Podcast · Business

WorkLife Stories

by WorkLife Stories · English · Business

Stories and expertise shared through interviews covering our core topics of families, wellbeing, careers, inclusion and workplace. WorkLife Central is a digital hub of expert-led content designed to support, inform and inspire professionals in their family life, work life and wellbeing. Delivered t

New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 30 min
Latest: 1 Jun 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

1 Jun 2026 · 29 min

Venetia Tanqueray on Supporting Her Daughter Through Gender Transition

In this episode, Venetia shares the story of her daughter Alice who came out as transgender at age 15. She reflects on the importance of love, listening and allowing Alice to move at her own pace. Venetia talks about the conversations she’s had with family and friends, navigating support resources and learning to become a stronger ally to the LGBTQ+ community. The conversation highlights themes of identity, acceptance, bravery and personal growth, showing how open communication and unconditional support helped Alice become a confident, happy young woman. TW: please note – there is a mention…

Play episodeWhatsApp Download

Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S1 · E54 · 23 Apr 2026 · 29 min
Leila Green on Maternal Mental Health and Mum Guilt
Leila Green speaks with Anna about her transition to motherhood with triplet boys, including the trauma of their premature birth, time in intensive care, and the extreme exhaustion of managing 24 feeds a day once home. She explains how these experiences, alongside the profound shift in her identity and daily life, led her to explore “mum guilt” as a widespread, systemic issue driven by unrealistic expectations. Leila encourages mothers to challenge this inner critic, seek help when needed and prioritise what trulymatters rather than striving for perfection.
S53 · E1 · 26 Mar 2026 · 34 min
Catherine Morgan on Financial Psychology, Neurodiversity and Menopause
We speak with financial psychology specialist CatherineMorgan all about financial wellbeing and why each person’s approach to money should be tailored to their individual needs. Drawing on her own ADHD diagnosis, she explains how traditional tools such as budgeting can fall shortfor neurodivergent minds and shares practical alternatives that may be more effective. She also examines the impact of menopause on women’s financial wellbeing and calls for more open conversations and inclusive financial systemsthat better support their needs.
S1 · E52 · 12 Feb 2026 · 29 min
Dolly Jones on Combining Career With Motherhood
In this interview, Dolly talks to us about her book, Leaving the Ladder Down , which is all about ‘how to combine a career with motherhood, from the women who’ve done it’. Drawing on her own experience of having children during her career at Vogue and her interviews with over 200 women from a wide range of backgrounds and professions, she explores the many different ways in which people combine work and family life. She describes how parenting often goes unspoken in professional environments, even though it shapes daily life for so many people, and how open conversation eases feelings of…
S1 · E51 · 22 Sep 2025 · 36 min
Ian Dinwiddy on Inspiring Dads
We talk to Ian about the important role that Dads play in achieving gender equality in the workplace. He discusses the challenges and ambitions he hears from fathers looking to balance home and work, including shifts in personal identity, differing approaches to taking parental leave, difficulties in challenging traditional norms and the importance of parenting ‘out loud’ at work. He talks about his own family set up: his experience of being the main care giver for his children and how we can all better share the mental load of family life.
S1 · E50 · 22 Sep 2025 · 12 min
Melissa Jefferies on Macquarie's Black Employee Affinity Group
Melissa talks to us about her career in commodities andglobal markets over the past decade at Macquarie and how the bank's Black Employee Affinity Group, BEAM has supported her. She explores the significance of mentors and female rolemodels like Managing Director and CEO Shemara Wikramanayake in her career. She tell us about BEAM, its goals and how she now champions and mentors junior bankers from ethnic minority groups. She shares her view of the future and offers her advice and support to those at the start of their careers in finance.
S1 · E49 · 26 Aug 2025 · 30 min
Sheila Butterly on Living with MS
We talk to Sheila all about Multiple Sclerosis (MS), her symptoms and diagnosis and what daily work and home life looks like for her. She speaks inspiringly about clinical trials, her supportive family, friends and colleagues and her unique outlook on life and humanity.
S1 · E48 · 22 Apr 2025 · 26 min
Rob Stephenson on Stories, Leaders and Music for Wellbeing
This Mental Health Awareness Week Rob Stephenson talks to us about his own wellbeing, his passion for music and his quest to break the stigma of mental health in the workplace. He explores the importance of dialogue, role models and storytelling in helping others to feel comfortable talking about their own mental wellbeing and leaves us with simple, positive and practical tips to improve our own.
S1 · E47 · 17 Mar 2025 · 38 min
Subira Jones on Stress, Burnout and the Dangers of Resilience
