Entrepreneur and mother — two of the hardest jobs out there. Both require plenty of multitasking, late nights and trial and error. And in recent years, women have been embracing both roles and putting those skills to practice in and outside the home.   

According to a Forbes.com article published last year, “Women have been starting businesses at a higher rate than men for the last 20 years. … Women will create over half of the 9.72 million new small business jobs expected to be created by 2018 and more and more are doing this from home offices across the country.”

There’s another element, we learned, that molds women, and especially moms, into great entrepreneurs: passion. Pursuing a business inspired by their greatest passion — family — gives these four local momtrepreneurs a bottomless well of motivation. Here they share their journeys.