Honest Mum Vicki Broadbent on Motherhood, Imposter Syndrome, Birth Trauma & Building a Global Brand

0:03 When I am Wow, I really need to look after this vessel the mind, the book like. Welcome back to the Running Wine Mom Podcast. I'm your host. Samantha Selinsky, aka the Running Wine Mom. Today's guest, is a powerhouse who spent the last fifteen years proving that motherhood and ambition aren't just compatible, they're a competitive advantage. She went from a career as an award winning filmmaker and TV director to becoming one of the UK's original digital pioneers as the Honest Mom. She's an author, a fierce advocate for maternal rights, and she's just released a stunning new book, Greek Myths, folk Tales and Legends, which brings a feminist lens to the ancient stories we thought we knew. We're diving into the transition from film sets to mommy blogging, why she hates the term mompreneur, and how she reclaimed her voice after a traumatic birth to build a global brand. So, without further ado, let's wellcome VICKI to the show.

1:01 Welcome Vicky, Hi, thanks for having me on your fabulous podcast. Fair I am so excited to learn all about you. But to start each episode, we. Have our wine, Wine and one of the week segment. This is where we share our favorite battle of wine, then about something that's been bothering us, and celebrate our recent victories. So grab a glass, take a deep breath, and let's get started. So, Vicky, what is your drinking wine of the week? So of the week, now that it's it's really warmed up in the UK, we've actually got a heat wave. You know, UK is not really known for heat waves. So I've been drinking some lovely, refreshing English sparkling wine. So it's made in a very similar way to champagne and sparkling wines, but it's some here in the UK, and it's very crisp and light, and yeah, I'm really enjoying that so often like a glass of rose as well.

1:53 Yeah, it's been perfect. I'm going to have to check out the English sparkling wine because I don't think I've ever had. I love prosecco, I love champagne, so I feel like that would be right up my alley, especially as. There it's really amazing quality English sparkling wines actually, so yeah, definitely try it. And what is your complaint wine of the week. I would say that my daughter is at nursery and they constantly pick up every single bug going, which I was good for their immune system. But I would like, I feel I've tested so much with one bug after another. I would just like to. Go to preschool and not come give us all some new bug, please, because I've actually had a sports injury and tea slip disk.

2:40 So if the last six. Weeks I've been I mean for four weeks I couldn't move, I was on crutches literally, the last couple of weeks I've felt myself again and my painsible, So yeah, it's I definitely don't want any vomiting bugs or anything please. I know I'm hoping now that we're out of the winter season and that it will get a little bit better. So I have I have a three and a five year old, so I understand you. Forget the systems strong. Sometimes it feels relentless and at the moment everybody's dealing with it, and you get a new preschool kids have got this and you just, oh, my gosh, it's stressful. And what's your win of the week.

3:22 Well, I suppose walking without crutches has been really good the last couple of weeks, But if we look specifically at this week. I've upped my walking and I did like eighteen thousand steps yesterday, which I was really Oh, my physio is not going to be happy with me because I don't do too many. But she did say you end up doing more. Just rest today, So today's my rest day. But I feel like getting back to normality is a big win. I think when something like that happens and it comes out of the blue, you just realize, oh my gosh, so many people are dependent on me, right. The fact that you can't parent how you want to, the fact that you're in constant pain, like it really reminded me of how precious my health is. And yeah, so I definitely feel like it's been a win to feel normal, like I've definitely been amazing.

4:10 I'm so grateful. I'm so I know. I can't imagine as a mom being in such you know, like you were just saying, in that that phase where you can't do anything and you are the most probably helpful person for them. It's just like you. Do you say much as a default parent as Yeah, everybody stepped up massively. I've got two old wels, I've got sixteen and thirteen and my sixteen year old was cooking and oh my gosh, everything rebody really stepped up, and in a way, I think they realized how much I do because I think so and. Moms particularly do is invisible, you know. So I think like when that mum has to stop for whatever reason, it shines a light on, like, wow, you do so even like I'm like a what you call a soccer mum American Canada, and it's like I'm constantly getting my son to football and you know, daughter here, and it's just honestly all that had to stop or someone else, and it's just reminded everybody of like, wow, mum is busy.

