What happens when life throws you the biggest plot twist imaginable and you’ve no choice but to crack on?

In this raw, funny and beautifully honest episode of It’s Got Pockets, I sit down with the brilliant Gemma Ray, author, speaker, podcast host, mum and kinship foster carer to talk about what happens when “having it all” turns into holding it all together.

Gemma’s story is ever evolving and has all the curve balls.

One moment she’s running a thriving six-figure business. The next, she’s standing in a school reception, unknowingly about to change her entire life.

Within hours, Gemma and her husband were suddenly carers for two young children; a decision that reshaped everything: her business, her marriage, her identity and her belief in what makes a “mum.”

Together, we talk about:
🔥 The myth of Supermum and why we need to stop performing resilience.
🔥 Cracking on vs. cracking open and how to spot the difference.
🔥 Kinship foster care, trauma-informed parenting and the brutal beauty of doing the right thing even when it breaks you open.
🔥 The Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) model that helped Gemma rebuild connection, calm, and self-trust.
🔥 Why “And so f*cking what” might just be the mantra every woman needs in her back pocket.

This is the kind of conversation that reminds you that survival isn’t weakness, it’s wisdom.

It’s about ditching perfection, rebuilding trust in yourself and remembering that you can’t pour from a cup that’s cracked.

Expect laughter, swearing, heart and a whole lot of truth about motherhood, burnout and the reality of leading life on your own terms.

💥 Quote Moments:

• “We crack on, and crack on, until something small makes us crack open.”
• “I thought I could be Supermum. Turns out, I’m human.”
• “Self-trust is the bridge between who I was and who I’m becoming.”
• “And so f*cking what.”

🎧 Listen if you’ve ever felt:

• Tired of holding it all together
• Caught between ambition and exhaustion
• Ready to stop performing perfect and start living honest

And if you’re in in that life stage, where all the curve balls keep on coming without a break and want to be in a room where lived experience counts, where you don’t have to translate yourself and where backing yourself becomes the work, you’ll find your people through FoundHer Fire.

This is It’s Got Pockets. Stories for women with experience who are not done yet.

Now crack on.

Thanks for listening. This episode was sponsored by Birkdale Insurance Group – a people-first business with a powerhouse of talented female board members bucking the male-dominated financial services trend.

Find out more at birkdaleinsurancegroup.co.uk

Sarah is the founder of FoundHer Fire—a membership space for experienced women in business who know real success isn’t just about strategy, it’s about self; a place, a space, a community where women find their fire, for women who aren't done yet and who are ready to write their own rules of success. Sarah also co-founded The Plot Twist (un)Awards, celebrating female founders and women smashing through glass ceilings with purpose, passion and joy.

Find out more about me and how I can work with you:

• On LinkedIn
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• Or drop me an email sarah@mindthegap.academy