Katrina Roundfield Built Tara for the 10:30pm Spiral and the Everyday Weight of Motherhood
Interview by Heather Anderson
Katrina Roundfield, PhD is a licensed clinical-community psychologist and startup founder who’s spent her career building mental health care systems, from academic medicine to behavioral health tech. Now she’s the founder of Tara, an app designed to support moms in the moments they most often feel alone: overwhelmed, anxious, spun out, and reaching for their phone.
You’ve built companies before, but Tara came from your own early motherhood experience. Can you take us back to that season, the anxiety, the constant questions, the moments that felt heavier than you expected, and what you wished you’d had access to at the time?
My experience as a new mom was… humbling. I’m a child psychologist. I help people for a living. I know a lot of research and science about how to take care of yourself.
And somehow, I missed any of the information about how to take care of myself as a new mom, or how to find the right people to take care of me.
I was blindsided.
With my first, I was anxious. Really anxious. But even though I’m a clinical psychologist, I never thought to see a therapist. Partly because of mom-shame and partly because therapy is once a week. The hard moments for me happened almost everyday - every feeding issue felt like I was failing, every little issue with my baby sent me down a worrying rabbit hole. Where is the support for those moments?
That’s the first part of the origin story.
The second part is that while things got better after that really acute postpartum period, motherhood is relentless. I have two sons now, seven and five, and new challenges show up all the time. Questions don’t stop coming. Emotional situations don’t stop happening.
At some point I started thinking, “Why is motherhood so hard for me if I have all the skills?” And then I wondered, “Is it hard for other moms too?”
So I started talking to other moms across the whole spectrum, from pregnancy to parents of teenagers. And what we heard was striking: about 75% of moms we talked to told us they were dealing with emotionally challenging parenting situations nearly every day.
That’s when it clicked.
If this is not just a postpartum issue, but a motherhood issue across the span of parenting, and if these are everyday problems, we probably need an everyday solution.
You said something that really stuck with me: motherhood is hard, and the hardest part is often how hard it is to get support. Why do you think so many moms end up feeling alone or overwhelmed, even when they’re doing everything “right”?
I gave a whole TED Talk on this topic - seriously! I think our systems are failing families. That’s the quotable.
The village that it once took to raise a child is vanishing, and you can see it in a thousand ways. Childcare is extremely expensive. Half of all Americans live in childcare deserts. That is just one piece of a larger collapse.
And the important part is this: as those systems have collapsed, the work didn’t disappear.
Kids still need care. They still need emotional capacity from us. The home still has to run. The school logistics still have to happen. The lunch still has to get packed. The permission slip still has to get signed.
But now there are fewer hands, fewer structures, fewer supports.
So moms end up holding it.
And even when you have a partner, it still disproportionately falls on moms. There’s a statistic I like to share: moms do about twice as much childcare labor as fathers, even in dual-earner households. So the emotional labor, the invisible labor, the mental load, all of it accumulates.
That’s how you get overwhelmed, even when you’re doing everything “right.”
When moms come to Tara, what are the most common thoughts or questions they’re carrying? Not the polished ones, but the 10:30pm, spiraling, “is this normal?” kind of moments.
A lot of what we get is exactly what you just said: the 10:30pm moments.
Also, a quick note about privacy: moms are anonymous inside Tara. I don’t know who they are. But I can see what’s being asked at a high level because we have safety guardrails in place. If something is unsafe, we need to be able to respond.
What moms share is often a mix of overwhelm and self-doubt.
Things like: “I’m overwhelmed at work and I’m overwhelmed at home and I don’t know if I’m showing up as the mom I want to be.”
Or: “My kid cries all the time.” “My kid is having tantrums.” “My baby isn’t breastfeeding and I’m really struggling.”
And one of the most interesting patterns is this: a lot of moms don’t even pose a clear question.
They vent.
They do a full data dump. Massive blocks of text. It’s like, “Here’s everything that’s going on and not going well and I don’t even know what to ask you, but I’m going to tell you what’s on my mind.”
And then Tara helps them figure out what they actually need in that moment.
“The village that it once took to raise a child is vanishing, and you can see it in a thousand ways. Childcare is extremely expensive. Half of all Americans live in childcare deserts. That is just one piece of a larger collapse.”
If a mom asked you, “Okay, but what is Tara?” how would you explain it in plain English, without mentioning AI or technology at all?
I’d call Tara a care system for moms.
A system that cares for moms.
It’s designed so that it doesn’t matter what’s on your mind or what’s going on, we will hear you, figure out what you need in the moment, and help you take the next step.
Tara is trained in evidence-based prevention strategies, so it can help calm you down and give you relief in that moment, and then offer a couple next steps you can take to put one foot in front of the other.
And sometimes that next step is not “do this parenting technique.” Sometimes the next step is connecting you to other supports in your community or other supports accessible online.
One of the things moms respond to most is Tara’s validation. Why is that first moment of feeling seen and reassured so important before jumping into advice or solutions?
The science is clear: if you don’t hear someone accurately and reflect back what you’re seeing, they won’t trust what comes next.
