Find Olga here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olga-shapkina-a6425444/

In this episode of TimeFree, Michelle speaks with Olga about motherhood, ambition, corporate burnout, entrepreneurship, moving to Spain and building a life and business around energy, freedom and family.

Olga shares her journey from living in Luxembourg for 25 years, completing a master’s degree in finance and working at KPMG, to stepping away from the corporate world and eventually moving to Alicante, Spain with her family. She speaks honestly about the reality of trying to build a career while raising children, studying with a newborn, working long corporate hours and realising that a prestigious job was not the same as a fulfilling life.

This conversation explores the pressure many professional mothers feel to keep pushing through exhaustion, even when the lifestyle no longer works. Olga explains how early motherhood, sleepless nights, university, business ownership and corporate expectations shaped her understanding of work, ambition and family.

Michelle and Olga discuss why the traditional corporate model can look attractive from the outside but feel impossible for mothers who want to be present. Olga describes the reality of working in a large professional services firm, where the perks are designed to keep people in the office, and why she knew that was not the life she wanted.

Olga also shares her entrepreneurial journey, including launching a children’s clothing shop, trying an online food and product business, moving into real estate in Alicante and later creating a HealthTech startup designed to connect expats, patients, doctors, clinics and insurance companies through one secure digital platform.

Her current startup is focused on making healthcare easier for people moving between countries, including access to medical records, translation of documents, insurance approvals, clinic appointments and doctor-patient communication.

This episode is especially relevant for mothers, founders, expats, women in startups, professional women, career changers and anyone who has wondered whether success is worth it if it costs your health, energy and family life.

Michelle and Olga explore what it really means to choose yourself after years of caring for everyone else. Olga explains why “self-care” is not always a massage or manicure, and why sometimes what a woman needs is a bigger life change: more sun, more purpose, more space, more creativity and more control over her time.

They also talk about moving from Luxembourg to Alicante, the importance of listening to your own dreams, balancing motherhood with startup life, working weekends when the work gives you energy, and why women need to be clear about what they want.

Olga’s definition of time freedom is about doing work you are passionate about while still having time and energy for your family. She also shares why her best strategic ideas come not under pressure, but in quiet moments when she has space to think.

Topics include motherhood and ambition, corporate burnout, leaving KPMG, finance careers, women in startups, HealthTech, expat healthcare, moving to Spain, Alicante life, Luxembourg to Spain, entrepreneurship after motherhood, real estate, startup founders, mothers in business, working mothers, work-life balance, flexible work, women founders, time freedom, midlife change, self-care, family life, strategic thinking and building a life on your own terms.

Find Vanessa here: https://vminternationallawyers.co.uk/fundadora-2/

This is Part 1 of Michelle’s conversation with Vanessa Moura on TimeFree.

In this powerful episode, Vanessa shares her extraordinary journey from becoming a mother at just 15 in Brazil to becoming an international lawyer, legal consultant, founder and mentor for lawyers building careers across borders.

Vanessa’s story is about motherhood, ambition, migration, resilience and choosing a bigger life, even when the odds are against you. She speaks honestly about becoming a teenage mother, growing up quickly, studying law while raising her daughter, leaving toxic relationships and fighting for financial independence.

Michelle and Vanessa explore how motherhood can become a source of strength, clarity and purpose. For Vanessa, having her daughter so young forced her to become responsible, determined and focused on creating a better future. She continued her education, qualified as a lawyer in Brazil and later rebuilt her life and career in Europe.

This episode also follows Vanessa’s move from a small town in Brazil to a bigger city, where she worked as a junior lawyer during the day and drove for Uber at night to support herself and her daughter. She shares the feeling that she was meant for more, and how that desire for freedom eventually led her to London.

Vanessa talks about travelling alone through Europe, learning English, couch surfing, facing risk as a Latin woman abroad and writing the journal that later became her book, Unseen. She reflects on depression, identity, separation from her daughter and the need to discover who she was beyond motherhood, relationships and family expectations.

Michelle and Vanessa also discuss immigration, starting again in a new country, working as a nanny, cleaner, waitress and hostess, qualifying as a lawyer in Portugal and navigating the challenges of being a Brazilian woman building a professional life in the UK.

A key turning point comes when an immigration officer tells Vanessa: “If you are a lawyer, you are a lawyer anywhere.” That moment helped Vanessa reclaim her professional identity and begin building her legal consultancy, online presence and mentoring work for other internationally qualified lawyers.

This episode is for TimeFree listeners who are thinking about career change, starting again, building financial independence, moving countries, leaving survival mode or creating work that fits around the life they actually want.

It is especially relevant for mothers, single mothers, young mothers, migrant women, lawyers, legal consultants, founders, freelancers, professional women, career changers and anyone who has had to rebuild their confidence, identity and income from the ground up.