5:15 Yeah, well, I'm glad you're feeling better from it all, because yeah, yeah, I'm sure they missed you. They did. And also I missed being a really active mum and I missed, you know, for four weeks. So I had to sit on a sofa in a very way so as to try and alleviate pain or that it was constant pain, and you know, you're on pain relief and it's just tough. It's really really hard because you want to be doing all the stuff and you can't. And I really feel sorry for people that have, you know, chronic issues and disability. It's it is really really hard, and I don't think society's that set up for people that can't do stuff either, and you only really experience you yourself a living with right so now, but it's been being really grateful and also renewed excitement for like ahead.

6:07 Yes, well that's going to be a good transition into our next part, which is fitness. What is your favorite way to stay active outside of the list. Really love Yeah, I mean I've always loved yoga. It was something that I did a lot of when my boys were younger, and I was really really consistent. And then I think you go from two to three kids and it's you've got two, right, but three is like three? I think I was someone else said it and I took it from I'm like, that is it's tough so finding time. So I'm trying to do a bit more yoga at home. By the neurosurgeon that was look, that's been I've been under his care. He said to me, you know, pilatees, yoga, swimming and walking should be the price would So I'm really trying to do a lot more of that, and I think for me walking is quite easy.

6:56 Like we live in Yorkshire. In the countryside, it's very very I walked to my daughter's school yesterday, walked back when the weather's good. It's like, and I've got this app on my phone so i can see my steps and I'm just yeah, I just I'm that person that needs goals, even comes to like step cout so I can kind of give myself a little tick. I've done ten thousands, I've done this, but really, you know, I think for most women. We deprioritize ourselves fast on the list. And I think dads do this as well. We're so busy as parents, we are spread as thinly as butter. Right. One of the big lessons. In dealing with a cute pain dealing with injury recently was when I am, well, I really need to look after this vessel, the mind, the body, like because you cannot be strong for anybody. And first and foremost, I think we need to really really be serious about that, not just yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do this, and like, so I'm trying to be very intentional, mindful about everything, and that's also including what I'm eating, what I'm putting in my skin, what i'm you know, all those things.

8:07 I just want to really look after myself and not just be last in the priority list, both pollogen having vitamins, like eating a healthy Mediterranean diet, but also allowing myself treats as well, but just just being mindful about everything. And you know what, I've talked about this a lot, but I'm only really fully just whatever. The last year, I would say that I'm being a lot more strict about what I'm doing. Yeah, And it is so important if we put ourselves for I always say when we put ourselves first, everybody else is happy because we're happy. Exactly. It's like that happy life, happy life. I stay to my husband, you know, and everyone's happy because we are tend to be the foundation. And that's not to say dads have to pitch in equally and things like that. So I'm not and I'm not diminishing anybody's wrong. But I think that I've always been an incredibly maternal person, and I am very active, and I am a little bit of a control freak as well.

9:07 So I like to be across everything. Yes, finding a lot of pleasure in my work and that intellectual stimulation and writing books and things, because I think for me that's another element of being happy having the step right. And I think for a lot of us that are working digitally, we're creating videos, reels, tiktoks that are what you would called editorials, so they're like things that. We love and that are fun. And then you know, we're also working on campaigns again with brands that we love and that we want to advocate for. But that's like the more paid activities, so we're juggling. We're essentially online magazines, you know, I think that. Yeah, I've just it's just been nice to be more mobile and doing more fun things and you know, filming, I mean normality.

9:57 Yeah, now I totally understand. And you speaking of your digital footprint, you are the honest mom. So we have to talk a little bit about parenthood. What do you think you were least prepared for in parenthood? Oh gosh, I think going from nought to one baby is the biggest jump. In the world. Yes, stepping off weapon. You know, you shoot up and it takes about a year to come up. It's it's tricky. I remember feeling incredibly shelgnocked. Did you feel that way. Oh, Mike, I was like everyone everyone said, oh, one baby is so easy, and I was like, what is this?

10:38 Like one to two was fine for me, but zero to one I was like, I cannot believe that people are reproducing because. Go from like a sort of life where you can have spontaneity, you can uh, you've got kind of some routines, ritual, and then suddenly this little baby surprised all the time, who at time to eat your breast or a bottle constantly that you are having to look after careful. It's so it's actually the biggest jump. I think it's harder than two to three. I think it's harder. You know. The one thing is once you've got a baby, life feels pretty chaotic, so you're just adding the chaos. But going from stability to like suddenly the baby is in control of everybody schedule, and also you're learning as you go.

