Here’s a story of the power of a work community that empowered a father to fulfill twin goals.
Patric Brophy became a dad young – his first daughter was born at 22, his second at 24. What he remembers today, 11 years later, was how he wished he had had a community of contemporary dads.
What he had was a supportive employer in L.L. Bean, and that had a positive impact on working and parenting. “I wanted to do things more intentionally,” he said. “Bean was great. I had a lot of people rooting me on. It was a very supportive place.”
Patric, who left Bean in 2022 and now works at Bounce, a startup aimed at educating kids and parents around financial literacy, said managers played a huge role in him rising professionally and remaining involved as a Lead Dad.
“The feeling was, ‘Let’s do the best we can every day’,” he said. “It was a challenging but not anxious and stressful role. It allowed me to be more present at home.”
Covid shook up his life. He and his wife, who met in college, got divorced at a time when his work at Bean was remote and their daughters were home for school.
Now he’s embracing a new fatherhood journey, where he’s co-parenting his daughters. “I’m focused on helping my kids turn into the people they want to be,” he said. “Their needs changed. It’s more talks about social dynamics and friends as opposed to where are my crayons and I’m hungry.”
Throughout this journey, his north star has remained the same. “Parenting was something I wanted to do right,” he said. “I didn’t want to lose that opportunity to raise amazing kids. It never really was a real decision.”
Welcome, Patric, to The Company of Dads!
