Mambition

The summer camp spreadsheet. The INSET day gap. The colour coded calendar nobody else in the house understands.If you know, you know.Kathryn Hatcher is the founder of Camply — a platform helping busy parents find, plan and coordinate summer camps and school break childcare without the overwhelm. She spent 15 years in consulting and leading complex high stakes projects. Now she is applying that same lens to the problem she was living every single day as a working mother of two.But this conversation goes much deeper than camp logistics.We talk about matrescence — the identity shift that comes with becoming a mother and how it quietly reorients everything you once believed about your life, your work and what actually matters. And about what happens when that shift pushes you toward something more purpose driven. Something that feels aligned with who you are becoming rather than who you were before.In this episode:→ The invisible mental load of summer camp and school holiday planning — and what it is really costing working mothers→ Matrescence and the identity shift motherhood triggers whether you are ready for it or not→ How becoming a mother changed what Kathryn believed about money, success and what a good life looks like→ Why purpose driven work hits differently once you have childrenFor the mother who has achieved everything she was supposed to and is quietly wondering if she is allowed to want something different.

If I met myself at a party I think I would want to sit down and have a conversation. And I think I would walk away thinking — wow, that person is really something.For someone who spent years being insecure, this is major. This episode is about self acceptance. The kind that holds both things at once — knowing you are a work in progress and still liking the person you are right now.I talk about the practical things that built my confidence. And I talk about what sits underneath all of that. Keeping my own word to myself. Doing hard things. Sitting in uncomfortable seasons. The faith that has carried me. And ultimately learning that I do not need to be perfect to be valued.In this episode:→ The difference between self acceptance and perfection — you can hold both at the same time→ The practical things that built my baseline confidence → What actually got me here → What self acceptance gives you in your work, your parenting and your ambitionI am a work in progress. I am also enough.Both things are true. And getting to that place has been the most worthwhile journey of my life.

Why is it always mum who knows what day non-uniform day is?Therese is the founder of Hey Ladybird — an AI powered app that turns school emails, WhatsApp messages and permission slips into an organised family calendar. She built it because she was living the problem every single day.In this episode we talk about the mental load and the invisible labour that falls disproportionately on mothers — from being the default school contact even in two parent households, to the way women's bandwidth quietly gets consumed by unpaid family admin instead of career growth.In this episode:→ The story behind Hey Ladybird and how it actually works→ Why mums become the default parent for school and childcare admin even when that was never the plan→ What the mental load is really costing women's careers→ Founder lessons from building parenting tech and raising millions for charity→ How to reframe criticism and use a backhanded compliment as fuelFor the mother who is holding all the information in her head right now and wondering why it always seems to be her.

Pre-mum me wore heels a lot because I tied a significant part of how I felt about myself to how dressed up I was.Motherhood changed that. First out of necessity then out of choice.Jumpsuits, trainers, and somewhere across 3 to 5 years of motherhood the casual dressing stopped feeling like a compromise and started feeling like exactly enough.But there is more to it than just the clothes.In this episode:→ The jumpsuit era — optimising to get out of the house with two small children and how that accidentally started everything→ Why living in a social media vacuum has been one of the most quietly powerful things for my confidence→ What happens when you stop comparing and start actually liking yourself→ Why confidence that is not dependent on what you are wearing is a different kind of confidence entirely→ What I want my daughter to observe — it is good to look your best, but do not lose yourself in the processIt started out of necessity and somewhere in between I found a version of confidence I did not know I was missing.

Not every lesson that shapes you as a mother happens after you become one.This episode is my top six experiences from before motherhood that I now recognise as the foundations of the mother I am today.→ Solo travel→ Quitting my job and navigating a career pivot → Solitude → Losing my mum at 9 → Frugality with money→ Heartbreak Motherhood blows everything wide open. The rules change. The priorities shift. And suddenly you are back to basics in a way you never expected.But you are not starting from scratch. You are anchored by everything you quietly lived before they arrived.That is why these six experiences matter to me.

