Amy Lewin is in the thick of it—Marketing and Commercial Director at Girls in Marketing, mum to a toddler, and pregnant with baby number two.

She gets it. The juggle. The ambition that doesn't fit into naptime. The choices you make when you refuse to wait for "someday."

In this episode:

How becoming a mother shifted her from defining herself in "boxes" (career achievements, professional identity) to full integration: work, motherhood, ambition—all overlapping, all real.

Second time around: halfway through her pregnancy with baby number two, Amy reflects on what she's doing differently this time (spoiler: less pressure, more permission).

The choices you make to focus and prioritise in this chapter of life: Amy works from home, and she won't consider an in-office job. That's a hard line.

Here's why.

Community building professionally vs. personally: she builds communities for a living, but making mum friends? That required courage she didn't expect.

Redefining ambition: what it was before (career ladder, achievements) vs. what it is now (building something her son would be proud of).

This is a conversation about integration over perfection.

About building career and family—not choosing one over the other. About second chances and doing it differently.

For mothers who refuse to wait for "someday" and are intentionally building their version of life today.

My 3-year-old daughter is living in two realities at once.

Fiercely independent one minute. Needs mummy the next. Mature beyond her years in one breath, hysterical over a lost doll at 3am in the next.

And watching her made me realise that So am I.

We're all living contradictions. Strong AND struggling. Capable AND falling apart. Confident AND completely unsure.

But somewhere along the way, we decided that as mothers, as women, as adults who "should have it figured out by now"—the contradiction isn't allowed anymore.

In this episode we explore:

Why the contradiction in us isn't weakness—it's human. Why watching our children live so freely in their contradictions can give us permission to do the same.

How to give yourself the same grace you'd give a 3-year-old in a princess dress who just woke up at 3am crying for her doll.

Because if we don't judge her for needing mummy after declaring independence...then why are we judging ourselves?

Alex and I are in the thick of it—children aged 3-5, so we were excited to ask someone on the other side: Rachel, who raised 4 kids while building a business over 25 years.

"Looking back—what actually mattered?"

Not achievements. Not milestones. Relationship.

Rachel: teacher → founder of Reading Matters → 25 years raising 4 kids (now 15-24) → the long view.

She chose slow growth to be present. Built a business ahead of its time. And now looking back, she reflects out loud.

In this episode:

Why relationship is the foundation of everything—without connection, you can't influence or teach.

How teaching emotional regulation starts with regulating your own (and why their prefrontal cortex isn't fully developed yet).

The iceberg framework: all behavior is communication—what you see is just the tip.

Helping her children navigate their own grief taught her when to guide and when to hold space.

Why reading together isn't just education—it's connection, windows into other worlds, relationship through story.

This is wisdom from the other side. From someone who's already raised the kids you're raising now.

Timely note: It's Children's Mental Health Week—this conversation about emotional regulation and seeing behaviour as communication couldn't be more relevant.

I finally had my professional photo shoot last week. Pre-kids me would've spent weeks planning—outfit anxiety, hair decisions, brooch or no brooch?

This time? I picked my dress the night before, and everything turned out amazing.

In this episode:

I talk about the shift from perfectionism to spontaneity, and why it matters beyond just photos.

How motherhood gives you the ability to access joy on command, even when the photographer says "laugh."

And why lowering your standards isn't about doing things badly—it's about doing them within your current capacity instead of waiting for perfect.

This podcast is proof of that.

We started in our dressing gowns, without the perfect idea, afraid of what people would think.

Now we're over 100 episodes in.

Sometimes good enough is exactly what you need to actually start building something meaningful and to have joy in the chaos.

She spent her entire career seeing other women as competition. Strategic. Logical. Always one step ahead.

Then motherhood hit—and showed her children aren't strategic. They're chaos.

Mandy Rees: commercial real estate lawyer → severe postnatal depression → founder of Mother for Life.

Motherhood realigned her entire career path—from competing in corporate to building spaces where women collaborate instead.

In this episode:

Why we're conditioned to see other women as threats (and how to unlearn it).

How motherhood destroyed her "logical solutions" playbook and forced a complete identity shift.

The self-confidence work that changes everything—when you genuinely like yourself, other women stop feeling like competition.

Why maternal self-sacrifice is killing us (and what to do instead).

When you're comfortable with yourself—when you take up your own space, meet your own needs, do the inner work—you see yourself clearly. Then you see others clearly.

That psychological separation is what creates collaboration instead of competition.

The cycle:

We were conditioned to compete. Taught there's only room for one successful woman.

And when we compete instead of collaborate? We pass that scarcity mindset straight to our daughters.

Working parenthood gives you skills you didn't know you'd need.

Lightning reflexes. Knowing where every toy is at all times. Remembering names at 2am. Living in the margins.

You're not just surviving. You're building something.

In this episode:

The 7 skills working parents develop (accidentally) that make the chaos somehow manageable. Why knowing where to draw the line—and when to dance right over it—is essential. How living in the margins isn't just survival. It's how you build the life you actually chose.

When you're catching coffee cups mid-air, tracking down lost trains, and finding joy even on the hardest days—you're not failing.

You're building resilience. Perspective. The ability to show up fully in the moments that matter.

The journey is chaotic. Hard. Relentless.

But in the margins, you're creating something beautiful.

And somehow, that's enough.

The hardest seasons have a way of forcing us inward—to sit with ourselves, reassess what matters, and figure out who we're actually becoming.

2025 was one of those years for me.

As we close out January, I'm sharing the 15 biggest lessons that changed how I see motherhood, myself, and what it means to build a life I actually like living.

From lowering my threshold for joy to finally ageing out of social choreography at 36.

Learning that ordinary life is the gift we forget to unwrap.

Discovering that building an identity outside of motherhood can be the ultimate multiplier for everything else.

These aren't neat, tidy lessons. They're messy, hard-won, and still unfolding.

But they're real. And if you've been in a season where life is asking more of you than you thought you had to give—this one's for you.

Let's close out the month with some hard truths and a little bit of hope.

We're more afraid of rejection as we get older.

We've learned to protect ourselves. We don't put ourselves out there anymore.

But here's what the past 6 months taught me: friendships aren't a nice-to-have. They're what carry you through.

In this episode:

Why making friends as a mother takes real courage. How the friendships you build make you show up differently - not just as a friend, but as a wife and mother too.

When you have your own people, your own identity outside of "mum" - you show up happier. More confident. With a spark that's undeniable.

Your kids see a mother with her own life. Your partner sees someone whole, not just co-dependent.

It's not selfish. It's essential.

So if you meet someone at the school gate, in the coffee shop, anywhere - and you connect?

Ask them to coffee. Risk the awkwardness.

There will come a point when those friendships stop being a luxury and become essential.