ABOUT ELDEST & COMPANYYou’ve been their support system for long enough. It’s your turn to come first.
If you’ve outgrown performing and pleasing, but not yet found your peace — you’re in the right place.
A landing place for the ones who always had it together (or so it seemed to everybody else).
Eldest & Co. is built for the women who’ve been leading since they could walk.
The ones who colored inside the lines, got straight A’s in emotional labor, and held everything and everyone together. The ones who figured it out, rose to the occasion, made it look easy.
And now… are quietly (and not so quietly) realizing that keeping it all up feels very different than “living it up”.
Being an eldest daughter has never really been about when you were born.
You might be the actual firstborn, the emotionally responsible middle, the overachieving youngest, or the caretaking only child. Being an eldest is about who you became in the family.
The “we never had to worry about you” kid.
The over-functioning one in under-functioning systems.
The human pressure valve, safety net, emotional translator, group project leader.
Whether you’re biologically an eldest or you’re in the company of women like them…
Eldest is an energy. You know it when you feel it.
Why
we’re here
We grew up being the one who always knew what to do. The one who stepped up, showed up, held it together.
From a young age, we were asked to be…
High achievers and caretakers.
Grown ups and children.
Ambitious and nurturing.
Lately, all those “ands” feel like they’re costing us something deeper: clarity, peace, connection, joy.
We’ve always been dreamers, tending to a garden of ambitions.
Career successes, thriving relationships, glorious trips and peaceful homes.
But our old tricks of hustling, quieting our own feelings, and putting others first seem to be killing us way faster than any of our dreams are blooming (if they’re blooming at all).
So what do we do when achievement stops being the answer?
We’ve outgrown the hustle. We need more than shallow advice. And even therapy - helpful as it is - often leaves us feeling like we understand, but without an example of how to actually create change.
That’s why we exist
To support the women who are ready to lead a different kind of life — one that’s not about being needed, but finally feeling seen.
We want to be fulfilled and well-rested.
Confident and self-aware.
Ambitious and playful.
Supporters and supported.
We’re here to help these high-functioning eldest daughters (and the company of women like them) to reclaim the “and.”
To embrace their multitudes, to honor all the ways that two things can be true at once, and to start trusting themselves far more than any generic “expert” or conventional wisdom.
There’s no one-size-fits-all blueprint to a satisfying life.
But there is guidance to help us get started, stories that help us feel less alone and a support system to cheer us on. There is…
QUIZWhich type of eldest daughter are you?
Regardless of whether you were actually born first, you’re probably here because the eldest daughter archetype feels so friggin’ real to you.
But here at Eldest & Co., we’ve come to realize that there’s actually a couple of different types of eldest daughters and that figuring out which one you are can be key to figuring out how to unlock your next big phase of growth!
ABOUT
Samantha
Samantha Pillsbury is a writer, creator, recovering overachiever, and eldest daughter to her core.
Before founding Eldest & Co., she spent years creating content around confidence, dating, and discernment - all rooted in her own high-functioning, eldest daughter patterns. She built this space not to play guru, but to create the space she needed in her twenties: one where you can be capable and still accept support, where she felt seen and understood.
Sam doesn’t pretend to have all the answers.
But she’s here to offer support and help you listen more deeply to the ones inside yourself.
How we can help
You’ll find a mix of stories, strategy, and tools throughout Eldest & Co., all rooted in real life and designed to help you rebuild from the inside out:
RESOURCES
An ever-growing repository of guides, checklists, articles, and more, created especially with eldests (and co.) in mind so you always have a place to start and proof of what’s possible.
NEWSLETTER
Diaries of an Eldest Daughter hits inboxes weekly, directly from our founder, Samantha. She answers reader questions, recounts personal stories and shares new resources first!
BOOK
Coming Fall 2025! Real stories of how one eldest daughter to outgrew over-functioning (and shares what she’s learned).