Last month, I submitted an original script to an A-lister’s production company.

Then I got a personal introduction to a high-up executive at Netflix for a potential job opportunity. 

It was followed by an invite to an exclusive screening of a yet-unreleased film by one of my favorite directors. 

I wasn’t lurking around a SoHo house, or swirling my drink at an awkward Sunset Strip professional mixer, or waiting in line for hours outside of a crowded AMC Theater. 

All of this happened on my couch, in the comfort of my own home … often, covered in spit-up, next to a sleeping (or not so sleeping) baby.

When I had a baby, I knew I’d be in for long nights, public tantrums and a re-imagining of my own life, including what my career looked like. 

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But, little did I know it would also be an unexpected gateway into the greatest professional networking opportunity of all time: the secret mom WhatsApp chat. 

Let me explain.

Hollywood is a closely-guarded fortress. Because of the many entertainment hopefuls out there and the lack of hours in a day, its often really hard to find people you might be looking for, much less actually connect with them.  

Once you do, it can be challenging to foster these connections in a way that doesn’t feel heavy-handed, inauthentic or awkward. These relationships in the industry often take years — sometimes decades — to build and nurture … and that’s before you even know how someone might be helpful to you on your professional journey. 

In Los Angeles, there’s a million-dollar industry around “networking,” and giving people access to Hollywood players. There are emails, and classes and Zoom sessions and coaches. You can go to 1,000 awkward coffees at Urth Cafe hoping for inroads, to no avail. 

And somehow, with a stroke of the little green plus button on WhatsApp, I had instantaneously bypassed years of “just checking in” texts, awkward lunch meetups, random pay-to-play mixers and belabored email introductions. 

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It began at an innocuous hangout with a couple new mom friends I knew. One was a film editor. The other, a writer. 

One of these moms mentioned the WhatsApp group. The other chimed in, excitedly. They both look at me, anticipating recognition … but I didn’t know what they were talking about.

Then, a long silence. A knowing nod. Yes, I could be in on the secret. 

The entertainment career-based mom chat (that shall not be named) was named, and an invite to my phone was sent. It felt like I was just initiated into the Skulls, if the Skulls were Baby-Bjorn-wearing, over-educated LA women who just wanted to drink natural wine and talk avant-garde film after (insert adorably esoteric child’s name) went to sleep. 

I was in. And then, I was networking. 

It was completely free, felt natural and ultimately … not unpleasant. In fact, it became kind of fun.  

I chatted, I recommended and I did my part, too — helping others connect where I could. And unlike my experience networking in other spheres, I didn’t think twice about it. This was a protected space, and everybody did her best to keep it that way. 

Looking back, I’m shocked at how much this WhatsApp group did for me, especially in those early, anxiety-inducing days. It afforded me huge professional opportunities, and more: The moms in it shared chic rental properties, doctors referrals, designer clothing — you name it, the group probably had a hot tip. The WhatsApp group served as my oasis in a world of new mom noise, especially the noise around what my career might actually look like, in a post-postpartum world. 

Perhaps most importantly, I’ve learned that my entertainment moms WhatsApp group is one of many. All over Los Angeles, moms from all careers and backgrounds are connecting to one another via WhatsApp groups with pithy-yet-vague names, becoming powerful and enduring resources and support systems for one another. 

There’s a Secret WhatsApp group for Atwater Village Moms, and one for moms who’ve started their own businesses. There’s one for moms who love nonfiction books, and one for moms who send their kids to daycare, and one for vegetarian moms on the Westside. 

It’s inspiring, on a larger level, too: Los Angeles really does find community in some of the most unexpected ways. 

It’s a secret that, without the generosity of other Angeleno moms, I would never have been privy to. Now, it’s my turn to share the secret with other moms (and you) and celebrate all the moms out there, and the surprising thing we’ve all built, together.  

Rebecca Leib is a writer, producer and podcaster based in Los Angeles.