Mambition

Hot coffee. A gym membership. A pair of earphones. None of it costs much - and all of it changed everything.

In this episode:

• The thermos flask: The tiny thing that makes me feel like I got the best end of the deal - even at the park on a Tuesday morning.
• The gym: Why I leave the house when my kids do - and what it means to meet them again from a place where I've done something for me.
• Earphones: On protecting the things that make you feel most like yourself, even when time is scarce.

For the mother who knows she doesn't have to choose between being present for her kids and building herself.

You can do both -and it doesn't have to cost a lot.

Ashmita Randhawa is Director of R&D at Sunderland Software City, Visiting Professor at the National Innovation Centre for Data, and Co-Lead at the Hartree Centre.

She has led global teams, holds a PhD, and is deeply passionate about the role of AI and data in shaping what comes next.

She is also a mum to a 7-year-old daughter.

Her mum passed away before she could see her become a mother. That loss is woven through everything - the warmth she brings to every room, the community she builds everywhere she lands, the mother she has chosen to become.

In this episode:→ Building community when your family isn't close — why it requires intentionality→ Raising a daughter across two cultures and making sure she holds both with confidence→ Do-nothing days alongside swimming and dancing - teaching stillness and curiosity in equal measure→ AI, curiosity and how to talk to your children about the world they're actually growing up in→ The legacy of a mother who made everyone feel warm and seen

This one is for the mum building belonging from scratch.

And for anyone who has lost someone and found, quietly, that grief became the thing that grounds them.

All views expressed are Ashmita's personal opinions and do not reflect the views of any organisation she may be a part of.

Mother's Day just passed. There were flowers. There was cake. And then I went to the gym.

In this episode:

Being celebrated: What it means to receive fully — and why so many mothers rush past it.

This is the life I once dreamed of: Why motherhood is something I never, ever take for granted.

After the cake is eaten: The other part of Mother's Day nobody talks about — pouring into yourself. Deliberately. Unapologetically.

The mum I am becoming: Why the inner work I do on myself is the most important work I do for my children.

For the mother who loves being celebrated — and knows that choosing herself is part of the celebration too.

Work isn't just a paycheck — for mums who care, it's identity, purpose, and proof that they exist beyond their caring role.

Charlie Beswick spent 16 years as a teacher while caring for her son with complex needs. When she had to step back from full-time teaching, she didn't just lose a job — she lost a piece of herself.

In this episode, Charlie opens up about the invisible labour, the false choice society places on mother-carers — be a devoted mum OR have a career — and why that binary is not only wrong, but damaging.

"Give us an inch and we'll give you a mile." — Charlie Beswick

This episode is for the mums doing the invisible work before the working day even begins.

The ones carrying a life of logistics, appointments, and quiet grief behind the scenes. But it's also more than that — it's for anyone who has scrolled past a "typical family" Christmas post and felt the weight of what could have been. You're not alone. And this is exactly the conversation you didn't know you needed to hear.

March is International Women's Day. It's also the month Tiffany's mum was buried. Celebration and grief, side by side.

In this episode:

March: The collision of celebrating women while grieving the one she lost.

The double-edged sword: How losing her mum made her aware that time is finite—a gift (discipline, intention, clarity) and a weight (pressure, exhaustion, struggle to be easy on herself).

Grief changes shape: For years, she was "fine." Then she became a mother. And grief took a new form—recognising what her mum lost, what she must have felt leaving young children behind.

The woman she is today: How grief shaped her—starting Mambition, taking risks, loving herself, and the type of mother she's becoming.

For mothers navigating grief, time awareness, and the resilience born from loss.

The formidable duo are back and celebrating! 5 years of motherhood.

In this episode:

Raising two completely different children—what works for one crashes and burns with the other. Parenting = constant humility.

A train journey that gave Tiffany perspective: seeing quiet teens reminded her this chaotic phase is fleeting (cue: gratitude mixed with exhaustion).

