Emma Cantrell is the CEO of Children’s Charity First Days. Emma explains why she started the charity in 2013 when her two children were very small, initially to redistribute kids’ clothes and toys from people who didn’t need them anymore to those that did.    Since then, Emma and her team have added more services including advising families on where they can get additional help, peer support and one to one coaching. Emma talks about how she has had to find balance, how to cope with doing a...

Abi Selby founded Spabreaks.com in 2008, a spa booking service working with more than 700 spa destinations in the UK and a team of 65. Abi’s aim was to make spas accessible to every body as well as spotting the business opportunity of matching customers with vacancies in spas that needed filling.   Abi talks with Steph about realising the opportunity in the spa industry, starting a business shortly after having a baby and trying to find a way of work that works for her family and her...

Steph speaks with Psychotherapist Zara Arshad about what is really going on for couples after a baby arrives – the common feelings of anger, disappointment, resentment, loneliness, and feeling underappreciated. From her own experience, Steph found it tough and was also surprised to feel this way as no one had really mentioned it prior to having a baby.   Zara specialises in couples and new parents improving communication, and helping people in relationships during what is a tricky time. They...

Laura Danger AKA That Darn Chat has amassed a massive 350k+ followers on TikTok and an Instagram account growing by thousands every week, creating videos about the mental load, with the strap line ‘Domestic labour is labour’. The reaction she gets shows that Laura’s is a voice people are wanting to hear from, and as one of Steph’s favourite topics, they get into it!   They discuss the wider impact on society of inequality at home, how writing lists isn’t the solution, and ask why women are ok...

Aileen Barratt is the woman behind the hugely popular Instagram account Tinder Translators, where she translates the awful bios in dating apps to explain what they really mean. ‘Looking for fun’ means ‘looking for sex’, ‘girls that look after themselves’ means only thin women should apply, and we learn how to spot if a man is, in fact, married.   After sharing funny (dreadful) dating bios and stories, Steph and Aileen get into what these profiles say about how some men treat women, but also...

Anna Mathur is a Psychotherapist, mum of three and best-selling author of three books all aimed at helping women manage anxiety, self-esteem and calm after having children.   With 180k followers on Instagram, Anna’s drive to take therapy out of the therapy room and support more women comes from a trickier experience with her second child, when she couldn’t keep up the façade anymore. She talks about feeling guilt and shame, and invalidating those feelings because she felt she should be good...

Natalie Lee AKA Style Me Sunday talks with Steph about her mission to ‘free’ people from shame when it comes to our bodies, sex and fitting in, and answers some questions from listeners agony-aunt style.     Natalie has undergone a lot of change in the last five years, on her view of her body and sexuality as well as ending her marriage. Steph and Natalie talk about summer bodies, growing up in the 80s and being taught that sex for women is a performance. She also encourages us to stop...

Steph chats with Sunday Times Bestselling author Sarah Turner AKA The Unmumsy Mum. From launching a blog in 2013 after having her first baby and feeling she’d been missold motherhood, Sarah’s authentic voice has amassed a huge following; currently over 400k on Instagram and over 700K on Facebook.  Steph and Sarah met on the ‘blogging scene’ back in 2014, and they recall what it was like back then in the world of mummy bloggers, when influencers were but a twinkle. They also talk about end of...

Matt Coyne, AKA Man Vs Baby, has made a career writing and talking about being a dad (after a stint as ‘the worst graphic designer in Yorkshire’ among other things), amassing a huge following across social media.   As a Stay at Home Dad, Matt shares his insight in to men being praised for showing up, with expectations on women so much tougher, and the narrative of dads as either wet or buffoons. Steph and Matt talk about Kate’s handling of Prince Louis at the Jubilee, what happens when your...

As part of the Don’t Buy Her Flowers fatherhood series, Steph speaks with food critic and journalist Jimi Famurewa about the role of men in parenting, how fatherhood has changed and the influence of his matriarchal upbringing.   Jimi talks about the nostalgia of learning Nigerian cooking with his mum over Zoom during lockdown, the bizarre feeling of his career really taking off just as restaurants were closing during the Pandemic, and his role on The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie...

Steph speaks with gay dad, husband and business owner Jonathan Kirkby about surrogacy and fatherhood in the lead up to Father’s Day.     Jonathan explains the complicated process of surrogacy, discrimination he’s experienced, and what he would like to see change in people's understanding of surrogacy. They also discuss the impact of becoming a dad on Jonathan’s relationship and lifestyle.    Steph and Jonathan talk about the 50/50 split of parenting with his partner, dad guilt and how the...

