Welcome to Episode One of Series Five; you are listening to The Dangerous Women Collective, hosted by Sophy Norris.

The launch guest of this Series is the mightyvAlev Scott, a writer whose journalism has graced The Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, and New Statesman. Following her Turkish heritage, Alev became a journalist in Istanbul, where she covered politics and cultural change, which culminated in a ban from Turkey in 2017.

After this seismic change, Alev found a new life in marriage and motherhood, but the call of investigative reporting never left her. An abundance of breast milk was the initial inspiration for her latest book Cash Cow.

In Cash Cow, published 26 February 2026, Alev lifts the lid on the booming global fertility market—egg freezing, surrogacy, breastmilk—and the complex web of profits, ethics, and human stories behind it. Her reporting blends undercover work with first‑hand accounts, bringing us close to a surrogate of twelve children, an international embryo courier, and the people who profit—and pay the price—from this industry.

Alev and Sophy explore what it takes to tell these stories with honesty, courage, and nuance, and what motherhood, career, and risk Alev must navigate in the pursuit of truth. Highlights include:

• The bravery and naivety of youth when it comes to breaking barriers and exploring new territory
• Responding to shock, managing a shift in energy and a change in purpose
• Being dangerous, even if unknowingly and how those feelings manifest
• The complexity of motherhood, and letting (or not wanting to let) our children follow in our own footsteps
• The struggles and benefits of pivoting in life and the importance of curiosity
• The importance of balance in keeping an open mind, and why starting conversations is key
• Using femininity to our advantage
• Dumbo's Feather
• Lifting the lid on an industry we know, but don't know, exists
• The uncomfortable reality of market forces defining female fertility
• The uncomfortable sexualisation of fertility

• Ottoman Odyssey - Amazon
• Cash Cow - Amazon
• The Alligator Pi Agency | LinkedIn
• LinkedIn - Sophy Norris
• Alev Scott