HR expert and content creator behind @itsjessfromHR and mum to two young boys, Jess Dunne brings a professional lens to working parenthood: legislation, employer responsibility, and why "default parent" is really about the mental load, not the task list.

Full Show Notes

Jess spent over a decade in corporate HR roles before building her own platform across social media after noticing a gap from the inside: HR has become more strategic and less accessible to individual employees, leaving many without anywhere to turn for honest, practical guidance on their workplace rights.

Her second maternity leave became the turning point that let her build the business properly, growing @itsjessfromHR into a platform sharing legislation updates and practical workplace guidance to fill that gap, amassing almost 70,000 followers on Instagram and almost 30,000 on TikTok.

In this conversation, Jess and Hannah dig into the same "default parent" question Hannah now asks every guest — a question Hannah's own TikTok on the topic turned genuinely divisive, sparking comments ranging from "great communication" to accusations she didn't love her own kids. Jess offers the clearest professional framing yet: default parent isn't about who does more tasks, it's about who carries the mental load — often shaped less by choice than by instinct and social conditioning.

The conversation also turns personal: both Jess and Hannah lost a parent young — Jess her mum at 19, Hannah her dad at 22 — and they talk candidly about how that's shaped their approach to building their own families. Jess speaks openly about the guilt of loving her commute and her time away from her boys, the anxiety of being replaced while on maternity leave, and closes with blunt, practical advice for any employer listening about what real flexibility looks like.

Topics covered:

• Building a social media platform from the ground up

• Legislation, employer responsibility, and what "flexible working" actually means beyond WFH

• The "default parent" question — mental load vs. task-splitting, and the backlash Hannah's TikTok on the topic received

• Guilt around enjoying time away from your kids, and anxiety about being "replaced" on maternity leave

• Losing a parent young, and how that's shaped both Jess and Hannah's approach to family

• Protecting a no-phone boundary at home, and the tension of running a social platform alongside it

• Practical advice for employers on engaging working-parent employees, not just accommodating them

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