11:29 And I think what was interesting when I had my first baby. I was pregnant at twenty seven and had them just as I turned twenty eight, and I was actually the first out of everyone I knew to have a baby, So that quite lonely because all your friends are working and whatever. And I remember the group of mums with the we have something called MCT here. They were all a lot older than me in that group, and it wasn't that we didn't get on because but they were in a different chapter of their lives in of everything, whether that was career, stability, tea like what they were doing. It was really really different. So I did make some friends, but I did feel very isolated and I was far from my mother. And genuinely, I know, like twenty eight doesn't sound that old, but I felt really young.

12:14 I feel like it's young for babies. For me, I didn't have my kids till thirty fours. I have this six foot two, sixteen year old he looked like twenty one. And we were in London the other week. Because I was, you know, attending and press briefing with the government, and we made a bit of a weekend of it. And although my son couldn't come to the event with the Prime Minister, he went off to a cafe and we're walking around and I'm bike. I saw some people looking at us a bit. Confused, which hopefully it's made me look youthful. I don't know, probably not a lot of concealers hide the bank looking at us, like, is that if mom, you look like his mom? So I'm not deluded, but it was just I noticed a few people sort of looking and I thought, my, oh my gosh, I have this this boy.

12:59 He used to be my little baby man. Yeah, still too young to have the man. You know that it's a baby. He needs to be like maybe my middle one's thirteen, Yeah, that's fine, but like sixteen looking a lot older, it's scary. And then four year old, so I've got different I'm going through. Each child is going through whatever puberty and exact then child hunterums, it's it isn't it's not for the week? Right? And you had Florence is your daughter's name, right, is it? And you had her after forty with two teenagers already in the house.

13:41 They be we're eleven, and we're eleven and nine. Okay yeah, and they're teenagers now and she's four. Yeah. So I had Florence when five days before turning forty one, so yeah, okay, so it's forty. I had a really great pregnancy, probably the easiest, easier than when I was twenty seven. Adam had hyperremesis with my first, whereas vomiting all the time it was terrible, whereas with my maybe I didn't have that. With her, I didn't have that. So I did get poorly at the end of the pregnancy, nothing to do with age or anything, but and I ended up having quite a traumatic birth with her. So my first baby at just twenty eight was a traumatic birth and my third. And it's really interesting because even though I'd shared a lot about birth trauma and advocated, when I was in the thick of it with my third baby, it was really hard still to reach out for help because I was trying to survive and with three now and it was like everything was harder.

14:47 And it was one of the reasons we decided to move back to Yorkshire from the South to like. Live dad, because I definitely felt with three kids, if I have a village around me, I need it. It'sportant more than ever. So yeah, I think, wow, there's a lot of things that are great about having big auge gaps. So the fact that like. So it was a you know, eleven and nine year age gap, I think that was twelve. I think that was so nice because the boys. Matured a lot and were kind of experiencing what it's like to nurture a baby. They're still kids. I didn't give them like parental responsibility style things, but the fact that they learned so much about looking after this cute little bundle and they loved it.

15:35 And they're all really really close. They irritate herther now because the four year old is you know, she's like a ten year old. Yeah, you know, they. Wind each other up. But it's also it's lovely to see their bond. But it was a shit was hard. Wow. We yeah, we My age gap is actually exactly the same as your kids are. So I'm eleven years older than my brother. My sister is nine years older than my brother. Oh and my mom was almost forty when she had Robbie thing. And how was it? It was awesome. We loved it. We loved having him as our little like he was like our baby doll basically.

16:18 And yeah, we're still we're super close. We're in his wedding in June, you know, our husbands are in his wedding. We're all we see each other all the time. And it's so funny because, yeah, like watching him grow up, I'm like, I remember everything from zero till now, and I'm like, how are you getting married that. One of the influenced as a parent because it's so coloracter building and as a child and having this little like you say this like baby doll that you look after. And my boys were desperate for a sister. They were it because I would see it as a surprise and they were like no, no, no, and it's I really you know, and the joy they were elated they would because they had each other as brothers and they just really wanted to And it's so sweet when I see the boys playing with them, because you know, what's the thing.

