Bump to Business Owner

TRIGGER WARNING: Discussion of miscarriage Lauralee Whyte had no ambitions to be a business owner; she started her business because once she'd seen the problem, she couldn't unsee it. Spectrum speakers is a business with clear vision and values, launched after Lauralee asked herself, 'am I contributing or am I being complicit'. Having worked in the events industry for many years, Lauralee had felt...

This conversation. Just WOW. Siobhan has been so gracious in sharing what can only be described as one hell of a ride with her business. After a lot of careful business planning, bringing in a senior leadership team of 4, Siobhan went on her first ever maternity leave with her fourth and final child. The best laid plans often go awry, and how. Not only was Siobhan in a vulnerable position, coming...

Rachel Harris aka Accountant She is an impressive woman and business owner. She's taken her company from the dining table to £1.5million turnover in 4 years. And as Rachel says, 'rapidly scaling a business is rapidly scaling yourself'. Which sounds to me a lot like motherhood. Not only does Rachel and her business offer a best in class consultancy service for parental planning, but since going sel...

As someone who had the 'flagship' pregnancy in her last employment role, I wouldn't recommend it. My company at the time had no maternity policy, I was their 'test case': cue a lot of pressure and a lot of mistakes on both sides. To be expected in the startup arena where 80% of founders are men. When you're not a mum, it's just not something that you think about. Unless you are Rachel Harris aka A...

I think it's easy from the outside to look at two women building a brand on top of growing families (Laura is on mat leave as we speak!) and working full time for the NHS to think 'Oh wow, these women are unstoppable powerhouses', but I loved Gemma and Laura's honesty. The way they work isn't for everyone; it's full on. It's evenings, weekends, balls are being dropped. A conversation over bad coff...

When her contract with Meta ended, Lauren Ingram was too scared to tell anyone she was pregnant in case it jeopardised her job prospects. 106 unsuccessful applications later, Lauren decided to take the leap and turn her interest in Web3 into a business.  I think the theme that threads through our conversation is women belonging and taking up space - in tech leadership roles, as consumers, in askin...

Sophie David started Little Happy Learners in 2019 and still feels in the early days of her business; it's taken her 5 years to get clear on her vision for her business. 6 months ago Sophie set herself a deadline - go all in for a year, and if it doesn't work, go back to teaching. In that 6 months, she has seen her Instagram following grow by over 300%. Overnight growth is never overnight. Sophie...

Shim is a natural storyteller and has a really interesting and wide-ranging career behind her, every step of which has been absolutely instrumental in the business she now runs. I think what stood out for me from this conversation is the importance of self-advocacy and knowing yourself and your worth. What would you do if you found out that you didn't receive the bonus you were legally entitled to...

Wow. Rosie has one hell of a story! When Covid hit, Rosie Davies-Smith's PR agency lost 90% of its revenue overnight. She redeployed all her staff to their 'side-hustle business, PR Dispatch, which started growing exponentially. All with a newborn and a 2 year court case looming. 'It was hard, but I really enjoyed those first few months'. Let's be clear here: Rosie is incredibly honest about how h...

If you're about to go back to work post mat leave, or have just returned to work, this one is for you. Jess Heagran, Founder of Careers After Babies is on a mission to create a cohort of world class employers for working parents. If you haven't read the Careers After Babies report, I highly recommend it. It is mind blowing. I think we knew, but we didn't 'know', I didn't realise just how widesprea...

Nicky Elliot is the embodiment of the lessons of her own podcast: there is no career path. From events business, to children's clothing brand, to podcasting and consultancy, Nicky's path has been winding. Stepping away from her events business after the birth of her second child, Nicky opened a successful clothing brand in 2020, and closed it in 2023. And wow, Nicky is honest about her journey thr...

Mimi spent almost 20 years building her international advertising career when she was challenged on her leadership style, 'is it intuition or is it empathy?' Just arrived to a new country with her small daughter in tow, Mimi realised she had been mis-sold a job and faced the challenge of trying to rebuild a failing company. She realised that listening, and most of all empathy, was a superpower and...

