 staff; model is intended to scale |
| Reported outcomes | Full participation among eligible staff, no attrition in the year after launch, and increased interest from applicants coming from larger firms |
Employers as advocates
The sisters say the business community can push for practical fixes — for example, strengthening tax credits that offset employer costs — and that a coalition of companies could lower the political and administrative barriers for others to follow. That strategy treats subsidized child care as an investment in workforce stability rather than a fringe perk.
- Reduce turnover: predictable care correlates with fewer unplanned absences and resignations.
- Attract talent: family-friendly policies can differentiate smaller firms from larger competitors.
- Support productivity: employees with secure care arrangements report higher focus and output.
- Scale policy change: collective business advocacy can influence federal incentive design.
At Cakes, the program’s immediate business effects were striking: every eligible worker opted in, and the company suffered no departures tied to child care in the year after launch. Startups and HR leaders have reached out for guidance on replication, the sisters said.
Beyond dollars, the conversation touches culture. The founders and advocates want to challenge the assumption that presence equals productivity — a mindset that often penalizes caregivers who must juggle pickups, appointments and school schedules. Reframing performance around results rather than hours at a desk is central to their pitch.
What happens next depends on whether other employers join the movement and whether lawmakers expand incentives that make company-supported child care financially viable. If more businesses sign on, the sisters hope those pledges will form the basis of a shared roadmap for policy change — a route that could ease pressure on families and reduce measurable business costs.
This effort is part of a larger national debate over how the U.S. should support working parents, and the Cakes initiative tests one employer-driven approach: turn a viral moment into a repeatable, politically actionable model that speaks to both family wellbeing and corporate bottom lines.
