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From the studio

Built with passion. Shared with purpose.

October 2026 · 9 minute read

Two friends. Two families. A new chapter. And the unexpected joy of building something together.

At the heart of Gigogram is something simple: We love creating things.

But the story of how we got here isn't really about technology.

It's about friendship, motherhood, loss, finding balance, and discovering that sometimes the most unexpected chapters begin when you finally give yourself permission to slow down.

We're Jackie and Nikki. Mothers, partners, friends, homemakers, and, as it turns out, technology builders.

And this is our story.

First, We Were Just Two Moms

Three years ago, we met, and something instantly clicked.

You know those rare friendships where you feel like you've known someone your entire life? That was us. Before long, we felt more like sisters.

We had so much in common. Wonderful husbands and partners, blended families, daughters we adore, busy households, and a shared belief that our greatest accomplishments would always be the families we were raising.

We loved being home. The traditions, the dinners, the everyday chaos, and those little moments that somehow become the big moments.

But we were also two women who had spent years being productive, solving problems, managing responsibilities, and making things happen.

And as much as we loved our lives, neither of us had quite figured out how to turn that part of our brains off.

Jackie's Teenternity: A Second Chance at Being Present

For most of her adult life, Jackie had done what so many working mothers do. She built a successful career in technology recruiting while raising two daughters and managing a household.

When her girls were born, she took 12 weeks of maternity leave with each of them.

Twelve weeks. To the day.

And then, just like that, she was back at work.

She remembers dropping her babies off with childcare workers, praying that the people caring for them would love them, protect them, and keep them safe while she was away.

She trusted them because she had to. But that didn't make leaving any easier.

Looking back, she realizes how much she took those precious weeks of maternity leave for granted. At the time, she was focused on getting back to work, keeping her career moving forward, and doing what she thought she was supposed to do.

There were meetings to attend, responsibilities to manage, and a career she'd worked hard to build.

And somewhere in between it all, her little girls were growing up.

Then, in early 2023, Jackie lost her mother.

That loss broke her. It changed the way she looked at life, the passing of time, and what truly mattered.

She began reflecting on the mornings she had rushed out the door, the school activities she couldn't attend, and the ordinary moments that had slipped by while she was busy building her career.

She couldn't go back and hold her babies a little longer.

But her girls were teenagers now, and she realized she still had time to do something different.

With the unwavering support of her husband, her rock and biggest cheerleader, Jackie made the decision to step away from her career and embrace a new chapter.

She called it her "Teenternity."

Not maternity leave.

Teenternity.

A chance to be home for the teenage years. A chance to slow down, show up, and be present before her daughters grew up and began lives of their own.

This time, there was no 12-week countdown.

She could take her daughters to school and pick them up. Drive them to their friends' houses. Teach them how to drive. Attend school functions without worrying about missing a meeting.

She could cook dinner every night, make breakfast for her husband before he headed off to work long hours, and simply be there when everyone came home.

She spent six months volunteering. She started taking Pilates and yoga. She finished household projects that had sat untouched for years. She learned to slow down and enjoy the simple things, including the surprisingly satisfying challenge of making the perfect loaf of sourdough bread.

But the greatest gift wasn't the freedom in her schedule.

It was being available.

Being there when her daughters walked through the door. Hearing about their days. Having conversations in the car. Being present for the moments that never make it onto a calendar but somehow become the memories you treasure most.

Her Teenternity wasn't a rejection of her career or the life she'd worked so hard to create. She was proud of those accomplishments.

It was simply a recognition that life has seasons, and this was one she didn't want to rush through.

You can always find another project, another opportunity, or another job. But you cannot get another childhood with your children.

And for the first time in a very long time, Jackie wasn't racing toward the next accomplishment.

She was learning to enjoy the life she already had.

Nikki's Beautifully Busy World

Meanwhile, Nikki was navigating her own wonderfully full life.

Raising daughters, managing a blended family, supporting a busy partner, juggling children's sports schedules, and keeping a household running is practically a full-time executive position.

Just without the salary, the title, or the annual bonus.

Somewhere between practices, family schedules, and settling into a new home, Nikki found herself doing what she naturally does best.

Creating.

She transformed a closet into a little office, affectionately known as her "cloffice." She wallpapered, organized, decorated, and turned ordinary spaces into something special.

And when she wasn't busy creating at home, she was creating in the kitchen.

Alongside her mother, Nikki makes cheesecakes for their Sonoma-based business, Crème & Crumbles.

It's another expression of something we both love: making something from scratch and sharing it with others.

Nikki has always had a knack for turning ideas into something real, beautiful, and functional.

Whether it's a room, a cheesecake, or an application, she loves the process of making something that didn't exist before.

And Then Something Funny Happened...

We finally had moments when we could sit by the pool, enjoy a little sunshine, and just breathe.