Topics include teenage motherhood, motherhood and ambition, becoming a mother young, studying law as a mother, single motherhood, women in law, international lawyers, Brazilian lawyers abroad, moving to London, migration, immigration, legal consultancy, financial independence, career change, starting over, toxic relationships, rebuilding confidence, depression, resilience, self-employment, women founders and creating a life on your own terms.

This is Part 1 of Vanessa’s story. Part 2 to follow.

Find Nicola here: https://nicolasemple.com/

In this episode of TimeFree, Michelle speaks with Nicola Semple, career coach, leadership coach, author and host of The Career Confidence Podcast, about motherhood, identity, career change, confidence, flexible work and building a life-first career.

Nicola shares her journey from a successful corporate career in business change consulting, including starting on the Accenture graduate scheme and working in professional services, to leaving corporate life after becoming a mother and creating a self-employed career that eventually evolved into career coaching and leadership coaching.

After the birth of her first child, Nicola realised that returning to a demanding corporate role involving extensive European travel would not work for her family.

This conversation explores the reality many professional mothers face after maternity leave: the loss of identity, the pressure to return to work, the financial impact of stepping away from a corporate salary, the challenge of building a business in small pockets of time and the emotional complexity of wanting ambition, income and purpose while also wanting presence, flexibility and time freedom.

Nicola talks about the early years of motherhood and how she built Life After Maternity Leave, a business supporting mothers deciding whether to return to work, stay at home or create something more flexible around their families. She also shares how that work evolved into the Mum’s Business Academy, small business support, coach training and eventually career coaching during COVID, when many professionals began questioning whether their careers still fitted the lives they wanted.

Michelle and Nicola discuss mum guilt, career guilt, confidence, self-doubt, comparison, depression, fear of judgement and the importance of giving yourself permission to evolve. Nicola explains why confidence is not something you magically receive, but something you build by deciding what you want, taking action, learning from what works and continuing even when it feels uncomfortable.

They also explore what time freedom really means. It is not only about coffee dates, long lunches or school pick-ups. It is also about being able to support elderly parents, manage family responsibilities, attend exercise classes, work around teenagers’ schedules and continue earning while life changes.

Nicola shares practical insight on how to make intentional career decisions, stop wasting energy on guilt, use the “would you rather?” question to understand your real priorities and take a life-first approach to your diary.

This episode is for working mothers, professional women, founders, freelancers, coaches, consultants, career changers and anyone feeling stuck between ambition, motherhood, money, identity and the desire for more freedom.

Topics include motherhood and identity, life after maternity leave, leaving corporate life, returning to work after children, flexible working for mothers, career confidence, leadership coaching, self-employment, portfolio careers, mum guilt, financial freedom, work-life balance, building a business around family, redefining success and choosing presence over traditional success.

Nicola’s message is clear: you are allowed to evolve. What you want will change. Your circumstances will change. Your work can change too. You do not have to stay trapped in a version of success that no longer fits your life.

TimeFree is a podcast about motherhood, money, work, identity, flexibility, financial freedom and building a life where your time is your own.

Find Rebecca here: https://getaheadva.com/about-us/

In this episode of TimeFree, Michelle speaks with Rebecca Newenham, founder of Get Ahead, about motherhood, entrepreneurship, flexible work, confidence, networking and what it really means to build a career and life on your own terms.

Rebecca shares her journey from working in retail buying for major UK brands including Superdrug and Sainsbury’s, to stepping away from corporate life after becoming a mother and eventually building Get Ahead, a flexible outsourcing business that supports clients, freelancers, virtual assistants, business owners and franchisees across the UK.

This is a powerful and honest conversation about the identity shifts that come with motherhood, the pressure women feel to “have it all” and the courage it takes to choose presence, flexibility, impact and family life over a traditional corporate career path.

Michelle and Rebecca explore how motherhood can change your priorities, how confidence can grow over time and why careers do not have to follow one fixed path. Rebecca reflects on the early years of starting a business, the challenges of working for yourself, the importance of networking and community and how she created a business model that gives other people access to flexible, meaningful work.

They also discuss the realities of running a business as a mother, including financial uncertainty, client pressures, phone boundaries, self-care, exercise, coaching, friendship, outsourcing household support and protecting time for family.

Rebecca’s story is especially relevant for mothers, founders, freelancers, virtual assistants, consultants, franchise owners, women in business and anyone wondering whether it is possible to change direction, start again or create work that fits around the life they actually want.

This episode is for you if you are thinking about leaving corporate life, starting a business after having children, building a flexible career, finding more confidence, creating a portfolio career, growing through networking or redefining success beyond job titles and traditional career progression.