In this episode, Anna talks to self-confessed former stressaddict: Subira Jones. Subira recounts how her tendency to throw herself into work in order to cope with life’s challenges, ultimately led to her burning out. Now an advisor to global brands and individuals on stress and burnout prevention, she explains the difference between needing a break and burning out, the dangers of resilience and the warning signs that someone may not be coping as well as they appear to be.
S1 · E46 · 13 Feb 2025 · 23 min
Orla Donoghue on Single Parenting
Single parent coach Orla Donoghue talks to us about her own experience of being a single parent as well as her coaching work for both individuals and organisations. She explores the challenges that single parents face, dispels some of the assumptions that are commonly made about single parents and how employers, colleagues and friends can help.
S1 · E45 · 3 Feb 2025 · 22 min
TW/ Addy Willis on: The C Word
Trigger warning: cancer. In our latest podcast, Addy talks to Anna about her diagnosis of bowel cancer in 2019 and the following 5 years of treatment and recovery, both physically and emotionally. She talks about how she found out she had cancer, working throughout treatment (alongside lockdown and home-schooling) and how her family has coped. She offers her advice to anyone suffering with cancer or for those with friends, family or colleagues anything similar.
S1 · E44 · 26 Sep 2024 · 44 min
Daria Preston on TW//Baby Loss
Trigger warning for baby and pregnancy loss, miscarriage and still birth. Daria courageously and openly talks to us about the devastating experience of losing her baby girl at full term. She recounts how she slowly began to heal, grieve and move forward. She tells us about her 3 daughters and how she has built a community group at the Bank of England to support others going through fertility, loss and pregnancy difficulties. Trigger warning for baby and pregnancy loss, miscarriage and still birth. Daria courageously and openly talks to us about the devastating experience of losing her baby…
S1 · E46 · 23 Jul 2024 · 30 min
Social Mobility at Grant Thornton
We talk to Jenn Barnett and Jemima Ankuma from Grant Thornton’s Diversity and Inclusion team about all things social mobility. They explain how they ensure that people of lower socio-economic backgrounds can join, progress and thrive at the firm - and the profession more broadly - and why social mobility is also a very personal passion for each of them too.
S1 · E43 · 23 Jul 2024 · 36 min
The Job Share Revolution
Laura Walker and Chloe Fletcher, who have shared senior finance roles at Asda, talk to Anna all about their experience of job sharing, the practical considerations and the benefits to both companies and individuals. They explain how with their current venture, The Job Share Revolution, they support both businesses and individuals who want to explore job sharing from establishing a business case for the job share, finding job share pairs and setting up efficient processes, communications and review frameworks.
S1 · E33 · 20 Jun 2024 · 25 min
LGBTQ+ Inclusion, Intersectionality and Me
We talk to Stonewall Changemaker of the Year 2022 Kayus Fernander about his career at Citi; his journey from being a private, young, black, gay junior within the bank, through to being an open, confident and active participant in and advocate of inclusion groups, initiatives and discussions. He talks about diversity groups, company culture, intersectionality and how we can be better colleagues and managers in the workplace.
S1 · E42 · 18 Apr 2024 · 36 min
Kyle Davies on Therapeutic Coaching and Mental Health
Psychologist and therapeutic coach Kyle Davies talks to us about his own experience of anxiety and depression as a young adult, the contributing factors and the natural tendency to mask and avoid situations which exacerbated it. He brings his professional expertise to the conversation, exploring his approach to therapeutic coaching, how we can build our own resilience and listen to our bodies' indicators during life's stresses.
S1 · E41 · 17 Apr 2024 · 28 min
Legal Careers: Moving In House (and back again)
In this episode of WorkLife Stories, legal senior associate Rachel Dean tells us about her career so far, including how she started out and her move from private practice to an in-house role. She reveals the drivers for her decision to move, what she learnt from the experience and why she ultimately moved back to a law firm afterwards. She offers her advice for anyone considering a move in-house either by secondment or permanent role and how it can enrich your skills and experience.
S1 · E40 · 1 Oct 2023 · 38 min
Working Parents - Finding the (Im)perfect Balance
In this episode, we talk to Jayne Ruff about her book entitled: Imperfect Parenting – Honest Stories from Global Parents in which she pens a chapter on balancing careers and family life. She talks about her own experiences of maternity leave, going back to work and the importance of personal values, honest emotions and flexible boundaries in our search for work life balance.
S1 · E39 · 4 Sep 2023 · 34 min
LGBTQ+ Reverse Mentoring at Macquarie
In this episode of WorkLife Stories, we talk to George Bullock and Russell Cook from Macquarie, the Australian head quartered, global financial services group. George and Russell have both been participants in Macquarie’s Pride Employee Network Group’s Reverse Mentoring Scheme and are now members of the steering group that runs it. They talk about their own experiences of reverse mentoring, how they have grown the popular scheme, the importance of active allyship, mentoring conversation frameworks and guidance and the need to embed learnings into day to day working life.
S1 · E38 · 10 Jul 2023 · 34 min
