In this episode of The HR Big Meet Podcast, which was recorded at our live event in May 2026, Emma Djemil sits down with Laura Morton to explore what happens when your life looks successful on paper, but something inside you knows that something needs to change.

Laura was a trusted and highly regarded Head of People, working in a role she loved, with people she respected and a business she believed in. Yet despite all of that, she found herself feeling increasingly disconnected from herself, her energy and what she wanted from life.

So she did something many people only ever dream about - she left. No job lined up. No guaranteed next step. No master plan. Just a decision to trust herself and create the space to figure out what came next.

Together, Emma and Laura explore:

• What it feels like to leave a successful career without another job to go to
• The relationship between identity and work
• Why so many HR professionals ignore the signals telling them something isn't right
• Intuition, self-trust and listening to your body
• Burnout, energy and being "well resourced"
• The pressure to keep going when you know you need a break
• Why rest isn't failure
• Creating a life that works for you, not just one that looks good on paper

This is an honest, thoughtful and deeply relatable conversation about courage, self-awareness and having the confidence to choose something different when your head is telling you one thing and your heart is telling you another.

Whether you're considering a career change, feeling stuck in a role you once loved, or simply wondering what it might look like to prioritise yourself for a change, this episode is a powerful reminder that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is pause and listen.

If this episode resonated, firstly, welcome. You are very much amongst your people here.

You can connect with Emma on LinkedIn, where she spends a lot of time talking about confidence, leadership, visibility, self-trust and the realities of working in HR.

If you're at a point in your career where you're questioning things, feeling stuck, disconnected from yourself or wanting greater impact without sacrificing your entire nervous system in the process, Emma also works with women in HR through 1:1 coaching. Find out more about that here.

If you enjoyed this episode, do all the lovely podcast-y things: subscribe, leave a review, share it with your HR bestie, or stick it on LinkedIn so more women realise they're not the only ones feeling this stuff.

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