Rebecca’s message is simple but powerful: nothing has to be forever. You are allowed to evolve. You are allowed to change direction. You are allowed to build work around your life, not the other way around.

Topics covered in this episode include:

Motherhood and career identity
Leaving corporate life after children
Starting a business as a mother
Flexible working and time freedom
Virtual assistant businesses and outsourcing
Building Get Ahead
Franchising a business model
Networking for women in business
Confidence, visibility and personal growth
The pressure to “have it all”
Work-life balance and being a present parent
Career change after motherhood
Self-care, exercise and coaching
Creating a business that supports other women
Why nothing has to be forever

TimeFree is a podcast about motherhood, money, work, flexibility and building a life where your time is your own. Through honest conversations with mothers, founders, freelancers and professional women, we explore how women are creating income, building wealth, finding purpose and choosing presence while raising children.

Find Roz here: https://rozdavies.com/work-with-me/balanced-mum-academy

In this episode of Time Free, Michelle speaks with Roz Davies, founder of Balanced Mum Academy, about motherhood, ambition, burnout, IVF, identity and the power of choosing who you want to be now.

Before having children, Roz built a successful corporate career in sales and marketing for major global consumer goods companies. She was ambitious, driven and proud of her ability to deliver big targets, lead teams and keep pushing forward. But after becoming a mother and especially after having her second child, the old formula of “effort equals success” stopped working.

Roz shares her journey through fertility struggles, IVF, pregnancy loss, corporate leadership, relocation, motherhood and eventually burnout. She speaks honestly about trying to be a brilliant professional and a brilliant mother at the same time, while slowly realising that she had changed, even if she had not yet allowed herself to accept it.

Together, Michelle and Roz explore why so many high-achieving mothers feel disappointed in themselves, why capability is not the same as capacity and why resilience is often used to push women beyond their limits.

They also discuss the emotional load of motherhood, the pressure to “have it all”, the importance of asking for help and why learning to trust yourself is essential when your identity shifts.

Roz introduces a powerful reframe: instead of focusing only on time, we need to think about bandwidth, where we choose to spend our energy, attention and effort. For Roz, time freedom is not about doing everything. It is about choosing what gets the best of you, without guilt.

This is a thoughtful and validating conversation for working mothers who feel stretched, burnt out or caught between ambition, parenting, financial pressure and the desire for a more meaningful life.

Find Zoe here: https://www.littlewickwealthmanagement.co.uk/partner/zoealexander

In this episode of TimeFree, Michelle speaks with Zoe, a financial adviser and former city stockbroker, about motherhood, money, ambition, identity and what happens when the life you worked so hard to build no longer fits the person you have become.

Zoe spent nearly 20 years in financial services, including investment banking and stockbroking in London. Her career was fast-paced, high-pressure, exciting and deeply tied to her identity. But after becoming a mother, she found herself trying to balance the demands of the trading floor with breastfeeding, long hours, guilt, exhaustion and the pain of missing many of her son’s early milestones.

Together, Michelle and Zoe explore the reality of being a high-achieving professional woman before motherhood, the shock of suddenly hitting limitations after having a child, and the difficult decision to walk away from a lucrative career in order to create a life with more autonomy and presence.

Zoe shares how taking time out helped her reconnect with her values, why financial independence still matters deeply to her, and how she rebuilt her career as a self-employed financial adviser. She now helps people, especially women and families, understand their money, invest with confidence and create a financial plan that supports the life they actually want.

This is a powerful conversation about ambition, identity, burnout, investing, motherhood and why true wealth is not just about money, it is also about time, choice, freedom and joy.

In this episode of TimeFree, Michelle speaks with Sam about motherhood, fertility, redundancy, identity and the courage it takes to step away from a dream job in order to create more space for family, creativity and self-discovery.

Sam spent 16 years working in the heritage sector as a curator of historic buildings, a rare and specialised role she had worked hard to build. After becoming a mother, she returned from maternity leave into an organisational restructure and redundancy process.

Faced with the option of staying in a downgraded role or accepting redundancy, Sam made the deeply considered decision to step away.

Together, Michelle and Sam explore the emotional complexity of that choice: the grief of leaving a meaningful career, the relief of gaining headspace, the practical importance of budgeting, and the gift of being more present during the early years of motherhood. Sam also shares her fertility journey, life in a same-sex relationship, the realities of childcare, and her hopes for freelance writing, history projects, and creative work.

This is a thoughtful and honest conversation for any mother navigating career change, redundancy, burnout, identity shifts, or the desire to build a life with more time, clarity and freedom.

Find Elizabeth here: https://investinginwomen.co.uk/elizabeth-willetts/

Get her book FLEX

In this episode of TimeFree, Michelle speaks with Elizabeth, founder of Investing in Women, a recruitment business helping people find flexible, part-time, and home based jobs across the UK.

