Working Mumma

The Working Mumma podcast supports your transition from maternity leave to working mum and beyond so you can feel confident & capable while juggling the demands of motherhood and a career I’m your host, Carina O’Brien, founder of Working Mumma and fellow working mum with 2 young boys. Join me as I explore life returning to work after maternity leave and as a working mum with a mix of solo episodes, amazing interviews with experts, and women sharing their experiences of juggling life and motherhood. Each episode is focused on supporting women to have the resources, mindset, tools, and confidence to support you in successfully managing the juggle.

Listen on:

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Episodes

Wednesday Apr 14, 2021

This episode is packed with so many gems of gold and inspiration to help you, Mumma on the topic of self-care. It is a must-listen what with Lisa Kroesche Boyce, founder of The She Rebellion and she empowers women to reclaim their power with confidence and calm.
Lisa and I talk about the important topic of self-care and how as busy working mums we can take control of the actions, feelings, and purpose that drive self-care to enable you to nurture, honour and grow in yourself. As Lisa reminds us, we were a person before we became a mum and you deserve to find that person again.
Self-care doesn't need to be something that you practice for months apart. Lisa shares strategies on how to build little self-care practices into your daily routine to help you Mumma.
Tune in to hear:
* Discussion on "what is self-care"
* Lisa lifting the veil on self-care
* Why you can't give to people if you can't give to yourself
* Strategies to look inward rather than outward for self-care practice
* How to allow yourself to see what lights you up to determine what self-care strategies work for you
* Why knowledge is power
* Why women should value themselves more
* And so much more
Remember that self-care is caring for yourself - you can't pour from an empty cup.
Connect with Lisa
Lisa has also just release a book 'When I look up at my Mum I see' - A female empowerment children's picture book created to encourage open conversations with our children about who their mother is when standing in her true power as a woman. To order https://www.thesherebellion.com/book
Connect with Lisa on Instagramand Facebook.
Continue the conversation with the Working Mumma Community
Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook, connect with on Instagram @workingmummacommunity or follow Working Mumma on LinkedIn.

Wednesday Apr 07, 2021

The age-old question "what's for dinner?" is something that haunts every parent. In this episode, I share with you a simple but effective framework to help you meal plan a month in advance in under 30 minutes.
Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook, connect with me on Instagram @workingmummacommunity or follow Working Mumma on LinkedIn.

Wednesday Feb 03, 2021

This week marks a big milestone for me & that is that it's my first week of maternity leave. It's my second maternity leave & I have to say I've approached it differently from my first leave and had 2 very different experiences.
Whilst things are fresh and before I have baby number 2, I wanted to share with you tips to help you prepare for parental leave with confidence.

Wednesday Jan 20, 2021

Looking for ways on how you can build your personal brand to have your dream career. Have you recently returned from maternity leave and looking to position yourself for future opportunities. Or wanting tips and advice on how you can develop your career. This episode with Sarah Makris will provide you with tips and advice on how you can do just this. Sarah helps senior executives elevate their professional brand, be recognised and valued in their industry, and attract their dream role. Throughout this podcast she helps you do just this.
During this episode we cover:
* How Sarah designed a career & business that fit around her family
* Why you should set goals at the start of the year that aren't too easy but may put you out of your comfort zone
* How to set career goals that you may not achieve in the next year, but taking steps to achieve in the next few years
* Talk about staying relevant and employable whilst having a family
* Why you should be always taking steps to build your personal brand and identity - even when you are on maternity leave
* Tips and tricks on how to use LinkedIn to develop your personal brand and value
* Suggestions on how to position yourself for part-time work
* Discuss Sarah's actionable framework on how to build your personal brand
As Sarah mentions during the podcast - if you have built your brand, you can have whatever career you want. Connect with Sarah Makris on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/sarah-makris/ or Instagram @sarahmakrisaustralia. Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook, connect with me on Instagram @workingmummacommunity or follow Working Mumma on LinkedIn.

Wednesday Dec 02, 2020

In this episode I speak with Taryn Wrezounik - a sleep consultant, mum, wife & business owner. She is a huge believer in the power of turning inward and empowering yourself to be, do & have everything that you could dream of - as well as being a mum.
I speak with Taryn about navigating the identity shift after becoming a mum. We talk about loosing your sense of self as a new mother and how we can regain our identities. Hear how you can take steps to regain your identity and define what parenting means to you.
We also talk about mum guilt and how we can change our mindset and the stories we tell ourselves around this topic that impacts all mothers at some stage. Taryn shares strategies on how to overcome mum guilt.
I like this quote from Taryn in the episode "There is nothing to stop us from following our dreams, only our own limiting beliefs and mindset "
Connect with Taryn Wrezounik via Instagram at @themotherload_co.
Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook, connect with me on Instagram @workingmummacommunity or follow Working Mumma on LinkedIn.

Wednesday Nov 04, 2020

This week I speak with Mim Dart who provides strategies on how to reduce the overwhelm of motherhood.
Mim is a lifestyle coach who focuses on the overwhelm of motherhood. She explains that motherhood doesn't have to feel overwhelming and as mothers, we are allowed to have a positive experience of motherhood. We get so many mixed messages about motherhood, especially from social media, and this leads us to compare ourselves to others and increases the feelings of overwhelm and believe that we "should" be showing up in certain ways. These feelings can be debilitating, but as you will hear during the episode with Mim, they don't have to be.
We discuss strategies you can use immediately to manage the overwhelm. A big part of this is about reflecting on what is important to you and your family and staying focused on this and blocking out all the external messages. Mim explains the season of motherhood can last >18 years and we don't deserve to spend this time feeling exhausted, burnt out, and unhappy. We deserve to live over a quarter of our lives happy and living our best lives possible.
The good news, you can choose how you want to feel in motherhood and curate a life that aligns with this. It is ok to feel good during motherhood.
We also talk about the importance of self-care and looking after ourselves as mothers. So much of the family's mood and culture comes from the parents, particularly the mothers. If you are feeling good Mumma, then it is likely that the rest of the family will feed off this energy. This shows the importance of filling your cup and the impact this has on those around you.
Connect with Mim Dart via her website, Facebook or Instagram.
Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook, connect with me on Instagram @workingmummacommunity or follow Working Mumma on LinkedIn.