My daughter asked to go inside a woman's house I had just finished a professional shoot at. My immediate instinct was absolutely not. That is odd and a bit much.She got really upset. And knowing my daughter, really upset has only one destination. So I knocked on the door and asked. The woman said yes.My daughter asked without knowing that asking can be scary. No history of rejection. No internal calculation of whether it was reasonable. Just the ask.I have that history. And I am asking anyway.In this episode:→ Why children ask without fear — and what we lose when we stop doing the same→ The difference between asking without evidence and asking despite it→ Jia Jiang's rejection theory and what deliberately seeking no teaches you about the ask→ What my children's unlimited asking has done to my own inhibitionsFor the woman who has talked herself out of the ask before she has even opened her mouth.This one might change that. 💛

She walked into the Dragons Den at 9 months pregnant. She walked out with £50,000. Her son arrived a week later.Olivia is the co-founder of Cubbi — the UK's first discount platform for new and expecting parents.But this episode is not just about the Den moment. It is about everything that came before it and the conviction that carried them through when nothing else could.In this episode:→ Pitching Dragons Den at 9 months pregnant — the decision, the room and what happened next→ What it actually cost to build Cubbi before anyone was watching→ The sister dynamic — building something this significant with someone you trust→ The free coffee that got a new mother out of the house for the first time all week→ What motherhood gave her as a founder that she could not have had otherwise→ Starting before you are ready and why conviction matters more than timingFor the mother who is paying attention to the threads quietly coming together in her own life.Sometimes the timing that looks wrong is exactly right.

When I was dating I was filtering for career ambition and drive above almost everything else. Nobody told me that the game changes completely when you have children.Because it turns out that what actually determines how you show up as a mother — whether you can work, build something, stay fit, stay sane — is not your own ability. It is your capacity. And capacity is shaped mainly by the support around you.For me that support comes in the form of my mother in law. As someone who lost my own mum young, that village is not just helpful. It carries me. And it made me think about everything I was not filtering for when I was dating. His parents. His level of kindness on a bad day. Whether he could hold the children independently and fully. Whether your parenting styles would complement each other over the long run.Nobody tells you to look for that. But maybe they should.In this episode:→ Why it is not ability that determines what mothers can achieve — it is capacity→ What I was filtering for when dating versus what actually matters when you have kids→ The village, the in laws and why their support changes everything→ Why parenting styles that complement each other matter more than shared interestsAnd honestly? I did not plan any of this. I just happened to fall into the right village.

It is not a holiday when you go away with small children. It is a change of location. The chaos comes with you!But our first all inclusive family holiday was actually memorable for the right reasons. It was nice to be somewhere designed for exactly the chaos you are carrying.On the plane my daughter was an official flight attendant helper. She made friends with the family sitting next to her before we had even taken off. By the time we landed she had already lived a full social life.And that was just the journey there.In this episode:→ Why being surrounded by other families in full chaotic flow is one of the most reassuring things you can do as a parent→ Reading a novel for the sake of it→ Why the all inclusive format is one that I am tempted to repeat every single yearFor the parent who is wondering whether a family holiday is actually worth it.It is. Just not in the way you expect.

My 3 year old daughter had a mean girl experience on holiday this week.Every instinct in me wanted to swoop in and fix it. But instead I stepped in gently, with humour, and tried to show her something more useful.As we walked away I told her that sometimes people will be mean. And we practised her stern voice together so she is ready for next time.In this episode:→ Fighting the immediate parental instinct to swoop in and fix everything→ Why I stepped in with humour rather than to punish or humiliate→ The long game — building resilience versus building dependence→ Parenting is just trying different things and hoping you land somewhere good enoughI do not know if I got it right. But I am hoping I got close enough.

You tried the sleep method and it did not work. That is not your fault.Nicole Ratcliffe knows this better than most. Chronic sleep deprivation after having her child derailed a high-earning career, led to redundancy, and forced her into the most difficult period of her life. What came out of it was a complete reinvention — and a mission to change the way we treat sleep at every level.Because sleep is not a nice to have. It is the foundation that everything else sits on. Your work. Your relationships. Your ability to show up as a parent. Your mental health. When the sleep goes, everything else quietly starts to follow.In this episode:→ How sleep deprivation ended Nicole's career and what she built from the wreckage→ Why the sleep industry is solving the wrong problem — and why one size fits all advice was never going to work for your family→ The research connecting sleep deprivation to parental depression across 1,000+ parents→ Why sleep health needs to be treated like a seatbelt — non-negotiable and built into the systemFor the ambitious mother running on empty and wondering why everything feels harder than it should.This might be why.

The passport arrived. One day before we left. 😅Living on the edge or what? Maybe the passport situation was not just a stressful logistical nightmare. Maybe it was a lesson I clearly still needed.Because the truth is, parenting humbles you constantly. Even with the best plan in place, things will go wrong. And the only way to actually enjoy this season — really enjoy it, not just survive it — is to let go of the need for everything to be perfect. Including yourself.In this episode:→ Closing the passport loop→ Why self forgiveness is not optional in parenting, it is essential→ How shortening the gap between a mistake and moving on changes everything→ What our children learn from watching us handle things going wrong→ Why grace is something you must give yourself over and over againFor the parent who is still being a little too hard on themselves. You are doing your best and it is enough.