Elaine Halligan: My ADHD Story
Elaine Halligan , parenting coach at The Parent Practice and author of ‘My Child's Different’ tells us her story of a recent discovery that - like her son - she also has ADHD. She talks openly and inspiringly about her own traits, and how she uses them positively in her life and career. She offers her own advice and expertise for both adults and parents of children who may have ADHD or other neurodiverse conditions.
S1 · E37 · 22 May 2023 · 25 min
Case Study: Reinvigorating Company Culture
In this episode, we meet Felix Koch and Phil Burgess, the former co-heads of the London office of creative agency C Space. They talk about how they transformed an office with low morale and high attrition after a merger, to a thriving, inclusive, award-winning team. They discuss what worked and what didn't, how they set their shared goals and values alongside very different leadership styles. Find out more about Felix and Phil’s current venture WITHIN, here: https://www.within.business
S1 · E36 · 11 May 2023 · 33 min
Parenting Children with Additional Needs
In this episode, psychologist Jessica Chivers talks to us about her son who has ASD and ADHD and her daughter who has suffered from an eating disorder. She discusses how she has helped them through difficult times of the past few years, navigating different care and educational settings to get them the support they needed. She explains how looking after her own mental health and relationships has given her the strength and resilience to better support her family.
S1 · E37 · 20 Mar 2023 · 35 min
Max Siegel on Being Transgender
In this episode, Max Siegel talks to us about his lived experience of being transgender. He talks about his upbringing, his family, his feelings about his body, his mental health and the emotional and physical changes he's experienced. He also offers his advice to parents of children who may be going through something similar - and to us all as friends and colleagues of trans people.
S1 · E35 · 4 Dec 2022 · 53 min
Equality At Work: An Employee's Journey
Dorett Jones and Pamela Jones, who are specialists in equity in the workplace and founders of the Genesis Consultancy, talk to us about how employers can create safe, healthy working cultures that help employees of any background, race, gender or sexuality to grow, develop and stay at organisations. They discuss an employee's typical journey from recruitment through to exit, where the pitfalls may lie and where companies are successfully striving to make their workplaces truly inclusive.
S1 · E34 · 31 Oct 2022 · 26 min
Moving House
Laura Wheeler and Caroline Murphy chat to Anna Richards about their experience of moving out of London, from the practicalities and the stress along with the emotional adjustment needed, diversity and how our identities are linked to where we live.
S1 · E32 · 4 Jun 2022 · 23 min
Two Dads And Their Surrogacy Journey
In this interview with one half of Two Dads UK, Michael Johnson-Ellis talks about how he and his husband Wes built their family through surrogacy and how this experience has led them to support LGBTQ+ couples wanting to become parents. Michael talks about how he hopes the law will change to recognise and support gay couples better and how he thinks corporate employers can help employees going through surrogacy more effectively.
S1 · E32 · 25 May 2022 · 23 min
Juggling Work and Caring
In the latest episode of our podcast 'WorkLife Stories', Anna Richards talks to Lorna Cook and Devila Vekria who are both members of our Support Group for Carers of Elderly Relatives. Lorna and Devila tells us about how they manage their caring responsibilities alongside their careers including the challenges, routines and positive advice they have for others who may be in a similar position.
S1 · E31 · 28 Apr 2022 · 30 min
Birth Trauma
[Trigger warning]. In this episode, we hear from independent health visitor and birth trauma specialist Liz Poole about the different types of trauma people may experience around birth, how this trauma can manifest itself if the associated emotions are not fully processed and how colleagues and friends can support those we suspect might be suffering. Support can be sought from: Pandas UK The Birth Trauma Association MENtalk lincs National Maternity Voices Better Births PMH support (for Dads, on Instagram) Beyond Birth
S1 · E30 · 28 Feb 2022 · 21 min
Gender, Bias and Confidence at Work
Cityparents’ Anna Richards talks to Joy Burnford, Founder of My Confidence Matters about progress in gender balance in the workplace, the main issues she sees for women at work today and how corporates and leaders can help to address them.
S1 · E29 · 30 Nov 2021 · 19 min
Celebrating Disability at Work
In this episode which recognises International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3rd, we talk to Esi Hardy, the founder of Celebrating Disability. She talks to us about her own experience of disability in the workplace and about how employers and managers can help their disabled employees and colleagues to flourish, be happy and fulfil their potential at work.

About WorkLife Stories

WorkLife Stories is a English business podcast from WorkLife Stories. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: WorkLife Stories
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Monthly
Typical length: 30 min
Latest episode: 1 Jun 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1462025878
Rights: WorkLife Stories

RSS feed Apple Podcasts

More English business

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.