Chairman Mom offers safe space online for working mothers

A new startup called Chairman Mom is trying to create a safe space online for working mothers. Its goal is to cut down abuse, trolling and mom-bullying. Eighty-five percent of women on social media say they've witnessed moms shaming other moms, according to SurveyMonkey/Chairman Mom.

The subscription-based website that charges users $5 per month is the brainchild of Sarah Lacy, a working mom in San Francisco who founded tech website Pando and spent years reporting on the tech industry. Lacy told "CBS This Morning" on Friday she thinks social media has failed working moms.

"I think it's largely because women and people of color were not in the room when these platforms were created. People always ask me, 'You're pushing so hard for diversity in Silicon Valley. How would things look different?' And I think we wouldn't see the abuse that we see on social media if it were different," Lacy said.

She said the abuse includes mom-shaming, mom-bullying and mommy wars.

"We have now seen a 10-, 15-year arc of this great promise of giving people these tools for free and all we're going to do is show you some ads. Well, we've seen how that experiment worked. We got addicted, we got emotionally manipulated, and particularly women were exposed and abused," Lacy said.

She addressed how some moms on social media are shamed due to an "ad-based system" that promotes the perfect-looking family.

"What gets you the most clicks, as an influencer, as a mom influencer, having this perfect family," Lacy said. "Well, that just makes other women somehow feel lesser than. Even though we know everyone's family is crazy and chaotic."

Lacy said there's a "deep entrenched bias that makes working moms feel guilty" in our society.  

"For me, I just felt like I'd been told my whole adult life becoming a mother would be this insane disability that would change who I was. And I felt like it was a super power. I felt like I could suddenly shoot webs out of my palms. I became more productive. I became a better manager. I never would have had the courage or confidence to start my own company without having my children," Lacy said.