She fled war as a child. Fast forward to today.Zahra Mohamed is the founder of Alcyone Law, a specialist UK immigration law firm, a British Muslim woman, and a mother of three including five year old twins. She has spent 14 years navigating a legal system that was not always designed to welcome her — as a client, as a woman, or as a mother.In this episode:→ Fleeing war as a child and how that shaped her path into immigration law→ Being mistaken for the interpreter in her own courtroom — and what she chose to do with that moment→ Why she is building a law firm entirely on her own terms→ The mental load and navigating two very different parenting styles→ Why our backgrounds are not barriers — they are the very things that shape our strengthsFor the woman whose past is heavy but who chooses to build towards the light anyway.

Two passport blunders. One recovering perfectionist. And a lot of learning to laugh at myself.This episode is about what sits underneath both of those moments. The version of me who used to ruminate for days over a mistake and who took everything seriously.Motherhood is the chaos that humbles you. It is also the thing that quietly teaches you that perfection is a myth.That even the best laid plans will fall apart. That the gap between mistake and self forgiveness does not have to be as long as you think.Mine is getting shorter. I am learning to laugh at the madness a little more. To not take everything quite so seriously. To enjoy the chaos. In this episode:→ Why perfectionism and high standards are not the same thing→ What motherhood will teach you about self-forgiveness→ Why the gap between mistake and moving on is something you can actually shrink→ What I am trying to model for my children about grace and getting it wrongFor the mother who is still a little too hard on herself.This one is for you. 💛

They were babies yesterday. And yet this September our boys are both heading into Year One. Which means the baby years, the toddler years, the defining early childhood years that felt simultaneously endless and impossibly fast — are behind us.In this episode Alex and I sit with that for a moment. We also talk about where we both are with work right now — and how our ambition has quietly shifted. We both want careers that are aligned with the kind of mothers we actually want to be. And then there is the summer. Six weeks and endless juggle. The very real need to stay present with our children while not letting everything we have built quietly unravel.In this episode:→ How fast the early years go — and what it feels like to look back at the babies they were→ Why ambition looks different now and why that is not a bad thing→ How we are both trying to align our careers with the mothers we want to be→ The summer holiday juggle — presence, work and how we are planning to hold bothFor the mother who blinked and suddenly has a school aged child.

My 3 year old experienced five separate, genuine injustices this week. The discovery that her brother was carried in my tummy first. The milk poured without permission. In her mind, every single one was a devastating betrayal.I laugh and cry in equal measure. But I know she is not wrong to feel it. She just does not have the capacity to regulate those feelings yet. That is not her job right now. That is mine.This episode is about that. About what it actually takes to show up for small, intense, beautifully overwhelming people. About why doing something for yourself in the moment can feel completely selfish — and why zooming out changes everything.At this stage, self care is not selfishness. It is infrastructure.In this episode:→ Why children are not irrational — they are mainly just unregulated, and that distinction matters→ Why regulating your own emotions has to come first→ Why the run you almost did not go on, the hour you almost cancelled, pays off in ways the moment cannot show you→ Why self care is not a luxury — it is how you show up for their versions of injustice without losing your mindFor the parent who knows the emotional stakes are higher at this stage than anyone warned them about. 💛

To be brave enough to admit that climbing the right ladder still feels like the wrong life?! Not for the faint hearted. Anne Welsh is a clinical psychologist, executive coach, working parent consultant and author of Ambitious Mother. She has spent years sitting with high achieving women who look completely fine on the outside and are quietly drowning on the inside. She has a name for what they are experiencing. The Ambition Paradox.And she knows exactly what it feels like. Because she lived it herself.In this episode:→ The Ambition Paradox — why successful women still feel stuck no matter how much they achieve→ The Three Ps — perfectionism, people-pleasing and pretending, and why they are more dangerous in combination→ Why your ambition did not shrink when you became a mother — it changed shape→ The research that proves your career is a gift to your children, not a theft from them→ Why work-life balance is not a destination and chasing it is setting you up to feel like you are failing→ What it feels like to want something this much — and be scared of itFor the woman who is doing her best, carrying too much, and wondering if it has to be this hard.It does not. You can pre-orderAnne's book Ambitious Mother here -https://www.drannewelsh.com/ambitious-mother-book

A request for a Nigerian volunteer in my son's reception class. I put my hand up immediately.But that "yes" was years in the making — built on flexible work, grandparents already looking after my daughter that exact same morning, and a version of me I have been slowly becoming since long before this moment.In this episode:→ What actually had to be true behind the scenes for that yes to even be possible→ Why nobody sees the infrastructure behind a yes, only the yes itself→ How becoming bolder and more willing to put myself forward shaped that moment→ A rare glimpse into my son's carefree natureFor the woman who has built herself, quietly, into someone who says yes.

