When I was a child I could visualise myself as Olympic champion in the 100m/200m sprints and long jump. I absolutely LOVED running and watching athletics (I still love watching but less so the running). I was inspired by the great Olympians of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Michael Johnson, Denise Lewis, Maurice Green and Alison Felix just to name a few.

Your career is an opportunity for growth and self discovery. Over time you will have a view of what you are good at, what you enjoy, what your values are, what you want to achieve and why, and most importantly what you don’t like

I can relate to the reality that as a woman we can’t have it all, but why would we want it all? And by all I mean the things we’ve somehow picked up over our life journeys that have become expectations and a benchmark for measuring success. So called perfection, the always present mum, CEO potential with a career trajectory to ‘die for’, well put together at all times, best of friend with time for catch-ups, amazing wife, and the list just goes on..

Planning pregnancy can be challenging, especially from the viewpoint of a working woman, one who is ambitious and wants to advance in her career. One question we all want answered is, when is the perfect time to have a baby? By this I mean, is there a time in ones life and career where having a baby will cause minimal impact to your career progression or planned growth and development at work?

Most of us go to work to get paid, to pay the bills and afford the life we choose to live. If we’re lucky we also have a job that we enjoy, one that provides professional development and growth, flexibility and work-life balance amongst other things. Given that getting paid, is in most cases the driving factor for us being at work, it is surprising that pay is still such a taboo subject.

One key issue is gender stereotypes and biases. To challenge the status quo and move the dial on gender equality, we need more men to challenge stereotypes, confront bias, and leverage their expertise and networks to benefit women in the workplace. Interestingly, LeanIn.org found men who work well with women and tap the full talents of their teams outperform their peers .

From March 2020 I found myself working from home with my 2 year old daughter and a baby on the way. Suddenly I had to balance being an employee, mummy, teacher and cook all at the same time! To say it was challenging would be an understatement. Combined with adjusting to this ‘new normal’ I was also working in a completely new role at work and so had a steep learning curve…