Giselle spent 25 years co-founding, growing, and selling three businesses while raising two daughters.

Then, she hit a point where something had to change so she returned to university in her 40s and completed a PhD on women, work, and well-being.

But instead of just researching the problem, she used it to solve something in herself - and created a roadmap for other women in the process.

In this episode, we discuss:

→ Building and walking away - why she exited three successful businesses she'd built

→ The honest answer to "can women really have it all?" - after living it and researching it

→ Setting boundaries as a woman and mother - why this isn't selfish, it's survival

→ Preparing for empty nest - what comes next when her daughters (now 15 and 17) leave home

Giselle didn't just study work-life balance. She lived it, broke under it, then rebuilt differently.

:Not many women go back to university in their 40s to study the exact problem they're living. Giselle did. And what she found will change how you see ambition and motherhood.

Alex's son recorded a video inviting Tiffany's children to come to the museum with him. It was spontaneous, confident, and brave. And it got us thinking...maybe this is one of the most underrated skills we can teach our children.

The ability to go first. To invite people to do things. To ask. To put yourself out there. And most importantly, to not take it personally when someone says no, can't, or isn't interested.

This isn't an academic skill. It's a life skill. One that builds confidence, resilience, and the ability to handle rejection without internalising it.

When we look at our own lives now, we realise: we have richer, more enjoyable experiences because we invite people to things. We ask. We go first.

But at the foundation of this skill is something deeper: confidence. Our children need to know they are loved, special, and valued. That's where it starts. Because when they know their worth isn't tied to whether someone says yes or no, they can ask freely.

And that changes everything.

Lucy spent 20 years as an international TV journalist covering war zones in Iraq, Ukraine, and the Middle East. Then she became a mum to a son with autism - and realised her career wouldn't bend around the life she needed.

But instead of scaling back her ambitions, Lucy rebuilt them entirely.

In this episode, we discuss:

→ The moment she knew journalism had to end - being told to get on a plane with no notice, zero schedule control

→ The turning point - realizing her nervous system directly affected her son's, making presence essential

→ The constant pivot - from Airbnbs to coaching to courses, leveraging her existing skills (storytelling, camera presence) to build a business that sold 50,000+ courses

→ The real price of building this way - 5am starts, navigating a big life change, and why it was worth it

→ Creating passive income and flexibility - building a business model that lets you be present without sacrificing ambition

Lucy didn't shrink her ambitions to fit motherhood. She rebuilt them around it.

If you're tired of choosing between being present and being ambitious, this conversation will show you there's a third option.

When do you finally get to start living your life?

When the kids sleep through the night? When they start school? When you have a balanced day?

My 2-year-old daughter was sick last week, nursery cancelled, work piling up. I had every reason not to go to the gym.

But I went anyway — and on the way there, it hit me: I've been waiting for a full stop that's never coming.

Here's the thing: life with young children IS the trenches. The coffee goes cold. You sit down to eat and someone needs water. You haven't drunk water yourself all day. There's always another nursery event, clothes they've grown out of, another illness coming. It's relentless.

So instead of waiting for life to settle before I start living, I'm learning to live IN the chaos.

I want to know that waiting until they leave home to discover who I am means losing 15 years of becoming. That the margins aren't second-best — they're where life actually happens. That I can start a podcast in my dressing gown without makeup, go to the gym when I "don't have time," build systems that make the impossible possible. That progress beats perfection every single time. That self-compassion isn't soft — it's what keeps me going when I miss a week.

Because maybe the goal isn't to wait for the full stop... but to build a life worth living in the commas. The chaos doesn't end. But you can live anyway — with systems, audacity, and kindness toward yourself.

What happens when a Fortune 500 exec stops hiding her identity as a mother at work and starts leading with it instead?

Lucy Watkins, mum of two, had a realisation: the same leadership skills she used at work - structure, empathy, communication, strategy - could transform her family life too. She stopped hoping things would just work out.

She started designing them.

The result? She went from burnout to impact, won an Employee Award for changing workplace culture around parenting, and created The Family Playbook - a weekly rhythm that helps ambitious parents move from surviving to thriving.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why "work-life balance" is BS and what intentional integration actually looks like
• How she built a Family Playbook the same way she builds team playbooks at work
• The visibility revolution: bringing your full self to work instead of compartmentalising
• Why motherhood became her leadership superpower (not her limitation)
• Weekly rhythms vs rigid schedules
• Energy management over time management, presence over perfection

Lucy doesn't treat family life as something that happens TO you - she treats it as something you LEAD. Because leadership starts at home.

What do you teach your children about hard times when you know you can't protect them from everything?

Not if they'll face heartbreak, loss, or situations they didn't see coming — but when?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. The person I am today was shaped largely by hard times. This podcast wouldn't exist without those experiences. Not just the recording or content — but going through difficult things forced me to learn resilience, find joy, be disciplined.

Here's the thing: I can love my children with every breath and still know I can't shield them from life's hardest lessons.

So instead of trying to prepare the world for them, I'm preparing them for the world.

I want them to know that people will show up differently in hard times — and that's about capacity, not care. That healing is theirs to build, like a warrior seeking out the dragon before it burns down the village. That there's a better version of them waiting on the other side of pain. That even in the darkest moments, life is still passing by — and finding joy in small things isn't giving up, it's choosing to live.

Because maybe the goal isn't to spare them from hard things... but to give them the foundation to move through them with grace, self-respect, and unshakeable resilience.

Are you undercharging while working too hard?

Helen Walker—Mindset Ninja for Female Founders—reveals why so many women struggle with imposter syndrome, underpricing, and the belief that wanting money is greedy.

Helen shares her own journey with imposter syndrome and how even successful women attribute their wins to "luck" rather than skill, leading to burnout and playing small.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why women apologize for making money (while men don't)
• The subconscious beliefs keeping you stuck and how to rewire them
• Helen's game-changing advice: double your prices and practice saying them out loud
• How visibility—in your own way—transforms your business
• Why having money means having power to outsource the drudgery and reclaim time for what matters most
• How teaching these mindset tools to the next generation can change the world

If you're ready to charge more, work less, and make the time you spend away from your kids truly count—this episode is for you.

What happens when your 4-year-old — the child who wouldn't tolerate a splash of water on his sleeve — goes feral with paint at Scouts, ending up covered head-to-toe and completely unbothered?

Why do we label our children so quickly — "he's not a messy play kid" — and then act surprised when they change?

If he can change this dramatically without announcement or permission, what does that say about us?

Ten years ago, I quit my job and went backpacking for three months. The traditional girl who followed the script — school, uni, good job — suddenly buying a backpack and going off-piste. I was in a dark place and needed change. Looking back, that's where the me who podcasts, takes risks, and asks for what she wants started to emerge.

Here's the thing about motherhood: it's a chapter we've never lived before. The old ways stop working. We have less time, new priorities, a child who needs us more than ever. If we keep doing what we've always done, we'll only end up frustrated.

But what if we dared to reassess? To challenge what we think is fixed about ourselves? To do the inner work, look at our labels, and give ourselves permission to change, pivot, try new things?

Maybe thriving in motherhood isn't about bouncing back or finding yourself again... but about becoming someone new entirely.