Anna Pawlowicz's life looked like so many others: a fulfilling career, a happy family, one son at home and another on the way. Then her second son, Matias, was born with an ultra-rare genetic condition causing lifelong disability, followed later by an autism diagnosis. Everything changed.

Anna quickly learned that parenting a child with complex needs reshapes every corner of your life: your identity, your marriage, your friendships, your career. She became case manager, researcher, advocate and round-the-clock caregiver — while somehow still showing up professionally. It's a form of invisible labor that transforms everything.

But Anna's journey didn't stop there. It became a profound reckoning with her own fears about disability and the deep stigma it holds in society. That transformation led her to found HumanKind, a Copenhagen-based consultancy redefining what inclusion actually means, not just for disabled employees, but for the growing community of parents navigating life with children who have additional needs.

In this episode, we explore what it really means to parent a child with complex needs, how that experience reshapes everything, and why this rising generation of parents is forcing workplaces to reckon with a community they've long overlooked.

I’m so honoured to have Anna here today to share her story. If you’re raising a family with additional needs, or simply want to better understand the reality of people who are, this episode is for you. Some links and resources from Anna that we mention in the episode:

1) Instagram profiles of content creators educating about disability in a fun and approachable way: Emily Ladau - @emilyladau Tina Friml - @tinafriml Nina Tame - @nina_tame Gem Turner - @gem_turner 2) Reading For parents on a similar journey: ‘Special’ - book by Melanie Dimmitt ‘Welcome to Holland’ - an essay by Emily Perl Kingsley, written for new parents of children with disabilities. https://www.angelmantoday.com/welcome-to-holland-by-emily-perl-kingsley/ For those wanting to learn more about how to be an ally to people with disabilities: ‘Demystifying disability’ - book by Emily Lady ‘Sitting Pretty’ - book by Rebekah Taussig And Anna's LinkedIn for anyone who’d like to connect - her DMs are always open: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annapawlowicz/

Hey — grab a cuppa and settle in. This episode is a heartwarming, kick-in-the-pants reminder that motherhood doesn’t have to mean the end of you. Zoe and Claire, founders of The Bored Mums Club, walk us through how two friends turned a midlife identity slump into a joyful, messy, welcoming community at the skate park.

We talk loneliness, matrescence (that endless process of becoming and re-becoming yourself), and how playfulness can heal and reconnect us to who we once were — and who we still want to be. These women show up each week at the skatepark with a group of other mums, armed with scraped shins, wobbly knees, and huge cheer squads, proving that trying something new is an act of radical self-kindness.

If you’ve ever thought, “I could never,” you’ll love the practical, gentle encouragement here: bring a friend, join a club, or DM someone online. Do the thing that makes your heart sing! Most clubs are full of beginners, and honestly, everyone’s too busy enjoying themselves to notice you fumble — and if they do, they’ll probably help you up.

This episode is both a warm hug and a dare — to reclaim fun, build a modern village of women across ages and stages, and model curiosity for the kids watching. It’s about permission: you can be playful, take up space, learn new things, and reinvent yourself at any age.

By the end you’ll feel seen, a little braver, and ready to try something that scares you — because the reward isn’t perfection, it’s the friends, confidence, and surprise joy you find along the way.

AHHH this is a big one!! In this week's episode, I sit down with the legend herself, Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed and now Growth Spurt, one of the UK's most relentless advocates for parents in the workplace. After being fired by voicemail two days after announcing her pregnancy, Joeli turned her personal story into a movement, one that has changed laws, secured billions in government investment, and supported hundreds of thousands of mothers. And the timing couldn't be better. Brand new ONS data just dropped showing that mothers lose £65,000 in the five years after their first baby, and £125,000 if they have three children. When people say "of course you'll earn less, just be grateful you have a baby," what they're actually saying is your financial freedom doesn't matter. But Joeli's here to tell you: it absolutely does, and it doesn't have to be this way.

This conversation isn't just about documenting the problem—it's about the solutions. From why parental leave is the single biggest lever we have to change everything, to why companies that hide caregiving are shooting themselves in the foot, to what Growth Spurt is doing to support the return-to-work transition that breaks so many of us.

This is essential listening for every working mother who's been told she should just accept less.