How to start the week strong as a working mum?
A working mum's honest take on tight deadlines, stretched teams and why a little preparation before Monday is worth the late Friday night.
chefswifediary
I'm a corporate professional, mother of two, and married to a chef who does the cooking. This is the honest version of the balancing act: the wins, the guilt, the late nights, and no highlight reel.
Small wins for working mums: why school pick-up saved my week?
Fifteen minutes before I was due to switch off for the weekend, my boss’s request landed in my inbox. Review the major planning document. Deadline: 11.30am on Monday, well before the meeting. I did the sums in my head and…
Working mum career dilemma: stay or leave?
A working mum on whether to stay in a steady job or chase ambition, while selling a home and raising two children in a squeezed economy.
Workplace fairness: when female bosses lack empathy.
I was three sentences into a routine business travel request when I saw it: the team get together trip had been brought forward to the exact week of my son’s 3rd birthday. Not near it. Not around it. On it…
Working mum guilt: what one late pick-up taught me about setting boundaries.
It was supposed to be ten minutes. I told myself that walking into the call, an intern on my team who’d asked to talk, thirty minutes before I needed to leave for camp pick-up. Ten minutes, I decided, wouldn’t hurt…
Why modern motherhood’s “silent hardship” is our greatest power.
I came across a social media post yesterday reflecting on the concept of silent motherhood hardship. It got me thinking, why is it so often ‘silent‘? As a full-time corporate employee and a chef’s wife, my days are a constantly…
How one late-night decision ruins a working mum’s entire tomorrow.
Let’s be honest for a second: if there is one piece of advice I want to shout from the rooftops this week, it is this: think twice before you decide to switch on your “work brain” after dinner. Of course,…
Why I stopped trying to make friends at work.
Six years ago, I landed in London. It was the absolute peak of the pandemic, and I was stepping into a new world with a job transfer in hand. Moving across the world is daunting enough, but doing it when…
The reality of the corporate climb: ghosting, rejection, and guilt.
The email I had been waiting for finally arrived at the exact moment I least expected it. The interview process, which began back in early April, had been an intense journey spanning three rounds of escalation. Because I hadn’t received…
The myth of the quiet worker: how to claim your worth in a corporate world.
Keep your head down, do the work, and let your results speak for themselves. It’s an unspoken mantra carved into the roots of many traditional Asian upbringings. Growing up as the only daughter and a middle child, I was an…