WorkLife Stories

In this episode, Venetia shares the story of her daughter Alice who came out as transgender at age 15. She reflects on the importance of love, listening and allowing Alice to move at her own pace. Venetia talks about the conversations she’s had with family and friends, navigating support resources and learning to become a stronger ally to the LGBTQ+ community. The conversation highlights themes of...

Leila Green speaks with Anna about her transition to motherhood with triplet boys, including the trauma of their premature birth, time in intensive care, and the extreme exhaustion of managing 24 feeds a day once home. She explains how these experiences, alongside the profound shift in her identity and daily life, led her to explore “mum guilt” as a widespread, systemic issue driven by unrealistic...

We speak with financial psychology specialist CatherineMorgan all about financial wellbeing and why each person’s approach to money should be tailored to their individual needs. Drawing on her own ADHD diagnosis, she explains how traditional tools such as budgeting can fall shortfor neurodivergent minds and shares practical alternatives that may be more effective. She also examines the impact of m...

In this interview, Dolly talks to us about her book,  Leaving the Ladder Down , which is all about ‘how to combine a career with motherhood, from the women who’ve done it’. Drawing on her own experience of having children during her career at  Vogue  and her interviews with over 200 women from a wide range of backgrounds and professions, she explores the many different ways in which people combine...

We talk to Ian about the important role that Dads play in achieving gender equality in the workplace. He discusses the challenges and ambitions he hears from fathers looking to balance home and work, including shifts in personal identity, differing approaches to taking parental leave, difficulties in challenging traditional norms and the importance of parenting ‘out loud’ at work. He talks about h...

Melissa talks to us about her career in commodities andglobal markets over the past decade at Macquarie and how the bank's Black Employee Affinity Group, BEAM has supported her. She explores the significance of mentors and female rolemodels like Managing Director and CEO Shemara Wikramanayake in her career. She tell us about BEAM, its goals and how she now champions and mentors junior bankers...

We talk to Sheila all about Multiple Sclerosis (MS), her symptoms and diagnosis and what daily work and home life looks like for her. She speaks inspiringly about clinical trials, her supportive family, friends and colleagues and her unique outlook on life and humanity.

This Mental Health Awareness Week Rob Stephenson talks to us about his own wellbeing, his passion for music and his quest to break the stigma of mental health in the workplace. He explores the importance of dialogue, role models and storytelling in helping others to feel comfortable talking about their own mental wellbeing and leaves us with simple, positive and practical tips to improve our own.

In this episode, Anna talks to self-confessed former stressaddict: Subira Jones. Subira recounts how her tendency to throw herself into work in order to cope with life’s challenges, ultimately led to her burning out. Now an advisor to global brands and individuals on stress and burnout prevention, she explains the difference between needing a break and burning out, the dangers of resilience and th...

Single parent coach Orla Donoghue talks to us about her own experience of being a single parent as well as her coaching work for both individuals and organisations. She explores the challenges that single parents face, dispels some of the assumptions that are commonly made about single parents and how employers, colleagues and friends can help.

Trigger warning: cancer. In our latest podcast, Addy talks to Anna about her diagnosis of bowel cancer in 2019 and the following 5 years of treatment and recovery, both physically and emotionally. She talks about how she found out she had cancer, working throughout treatment (alongside lockdown and home-schooling) and how her family has coped. She offers her advice to anyone suffering with cancer...

Trigger warning for baby and pregnancy loss, miscarriage and still birth. Daria courageously and openly talks to us about the devastating experience of losing her baby girl at full term. She recounts how she slowly began to heal, grieve and move forward. She tells us about her 3 daughters and how she has built a community group at the Bank of England to support others going through fertility, loss...

We talk to Jenn Barnett and Jemima Ankuma from Grant Thornton’s Diversity and Inclusion team about all things social mobility. They explain how they ensure that people of lower socio-economic backgrounds can join, progress and thrive at the firm - and the profession more broadly - and why social mobility is also a very personal passion for each of them too.

Laura Walker and Chloe Fletcher, who have shared senior finance roles at Asda, talk to Anna all about their experience of job sharing, the practical considerations and the benefits to both companies and individuals.  They explain how with their current venture, The Job Share Revolution, they support both businesses and individuals who want to explore job sharing from establishing a business case f...

We talk to Stonewall Changemaker of the Year 2022 Kayus Fernander about his career at Citi; his journey from being a private, young, black, gay junior within the bank, through to being an open, confident and active participant in and advocate of inclusion groups, initiatives and discussions. He talks about diversity groups, company culture, intersectionality and how we can be better colleagues and...

Psychologist and therapeutic coach Kyle Davies talks to us about his own experience of anxiety and depression as a young adult, the contributing factors and the natural tendency to mask and avoid situations which exacerbated it. He brings his professional expertise to the conversation, exploring his approach to therapeutic coaching, how we can build our own resilience and listen to our bodies'...

In this episode of WorkLife Stories, legal senior associate Rachel Dean tells us about her career so far, including how she started out and her move from private practice to an in-house role. She reveals the drivers for her decision to move, what she learnt from the experience and why she ultimately moved back to a law firm afterwards. She offers her advice for anyone considering a move in-house e...

In this episode, we talk to Jayne Ruff about her book entitled: Imperfect Parenting – Honest Stories from Global Parents in which she pens a chapter on balancing careers and family life. She talks about her own experiences of maternity leave, going back to work and the importance of personal values, honest emotions and flexible boundaries in our search for work life balance.

In this episode of WorkLife Stories, we talk to George Bullock and Russell Cook from Macquarie, the Australian head quartered, global financial services group. George and Russell have both been participants in Macquarie’s Pride Employee Network Group’s Reverse Mentoring Scheme and are now members of the steering group that runs it. They talk about their own experiences of reverse mentoring, how th...

Elaine Halligan , parenting coach at The Parent Practice and author of ‘My Child's Different’ tells us her story of a recent discovery that - like her son - she also has ADHD. She talks openly and inspiringly about her own traits, and how she uses them positively in her life and career. She offers her own advice and expertise for both adults and parents of children who may have ADHD or other n...

In this episode, we meet Felix Koch and Phil Burgess, the former co-heads of the London office of creative agency C Space. They talk about how they transformed an office with low morale and high attrition after a merger, to a thriving, inclusive, award-winning team. They discuss what worked and what didn't, how they set their shared goals and values alongside very different leadership styles....

In this episode, psychologist Jessica Chivers talks to us about her son who has ASD and ADHD and her daughter who has suffered from an eating disorder. She discusses how she has helped them through difficult times of the past few years, navigating different care and educational settings to get them the support they needed. She explains how looking after her own mental health and relationships has...

In this episode, Max Siegel talks to us about his lived experience of being transgender. He talks about his upbringing, his family, his feelings about his body, his mental health and the emotional and physical changes he's experienced. He also offers his advice to parents of children who may be going through something similar - and to us all as friends and colleagues of trans people.  

Dorett Jones and Pamela Jones, who are specialists in equity in the workplace and founders of the Genesis Consultancy, talk to us about how employers can create safe, healthy working cultures that help employees of any background, race, gender or sexuality to grow, develop and stay at organisations. They discuss an employee's typical journey from recruitment through to exit, where the pitfalls may...

Laura Wheeler and Caroline Murphy chat to Anna Richards about their experience of moving out of London, from the practicalities and the stress along with the emotional adjustment needed, diversity and how our identities are linked to where we live.