I had my son Buster at 29. We were renting in Richmond but we moved to St Margaret’s when he was seven months as the houses in that part of London are bonkers prices. At the time, I was working in brand and communications managing a big team of agencies and colleagues to deliver advertising and sponsorship campaigns.
I worked part-time. I was ‘lucky’ as my employer let me come back after both babies on a three day week basis. The problem is, if you manage people and a team and you’re not there as much as them, they tend to know more of what is going on than you do, so you spend your time in work chasing your tail and trying to look like you know what is going on.
I’ve always worked hard and felt passionate about work, but after having babies it didn’t feel the same and I felt like I was on the periphery a bit. I wanted to do something that excited me, and if I was going to put my kids in nursery I wanted to feel it was worth it – financially but also, and possibly more importantly, like it was taking me somewhere and using the skills I’d spent years working on.