The Mummafesto

Orla leads Solas Coaching. After her own single and co-parenting journey, she now works with both single parents, empowering them to navigate their unique challenges as well as with workplaces, to develop tailored policies and training to support single parents. Orla recently authored a report on how to build workplaces that work for single parents, arguing that this is a way to both unlock potent...

Joining me on the Mummafesto this week is Michelle Niziol. Michelle has spent more than two decades building and scaling companies across property, finance, and investment. From being on the brink of homelessness at 17 to running seven successful businesses – and even being fired in week one of The Apprentice.  She is also a Mum of two and an advocate for female entrepreneurship. In June this...

My guest this week is Dr Laura Abbott, whose research career has been dedicated to studying the experiences of pregnant women in the prison system. She co-authored The Birth Charter for pregnant women in England and Wales. She has contributed to Government reviews on how staff can manage and care for pregnant women and mothers in prison. She leads the Lost Mothers project, explores the experiences...

Joining me on The Mummafesto this week is professor of sociology, Tina Miller. Tina’s research covers all things motherhood and fatherhood, reproductive health and constructions of gender. Tina, welcome to The Mummafesto.   You can find out more about Tina's work and her publications here . Her latest book is 'Motherhood: Contemporary Experiences and Generat...

Joining me on The Mummafesto this week is Becca Ehrlich. Becca is a Walthamstow local and founder of the noisy book club, designed to help teach parents how to support their children both in their education and emotionally. Becca’s mission is to teach parents alongside their children, creating a resilient household in which everyone can support and be suppor...

Joining me on The Mummafesto is the indomitable Liuba Grechen Shirley. Liuba is the founder of the Vote Mama Foundation, the leading source of research and analysis about the political participation of moms. Liuba became the first woman in history to receive federal approval to spend Campaign Funds of childcare, gaining support from Hilary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren.

Helen is the Convenor of The Centenary Action Group, the UK’s largest coalition of women’s rights activists and organisations. The Centenary Action Group advocates for the development, improvement and implementation of laws and policies that reduce or remove the barriers to women’s political participation    Helen is the great granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaught...

Joining me on The Mummafesto this week is founder of Beyond the School Run, Louise Webster. Beyond the School Run was founded as a place to help parents utilise their skills and talents and help businesses connect with this talent. Since then, Louise has published her first book, ‘A new way for mothers’.  

Joining me on The Mummafesto this week is the author and researcher Alex Bollen.  Formerly a research director at Ipsos MORI, Alex has recently published her first book, 'Motherhood: Breaking free from bad science and good mother myths' - exploring how motherhood has been weaponised by science and the state and the inherently political nature of motherhood. Alex, welcome to The Mummafesto. Yo...

Joining me this week on The Mummafesto is Georgie Harris and Bex Taylor, founders of Mums Who Build. Mums Who Build is a space for women navigating motherhood, business and career growth, focusing on financial security and tackling the motherhood penalty. It was born out of their own experience of managing careers and parenting. MOB, welcome to The&nbsp...

Joining me on The Mummafesto this week is Arooj Shah. Arooj is a Labour politician and has been the leader of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council in Great Manchester since May 2023. Arooj has had a a long and varied career in local Government and was the first Muslim woman to charge of a council in the north of England. Arooj, welcome to The Mummafesto.  

Joining me on The Mummafesto this week is Guardian columnist and political correspondent, Gaby Hinsliff. Gaby is the former editor of The Observer and editor at large of Grazia magazine. In 2012 Gaby published 'Half a Wife:The Working Family's Guide to Getting a Life Back'. Half a Wife is based on Gaby's own experience of trying to balance a family life with a rewarding career. Gaby, welcome to Th...

Joining me on The Mummafesto this week is Bev Craig. Bev is a Labour politician, serving as the leader of Manchester City Council. Bev is the city council’s first female and LGBT leader and during her time as leader has made significant strides in provision for children and young people in Manchester. Bev is also a founder and co-chair of Open Labour.  