17:05 I don't know if you found this as well. The blessing of an age gap is that the boys, it almost elongates their own childhood right get doing their playing, they're in the playground, they're in spaces that are for younger kids because they've got the sister or they've got the brothers sibling, and it actually extends their childhood in such a precious way. That people worry a lot about age gaps, and I always say, like, don't worry about that. It's honest, such a lovely thing for everyone involved. But yeah, three kids is very very intense. Everybody's there's always one kid ill crisis, school thing. So I definitely think you have to be very very tough in terms of like strong as a person, not tough on your kids, because I'm like the softest person ever.

17:56 But but yeah, I think that. If you do, if you do end up having you know, for anyone that does end up having three kids, if they are able to be around close friends, family, and I think that's such an important thing of survival really, of because that if you look historically, if you look at our ancestors, like that kind of setup was always the way. And there's even some studies that say that women become menopausal because they wanted that the sort of martriarch, the grandmother to help raise grandchildren. So it's some research to see it as like an evolutionary thing as well, which I thoughh thing, that's really cool.

18:37 All right, So let's get into you. Your bio says you're a filmmaker and author and of course the honest man. But if I bumped into you at a grocery store and had zero time for the elevator pitch, how do you describe yourself to a stranger? I think I would just say, like, I'm creative. Really, you know that I'm a writer, and that I would always say, you know that I'm a mum because that's the biggest, most important role to me, that dominates my life. When you're a mum, that's that's the thing that's to me is the most important and also at the most time. So yeah, I would definitely be like, I mean, usually i'd say I'm a writer. I mean, I do quite a lot of TV work in the UK, and that gives you like a sense of visibility that so often I find if anyone stops me, they've either seen me on TV or they've.

19:26 Seen me on social media. I think the really funny thing was when Florence. I mean I still have quite a lot of viral content, but when Florence was little, she was constantly going viral on Instagram and we had we always had like lovely mums stoppers and be like, oh I saw that video and it's really But I think what's interesting with social media is like you can have this international reach, so someone in the grocery store might not have ever heard of you, but you know, something's gone viral and loads of Americans have seen your video, you know, So I kind of feel like, would never consider myself famous per se. I would just say that people have a certain visibility online and that's quite powerful. And I think in the last year that I've moved into well last few years really quite a few years, moved into like more political spaces and trying to help shape policy for the better or advocate for mums and campaign. I think that's been really important to me, using a platform for good and try and mobilize, you know, parents to help them with flexible working too.

20:36 There's a lot of that work that's been really interesting for me as well. I'd love. I love that, and it's such an interesting space being in the like content creation world. And I feel like when people ask what do you do, I always kind of stumble. So I like to hear what other people say. And then the other thing, you know, in your book Mumbas, you talked about battling pastor syndrome, which I absolutely have. And even now, like with all your awards, your TV appearances, does do you the impostor still? And I mean my book is called The Working Mom in American Okay, not called Mumbos.

21:16 It's only called Mumbos in the UK. But just to distinguish that, but I would say that I'm constantly feeling that way. And I would say that with every child, I've lost a huge amount of confidence. And I would say that even now, there is that thing of you know, going to light number ten, which is the equivalent of like going to the White House or something. I mean, it really is like I'm right, Oh my gosh, you know, should I be here? Kind of like. But also I think what was interesting I was one of very few women working as a director when I worked in TV and film, and we were told at film school when I did my master's, you know, you really have to walk into that on set. You're lucky enough to get there. I mean, I worked in the film industry for many years. I worked for the BBC.

22:05 I started working in TV and film all through like school, everything, I was working in local news. It was like what I really wanted to do. And I remember them saying, you know, you really do have to like fake it to make it. And that was the nineteen eighteen that you do have to go on set and this is a male dominated field and you are worthy and if you don't feel it, you have to ground your feet to the floor and just convince your brain. And obviously I didn't really know a lot about neuroplasticity then, about the fact that that you practice things and do things that you start believing it. And I've had a lot of therapy as well, which I think is such a gift, and I think it's a really important thing to do if you can assess it even before kids, to heal a lot of that inner child stuff to work, because it's going to show up, because that's what happens in life.

