Mother of All Solutions

To mark the end of Mother of All Solutions, this episode is a conversation with two great friends and previous guests of the podcast, Lily Anderson-Nicholls and Kate Burt. Lily is an HR Professional and Kate a journalist - we discuss both our personal and the societal contexts for working parents today, and what's changed over the 6 years of making Mother of All Solutions.  As with all good conver...

In this episode Laura interviews Rumi Bose, urban designer and regeneration consultant. Rumi set up her own business 18 months ago after a successful career working in local authority. Whilst she was at Southwark Council she had her three boys now aged 12, 9 and 5. We discuss what motivated her to train as an urban designer (her second career) and what inspires her in this field and the types of r...

In this episode host Laura Broderick speaks with co-owner of Home Grown Brixton, Gill Springer.  Gill runs the cafe and catering business with chef Portia Eyeson. Both are mothers and Gill a grandmother. They are working hard to offer great food and a new community space in their home area of south London. They are using their skills and friendship to grow their community catering business.  Both...

In this Special Episode I share an interview with photographer Rachel Larsen from the Creativity Found podcast. I enjoyed listening to Rachel speak about her work and family life with host Claire Waite Brown, and am delighted to now be able to share it with listeners of Mother of All Solutions. Rachel is a writer and photographer who documents and is commissioned to take pictures of families. She...

Hello and Happy Father's Day! For this special episode I talk with my manager and three of my colleagues who are all dads.  We discuss hybrid working, sharing the juggle with your partner, being vocal about your role and life as a dad and more! We also just have some nice chats about our kids.  I hope you enjoy the episode and it's useful to see how a group of colleagues can support each other thr...

In this special episode of Mother of All Solutions, recorded at The Podcast Show 2024 London / Shure stand, we have guest Samantha Baines - actor, comedian, author, broadcaster and "new mum".  Sam shares her career choices, chats about her podcast The Divorce Social, and talks about living with hearing loss and writing books based on her experiences of being deaf. She shares information on her pre...

For this final episode of the Spring 2024 mini-series of Mother of All Solutions, I am pleased to share an interview with Donna Bloye (winner) and Steven Broughton (semi-finalist) from series seven of the Great Pottery Throwdown.  Fans of the series will have enjoyed watching them on screen and like me picked up a strong sense of their love for pottery and ceramics, but also their role as parents....

This episode was recorded at the Mothers in Music all-day festival on 7 March 2024 at the Mount Without venue in Bristol.  Organised by Alice Ballantine Dykes of Mama Coaching, with a team of producers (mothers and musicians) - “a collective of mothers challenging norms to stay visible, valued and celebrated in the music industry.” The event included wonderful performances, along with discussions...

In this episode I talk with Harriet Williams, Deputy Leader of the Women's Equality Party (WEP). I initially interviewed Harriet back in the beginning of making Mother of All Solutions podcast when Harriet worked as a 'Young Parent Consultant'. She still works in many roles and in this episode mentioned supporting:  Care experienced parents:  https://www.barnardos.org.uk/research/care-experienced-...

It was a pleasure to speak about momfluencer culture with writer and podcaster Sara Petersen. Author of the book Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture, Sara shared lots of insights into the moms and mums of social media.  It was fascinating to hear more and also reflect on mumfluencer culture in the UK, and our relationships with influencers and shari...

This first episode of the new series of Mother of All Solutions is an interview with Katy Marks - architect and designer.  Katy talks about her career as an architect, establishing her own business and navigating maternity leave and work. She then shares about her experience of going through a single mastectomy and later designing the Unobra for asymmetric bodies.  It was a pleasure to learn more...

I am delighted to announce a new mini-series for Mother of All Solutions. This teaser contains clips from interviews with some of the amazing mothers who joined me for the podcast. Full episodes will follow on Mondays through March/April, and I am excited to share many perspectives on parenting and work over the course of the season.  I hope you enjoy listening!  #mothersday #internationalwomensda...

Hello! It's almost the holidays so this episode is a short n sweet end to the Mother of All Solutions podcast in 2023.  Featuring guest contributions from Suze Cooper, Vivi Koroma Kala and Molly Rowan, plus my mum and my daughter, there is chat about podcasts and books (my favourite things) plus a poem and a song. I really hope you enjoy it and it makes you feel festive in a friendly podcasty way....

