Hi loves,
Gosh we don’t know about you but January SWALLOWED us whole. We’re back out of the belly of that whale and have some BEAUTIFUL opportunities coming your way this Sunday.
How’s February feeling for you? We’re both looking forward to half term here in the UK and to pops of colour from tulips popping up in the garden!
We have a delightful guest post for you today from
who writes ‘I am Happy’ here on Substack!For now, we’ll say, we hope you have a beautiful weekend ahead and we’ll see you in the comments?
Claire and Laura,
x x
“Creativity has been a huge tool for healing and finding myself again amongst all the chaos”.
Company of Two and You with
Allegra Chapman is a writer, author, creative wellbeing practitioner, business consultant and mum of two. She is passionate about helping people to use creativity for self-discovery, self-expression and empowerment. Allegra lives by the sea in West Sussex, UK, and can usually be found at the beach.
When did you become a mum, how long have you had a company of one and what do you do within it?
I became a mum for the first time in 2018, which abruptly ended my corporate career. Everything changed where work was concerned once I became pregnant, and I ended up going on maternity leave a month early to get away. Then once my daughter was born I realised I couldn't go back to that environment. I became a freelance consultant, then set up a diversity and inclusion consultancy with a friend in 2020. I’ve been writing for a wide range of publications for years, and I'm now also launching my own solo offering as a creative wellbeing practitioner, helping people to use creativity to support their emotional wellbeing and (re)connect to themselves.
My second child was born in 2021, and I spent most of his early months trying to build a business with him strapped to me in the middle of lockdown. Such fun!
How has having children impacted your work flow, creativity, your inspiration and your ability to manage your work?
I have ADHD, so time management has always been an issue. Pre-children, I was able to work around that by working late and to my own timescale. But now that I have to work around school drop-offs, I have a much narrower window in which to be productive and I find that a real challenge. My energy levels and focus have really dropped since having children, mostly due to sleep deprivation.
On the other hand, I've found my creativity has soared. I'd parked writing before I had my daughter, thinking that it wasn't something I could make a living at. But after she was born I found writing just pouring out of me, I couldn't stop it.
I was feeling compelled to write any spare moment I had, and now I'm finally getting paid for my writing and turning it into more of a business.
The freedom and flexibility that working for myself offers means the world to me, as I really want to be present for my children while they're little, but it has all felt very overwhelming at times.
Creativity has been a huge tool for healing and finding myself again amongst all the chaos.
What advice would you give to a mum just about to start their journey with balance, being and business in motherhood?
Be kind to yourself!
Being a mum is hard, running a business is hard, doing both together is incredibly hard. It seems like everyone else is doing it easily, but believe me that's all lies. Everyone's struggling, and everyone's putting the same brave face on it! Take it one step at a time, and focus on the next small step in front of you, rather than trying to do everything at once.
Sometimes you won't do as much as you want to in the business, sometimes you won't be there with your kids as much as you want to be, but both will be fine in the long run. You can't pour from an empty cup, so you need to nurture yourself. I genuinely believe that creativity is a vital tool for mothers to give us that space for self-exploration and understanding and expression amongst all the take take take of work and parenting.
Give yourself time and space and kindness - you're doing amazing things.
🌸
Hi, if you’re new here and you’ve joined us in the last little while.
We are
and and we write hold space for creatives in our businesses. Claire writes here on Substack and Laura writes and here together we host to celebrate and explore business, being and balance in motherhood.Here you’ll find guest interviews and opportunities and our podcast which we record each season exploring these topics have shown up in our world. We’re so glad you’re here. Business in motherhood is a trip but one we have over 20 combined years of experience of and we’re happy you are leaning into the ride along side us.
I really connect to what Allegra said about energy flow and focus going right down since having kids. Technically I have 4 hours a day without kids to work, but it always ends up being more like 1-2.
Thank you for this great interview with Allegra and insight into her working life with kids. Not easy! I too felt as thought it was impossible to go back to working for someone else after becoming a mum. Still working it out (and still have limited childcare) but I feel much more drawn to co-creation and collaboration in a cyclical, creative and feminine way in this phase of life xx