Joining me for The Mummafesto Mother's Day special, and the one year anniversary of the podcast, is author and campaigner Laura Bates. Laura is the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project, an ever-increasing collection of over 200,000 testimonies of global gender inequality and author of several books on misogyny and sexism. Her most recent book, Fix the System, Not the Women was named on...

My guest this week is Beverley Pannell. Beverley is the founder of Motherhood Uncensored and mum to a toddler. After facing fertility issues, baby loss and a traumatic birth Beverley felt there was so much missing from our conversations around motherhood. Motherhood Uncensored began as a platform to share stories and collectively work through the misogyny that surrounds modern motherhood but...

My guest this week is Marvyn Harrison. Marvyn is the father of two small children and the  founder of Dope Black Dads. Beginning as a solidarity whatsapp chat with fellow fathers, Dope Black Dads has now grown into a global community with over 250,000 members in the UK, US and South Africa, helping dads with everything from new fatherhood to finances to problems your child may face at sc...

This week's guest is Ashley James, the TV presenter and DJ. Ashley started out her career in Made in Chelsea but has now moved into being a commentator and journalist on a number of platforms, including on the Jeremy Vine Show, GB News, and indeed This Morning. Ashley is a fearsome campaigner for women's rights, having spoken out on a range of issues, including sexual harassment, the rights for si...

My guest this week is broadcaster and journalist Jemma Forte. Jemma has been a professional presenter for over twenty years and began her career at Disney Channel. Jemma is now a regular on Sky News, BBC, Jeremy Vine and was formally a presenter and panelist on Channel 5’s current affairs show ‘The Wright Stuff’.   For the last two years Jemma has hosted popular politics podcast, The Tra...

Joining me this week is journalist and author Rachel Johnson. Rachel was the first female graduate trainee at the Financial Times and has since written weekly columns for the Sunday telegraph, daily telegraph and evening standard. She is a contributing editor of The Spectator and now writes a weekly column in the The Mail on Sunday. From 2009-2012 she was editor of The Lady, Britain’s longest-runn...

My guest this is blogger, campaigner and founder of grassroots organisation Five X More, Tinuke Awe. Five X More is an organisation committed to changing and highlighting Black maternal outcomes in the UK and was founded following Tinuke’s own experience with traumatic birth. She's also a campaigner on Autism in the black community. In April this year, Tinuke received an Inspirational Women Award...

Joining me this week is Vyki Sparkes, otherwise known as Museum Mum. After gaining a Masters in Museum studies and working at some of London’s best museums, Vyki founded Museum Mum to help families find great cultural activities and share her own families’ adventures with trip reviews and reports. Since 2012 Vyki’s platform has grown to over 40k families taking her recommendations for the UK’...

Joining me this week is author Daisie Lane. Daisie is the founder of the Lockdown Mama Community and author of Mothers in Lockdown – a collection of stories from mothers sharing their experiences of pregnancy, birth and postpartum during a global pandemic. The book collates 150 honest accounts of mothering amid a challenging period in history and the devastating impact that maternity restrict...

My guest this week is Jemima Hartshorn. Jemima is a human rights lawyer, public prosecutor and clean air campaigner. In 2017 she founded Mums for Lungs, a grassroot campaign group advocating for clean air in London. Since 2017, Mums for Lungs has become central in the fight for clean air – leading several successful campaigns to reduce children’s exposure to harmful pollutants and affirming the po...

My guests this week are comedy duo, Ellie and Helen – otherwise known as the Scummy Mummies. They joined forces in 2013 and have since gone on to produce an award-winning podcast, a sell-out tour and a popular book. Their podcast, the Scummy Mummies Podcast, has now been downloaded over 5 million times and in 2020 won the Glomama UK podcast trophy. Scummy Mummies, welcome to the Mummafesto. &...

My guest this week is Natasha Devon. Natasha is a writer, broadcaster & activist. She tours schools and universities delivering talks as well as conducting research on mental health, body image, gender and equality. She campaigns both on and offline to make the world a fairer place. Natasha is founder of the Mental Health Media Charter, which scrutinises the way the media report on mental heal...