Building a Co-op with Heart

Meet our Founders: Hayley Postlethwaite

At The Cleaning Cooperative, every decision we make is rooted in our mission to empower our members and support our community. That mission is driven, in large part, by co-founder Hayley Postlethwaite - a strategic thinker, deeply feminist leader, and passionate advocate for equity in the workplace.

Hayley’s role at TCC is foundational and far-reaching. From daily operations to long-term visioning, she is involved in almost every aspect of the co-op’s work. On any given day, you’ll find her coordinating schedules, managing internal communications, meeting with new clients, and overseeing strategy and special projects. She’s also the first person most of our clients meet, leading onboarding conversations with a combination of warmth, professionalism, and a deep understanding of the values that set TCC apart.

But behind the scenes, Hayley is also hard at work building sustainable systems. Early on, she identified key operational gaps, like the need for better client follow-up and more effective communication tools for our team, and has been instrumental in strengthening the foundation of our co-op. Her drive to improve how we work, while keeping people at the center, reflects her vision of what a truly values-driven business can look like.

A New Kind of Workplace

Before co-founding TCC, Hayley spent more than a decade in the travel industry, coordinating luxury trips for high-profile clients. While she loved the research and creativity the work required, the industry’s relentless focus on sales targets left her feeling undervalued and exhausted.

“The downside to working for a capitalist company in high-pressure sales was that my worth was tied to my productivity,” she recalls. “After 13 years, I felt that I had made a lot of money for a company that gained while I grew tired… I didn’t receive a raise or any opportunity. I was just there to make money for the company, and that I found to be really sad.”

When she became a mother and stepped away from that career, she began to imagine a different kind of organization - one that valued its people not for what they produced, but for who they are. That vision would eventually become TCC: a worker-owned cooperative built to support and empower its members, especially women and marginalized workers, to gain financial independence and collective power.

Hayley brings that vision to life every day, working to ensure that TCC remains a space where people are treated with dignity, compassion, and respect.

As she puts it, “TCC exists to empower us… to help women overcome barriers, to gain financial independence, to be a part of something bigger than a job or domestic labourer or childcare provider… When so much is trying to hold us back, TCC is supposed to help us get ahead.”

Leadership Through Learning and Lived Experience

Hayley’s leadership style is shaped not just by her work experience, but by her personal journey as a solo parent, a feminist, and someone who identifies with the neurodivergent community. Although not formally diagnosed, she’s spoken openly about navigating life and leadership with a brain that works “a little differently,” and how that’s helped her design more inclusive systems at TCC.

She’s also a lifelong learner, currently on a hiatus from her university studies in business and women’s studies. That academic path, which began with an interest in psychology, shifted after one transformative women’s studies course. Now, Hayley is working toward a long-term goal of earning a BBA and eventually an MBA.

“That course changed my life in many ways,” she says. “It gave me the framework to understand what I had experienced, and the drive to do things differently.”

Rooted in Relationships

One of Hayley’s greatest strengths is building meaningful relationships, whether with clients, teammates, or community partners. A great example of this is TCC’s partnership with Modo, a local car-sharing co-op. What started as a nerve-wracking commercial quote turned into a transformative collaboration, thanks in part to Hayley’s openness and Modo’s inclusive approach.

“We felt out of our depth, but Modo was so patient… They still check in with us to see how they can support us,” Hayley explains. “We’ve gained so much confidence, business knowledge, and pride through working with them.”

That partnership is emblematic of Hayley’s approach to leadership: grounded in authenticity, mutual respect, and a belief in people over profit.

Life Outside the Co-op

When she’s not working, Hayley enjoys hiking around Vancouver, bingeing old British detective shows, and spending time with her daughter and their dog. She’s a fan of stories that reflect real people with complex lives - just like the ones she works so hard to support through TCC.

As The Cleaning Cooperative continues to grow, Hayley remains focused on the vision that inspired its founding: a world where cleaning and care work is respected, feminist leadership is the norm, and worker-owners can build lives full of dignity, connection, and possibility.