As Chief Mom Officer, Alum Preserves Memories Digitally

MIT alumni tend to have some pretty distinctive job titles but Leila Pirnia ’99 might have the most unique one yet: chief mom officer.

Pirnia is the chief mom officer (CMO) for Artkive, a mobile application aimed at parents with young children. Users upload photos of their children’s artwork to Artkive and the app stores information like the child’s name and grade, the date, and the title of the artwork. Users can share their children’s gallery online or print them in a customizable book.

“My role as chief mom officer is to speak to our target market—moms,” Pirnia, the mother of two children under six, says. “There are other ways you could save your kids’ work, but Artkive is the fastest and easiest way to do it.  The app is very mom-friendly.”

A Sloan course 15 graduate, Pirnia had more traditional job titles before helping launch Artkive in late 2012. She joined Merrill Lynch as an analyst after graduation and later worked for various production and media companies in strategy, operations, brand management, and marketing.

A few months after her second child was born, Pirnia was introduced to Artkive by the company’s cofounders. She was instantly captivated by the idea and its business potential.

“It really resonated with me as a mother,” she says. “We’re helping moms remember when the painting was drawn, which kid drew it, and what it was titled.”

In less than nine months, more than 200,000 users downloaded Artkive and uploaded more than a million photos. Artkive was also featured on the Today Show and named a “Pick of the Year” by Cool Mom Tech.

“It’s a simple solution to a problem—parents can immediately relate,” Pirnia says. “The best part has been how much the children love it. They really feel like accomplished, published artists when they see their books.”

In addition to her mom-focused research and engagement, Pirnia's additional CMO duties include growing Artkive beyond its mobile platform capabilities.

“We’re really excited about the relationship we’re building with moms’” she says. “We’re looking for additional ways to deliver value.”

And while she’s most likely Sloan’s only chief mom officer alumna, Pirnia credits the school for a quantitative education that helped her navigate such a unique career.

“It’s incredible to think about my career path and where it’s ended up,” she says. “That MIT foundation has opened up so many doors and helped me understand businesses and the models behind them. You just to learn to think in so many different ways.”