When Alexis Ohanian started a paid parental leave policy for his employees at Reddit, he didn’t expect to be using it himself – let alone that he would soon become one of the most prominent paternal leave advocates in the US.

“We implemented a policy that I didn’t think I was going to be using anytime soon, but a few years later I found myself using and talking about [it] publicly,” Ohanian told Business Insider.

Since taking four months off after his daughter with Serena Williams was born in 2017, Ohanian has become a leader in the fight for paid paternal leave, and his social media profiles are the front lines.

Now, Ohanian is taking the fight to Congress. In October, he spent an entire week on Capitol Hill lobbying business leaders and lawmakers from both parties for a national family leave policy, he told Business Insider.

Keep reading to learn more about Ohanian's own experience with paternity leave and what he's done to make sure other fathers can have the same experience.

Ohanian didn't plan on becoming an advocate for paid family leave before his two-year-old daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., with his wife, tennis star Serena Williams.

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"Before I went on leave, I planned to use my entire four months and was casually asked about it on CNBC," Ohanian told Business Insider in a phone interview. "I didn't think anything of it other than, 'Oh, here's this great policy, and I should use it.'"

Ohanian took 16 weeks of paternity leave and has used social media to publicly encouraged other fathers to do the same.

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"Out of office," Ohanian wrote on Instagram in September 2017. "This is Parental Leave life. She's clearly dreaming up all the startups she'll start... And Grand Slams she'll win.... And...."

Williams suffered from health problems after Olympia's birth, requiring Ohanian to take charge of Olympia's care.

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"Because Olympia's birth was such a complicated one and I watched everything that my wife went through and persevered through ... I realized that we had so many advantages and yet this was still such a traumatic experience," Ohanian told Business Insider. "I couldn't imagine anyone being put in [that situation] without the peace of mind knowing that they had paid leave."

Since the birth of his daughter, Ohanian has used his social media platforms to celebrate the way fatherhood has transformed his outlook on life and encourage others to do the same.

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"This is a movement," Ohanian told Business Insider. "And for fathers in particular, a chance for us to step up and say that we want to be there and furthermore to make sure that every dad and mom has the access to paid family leave."

Ohanian has become an advocate for paid paternity leave, partnering with Dove Men+Care to promote The Pledge for Paternity Leave, a program offering grants to working dads to help them care for their newborns full-time.

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"With 30k+ pledges for #PaternityLeavePledge, my partner @dovemencare & I launched a NEW @Facebook group to mobilize dads & allies," Ohanian tweeted in June. "Join us this #FathersDay to help make paternity leave the new standard for all dads."

He's been outspoken about some of the more shocking statistics about the state of paternity leave in the US.

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"Only 15% of dads in the U.S. have access to paid leave to bond with their newborn," Ohanian captioned a photo on Instagram in February. "Let's change that."

Ohanian also uses his platform to praise companies, including Sweetgreen and Target, that offer paid parental leave to their employees.

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"Excited to see this arms race happening right now for #PaidFamilyLeave benefits," Ohanian tweeted. "@SweetGreen giving employees 5 months (!!) of family leave now + @Target made big moves this week. It's not just tech companies."

In October, Ohanian took a week away from his venture capital firm to meet with Congressional leaders to discuss legislation for federally mandated paid leave.

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"We live in a nation that prides itself on family values," Ohanian told Business Insider, "and what better way to show what we actually support and these values than by having a program like paid leave for new parents and folks who aren't already in the best-case scenario."

Ohanian believes a federal mandate for paid family leave is the best way to ensure all workers, especially those in low wage jobs and with disabilities, can take time off to be with their families, he told Business Insider.

And paid parental leave isn't just good for families, according to Ohanian — it's also good for business.

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"I call out hustle porn for its BS and celebrate founders who are taking care of themselves and spending time with their families because it's the right business decision," Ohanian told Fast Company in June.

Ohanian would know — he cofounded Reddit and launched his own venture capital firm, Initialized Capital, in 2011.

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Don't expect to see Ohanian taking up any new projects anything soon, however.

"[Initialized] is my everything when it comes to work," he told Business Insider.

But he says that being a father is the most important role he'll ever have.

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"Forget @reddit, forget @initialized," Ohanian tweeted, "the most important job I'll ever have is being a father. Are you a parent? Add your voice to the @UNICEF parenting poll. #EarlyMomentsMatter"