Elizabeth shares her journey from a successful career in recruitment at Hays and Deloitte to being made redundant during the pandemic, when her children were still very young.

After struggling to find another part-time role herself and seeing talented women around her forced into lower-paid or lower-skilled jobs just to access flexibility, Elizabeth decided to create the solution she wished existed.

Together, Michelle and Elizabeth explore the reality of returning to work after motherhood, the pressure women face to choose between financial stability and being present for their children, and why flexible work should be treated as the default rather than the exception.

They also discuss Elizabeth’s book Flex, the power of small consistent action, the importance of movement and self-development, and why senior part-time roles are essential for closing the gender pay gap.

This is an honest and practical conversation for mothers, professionals, employers, and anyone who believes that work should fit around real life, not the other way around.

In this episode of TimeFree, Michelle speaks with Ruth about the life-changing transition from business owner to full-time mother, and what it means to rebuild identity, purpose and ambition after having children.

Ruth shares her journey from growing up between Colombia and London, studying biochemistry, launching a Colombian food business and later choosing to close that chapter when motherhood shifted her priorities.

Together, Michelle and Ruth explore the emotional realities of parenting, the pressure women feel to succeed in every area of life, and the importance of self-awareness, health and conscious decision-making.

They also discuss property investment, remote business ideas, creating more family freedom and the ongoing search for work that supports, rather than consumes, life as a present mother.

This is a thoughtful conversation about ambition, self-worth, motherhood, and the courage to redefine success on your own terms.

In this first solo episode of Time Free, Michelle shares the personal story behind the podcast and why she created it for professional women who become mothers and find themselves asking: How do I stay present with my child, keep my professional identity and still build financial independence?

Michelle reflects on her journey from South Africa to London, from law school and corporate legal roles to motherhood, burnout and the painful identity shift that followed having her son during the COVID years. After years of building a legal career in intellectual property, technology and commercial law, motherhood brought a profound wake-up call: the life she had worked so hard to create no longer felt sustainable.

This episode explores the reality of postnatal depression, burnout, financial pressure, childcare costs, career insecurity, perfectionism, weight gain, loss of confidence and the feeling of being fragmented between professional ambition and the desire to be a present mother.

Michelle also shares the lessons she wishes she had known earlier: not to make life-changing decisions from a place of crisis, to ask for help, to remove rather than constantly add, to let go of perfection and to create small, consistent spaces for movement, reflection and self-trust.

This is not an episode about having all the answers. It is the beginning of a quest.

Time Free is a podcast for mothers who want to be brilliant professionals, loving and present parents and self-actualised humans, without living permanently in survival mode. Through honest conversations with women who are carving out different paths, Michelle hopes to create a community where mothers can share stories, find practical insight and build lives with more freedom, meaning and financial security.

For listeners who resonated with this conversation, Nicki is offering complimentary 1:1 Clarity Coaching Sessions.

These sessions are for high achieving women and mothers who are navigating overwhelm, perfectionism, hyper-independence, over-functioning and the pressure to juggle it all, while quietly craving more space, self-trust and time freedom.

In this free session, you’ll have space to explore what’s feeling heavy, where you may be abandoning yourself in the name of responsibility or success and what it could look like to begin reclaiming your time, energy and identity in a way that actually supports your life.

Book your complimentary clarity session with Nicki here:
https://cal.com/nicki-brown-sunflowersinsunshowers/complimentary-clarity-coaching-session

In this episode of Time Free, Michelle speaks with Nicki Brown, a coach and founder of Sunflowers in Sunshowers (www.sunflowersinsunshowers.com), about motherhood, identity, perfectionism, overwhelm and the journey back to self trust.

Before becoming a mother, Nicki was ambitious, driven and climbing the corporate ladder in cybersecurity. She had built her identity around achievement, independence and being able to handle everything. But after becoming a mum, she found herself caught between two worlds: the high achieving professional she had always been and the mother she desperately wanted to be.

Together, Michelle and Nicki explore the emotional reality of trying to “do it all”, the pressure to be a perfect mother and a successful professional and the quiet ways women abandon themselves in the name of responsibility, success and keeping everything together.

Nicki shares how motherhood brought her face to face with dysregulation, guilt, shame, perfectionism, hyper-independence and the feeling of not being good enough. She also explains how small “micro moments” of nourishment, self-reflection, experimentation and presence helped her begin to rebuild her confidence, reconnect with herself and eventually transition into coaching.

This is an honest and deeply validating conversation for high-achieving women and mothers who feel overwhelmed, stuck, over-responsible or unsure of who they are becoming after motherhood.