Wednesday Oct 21, 2020

In this week's episode I speak with Melinda Chaponnel to learn about job sharing and how this has advanced her career.
Mel has a corporates finance background in large corporates. She has experienced 2 successful job share arrangements, across 2 different companies and multiple roles. During this episode she shares her experiences, advice and tips for all topics relating to job sharing. You will quickly discover why Mel is an advocate for job sharing and why it should be more widely considered by organisations and not just for working mothers.
Connect with Melinda via LinkedIn.
Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook, connect with me on Instagram @workingmummacommunity or follow Working Mumma on LinkedIn.
Share your experiences as a mum managing the juggle in the annual Working Mumma Survey. Survey closes Tuesday 3 November.

Wednesday Oct 14, 2020

This week on the podcast I speak with Yvette Sitters, founder of Manage My Wedding.
Yvette had a long career working in hotel events, spending a large portion of her career at the Hilton London on Park Lane. Prior to kids she had aspirations of becoming the GM of a Hotel. But, 6 weeks into her maternity leave she came to the realisation that she didn't want to work for someone else and wanted to create a life and business around her family. Over the next 2.5 years she developed an app that she launched when her 2nd daughter was 12 weeks old.
During this episode Yvette has many great tips and advice for fellow working mums (not only if you have a business) around productivity, managing the mental load and self-care.
We discuss:
* Yvette's career journey to date
* Managing identity shift once she became a mum and how her priories changed
* Challenges she has overcome (including her inner critic) to create her business
* How she has created a business around her family
* Planning approach to align to her work/life harmony
* Managing the mental load
* Advice for working mums looking to start their own business (including when is the right time to start - now!)
* Mindset shift with having own business
* Important of self care and how Yvette goes about this each day
I like this quote from Yvette during the podcast on the realisation she didn't want to go back to her corporate role "the driver was to be at home with 2 girls and make decisions for family to be where I wanted when I wanted and not on someone else's terms"
Connect with Yvette and Manage My Wedding via her website, Facebook or Instagram.
Continue the conversation and join the free Working Mumma Community on Facebook, connect with me on Instagram @workingmummacommunity or follow Working Mumma on LinkedIn.
This episode is supported by a free e-Book "10 steps to help you transition from parental leave to pay day" . I'll also be launching a mini course early in 2021 on Returning to Work that will support you through this process in much greater detail. Click here to join the waitlist.

Wednesday Oct 07, 2020

Today I speak with Aparna Sundar on how to get organised at home.
Aparna is a KonMari consultant and in this episode we talk about how organising your home can have positive influences on your whole life. When we set up the discussion I thought the topic of home organisation was going to be about cleaning room by room, but as Aparna quickly made me realise it is so much more. We need to look at organising holistically and it is more of a mindset shift than anything else, thinking about your future self and organising is only a small part of that.
During the episode we cover:
* 6 steps to the KonMari(TM) method and how you can implement these today in your own home
* Talking about the common myths and challenges when it comes to home organisation
* Overcoming our own limiting beliefs
* Organisation tips for baby, children, food preparation and storage
* Involving children from a young age in home organisation and the benefits of toy rotation
Continue the conversation and join the Working Mumma Community, connect with me on Instagram @workingmummacommunity or follow Working Mumma on LinkedIn.
Connect with Aparna via her website or on Instagram @globalmindfuljourney
Check out the free 10 Strategies to Managing the Juggle to help you navigate work, family & you time.

Wednesday Sep 30, 2020

When we are pregnant about to go on maternity leave, we aren't really thinking about the return, instead focused on discovering our new role as a mum. Returning to work after a period of time on maternity leave is another big milestone and transition in our personal and professional lives. It is mixed with a wide range of emotions from lack of confidence, uncertainty to looking forward to going to the toilet on your own, adult conversation and everything in between.
Returning to work can have its own challenges and you aren't alone in experiencing these. During today's podcast I speak with executive coach, trainer and facilitator, Jo Gobbo on getting our mojo back after maternity leave.
Jo shares her experiences of returning to work after the birth of her son and shares her emotions in this journey. We cover a broad range of topics during the podcast episode including:
* Confidence change with motherhood then returning to work
* How to improve your confidence
* Managing and being aware of the emotions that come about in the transition back to work
* Importance of sharing the mental load with your partner
* Factors that cause women to loose confidence prior to returning to work and strategies to overcome this
* The concept of a "blended" identity for working parents merging our work and family lives - something that has been elevated due to Covid-19
* Impact of limiting beliefs and how we can overcome these
* Example of a working mum who doubted her confidence and skills but after working on these she has been able to overcome her own limiting beliefs to take on a more senior position
* How managers can support working parents, especially women, who have parental leave transition back into the organisation successfully and with confidence
* Transition back to work, requires mental and emotional preparation
We covered a lot on a topic we are both passionate about.
Connect with Jo via Instagram or LinkedIn.
Continue the conversation and join the Working Mumma Community, connect with me on Instagram @workingmummacommunity or follow Working Mumma on LinkedIn.
This episode is supported by a free e-Book "10 steps to help you transition from parental leave to pay day" . I'll also be launching a mini course later this year on Returning to Work that will support you through this process in much greater detail. Click here to register.

Carina O’Brien

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