22:57 Not just with kids, generally, with stress, with whatever. So I feel like I'd kind of won quite a lot of battles as a TV director, and then I was told, you know, you do need to have a bit for you're thirty if you want to have kids. So I was like, oh my gosh, just because of I had a condition called PCOS, which they say that even before Florence said nothing's visible with that condition, not in blood tests, not in scans. So that's really interesting. There's not enough research done about women's health really. So actually I. Felt like I'd won a few battles, I had won awards as a director, but then you pivot into another career. Yeah, mine was completely accidental, Like fifteen years ago, no one even knew what a blog was in the UK when I set up, So I think I've had to fight to be taken seriously quite a lot. But obviously around as a filmmaker and having won awards and my films were in OSCAR qualifying festivals. I'd worked for a really famous TV producer, I'd worked for the BBC, I'd had that behind me, and quite young, I was like, why is no one taking me seriously now? Because they don't understand this space. So in a way, advocate for other creative mums helped me really push what it meant.

24:13 You know. The campaigns I did were really pioneering. I was the first digital creator to work with an airline, right. It was like, there should be no stopping us, and now there's like milk, which is amazing. I was definitely in the way of people that were the og kind of creators. Also, I was one of the very first to come up with these really pioneering ideas of like let me be an ambassador, put me on the plane, let's do this, let's see you know. I was because I'd had that directing background and I shot com up and I made TV drama and I was like, there's. No limit to what we can do. We just put it online. So yeah, and I suppose now I'm just looking for more things to stimulate me and excite me.

24:59 Sochildren's book was one of them. I'm now looking ahead to other things. I think that I think that the US do it really well because there were American bloggers when I started out, and they were massively bestful, right, so I was like, well, we can do that. Yeah, surely we've got a great history of the art of storytelling supply that. And it's actually looking back on it, it's really weird that it literally it wasn't of any It was purely timing. If you are at the advent of anything, you have this usp you have this advantage. Yes, that skill set that was transferable, so of course storytelling came a lot easier to me. But it meant that like doors could be opened in really ways, and it matched a time when advertisers were moving online like it was the ADVCT So I'm very much it's due to timing as well.

25:57 Yes, you know, I can't take all the cs. It like it just happened that I was on that leave when the advent of digital was happening. So cool, and you've been called mampreneur and that's a term that you have found famously patronized. I'm mumboss because it's like it felt like quite empowering you're a boss, but especially if you were your business was related. To being a mum. But I just I don't know why I don't. I don't hate it. I just find it just gives me a little bit of the eck purely. Yeah, yeah, it. Didn't feel like I don't know because maybe it's a hypocrite to say that because I like mumboss.

26:38 I find that empowering. I think because mumbos came off the back of Girl Boss and it like Guy's term, particularly at the time. But I just feel like mompreneur is like just distorting entrepreneur and really mumbosses are entrepreneurs. But you know, maybe it's hypocritical of me. No, I don't think so, because I think like mom boss is like a like a power term for someone, Like it's like a an I guess, like a description of someone a mom prenour kind of. I feel like if you like not dumbs down what you're doing, but there's no dad preneurs, you know, like if where you feel like it it's different.

27:20 But I mean, look, I think some people are really triggered by these terms. They find them kind of like you say, just reductive. Yeah, if something is part of I don't feel like mompreneur became part of the zeitgeist really, right. I think one was calling themselves that, And I think a lot of language is about a load of mums were calling themselves mumbosses and they love that term, and they found it like empowering, right. So I think it's not because language is not just an. Avoid So I think it's I feel like mompreneur was other people, like men mostly calling mums that, And it's also about saying it and where does that land and what does that feel like?

28:04 I think that's what language is. Really with mumboss I saw women appropriate that term. I didn't invent it, so I took it from other you know. I was like, well, that's really what this is about. And my kids made me a boss, they made me a MUMMLI, but I feel like has been something that has been. Given to us. Mostly, you've got to make language work for you, as long as it's not offensive, as long as it's not hard if you find mum for enough like exciting for you and validating and empowering. Great if you don't pay too like no one's pushing you to use things. I definitely find something really exciting and made me feel really like confident and at a time when a lot of confidence.

