What if motherhood didn’t make women less ambitious or capable, but actually made them stronger leaders?

In this episode of What If She Came First?, I sit down with Alexa Starks, CEO of Mothered Media and Editor-in-Chief of Mothered Magazine, a global publication dedicated to working mothers.

Fresh from the release of Alexa’s latest Maternal Strengths Report, showing how leadership capabilities can strengthen through motherhood, we challenge some of the biggest assumptions about working mothers:

Is motherhood the new MBA?

Is “mum brain” really foggy or expanded?

Why are mothers still penalised for flexible working?

And why are we fitting ourselves into a 9-to-5 culture that was never designed around caregiving?

We talk ambition, maternal strengths, the motherhood penalty, flexibility without penalty and how we can redesign work so mothers can thrive and reach their full potential.

An episode about the power and hardships of motherhood, breaking the mould and making the journey our own.

No apologies.

Music licensed through Soundstripe.Code: J6J3BP1XXBVTSXJN

What does it take for a woman to build and successfully sell a global business in a world where more than 80% of UK venture capital still flows to all-male founding teams?

In this episode of What If She Came First?, I sit down with Jennifer Quigley-Jones, founder of Digital Voices—the first female-founded influencer marketing agency to be sold in the UK.

We explore Jennifer’s journey from starting the company with just £500 in a small Shoreditch studio to building and selling a global agency. She speaks transparently about what happens behind the scenes: the pain, pride, personal cost and reward of being a female founder.

Having been ambitious all her life, Jennifer shares intimate reflections on how women are perceived in leadership, the double binds they repeatedly encounter and the advantages they can learn to leverage.

The episode is filled with real-life stories, perspective-shifting insights and practical leadership advice from a woman who successfully built and sold a global business in a male-dominated world.

This is a conversation about ambition, financial independence, personal identity and what it would take to redesign entrepreneurship so women can truly thrive.

In this first episode, I explore the question that inspired What If She Came First?

From the systems that shape how we work, live, and lead to the people challenging old assumptions and building a better future, I reflect on why women have so often been expected to adapt—and imagine what becomes possible when they are part of the blueprint.

Follow @what_if_she_came_first for more content.

Music licensed through Soundstripe.

Code: J6J3BP1XXBVTSXJN