Two friends, £500 each and a market stall.A decade later, that market stall is a six figure business.Lisa Shepherd and Saskia Roskam co-founded The Biskery — a personalised biscuit business built on something genuinely refreshing to hear. A clear set of values that meant refusing to chase growth that would cost them their families.Saskia went from studying languages and working in digital marketing in Germany to baking her grandmother's recipes from a kitchen in Leeds. Lisa came back from maternity leave and had her senior title quietly taken away. Both of them built something neither corporate world was ever going to offer them.In this episode:→ The £500 each, the market stall, and the slow, unglamorous early years→ The grandmother's recipe at the heart of it all — a quiet legacy from a stay-at-home grandmother who shaped how Saskia grew up eating, and how that connected her and Lisa from the very beginning→ The co-founder "permission slip" — what it actually takes to build trust and synergy with someone, and giving each other permission to be human first→ Why they chose slow, steady growth over chasing scaleFor the mother who started in one career and is wondering whether her past actually has a place in where she is headed next.For Lisa and Saskia, it did. There were threads running through their whole story all along — they just had to follow them.

I am not the fun parent. I am the one who checks the stair gate twice and has read the entire homework folder before dinner.Their dad is not like this. Bedtime when he has them involves a game called Goon, which is essentially him chasing them round the house at full volume while nobody winds down for sleep.I used to think that made me the careful parent and him the less careful one. Now I think it makes us exactly what they need.In this episode:→ Why one parent worrying about safety and one parent encouraging risk might be the healthiest combination a child can have→ Why consistency matters more than fun, and fun matters more than we admit→ A Father's Day reflection for the fun ones, the reckless ones, and everyone raising children in their own particular wayFor every parent who has ever thought they were doing it wrong because they were doing it differently.

The Sunday scaries. The dread that starts at 4pm. The countdown to Monday.Mel Goodman knows them too. She spent fifteen years in high pressure leadership making decisions in her sleep. Then she had children — and the woman who used to handle everything effortlessly suddenly found those same things keeping her up at night.We talk about the very specific hell of returning to work after kids, postpartum anxiety, and white knuckling decisions that used to feel automatic.In this episode:→ Why competent women suddenly stop trusting their own judgment after children→ The question Mel asks every client — if things are still like this in a year, how would you feel?→ Why women deprioritise themselves so reflexively it stops feeling like a choice→ What happens when you finally decide to stop putting yourself lastIt is never too late to start living life on your own terms.

Nobody wrote the poem for the ambitious mother.The one who had the dreams and then had the baby and then stood in the mirror wondering what happened to the person she used to be.So I wrote it myself.Oh, Someone's Mum is a poem for the mother who loves fiercely and still has something in her that will not be quiet. Who is building something in the margins. Who refuses to choose between her children and herself.It covers everything — the identity shift, the browser tabs, the 5am hustle that stole the rest of the day, the village that holds it all together, the urgency that loss gives you, and the quiet radical truth that this season is not something to endure.It is something to build in.For the mother who is still figuring out who she is becoming.Oh — what that someone does not yet know about you.

You can read every book about boundaries. You can know exactly what you should say. And still find yourself saying yes when you meant no — again.That is not a willpower problem. That is a belief system problem.Meshali Chotai spent fifteen years as a Big 4 Actuarial Director watching high achieving women — herself included — run on empty while looking completely put together. Now she coaches those same women on the inner work that actually makes change stick.In this episode:→ Why boundaries fail without the inner work underneath them→ The iceberg — what is visible on the surface and what is actually driving everything beneath it→ Why high achieving women are the most likely to push through until something breaks→ How doing this work changes your relationships — counterintuitively for the better→ What protecting your energy actually makes possible for ambitious mothersFor the woman who looks like she has it all together.And is quietly running on empty.

The past nine months have been the hardest of my life. My children had no idea what I was carrying. And yet somehow they were part of how I got through it.We spend so much energy trying to protect our children from the hard things. But in doing so we sometimes miss what they have to offer us in those same seasons.That is what this episode is about.In this episode:→ Why children's empathy is pure even when their understanding is limited→ Teaching your children that big feelings are allowed starts with believing it yourself→ Why being needed by small people pulls you out of yourself on the days you have nothing left→ Why joy is always available even in the hardest seasons For the parent who is in the middle of something hard right now.Pay attention to your children. They might just have more for you in this season than you expect.