28:51 But back to the confident thing, I think it's very, very hard when you are giving everything of yourself to your kids in the first few years to feel confident because it's like it's like learning a language. You have to practice to feel feak. And I did so much due lingo in French, and then I would meet up with French friends and I would still stop, and I realized it's because I'm not really practicing that language. If I'd lived in France and I was doing that, I would feel so. Much more confident. And it's the same. You were out of practice, you are out of the workplace, you were out of giving presentations, or you're out anything that you're not doing repetitively, you're not going to feel good at so you're being you know, And I think as when we doubt ourselves a lot because we are working in a patriarchy, so we don't have lots of things going for us in terms of infest so I think that also makes it hard. So I remember actually before video became a really big thing. I mean YouTube was big, but Grandma hadn't launched reels things like that.

29:52 Everything's video that, right. I remember my husband saying, to get confident, why don't you get this canon camera, put it on a little tripod and just film yourself every day. You don't even have to share what you film, just so you get into the practice of doing that all the time. And they ended up sharing quite a lot of the content, not everything, but a lot, and that put me in really good stead. And that's someone that used to be a director, but I wasn't. I was behind the camera. So my advice is, if you want to do something even if nobody in the world sees it, whether that's writing a book or doing some practice first until it becomes naturalized. Right. Creativity particularly is like a muscle that requires exercise, and it's like if you're writing a novel, if you're writing a book, it's all in the rewrites anyway. So there's a very good book by Dorothea Brand, Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brand, and it was written in the feace, and other people have taken her exercises and they've made them their own, or they've changed them or whatever. Her exercise that I still swear by is that every morning you write this stream of consciousness and you don't read it back, and you don't think about it. You just write, okay, And you do that every single day, and you sell up your diaries.

31:14 And what that does is it removes the barrier between you and your laptop, you and your note I'd obviously in the thirties that were writing right. I didn'tink the type writer came out, but I'm. Sure it was a lot less. But that thing has boded so well for me. Oh, I mind it. Yeah you should, but you mustn't read it back because it doesn't matter what you've written. There's a part of your brain that is just writing. And then it honestly, honestly makes it one hundred times easier to start whatever it is because we're looking at blank pages, we're procrastinating, when a lot of that is just. Through lack of practice. Yeah, she taught me a lot.

31:55 That book is really should be every writer's first port of call. Awesome, And speaking of writing, you just came out with a new book, Greek Myths, folk Tales and Legends. Can you talk a little bit about that? So I don't know if it's available in the US. I don't think it is, but it's it's out in the UK, and it's done. Really you know, well, I'm really happy when I sit some well, I mean like it's it's done. It's been received so well by children, which is my biggest goal. Like obviously it's lovely. When you get nice sales and things, but no one goes into children's books to make. A book unless you're unless you're the massive children's author. It's not like an immediately like very lucrative thing. But that didn't bo all. It was very much about writing.

32:39 So I retold Greek myths which I grew up with and are really foundational stories that influence European storytelling massively, you know ty five hundred and two thousand years ago, and influence Shakespeare and these incredibly powerful stories, love stories and also really surreal and a bit bizarre, you know, a kind of Troy who was birthed from a swanzag and we've got all these incredible characters. But it was a joy and I went back and I did so much methodical research and tried to go back to the earliest iterations because they were a word of mouth first, and then they were written down by Homer and Hesioid, and then I was like, how do I make these feel modern and brash, right, kids?

33:28 So that's what I did. So it's for eight to twelve, and. I'm really proud of it, and I've been on a school book tour and just meeting kids that are like so excited about my work is just such a pleasure. And I've had some emails from parents and teachers saying that children they know of that were very bookshy are loving the book and won't put it down. To me, I'm just like, and what's loly. It's a collection of stories, so you can dip in and out, you can read one like it doesn't feel overwhelming. So yeah, I really loved that and I learned a lot because there were myths that I'd never even read or heard. Of that I included in there. So that was all I would definitely recommend all children like dive into.

34:13 The Did you have a favorite myth that you wrote about? Yeah? So I really So there's a story of Pasephone, which and the six pomegranate seeds, which I'm sure you've heard of. There's like a musical Hadestown that is reflects that as well. And that's a really beautiful story. And why I loved it so much. It was about a bond between a mother and daughter, so it reminded me and my mum as well, and obviously my daughter. She's very little and the daughter Persephone, is stolen by the god of the underworld, and her mother doesn't know where she's gone, and she spends the year searching for her, and in that year she makes everything turn to autumn and winter, and when she's reunited with the daughter, becomes.