For this episode Laura interviews photographer Jannine Newman, who has adult sons and came to use the term ‘photographer’ professionally in her 50s.  We discuss her work and ambitions through the decades, and how being a mum has influenced her career moves. We also talk about looking after kids through their stages, parenting twins, ADHD in the family and more.  Jannine explains the term skill sta...

In this episode, timed with International Men’s Day 2023, Laura shares clips from a recording with dad-of-two Steve Folland, Being Freelance and Doing It For The Kids (DIFTK) podcast.  Laura and Steve spoke earlier this year as part of the DIFTK community meet up. It was a great conversation but there was a lot of chat I couldn’t squeeze into that episode - so here are some clips in this mini bonu...

A year ago I participated in Pregnant Then Screwed's event, The March of the Mummies, and recorded with parents on the march in Newcastle.  As it's been Halloween this week and there is a lot in this episode that is still relevant at the one year anniversary point I thought I would re-release it.  If you listened previously - thank you. If you missed the episode first time, I hope you enjoy it now...

In this episode Laura speaks with Rosa Schling, Co-Director of oral history production company On The Record and project manager of the Grow Your Own project, to discuss the project and the podcast series Childcare Voices. The episode was recorded at the Bishopsgate Institute in London during a childcare archive workshop day. Also on mic are participants involved in helping map the history of chil...

It was a pleasure to chat to comedian and writer Eleri Morgan about her work doing stand up and comedy writing, now as mother to an 8 month old baby. We discuss taking her son to gigs, being part of writing rooms and how to navigate work around childcare going forward.  We also discuss her documentary ‘DRYCH: Dyfodol i Dewi’ (on iPlayer for a few more days!) which follows her struggle to reconcile...

It's back to school, and a new term for MOAS too, starting with quarter-finalist Lauren Tedstone and semi-finalist Vicki Reid from the Great British Sewing Bee 2023 #sewingbee #gbsb #greatbritishsewingbee Both mums of two young children, we discuss their careers before entering the Sewing Bee, plus their work, family and sewing lives now. It was great to chat to these enthusiastic and talented sew...

I am delighted to share this episode from the Creativity Found podcast… Claire Waite Brown interviews Caro Giles, author of Twelve Moons. I loved this conversation and love Caro’s book, which outlines her life as a single mother of four daughters living in rural Northumberland. There is family, nature, isolation, rediscovery - it’s practical and emotional.  I hope you enjoy Claire’s interview abou...

Ready for new Mother of All Solutions episodes from September 2023? New to the podcast? Well, take a listen to the trailer!  Mother of All Solutions - conversations about careers and caring for today's parents. So whether you are a parent, an employer or you just love a good chat/interview style listen then MOAS is made with you in mind.  The podcast is hosted and produced by Laura Broderick, with...

In the final episode of Mother of All Solutions before a summer break, Laura speaks with Becky Lamb-Pritchard, Head of Marketing at This is Distorted, and Lucy Critchley Head of Untold Creative.  https://www.thisisdistorted.com/  https://untold-creative.com/  We discuss marketing roles and workplace cultures and settings. We share stories of life with 3 year olds, and plans for the future. It's bo...

Hannah Russell, Co-founder of Mags Creative podcast business is the guest on this episode of Mother of All Solutions.  Hannah is mum to a 3 year old, and her second child is due in a few months time. Hannah and Laura talk business and parenting - the highs, lows and parallels. We discuss the rollercoaster of founding a company (Mags recently turned 5!) and being a mother, boundaries in both profes...

For this recording, host Laura Broderick speaks with Lauren Ingram, Founder of Women of Web3, a community helping women around the world make the leap into the exciting new world of Web3. We discuss Web3 - what it is, and what Lauren is doing to support women learn more about its potential. We then talk about Lauren’s pivot and career shift during her pregnancy and various aspects of life as a ‘wo...

In this episode Laura interviews Katie Carr - author, business coach, mum and kayaker. Katie is currently on a huge adventure to plan and kayak the remaining areas of the shipping forecast that her late brother, Toby Carr, wasn’t able to complete.  Katie finished the book 'Moderate Becoming Good Later - Sea Kayaking the Shipping Forecast' earlier this year - this is the book Toby hoped he would ha...