Like so many women with corporate careers, Saasha Celestial-One decided during mat leave that it just wasn't worth the sacrifices it required. Instead, inspired by her mat leave experience, she created London's first pay-as-you-go nursery. Fiercely ambitious, Saasha and her friend and now co-founder Tessa, wanted to create a business that contributed meaningfully to the environment, and Olio was b...

If you are feeling challenged, by motherhood, by your business, this is the conversation for you. Anna Mathur, psychotherapist, best selling author and mum of 3 shares some of her wisdom on how we can live more restfully, when let's face it, as parents, sleep just isn't an option. Not only does Anna share some of her personal practices and insights into how we can all try to create that space for...

After nearly 20 years as Tom Ford's right hand woman, Whitney Bromberg-Hawkings went on maternity leave with her third child, and knew she was never going back. Mat leave was a now or never moment, Whitney knew that the nascent FLOWERBX, set up 7 months before, was a good idea, but she needed to commit. And she never looked back. There is some real honesty from Whitney in this conversation, what i...

We're back! This week, as a little taster for Season 3, coming out next week, I'm talking about the biggest, and most expensive mistake I have made to date in my business. I fully admit - I got sucked into Instagram FOMO, and let my ego take control. I'm sharing my reasons why I made the mistake, the reasons why it was the wrong decision for my business and my biggest 2 learnings from it. I want t...

After recording the final episode of Season 2 of Bump to Business Owner, Kim Hartwell, Founder of Humum, led us in a 20 minute meditation as a little pre-Christmas gift to remind you to take care of yourself, and prepare you for the festive season. We've made this available as a stand alone episode for you to listen to whenever you need a moment of calm over the festive season. Enjoy!

Kim Hartwell built a business on adventure hosting international retreats and teaching yoga, movement and breathwork face to face. And then Covid happened.  Kim's business had to pivot pretty quickly to a new online model, and then she got pregnant. A huge pivot. I really related to Kim's feelings pre birth, the "oh god, am I going to be a person that just does mum stuff now?" feeling, the mindset...

Co-Founders Alina and Dini met each other at a Founders matchmaking programme, an interesting mix of Love Island and the Apprentice! They pretty quickly started working together, both fired by their mission to stop supply chain food waste. And a lot has changed since then! Alina had a baby 9 months into their business, leaving Dini to head the business as it navigated a change of business model fr...

Another mum who found that the corporate world just wasn't for her after having kids, Laura was inspired to create Mama Bamboo when she couldn't find a sustainable nappy that fit in with her lifestyle.  Laura waited until her children were at school/nursery before committing to her business idea, and from there in her words, "it's been a real rollercoaster". From 300% growth in her first years of...

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains discussions of baby loss which may be difficult for those with similar experiences. Kat Fellows is mum of two and founder of the innovative, soon to launch revolutionary nursing bra - Lesh. With over 10 years in the beauty industry, Kat, like a lot of mums, found that the big corporate lifestyle just wasn't working for her, especially once she had children. T...

Self confessed super connector, Susie Lodge is a proud Mum to 3 little ones and founder of 2 businesses - Wiki Places for Kids and the Wiki Mama Network. I think we can all relate to Susie's description of screeching up to the office or to nursery pick ups constantly feeling like we're on the back foot or in the wrong place. And we've all felt the romantic pull of setting up on our own - desperate...

Maria has moved from the ultimate corporate jobs at Coutts and Harrods to combining her passions and running her own sustainable luxury fashion business. Maria's journey into her business sounds like a really organic process, and shows you the value of sometimes just saying yes to opportunities and working out the finer details later! Like a lot of mums, Maria was looking for a more flexible worki...

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains discussions of baby loss which may be difficult for those with similar experiences.   Lucy Legal is someone who knows pressure - a corporate legal job meant she was often working til 2am, then training with her private PT clients first thing before work. Realising that corporate life just wasn't working for her when it came to starting a family, Lucy took the...

Inspired by my chat with Lucy Legal (coming up next week, don't miss this one!) I'm talking about how I set boundaries with my clients this week. When it came to setting up my business I had very ingrained ideas about what was and wasn't acceptable for clients as a service provider - and I'm happy to admit that I was completely wrong! Listen in for my 2 top tips for communicating changes in ways o...