Living in the margins: building businesses, working on yourself, making coffee happen—all in the cracks.

Trench brain: accidentally stealing trolleys at Aldi, locking gym lockers without bags, and just trying to function.

Alex on reality vs. expectations: what she thought motherhood would be vs. what it actually is.

The 5-year immune system battle: one sickness bug to another. Surrender accepted.

For mothers 5 years in who are tired, grateful, and doing their best in the margins.

I sat opposite a dad with two teenagers on the train to London.

His kids: quiet, on phones, playing cards. Comfortable silence. Happy family.

Mine: singing, asking endless questions, needing me constantly.

I saw my future.

But it wasn't as simple as "that looks easier" or "I'll miss this chaos."

In this episode:

The perspective shift: seeing the future brings gratitude to the present—not pressure, not guilt, just perspective.

The parenting paradox: he probably looked at my chaos and wistfully remembered when his were little. I looked at his quiet teens and thought about the future. We're all in this weird middle—wanting what the other has.

Why glimpsing the future matters: it's a reset. A reminder that this phase is temporary. Every once in a while, that glimpse is helpful.

The parenting time warp: the days are long, the years are short. A single day can feel endless, but suddenly they're 10, 15.

Heather Black is the founder of Supermums—upskilling 1800+ women in tech.

But that's not where her story starts.

She built a Salesforce career while raising two daughters. Not as a backup plan. Not "just in case."

But because she refused the false choice:

You don't have to choose between being a devoted mother and having a career that's yours. You can build both.

And when life changed unexpectedly, that foundation—the one she'd been building all along—kept her standing.

In this episode:

How Heather strategically invested in herself—upskilling in Salesforce, then AI, never stopping.

Her mission: getting more women into tech and onto boards (why it matters).

Why career + motherhood strengthen each other, not compete.

Financial independence as wholeness, not backup plan.

Why building something that's yours isn't selfish—it's strategic.

Motherhood isn't the summit. It's base camp.

For mothers building foundations that honour ALL of who they are.

The last 5 years of parenting has been a constant fight to not catch a cold.

I lost that fight this week. Again!

I'm recording this with a sore throat, still recovering from the bug my kids gave me over two weeks ago.

And yet the routine continues. Because I haven't figured out how to take time off from being needed by y 3 and 5 year old.

In this episode:

Why being sick as a working parent is a completely different ball game. Despite being an advocate for self-care, I realise I drop the ball on it during my sick seasons.

I haven't figured out yet how to not be needed—or allow myself to recognise that maybe I'm at less capacity. And motherhood itself has us operating at less time, less energy, less capacity anyway, which makes it even harder. The guilt cycle starts.

For anyone listening who is unwell: even me, who seems to have it together with self-care, is struggling with this.

So I keep trying to function on paracetamol, coffee, and spite.

For everyone else sick and still showing up—I see you. Solidarity!

Amy Lewin is in the thick of it—Marketing and Commercial Director at Girls in Marketing, mum to a toddler, and pregnant with baby number two.

She gets it. The juggle. The ambition that doesn't fit into naptime. The choices you make when you refuse to wait for "someday."

In this episode:

How becoming a mother shifted her from defining herself in "boxes" (career achievements, professional identity) to full integration: work, motherhood, ambition—all overlapping, all real.

Second time around: halfway through her pregnancy with baby number two, Amy reflects on what she's doing differently this time (spoiler: less pressure, more permission).

The choices you make to focus and prioritise in this chapter of life: Amy works from home, and she won't consider an in-office job. That's a hard line.

Here's why.

Community building professionally vs. personally: she builds communities for a living, but making mum friends? That required courage she didn't expect.

Redefining ambition: what it was before (career ladder, achievements) vs. what it is now (building something her son would be proud of).

This is a conversation about integration over perfection.

About building career and family—not choosing one over the other. About second chances and doing it differently.

For mothers who refuse to wait for "someday" and are intentionally building their version of life today.