A friend called her maternity leave a 'holiday.' It made her realize just how much she got wrong about it, too.

• Samira Shihab, a founder and a mom of three, says maternity leave is a crucial chapter.
• Shihab wrote about maternity leave misconceptions in a LinkedIn post.
• She said that she too was guilty of seeing leave as a time for relaxation.

Samira Shihab was on a catch-up call with a friend when he used the word "holiday" to refer to her maternity leave.

Shihab is a principal at AC Ventures, a venture capital firm that works with early-stage startups in Southeast Asia. She's the founder of two Indonesia-based companies: Tinkerlust, an ecommerce app, and Stellar Women, a community for women in entrepreneurship.