When your motherhood journey starts with a sweep, caring what people think stops being an option. 😂Something about caring for a tiny human, the early days, the lack of sleep, the urgency of time — it quietly strips away everything that was never really yours to carry. The status games. The performing. The exhausting social choreography of trying to be liked, to fit in, to be seen in the right way.And what is left is so much more powerful than the performance ever was.In this episode:→ The status games we play before children — and what they actually cost us→ Why motherhood rewires your brain to stop seeking approval→ Why leaning into this shift is where the real confidence lives→ How caring less about what people think helps you get ruthlessly clear about what you actually want to buildFor the mother who is starting to realise that the glow she has is not despite motherhood.It is because of it.

I planned to be productive on a 5 hour delayed train journey from Nottingham. The wifi had other ideas.Three different tickets, two platform changes and a completely different train to the one I booked. Just a standard Monday on the British rail network. 😂And then an older lady sat down next to me and commented on the delays. She is a retired teacher who recently survived cancer. And what followed was one of those conversations that stays with you long after you arrive.None of it happens without the delay. The chaos created the space. And the space gave me something the productivity never would have.For the recovering productivity junkie who is still learning that not every moment needs to be used well.Sometimes it just needs to be lived.

I had the best Friday! My son's reception class needed someone to come in and talk about Nigeria. I said yes! What makes this possible is flexible work, grandparents already looking after my daughter that exact same morning, and a version of me I have been slowly becoming since long before this moment.In this episode:→ The village that made it possible→ How becoming bolder and more willing to put myself forward is the real sauceFor the woman who has built herself, quietly, into someone who says yes.

Most of us know the science of early childhood development exists.We just have no idea what to do with it in the middle of a Tuesday meltdown.Suhali Vyas spent ten years building technology products in fast growing companies. Then she turned that same curiosity, the same systems thinking, the same obsession with understanding how things actually work — to the most complex product she had ever encountered.The developing brain of a child aged zero to five.In this episode:→ Why the first five years shape everything → The difference between knowing what to do and doing it in a stressed moment→ Why the conversation around early childhood so often blames parents instead of building them up→ Child temperament — the nine parameters that explain why your child is not the problem→ What quality time actually looks like for a working mother who is already running on empty→ The small repeatable moments that build emotional regulation, secure attachment and resilience — in children and in the adults raising themFor the parent who is already doing their best — and wants practical tools for the moments that matter most.

In what feels like a blink of an eye, my son is 5 and becoming more independent . And I have had to sit with the fact that my job is quietly changing.This episode is about the shift nobody prepares you for — when your child stops needing you the same way and your role becomes less about doing and more about trusting. Less about protecting and more about letting go.In this episode:→ The grief of the baby stages being gone — and why you cannot remember them being that small→ Why pushing boundaries at this age is development not defiance→ The tension between protecting and stepping back — and why stepping back is actually the most protective thing you can do→ The things that make life meaningful as adults are the moments we trusted ourselves and took the risk. What if giving our children independence now is just the child sized version of all of that?For the parent who is watching their child grow up and trying to figure out how to grow alongside them.

Nothing quite like having your parents visit to make you reflect on your own childhood.My dad came from Nigeria with one goal — give his children the best opportunities. Education. Hard work. Good grades. Everything rooted in love. But the world has changed. Hard work and good grades alone no longer guarantee anything.So I am doing things differently.In this episode:→ The foundation my dad built. I value it because it cost him→ How I want to take that to the next level with my children— building confidence, self-awareness, curiosity, independence→ The overnight camp where my son started next to me and ended up across the field with his torch — and what that moment said about what we are actually raising them forFor the parent who wants more for their children than they had — and is figuring out what that actually looks like.

We celebrate the ambitious mother. The one building something, showing up, chasing big goals alongside raising children.But we rarely talk about what is actually holding her up.This episode is about the missing conversation in motherhood — maternal support. The village, the structure, the people behind the scenes who make it all possible. And why pretending it is just discipline and hustle is doing every mother a disservice.In this episode:→ The woman on the Eurostar who told me I would miss my mum most when I became a mother — and why she was wrong→ What my mother in law quietly, consistently makes possible → Why the gap between mothers who are thriving and mothers who are drowning is almost always about support not strengthBecause behind every mother who seems to be holding it all together — there is almost always someone holding her up.

