Former Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan Launches Mule Media, a Community-First Media Company for Women

Co-founders of MULE MEDIA From left to right: Layla Lisiewski, Erika Ayers Badan Photo credit: Jerri Graham Photography

Co-founded with entrepreneur Layla Lisiewski, Mule Media brings together two powerful existing communities - Work Like A Girl and The Local Moms Network - into one ecosystem designed around how women actually live and work.

Unlike traditional media companies, Mule Media begins with community.

"We're moving out of the attention economy and into the intention economy," said Erika Ayers Badan, co-founder of Mule Media. "If AI is going to make content infinite; meaning will become finite - and meaning comes from community. We don't build content and hope an audience shows up. We start with community - then build everything around it."

The launch reflects a broader shift in media toward trusted networks over passive audiences. Women influence up to 85% of consumer purchasing decisions and control and influence more than $20 trillion in U.S. consumer spending. In key categories, their impact is even more pronounced-driving over 90% of home-buying decisions-while mothers and female heads of household remain the primary decision-makers for everyday spending.

Yet media platforms have historically treated ambition, career, and motherhood as separate identities.

Mule Media is built on the belief that women don't live segmented lives.

The company is designed around how women operate today - often balancing careers, businesses, families, and communities simultaneously, managing their lives from wherever they are, whether that's an office, a kitchen table, or the front seat of a car between school drop-offs and meetings.

By connecting professional and local communities, Mule Media creates an ecosystem where women can access support, opportunity, and trusted relationships across every stage of adulthood.

"We're not a women's content company," Ayers Badan said. "We're a community company. The strength isn't in impressions - it's in trust."

A New Model: Community as Infrastructure

Mule Media operates as a community-first, platform-agnostic company, with engagement happening across Slack, WhatsApp, email, social platforms, and in-person events.

Its first platform, Work Like A Girl, is a professional community founded by Ayers Badan that connects ambitious women navigating career growth, leadership, entrepreneurship, and reinvention.

Originally launched as a grassroots Slack community, Work Like A Girl has evolved into a dynamic network where women share real conversations about hiring, revenue, funding, scaling, burnout, and ownership.

"We're not building a vibe," Ayers Badan said. "We're building leverage."

Work Like A Girl is designed to be the modern water cooler for women building careers and companies - a place where builders talk honestly about what it takes to win.

Mule Media's second platform, The Local Moms Network, connects mothers through hyperlocal communities that provide trusted recommendations, resources, and connection.

Founded by Layla Lisiewski, the platform operates in more than 100 communities across 30 states and reaches more than 3.5 million women nationwide. The Local Moms Network celebrates a decade of community this year, marking ten years of building trusted local networks for mothers across the country.

Since 2018, the platform has partnered with more than 15,000 businesses, connecting brands with one of the most influential consumer groups in the United States.

"Moms are the most powerful connectors in their communities," said Lisiewski."When you connect those networks nationally, you unlock an incredible amount of influence."

Together, Work Like A Girl and The Local Moms Network span women from early career through motherhood and leadership - creating what Mule Media describes as one lifecycle, not two separate markets.

Community, Connection, and Economic Opportunity

Mule Media is designed not only as a media platform, but as an economic engine for women - empowering them to build communities, share expertise, and create income opportunities by serving other women.

The company will work with brands seeking to engage women through trusted, community-led environments, offering an alternative to traditional advertising models.

ABOUT MULE MEDIA

Mule Media is a community company founded by Erika Ayers Badan and Layla Lisiewski. The company brings together Work Like A Girl and The Local Moms Network into one ecosystem serving women navigating careers, leadership, motherhood, and reinvention.

Rather than building content-first media platforms, Mule Media builds infrastructure around trusted communities. Its model combines digital platforms, live events, professional development, partnerships, and local experiences designed to strengthen relationships within its network.

Its approach is community-first, platform-agnostic, and revenue-diverse, with media, partnerships, and experiences built on top of strong community foundations.

Women already run the networks. Mule Media is building the platform.

ABOUT ERIKA AYERS BADAN

Erika Ayers Badan is a digital innovator, entrepreneur, and media executive known for building and scaling culturally influential media brands. She served as the first CEO of Barstool Sports, where she led the company through explosive growth from 2016 to 2024, transforming it into a national media powerhouse.

She is the author of Nobody Cares About Your Career, host of the WORK podcast, and writer of The Great Ones Play Hurt Substack. She is also the founder of Work Like A Girl, a community supporting ambitious women building their careers.

Badan serves on the boards of Axon Enterprise (AXON), the Premier Lacrosse League, and Vice Media, and has been recognized by Fast Company, Forbes, and Adweek as one of the most influential women in business and media.

ABOUT LAYLA LISIEWSKI

Layla Lisiewski is the Founder and CEO of The Local Moms Network, a hyperlocal community platform connecting more than 3.5 million mothers with trusted resources, experiences, and brands across more than 100 communities nationwide.

A mother of four and former private wealth advisor at Merrill Lynch, Lisiewski launched her first platform, Greenwich Moms, which grew into one of the most trusted community networks for mothers in the United States. The Local Moms Network marks its ten-year anniversary this year, reflecting a decade of sustained growth and impact.

Lisiewski serves on the boards of Harlem Lacrosse and the Brown University Sports Foundation and has been recognized by Forbes and featured on CNBC.

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