Written by Siobhan James, Founder of Method Management
Over the past few years, I’ve had countless conversations with women in our industry who are quietly worried about what motherhood might mean for their careers.
The return-to-office conversation has focused heavily on productivity, collaboration and company culture.
But there’s another question leaders should be asking:
How do we ensure the most experienced women in our industry stay in leadership once they become mothers?
Because by the time many women reach motherhood, they are often at the exact point where they become most valuable professionally.
They have spent a decade or more building experience.
They understand how the industry works.
They have strong networks, commercial awareness and leadership instincts.
Yet traditional work structures still assume something that increasingly feels outdated, that the best work happens in the same place, at the same hours, every day.
An industry that was never truly 9–5
In talent management and the creator economy, work has rarely fit neatly into a traditional schedule anyway.
So much of what we do is built around relationships.
Lunch meetings with brands.
Events and launches.
Shoot days.
Travel.
Conversations that happen over coffee rather than across a desk.
Whats app chats that are still popping off past 7pm.
The industry already operates outside a strict 9–5 structure. Flexibility was never a perk, it’s the reality of how the work happens.
Flexibility isn’t about working less
I run my own talent management company and I work six days a week.
Most evenings I’m still answering emails at 8pm. Not because I have to, because I want to.
But I also do the school run.
Stepping away at 3pm might mean logging back on at 8pm. The work doesn’t disappear, it shifts. In many ways it’s no different to the extended lunch or coffee catch-ups that naturally appear in most diaries during the working day.
And yet there are still moments where many mothers feel hesitant to say that out loud, as if motherhood somehow signals reduced commitment.
Motherhood can strengthen leadership
In reality, motherhood can strengthen leadership in ways we don’t often talk about.
When you’re responsible for young children, you quickly become aware of the mental load people carry every day, and the fact that they still show up to do their work regardless.
It builds compassion.
It also sharpens communication.
Anyone who has tried explaining something to a five-year-old knows that just because something is clear in your own head doesn’t mean it’s clear to someone else. You learn to communicate more simply, more patiently, and with more encouragement.
You also learn to stay excited about the small wins. And in our Industry, every win matters.
Energy matters. Enthusiasm matters. And those qualities are powerful in leadership.
The quiet risk companies may not see
When workplace structures become rigid, the loss of female leadership rarely happens loudly.
It’s quieter than that.
Women often move into consulting, freelance or advisory roles. Others step into smaller businesses or independent work.
They don’t leave because they lack ambition.
They leave because the structure no longer fits the life they are navigating.
And when that happens, companies lose not just employees, they lose experience, judgement and leadership that took years to build.
A moment for the industry to think ahead
Our industry is still relatively young. Many women who entered the creator economy and talent management over the past decade are only now reaching the stage where they are thinking about starting families.
Which means the question of how leadership and motherhood coexist is only going to become more relevant in the years ahead.
I’ve had countless conversations with women who feel nervous about having children because they’re worried about what it might mean for their careers.
It’s a fear I’ve felt myself.
So perhaps this is the moment to start thinking about how we ensure motherhood strengthens leadership pipelines rather than quietly narrowing them.
The leadership challenge ahead
There shouldn’t be a one-size-fits-all solution. Any system has to work for the company as well as the individual.
But balance should be considered.
Mothers shouldn’t be written off simply because their hours are influenced by school schedules. Childcare is expensive, logistics are real, and yet talented women continue to show up and contribute every day.
No one is asking for special treatment.
But we should be careful not to unintentionally stall or end a woman’s career simply because she has become a mother.
Because if empowering women is central to a brand’s external identity, the real test is whether that empowerment exists inside the organisation too.