118 episodes. 75+ women. In this special milestone episode Alex gets personal — about what it actually took to build Mambition, the partnership that made consistency possible and what this podcast has genuinely meant for her own life.It started as a platform. It became something more. A way back to herself after a career that knocked her sideways.Two years in, here is what she knows:→ Ambition isn't one size fits all→ The system is stacked against us — and knowing that changes everything→ Figuring out your own version of success and protecting it fiercely is the whole gameFor anyone who has ever kept showing up — not because they had it all figured out, but because somewhere underneath the uncertainty they knew stopping would cost them something they couldn't afford to lose. 🎙️

We spend so much time thinking about what we teach our children. This episode flips that entirely.My 3 year old daughter and 5 year old son have quietly, consistently and completely without knowing it been teaching me things I spent years trying to learn. About confidence, curiosity, forgiveness, presence, friendship and joy.In this episode I share 10 things my children do better than me — and what every mother can learn from paying closer attention to the small people she is raising.Because motherhood isn't just about raising children. It's about being raised by them too.→ Making friends without overthinking it→ Asking for what you want without apologising→ Living fully in the present moment→ Forgiving quickly and moving on→ Finding joy in the smallest things→ Never saving the best for a special occasionFor the mother who sometimes forgets that the greatest leadership course of her life is already happening — right in her own home.

In the 1990s she lied about working from home.Not because she was ashamed. Because working from home as a young mother wasn't considered real work.Thirty years later — her kids are grown, she has four grandchildren, and she is just getting started on her next chapter.Adrian Miller is a writer, Content Alchemist and grandmother who has lived the full arc of ambitious motherhood. And what she has to say about it — looking back from the other side — is some of the most honest and grounding wisdom we all need to hear. In this episode:→ The lie she had to tell — and how COVID normalised what she was doing thirty years ago→ The working mother vs stay at home mother divide — then and now→ What grandparenting teaches you that parenting never could→ What children actually need to see from ambitious mothers — and it isn't perfection→ Ambition at every life stage — why it doesn't end when the kids grow up, it evolvesFor the mother who is in the thick of it right now and needs to hear from someone who has been there, come out the other side and is still building something magnificent.The long view changes everything.

This is the episode I almost didn't record.Because life has been full lately. Really full. And sometimes showing up feels like one thing too many.But that's exactly why I did.Because Mambition isn't something I do when I have capacity. It's something that gives me capacity. And there's a difference.In this episode I talk honestly about the never ending juggle — and what actually makes it possible to keep showing up even when everything is stretched.For the mother who is wondering how anyone finds the capacity for anything beyond survival right now.You don't need more time. You need to know what fills you.And then protect it fiercely. 💛

She was the only girl on her rugby team.And twenty five years on a pitch became one of the most important foundations of her life.Not because of the sport itself. But because of what it built. The ability to receive feedback pragmatically. Without making it personal. To extract what's useful and leave the rest. To show up regardless.Laura Jenkins is a commercial litigation partner at Stewarts. Two children. Full time.What does it actually takes to stay at the top when the world quietly expects you to step back?In this episode:→ How rugby built her foundation for receiving feedback — pragmatically, without making it personal→ What it took to stay at partner level after having children — and the reframe that made it possible→ The culture shift that happens when senior people are visibly human — why normalising life outside work benefits everyone→ Why motherhood made her a sharper lawyer and a more open minded humanIt's a story about the foundations that don't show up on a CV — and carry you further than anything that does.

I did these things before I had children. At the time I had no idea how much they would matter.The solo trips. The career risks. The financial discipline. The comfort I built with my own company. None of it felt like preparation. It just felt like living.But on the other side of becoming a mother — I understand something I couldn't have understood then. Everything I built before my children arrived became the foundation I didn't know I was laying.In this episode:→ Solo travel — on going your own way before you know where you're going→ Career risks — why making my career fluid early means motherhood never had to box me in→ Financial discipline — the habits I built in my 20s that serve me even more now→ Learning to enjoy my own company — and why that changes everything as a mother→ Investing in myself — because there is a version of me outside of motherhood that is equally worthy of the journeyFor the mother who is glad she lived fully before she had children — and is living fully because of it.

She didn't know she had ADHD until she became a mother.Not because motherhood caused it. Because motherhood exposed it.The sleepless nights, the relentlessness, the sheer volume of what is required — all of it revealed something that had always been there but never had anywhere to hide.So she went looking. And what she found changed everything — for her and for her children.In this episode:→ What motherhood exposed that years of coping mechanisms had hidden→ The ADHD diagnosis — and what it felt like to finally have language for it→ Building a life that works for your brain rather than against it→ Why the label isn't the point — understanding yourself is→ How she is giving her children the language to understand themselves — not as disadvantaged but as different. And how that same lens is teaching them to recognise and celebrate difference in everyone around them.For the mother who has ever felt overwhelmed in a way she couldn't quite explain.And for anyone who has wondered whether understanding themselves differently might change everything.