Our partners were working. The kids were at school, sports, or off living their increasingly independent lives. The house was reasonably organized. Dinner could wait another hour.

For once, nobody needed us at that exact moment.

It was wonderful.

And yet...

There was that little voice.

Shouldn't we be doing something?

After years of careers, motherhood, organizing, planning, and managing everyone's needs, we were so accustomed to being productive that sitting still felt almost unnatural.

We didn't want to return to the endless rush of traditional careers. We loved being home. We loved having the freedom to be present for our families.

But we missed creating, accomplishing, solving problems, and challenging ourselves.

Jackie would often look at Nikki and say something that became a running joke between them:

"We are too smart to be this dumb."

It wasn't that we weren't doing anything meaningful. Raising families, running households, and being present for the people we love will always be our greatest accomplishments.

It was that we had all these ideas, all this experience, and all this creative energy, and absolutely no idea what to do with it next.

We'd laugh about it, but there was some truth behind those words.

We weren't looking for another job. We were looking for something that excited us. Something that challenged our minds, gave us a sense of accomplishment, and maybe even helped someone else along the way.

We didn't need to prove ourselves.

We just weren't finished discovering what we could do.

And as it turns out, the answer was something neither of us had expected.

So We Started Building

What began as curiosity turned into something neither of us expected.

We started building websites. Then applications. Then more sophisticated systems.

And somewhere along the way, we discovered something extraordinary.

We absolutely loved it.

Years at top software companies, building university programs alongside engineering, product and design leaders, gave Jackie an inside look at how great software gets built. So she naturally gravitated toward complex business systems, AI agents, applicant tracking systems (ATS), project management platforms, inventory tracking, and intelligent workflows that help businesses operate more efficiently.

Nikki found her rhythm building functional, beautiful applications with scheduling, tracking, QR codes, purchasing capabilities, and e-commerce experiences using tools like Shopify.

We discovered that our strengths complemented each other beautifully.

Jackie loves designing the architecture behind complex business operations and connecting all the moving parts.

Nikki loves turning ideas into practical, intuitive digital experiences that people can actually use.

Together, we design, build, test, refine, and deploy custom applications, websites, business systems, and AI-powered solutions.

We learned, experimented, solved problems, celebrated little victories, and occasionally spent far too much time figuring out why one tiny thing wasn't working.

And then we'd figure it out.

That feeling of seeing something we'd imagined actually work?

We were hooked.

When Work Doesn't Feel Like Work

Here's the beautiful part.

We didn't start Gigogram because we needed another job.

We started because we found something we genuinely love doing together.

We can be there for our families, enjoy our homes, make sourdough and cheesecakes, go to Pilates, attend school events, and still spend our free time creating technology that can make a meaningful difference for someone else.

Some people paint. Some garden. Some play golf.

Apparently, we bake and build apps and AI agents for fun.

And somewhere along the way, our pastime became a purpose.

We realized there are business owners, entrepreneurs, and everyday people with wonderful ideas who simply don't know how to bring them to life.

People who need a better way to manage their business. People overwhelmed by manual processes. People who have an idea for an application but don't know where to begin.

We know what it's like to wear a dozen hats and wish there were an easier way.

And if we can use something we love doing to make someone else's life a little easier, that's incredibly rewarding.

Family First. Passion Always.

We believe in traditional family values, being present for our children, caring for our homes, supporting our husbands and partners, and appreciating the life we've worked hard to build.

We also believe that women can embrace those values while continuing to learn, create, and accomplish new things.

Those two worlds don't have to compete.

For us, they complement each other.

Gigogram gives us the freedom to build on our own terms, around the lives we love, rather than building lives around our work.

And maybe that's what makes this chapter so special.

We've both experienced the demands of busy lives. We know what it feels like to rush through the day, trying to do everything for everyone.

Now, we're fortunate enough to slow down, appreciate what we have, and choose how we spend our time.

And when we choose to work, we choose to do something we love.

Built With Love. Shared With You.

Gigogram isn't just a technology company to us.

It's a friendship. A creative outlet. A new chapter. And an opportunity to use the skills we've developed throughout our lives to help other people.

We're not trying to build the biggest technology company in the world.

We're trying to build things that matter to the people who need them.

Thoughtful websites. Useful applications. Smarter business systems. AI agents that give people back some of their most valuable resource: time.

Because if there's one thing we've both come to appreciate, it's just how precious time really is.

Time with our children. Time with our families. Time to create. Time to enjoy the life happening right in front of us.

We don't build because we have to. We build because we love it.

And if something we create gives another person more freedom, more opportunity, or simply more time for the people they love, then we've accomplished exactly what we set out to do.

From our families to yours, thank you for being part of our story.

With love,

Jackie & Nikki
Friends, Mothers, Makers & Co-Founders of Gigogram

Written by Jackie and Nikki. Where the work works for you.