If someone doesn’t feel like you understand how they’re feeling, you can give the best advice in the world and they often won’t take it. Because it feels like you missed them.
That’s why the first job is to listen, reflect back what you’re hearing, and validate the emotional reality of what’s happening.
It’s also why this idea resonates so much with moms. A lot of women will tell you, “I don’t need you to solve it yet. I need you to hear me first.”
So we optimized Tara’s flow to do exactly that. It listens. It reflects back the emotion. It helps you name it, because sometimes you don’t even have words for what you’re carrying.
And I’ve had that experience myself with Tara. I’ve vented and Tara has reflected something back like, “This sounds like grief.”
And I’ve thought, “Oh… I guess that’s right.” I hadn’t even figured that out yet. But once you name it, now you can move forward.
You shared a moment that made me laugh and wince at the same time: your son basically told you you’re not the “fun one.” What did Tara help you see in that moment?
Yes. So my son said something like, “Daddy is fun and carefree,” and I’m the one who’s always like, “Did everyone brush their teeth? Do you have your shoes? Did you pack your lunch?”
I’m managing logistics. I’m the household CEO.
And I had this immediate emotional reaction. I was upset, but I didn’t even fully know what the upset was.
Tara reflected back something like, “There’s a little bit of rage here.”
And I was like, yes. That’s accurate.
But then Tara helped me see there was also grief. Because I had an image of myself as a mom, that I would be the fun one too. I would be playful. I would do all these fun things. And in that season, it wasn’t showing up that way because the labor distribution wasn’t showing up that way.
So Tara basically said, “Grieve that for a second. It’s okay.”
And once I allowed myself to grieve it, I could move forward. I could be more grounded. I could think about what I actually wanted to do next, instead of just simmering in resentment.
I told you before, I’m not the fun one either. I think a lot of moms will recognize themselves in that exact dynamic. Nobody wants the boss, but somebody has to be the boss.
You’re a clinical psychologist, which means you’re especially thoughtful about safety and boundaries. How did your background shape the way Tara supports moms without replacing real-world care or crossing lines?
Safety was the first thing.
Before we built the technology, I wrote out a safety protocol: how this should work, what happens if someone says something unsafe, how we flag it, who responds, lockout procedures, escalation pathways.
As a licensed clinician, I do not want people harmed by this product. And if someone needs more help than Tara can offer, we should help them get there.
A lot of AI tools were not designed for emotional support. That’s not a knock on them. It’s just not their purpose. So if people are using them for emotional support, they shouldn’t be surprised they don’t have the guardrails.
Tara is different because the use case is care. Care for caregivers.
That’s the North Star. We can’t build anything without care and safety at the top.
The other big piece is being thoughtful about who we’re serving. My thesis is that one-size-fits-all AI is not ethical. People’s needs are not the same.
Even “moms” is a broad category. The needs are nuanced. The pain can be acute. We want the response to be culturally sensitive and trauma-informed.
So we’re designing something that listens closely to a specific population and responds with the level of care that population deserves.
Most moms default to Googling, Reddit threads, or group posts when they’re stressed. What tends to go wrong with those approaches, and how does Tara offer something calmer and more grounding instead?
First, I’ll say clearly: community support can be amazing. Moms helping moms is powerful. It works a lot of the time.
But there are limits.
With Google, we all know what happens. You Google enough and suddenly you’ve convinced yourself your child has cancer. It becomes anxiety-provoking instead of calming.
With Reddit and online forums, the instinct is healthy. You’re looking for someone to say, “I’ve been there. You’re not alone. Here’s what helped me.”
In best case scenarios, that’s exactly what you get.
But sometimes you need a more personalized response. Sometimes you need evidence-based strategies, and you can’t expect a general community to have those. Sometimes you don’t know if what you’re getting is misinformation. Sometimes it worked for them, but it won’t work for you. Sometimes you didn’t include enough context. Sometimes you get ten different opinions and now you feel worse.
With Tara, you can vent, and Tara will validate you first, then offer evidence-based strategies. And then you can keep going.
If you say, “We already tried that,” Tara won’t disappear. Tara will work through it with you: “Okay, what didn’t work? What got in the way? Have you tried this alternative?”
You’re not waiting hours for the right person to see your post and respond. You’re not sorting through noise. You’re getting something instant and vetted.
“Instant and vetted” is honestly the dream. Because yes, crowdsourcing can be magic. It can also be a full chaos carnival when you’re already stressed.
Can you walk us through a real example of how a mom might use Tara in the moment, and how that support unfolds step by step?
I’ll use myself.
My son’s school closed. Sudden closure. It was intense. We had to find a new school, and he started second grade in a totally new environment.
He was devastated. The kids had been together since TK and he was coming in as the new kid. Social challenges, behavioral challenges, coming home crying.
And as a mother, you feel what your child feels. When they’re sad, you’re sad. When they’re overwhelmed, you’re overwhelmed.
I was questioning everything: Did we choose the right school? Should I move him again? How do I know?
