Rachel Aitken on PMDD, and Building a Second Career From Scratch on Maternity Leave

Rachel Aitken describes herself at school as "the middle girl" - not top of the class, not bottom, just happily along for the ride. That drifting energy carried her through a law degree she hated, into PR in London, and eventually into a senior marketing role - successful by most measures, but never quite the thing that lit her up.The turning point came during lockdown, watching interviews on TV and thinking she could do better. Early in her first pregnancy, she found a stranger on LinkedIn - Laura Crompton, who had an almost identical career history and her own BBC Radio Manchester show - and messaged her cold, asking for a coffee. She didn't mention she was pregnant, worried it would make her seem less fun. Laura suggested a Zoom instead, and by the end of the hour, Rachel was drafting a message to a BBC producer. Within a week, she was live on air — having told no one except her husband, who tuned in on the radio at home.That leap became a second career built alongside a full-time marketing job, motherhood, and - as Rachel is candid about - a serious mental health struggle most people around her never saw coming. Diagnosed with PMDD and postnatal depression, Rachel talks openly about what it's like to be the person everyone assumes has it together, and why that assumption can be exactly what stops people from checking in. She and Hannah also get into the reality of chasing a broadcasting career on maternity leave, including one interview that went memorably, spectacularly wrong. Topics covered:•     Growing up as "the middle girl," and how that shaped her sense of ambition early on•     Cold-messaging a stranger on LinkedIn — and being on air within a week•     Building a broadcasting career in secret before telling anyone but her husband•     Chasing interview opportunities while on maternity leave, baby in tow•     PMDD and postnatal depression — what it actually looked like day to day, and why nobody suspected it•     Being the "yellow" character everyone assumes is fine, and why that's often exactly who isn't•     Dual-career life with her husband, a doctor who also changed careers at 30•     Living in Southport with no family nearby, and what that support gap actually looks like•     Where she wants to take her broadcasting career nextFOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/somehowmanaging_/ https://www.instagram.com/hannahevisonfrost_md/Sponsored by Trunk