Nobody tells you that motherhood will make you more yourself. Not less.More confident. More direct. Less embarrassed. Less interested in wasting time on things that don't matter. More willing to lie down on a stranger's picnic blanket — metaphorically speaking. My 3 year old does it literally.This episode is about the growth that sneaks up on you. The version of yourself that motherhood quietly builds while you're busy building your family. In this episode:→ Why I now have strong opinions about a good thermos flask→ The gym replacing going out — and why that brings me the same amount of joy→ Dropping the filter when it comes to people — and what my 3 year old taught me about that→ Why I genuinely believe nothing good is happening after 9pm and I am completely at peace with that→ How motherhood rewired my self awareness, my spending, my confidence and my relationship with timeFor the mother who thought she was losing herself — and found out she was just getting started.

Rashi Kakkar started Decks and Diapers when she first became a mother.Not because she had time. She didn't.Because something in her needed to make sense of what was happening. The identity shift. The career tension. The feeling that motherhood and ambition were supposed to be opposites and yet somehow she couldn't accept that.She is a global leader at McKinsey & Company, a mum of two including a newborn, and knows what it takes to keep building when life is already full.In this episode:→ Why she felt compelled to create something of her own alongside a demanding career — and what it gave her that nothing else could→ The hard seasons behind the newsletter — and what kept her going→ What 100+ conversations with working parents revealed that nobody wants to say out loud→ What dual ambition actually looks like from the inside — the full picture, not just the highlight reelFor the mother who knows that creating something of her own isn't indulgent.It's necessary.All views expressed are Rashi's personal opinions and do not reflect the views of any organisation she may be a part of.

My period leaked in a store. And honestly? It made me think.Because the version of me from 5 or 6 years ago would have been mortified. This version found it more inconvenient than anything else. And the fact that I'm talking about it on a podcast says everything.In this episode:→ What that moment revealed about how far I've come - and how little I saw it coming→ Childbirth as the first barrier -how giving birth stripped away my body consciousness in a way nothing else could→ From hiding in toilet cubicles to changing rooms, naked swims and podcast microphones - the quiet journey to feeling at home in my own body→ How body confidence became life confidence - and why I'm taking more risks now than I ever did beforeFor the mother who didn't realise motherhood was building her confidence until she was already standing in it. 💛

She worked while she was in labour. Not because she wanted to. Because no plan existed.And in that moment -- somewhere between contractions and conference calls - Alexa Starks decided she was done helping women survive a broken system. It was time to fix it.So she did something most of us only dream about. She packed up her family, left America, and moved to the Netherlands - for schools that trust children to be children, healthcare that trusts the body to heal, and streets where her children could simply belong.And then she got to work.In this episode:→ Working while in labour - the moment everything changed→ Leaving America - what the decision really cost and what it gave her family→ Executive Moms and Mothered Magazine - why she stopped coaching women to cope and started fixing the system→ The Maternal Strengths Report - 97% of mothers feel they became better leaders. Only 20% had a return to work plan.→ National Working Motherhood Week - one million working mothers, free practical support, this SeptemberThis one is for the mother who has ever quietly survived something that should never have been her problem to solve alone.And for anyone who has looked at the life they built and found the courage to build a better one.

My 5 year old son threw something and broke it.He apologised. And a few days later I almost brought it up again but stopped myself.Because his apology was meant to close the matter. And dragging it back out wouldn't have been self protection. It would have been punishment.That moment changed how I think about forgiveness entirely.In this episode:→ The incident: what happened, what I almost did, and what stopped me→ What motherhood teaches us about forgiveness - how raising children turns it from a grand gesture into a quiet daily choice→ The wider application: friendships, relationships, and ourselves - the difference between forgetting and forgiving, between keeping score and choosing the relationship→ Modelling forgiveness: my son is sensitive and hard on himself - what I show him now about letting things go becomes the voice in his head when he makes his own mistakesFor the mother who wants to love better, hold things more loosely - and raise children who know how to forgive themselves too.

She was told art wouldn't pay. So she did the sensible thing.Years working in a law firm - capable, competent, but never quite in her own vision. She was good at it. And something was always slightly off.It took a power cut, a redundancy, and a breastfeeding epiphany to crack things open. And she found her way back.Leanne Pearce is a portrait artist, twice shortlisted for Portrait Artist of the Year, and the woman who walks into the moments most of us look away from - the ICU, the hospice, the families mid-grief. She calls it care work. After this conversation, you'll understand exactly why.In this episode:→ The creative identity she was talked out of - and how she reclaimed it→ What it actually costs to sit with grieving families and turn that into art→ The empathy that is both her greatest gift and her greatest challenge→ How she built her most important work in the margins of motherhoodFor the woman who was told to be practical - and never quite stopped hearing the pull of something more.