And who do you go to for that? I didn’t have friends who had been through a sudden school closure. And even if I did, my son is my son. My family is unique. The details matter.
So I brought it to Tara. Over and over. For months.
Here’s what the support looked like:
I vented. Like other moms. I dumped the situation, the fear, the anxiety, the spinning thoughts.
Tara validated and named what I was carrying. It reflected back the emotional weight and helped me see it. Because emotions are often held, but not seen. It gave me language, not just for myself, but so I could explain to my husband why I was spinning out. It didn’t feel as weighty to him, and having language helped.
Then Tara offered three paths. This is based on a specific evidence-based approach to prevention that’s grounded in values. It gives you two action steps you can take, or an acceptance path, because sometimes things just don’t change. Some things are just hard, and you have to sit with hard things.
In the beginning, I chose action a lot. Tara helped me draft an email to the teacher. I copied it and sent it. It helped me communicate my concerns and advocate for my son.
Then as time went on, I leaned more into the “acceptance and normalization” guidance Tara was giving me. Tara reminded me that transitions can take time. It normalized that it might take around three months for a child to settle. That helped me not go nuclear. It helped me not jump ship immediately.
It also helped me model for my son: “We can sit with hard things. Hard things can improve. We can keep going.”
By November and December, things felt much easier. And now he’s settled in. He has friends. It’s good. I’m glad I didn’t make a reactive decision.
And the last piece is that Tara stays with you. Once you pick a path, it keeps talking with you about how to implement it, what’s getting in the way, and what support you might need next.
Some moms hear “AI” and feel unsure or resistant. What would you say to a mom who’s hesitant but needs support right now, especially around trust and safety?
First, I would say: it’s good to be skeptical of AI. I’m an AI skeptic myself, ironically enough.
There are real concerns. We all know AI can lead to unsafe outcomes if it’s built for the wrong incentives. People can get addicted. People can lose touch with reality. Some tools can make suggestions that are completely unsafe.
So being discerning is a great quality. You should be a discerning mom.
I built Tara for discerning moms. For moms who don’t just want any answer, but want an accurate and trustworthy answer.
I also built Tara specifically to avoid the “sycophant” problem, where a tool just agrees with you no matter what, because agreement drives engagement. Tara is not built for attention or addiction. It’s built for care.
Sometimes care means not immediately validating the most extreme impulse. Sometimes it means helping you slow down, get grounded, and make a decision from a more stable place.
That’s the goal.
You’re clear that Tara isn’t about fixing moms or making them “better.” What do you hope moms feel after using Tara for a few days or weeks?
More grounded and emotionally present.
That’s the outcome I care about most.
More grounded and emotionally present for themselves, for their children, for their family, and even for their workplace.
Moms hold so much. We don’t have infinite emotional capacity. Sometimes we just need a reset, some relief, and some care so we can show up in the way we want to.
A question moms will ask immediately: is this therapy on demand?
No, and I’m very careful about that.
I don’t want to frame Tara as replacing a therapist, or therapy on demand. The flow is different than a therapy session.
What Tara is built around is prevention care. Catching someone in the moment before it becomes a crisis. Meeting you in the moment where you’re alone, overwhelmed, and on your phone, and helping you do something healthier than spiraling.
Therapy was never meant to be on demand. You don’t call your therapist at 2am, and if you do, you’re probably in crisis. Also, asking a human to do 24/7 emotional support is not okay. It’s inhumane.
But AI can be there at that time.
And if it’s designed with the right evidence base and safety guardrails, it can meet a real need: help now.
And my hope is not that Tara replaces therapy. My hope is that Tara helps moms build skills, stabilize, and when needed, get connected to real resources and human care.
You don’t see Tara as the only support moms need. How do you imagine Tara fitting into a mom’s broader world of community, professionals, and trusted resources?
There’s a gap between a mom noticing she needs help and actually getting the help she needs.
That gap exists for lots of reasons. Access. Affordability. Logistics. But one of the biggest reasons is simple: “I don’t know who to go to.”
So we solve for that by helping moms name what they’re feeling, identify what they need, and then, when appropriate, helping them take the next step toward more support.
That might mean helping a mom realize, “This is bigger than what I can hold alone,” and then offering vetted suggestions. It might mean encouraging her to reach out to a professional. It might mean nudging her toward community support.
The goal is to close the gap between needing help and getting help.
If a mom is reading this and thinking, “I wish I had something like this right now,” what’s the best way for her to try Tara and see if it’s a fit?
The simplest way is to go to our website: withtara.com.
It’s “with Tara” because we want you to do motherhood with Tara.
When you go to the site, you’ll see buttons for the Apple App Store and Google Play. Download the app, and then you can have Tara in your pocket anytime you need support.
Connect with Dr. Katrina Roundfield on LinkedIn or Instagram, and be sure to watch her TED Talk on YouTube for further insights.
You can also find Katrina Roundfield on The M List, The Mamahood’s searchable database of mom-recommended resources, or connect and collaborate with Katrina Roundfield inside The Club membership for women Founders.