34:54 Spring in summer, which is very like frozen. I'm sure there were influenced has so many more movies have been influenced by Greek myths. But what's so lovely is just that this such a beautiful bond that they have, and the fact that Deme, goddess at the harvest, will never stop searching for her daughter. And it just is very moving. And meanwhile, her daughter's in the underground and she's you know, forced upon this marriage, and in some versions of the myths, she falls in love with Hayes and others she doesn't, and it's just a really interesting dynamic between world and the outer world. And actually this I did loads of research, and Demeter and Persephone were like feminist heroes to eight and they were heroes to the Romans, and they had these massive festivals where people would honor them because remember in those days, the harvest, the crops were how everybody lived.

35:47 So yees are such important goddesses. So it's so fascinating. So yeah, I just wanted to create stories that had more equality as well for children, so that both girls and boys would feel empowered by these heroes. And honestly was probably one of the biggest career highlights of my life to. Like, I felt like I had such a responsibility to do that. Also, I was like, Okay, so Homer and Hessiard retold these stories all these years ago, and I'm like, until probably six months or whatever, the next person that retells these myths right now, I'm the latest in that line.

36:29 Yeah, that's so cool. Old those stories not from a negatistical perspective, but from a perspective of like being a caretaker of these stories and keeping the fire burning. So in the Olympics. You know, they passed the fire torch. They passed it to me. I've written it. There'll be someone else in a year or two years or whoever who retells them again. But for now, this is my little baby, right. Oh my gosh, that's such a fun way to think about it. I love that really. So, your platform has been just growing and reaching so many people, and you've had some awesome opportunities to work directly with Meta, and I always like to, you know, selfishly, ask some questions about growth as I'm trying to grow, and so are some of many of my followers, you know, trying to grow social media, and sometimes it can feel like you're in the in the America US term the wild wild West. You don't know what you're doing. So for anyone listening, can you give some tips?

37:28 Yeah? So, I mean I'm on their Facebook and Instagram Creators program, and you have meetings of Meta, and they also invite me to these lives with really big creators and you also and also people in the industry like mds of agencies and people at Meta, which has definitely over the last I don't know how many years, few years, maybe three four years, have really helped me in terms of honing my voice, knowing my audience. Providing value. There's a term, and I worked at the BBC and I still do freelance of the BBC work. There's a term, a Wreathian term, So it's like based on this director General at BBC where he was like inform educate and entertain and I think that's something that's stuck with me that I create content that I like consuming myself. So I'm very fascinated by research. So I like to make these videos that are like did you know? And it's very centered on parenting children by also stuff that's quite unique that I know about, and I'm like, well, if I didn't know my audience and I obviously include the sources or if I've been inspired by someone I always credit, but it's like really important to me because I enjoy that.

38:42 But I also enjoy quite funny stuff. So I think that my mix is like informative, educational, but also I like to do fun stuff again personality. So if you're a food creator, you need to work out what's the stuff I like to consume, how can I do it? And almost deconstruct stuff, you know, play around so get your light ring, shoot different angles, make sure you're not shooting into the light. Make sure everything's in focus. Because the thing is all these platforms they want crisp, they want good clear imagery right, and they well lit. For my audience, It's very time short, so I aim no more than ten seconds because I know that really, if you look at the research, people only have a three second attention span, so you've got to put second.

39:34 I know that trending music's really important. One thing that I also really enjoy is TikTok, and I find that, you know, it's really fun over there, and because I don't have a huge following over there, I feel more relaxed, so like I can share something that doesn't do great. I'm not panicking that like right five views and things. But one thing I would say is that, yeah, when it is your job, it does become more high pressure. So period where you're building and growing, you can try lots of things. You can try things through the trial reels before you post, which is a good way to do that. But equally, I think you like anything, you need to be very specific. So for instance, if you're sharing a reel, you should have quite a long caption because what you're doing is you're telling the algorithm exactly what they're doing, so they know how you're real do and most of the people.