Raising children is expensive. Nobody is pretending otherwise.But motherhood will also expose everything about how you use money - the stories you tell yourself, the happiness you think you can buy, the things you spend on without ever asking why.In this episode:The myth: My daughter played with homemade playdough for four hours at nursery. At Christmas, the presents lasted 30 minutes. The box they came in lasted longer than the toys.How we see money: Are we spending for them — or for us? And where do we draw the line between giving our children everything and teaching them that everything needs to be given?What money is actually for: Freedom. Experiences. The people and passions that truly matter. For the mother who already knows money isn't the villain.Unconscious spending is.

Maternity redundancy isn't just an HR issue. It's a confidence heist.Caroline didn't just lose a job. She lost her professional identity, her routine, the quiet confidence that comes from knowing you're good at something and being seen for it. According to Pregnant Then Screwed, up to 74,000 women in the UK are forced out of work every year while pregnant or on maternity leave. The process is often technically legal. And almost always dehumanising.Caroline's was no different. A calendar invite. A glass-walled room. Colleagues watching. No privacy. No dignity.She went on to found Upsource, a multi-award winning VA agency, host her own podcast for mothers in business, and become a Goldman Sachs 10K alumna. She built all of it after the glass-walled room.In this episode we talk about what that day actually felt like, why outsourcing is really about seeing time differently when you have children, why financial independence is non-negotiable for women, and what it genuinely looks like to build a business alongside motherhood — the real version, not the highlight reel.This isn't about resilience as a buzzword. It's about building a life that couldn't be taken from you in a glass-walled room - one your children grow up watching you choose every single day.

Hot coffee. A gym membership. A pair of earphones. None of it costs much - and all of it changed everything.In this episode:The thermos flask: The tiny thing that makes me feel like I got the best end of the deal - even at the park on a Tuesday morning.The gym: Why I leave the house when my kids do - and what it means to meet them again from a place where I've done something for me.Earphones: On protecting the things that make you feel most like yourself, even when time is scarce.For the mother who knows she doesn't have to choose between being present for her kids and building herself. You can do both -and it doesn't have to cost a lot.

Ashmita Randhawa is Director of R&D at Sunderland Software City, Visiting Professor at the National Innovation Centre for Data, and Co-Lead at the Hartree Centre. She has led global teams, holds a PhD, and is deeply passionate about the role of AI and data in shaping what comes next.She is also a mum to a 7-year-old daughter.Her mum passed away before she could see her become a mother. That loss is woven through everything - the warmth she brings to every room, the community she builds everywhere she lands, the mother she has chosen to become.In this episode:→ Building community when your family isn't close — why it requires intentionality→ Raising a daughter across two cultures and making sure she holds both with confidence→ Do-nothing days alongside swimming and dancing - teaching stillness and curiosity in equal measure→ AI, curiosity and how to talk to your children about the world they're actually growing up in→ The legacy of a mother who made everyone feel warm and seenThis one is for the mum building belonging from scratch.And for anyone who has lost someone and found, quietly, that grief became the thing that grounds them.All views expressed are Ashmita's personal opinions and do not reflect the views of any organisation she may be a part of.

Mother's Day just passed. There were flowers. There was cake. And then I went to the gym.In this episode:Being celebrated: What it means to receive fully — and why so many mothers rush past it.This is the life I once dreamed of: Why motherhood is something I never, ever take for granted.After the cake is eaten: The other part of Mother's Day nobody talks about — pouring into yourself. Deliberately. Unapologetically.The mum I am becoming: Why the inner work I do on myself is the most important work I do for my children.For the mother who loves being celebrated — and knows that choosing herself is part of the celebration too.

Work isn't just a paycheck — for mums who care, it's identity, purpose, and proof that they exist beyond their caring role.Charlie Beswick spent 16 years as a teacher while caring for her son with complex needs. When she had to step back from full-time teaching, she didn't just lose a job — she lost a piece of herself.In this episode, Charlie opens up about the invisible labour, the false choice society places on mother-carers — be a devoted mum OR have a career — and why that binary is not only wrong, but damaging."Give us an inch and we'll give you a mile." — Charlie BeswickThis episode is for the mums doing the invisible work before the working day even begins. The ones carrying a life of logistics, appointments, and quiet grief behind the scenes. But it's also more than that — it's for anyone who has scrolled past a "typical family" Christmas post and felt the weight of what could have been. You're not alone. And this is exactly the conversation you didn't know you needed to hear.