40:28 They are directing to a non followers. Right, So I think there's a bit of a thing like short contents, useful entertaining consistency is so key. So really ideally posting once a day if you can, or if you can't, make sure it's every two days, and make sure you're teaching the algorithm that every two days you are going to post, right, Because essentially it's a machine. It's similar to Google. It's you have to let it learn from you and guess what, become a trusted person creator to the algorithm to whatever they will repay you in reach. But you do fit to things, and you do have to meet the criteria of well shore and then you know.

41:15 All these things. I find that text on top of the videos does really well because people are like reading in a loop and then they've watched it like t three times. Yes, but also Facebook is a great place to like upload and to earn from, so I mix it up. I do videos on. Instagram that I instantly cross over to share, but they also upload onto Facebook. Natively and then that's for money. And I would say, well that, don't worry about repeating yourself because if you think that the majority people that are watching your content, Instagram and Facebook are pushing out speaker that don't originally follow you. So if something did really well, you can repeat it in two weeks time, no one's going to it's going to be like, oh, she.

42:01 Repeated that, And loads of creatives do that. So I think, do your research, save things that you like, recreate stuff that say a trend, but always caption. Who's inspired you. Just really think about the stuff that you want to do and put out that. The biggiest way to do that is what do I like watching? What entertains me? How can I make my version of it and make it UNI. That's awesome. Well, you have given us so much wonderful information. I loved chatting with you, and I really appreciate you coming on the podcast, But I'm going to leave the listeners with one last question. You are the honest mom. What is one piece of advice that you would give to parents who are trying to juggle it all and maybe feel like everyone else is more curated than them, or have it all together.

42:52 Well, I think we're all dealing with chaos. And I think even if people are showing aside to them cells, we're all human. We're all dealing with things. And I would just go easy on myself and trying not to compare your life. I know it's hard because everything is sort of in front of you, even if you're not seeking it out. But I mean, my mum always said to me, you know, there's always going to be people that are more attractive than You're, smarter than you, richer than you. You know, there's always going to be that you've really got with. Being content with who you are right now and what you're doing. And I would say things that distract you from some of that noise in a way and getting because really what it is is just you being hard on yourself and feeling enough that sort of all comes back to you.

43:37 So I think moving your body, eating well, nourishing yourself, doing mindfulness, those things although they're like yeah, yeah, we know it, but if you actively start doing that and you start working on you that sort of that healing, that sort of thing, it makes you stop doing those negative spirally things. And I think it's so easy with social media if you're in a bad mood, you can just look for things to like, Yes, well stop doing that, go play some nice music. Paint draw right, Jeff, go watch there's amazing stuff on Netflix and on TV like go and just I don't know, like feel stimulated.

44:18 But I also think one thing that's always. Stuck with me is that if you don't live your life, you can't really do creative stuff. Yeah, constantly, just just constantly making reels or doing stuff about nothing. You do have to like live and like make That should be the most important thing really, So I hope that's useful. Yes, it is. I think that is. Jeff loved it. It's been great. Yes, this was so fun, and I think that is certainly the perfect place to end it. So it's going to bring us to the end of another episode of The Running Way Mom again. I think that one of my biggest takeaways, as you said, with the impaster syndrome and going for it, just stop waiting for permission to be the hero of our own stories, whether you're navigating a career pivot or just trying to survive the school run.

45:09 So thank you for reminding us all of that. You do have to take risks, and you just, yeah, it's gonna work out all the time, and that's okay. Like in the same way you're gonna have bad days parenting and great days parenting, but you do just make some leaps and feel uncomfortable at. Times because that's the only way to grow. And if things don't work out, that's okay. There's enough you pine you do do stuff like it never ends. That's just life, isn't it. It's just constant meeting us change. So I hope that's really useful. Thanks to month that soath. Nurse can find you as always. Thank you so much for joining us on The Running Wine Mom and spending time with us. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share this episode with a mom who needs to hear it. You can follow me on Instagram at the Running Wine Mom underscore and Vicky, where can the listeners find you? Honest man, awesome and I will link all of that. Thank you so much for joining us today. Remember you were strong, you were capable, and we're all amazing. Until next time, keep running, keep sipping, keep embracing the joy of motherhood. And thank you Vicky for joining us.

46:07 Thank you so much. The month though, Thank you, See you guys next Tuesday.