Steph talks with Matthew Fray, a relationship coach and author of ‘This is How your Marriage Ends: A hopeful approach to saving relationships ’. After his own experience of divorce, and after some soul searching, Matt had a kind of reckoning where he realised that how he had behaved in the marriage – mostly the every day little things that cause the same rows – had over time eroded trust, which led his wife to leave. Matt has used this to look at how men behave in relationships, primarily in...

Dr Karen Gurney AKA The Sex Doctor is on a mission to help us understand how desire works, particularly in women, because it is NOT the spontaneous desire that we see in the movies. In fact, she says ‘It is normal to never feel like sex, out of the blue, ever, in a long term relationship’. As well as female desire, Steph and Karen discuss how sex changes from those exciting early flushes at the start of a relationship, the impact of having children and the mental load, talking to kids about...

During Maternal Mental Health Week, Steph talks with Clinical Psychologist Dr Caroline Boyd about how challenging that first year can be, including feelings of isolation and rage, and feeling disconnected from a partner. They also talk about the Supermum Myth, parenting perfectly and how an expectation of motherhood coming ‘naturally’ impacts hard when it doesn’t.   Caroline explains why new mums might feel all these emotions, and shares evidence-based psychological ideas to help new mums...

As an End of Life Doula and a Funeral Director, Anna Lyons and Louise Winter have more experience of death and dying than most. They talk with Steph about why it is their mission to get people talking more about the inevitable, and share what they’ve learned through their work about life and living.   Steph talks with Anna and Louise about why their message is important and reframing death, how we prepare for parents dying, talking to children and showing up for someone who has been...

The Don’t Buy Her Flowers Podcast returns for season three with Kate Lawler - DJ, broadcaster, Big Brother 2002 winner and hugely honest author in her recently published book Maybe Baby.   Steph spoke to Kate during what was a crazy week of book promo as well as her partner Boj getting Covid, which meant that as well as being crazy busy, their usual support network couldn’t help. Kate ended up in hospital and they talk about finding the juggle impossible, which has lead to Kate quitting her...

Em Smyth went into the Pandemic with no children and is living and breathing the Rush Hour, as less than two years later she has two kids under two and a half. Em is keen to address the misinformation that seems to be rife around adoption, talking Steph through the adoption process (top tip: don’t joke about worrying your kid will become a serial killer when you’re being vetted to become adoptive parents).   Steph and Em discuss mother’s guilt, which Em says can feel even more intense when...

As well as just bagging a National Comedy Award for Best Comedy Podcast and completing a record-breaking arena tour, Rosie Ramsey is about to host a TV show on BBC One with husband Chris, and talks with Steph about her background as an entertainer via Pontins in Somerset, holiday repping in Faliraki and as a radio presenter.   Rosie describes the phase they’re in as ‘The Drowning Stage’, explaining how she feels the overwhelm and mum guilt doing all of the above while juggling two young boys....

Steph talks with the artist formally known as Annie Mac about Motherhood, her career and the huge change she made leaving BBC Radio 1 in 2021 after 17 years. As an internationally renowned broadcaster, DJ and events curator, Annie has added Author to her CV with the publication of her debut novel Mother, Mother.   Steph and Annie discuss social media and Annie’s decision to manage her time online after finding it made her feel isolated and like she wasn’t enough – at work, at home, with her...

TW: includes discussion about baby loss, death and grief.   Sarah Gwonyoma, founder of @WhatSarahReadNext talks honestly about what happens when life throws a lot of grief your way, coping when life is turned upside down, and making big career moves when she stopped to work out what she really wanted.   As part of our Motherhood series, Sarah talks with Steph about how it feels to become fixated with having a baby, and going through multiple losses and IVF while everyone around you seems to...

Steph chats with Comedian, Actor, Presenter AND Author (phew) Ellie Taylor about her career. She’s come a long way since playing Nancy in Oliver aged 17 and they discuss the terror/joy of Stand Up Comedy and some of Ellie’s recent projects including what it’s like to be in the multi-award winning show Ted Lasso (Emmys! SAG Awards! Golden Globes!) as the brilliant Sassy.    Ellie says new mums are her catnip and in her book ‘My Child and Other Mistakes’ describes how pregnancy and motherhood...

With four sons ranging from early school age to teens, disability activist Nina Tame talks with Steph about family dynamics, introducing a Step-Dad and how her mothering has changed since having her first aged 25.   Nina was born with Spina Bifida; she educates her followers and advocates for people with disabilities on her Instagram as well as displaying fabulous hair, outfits and interiors. Steph and Nina discuss ableism, access and Nina’s ‘journey’ (sorry) to reclaiming her body, which she...

Oof, Dr Kiran Rahim - a paediatrician and mum of three - is here with some cracking truths. Steph asks Kiran about her experience of the fourth trimester, and how it differed after her third baby compared to her first and second, when she finally listened to her mum and focused on looking after herself, letting others look after her and staying in her bubble. Steph had a very similar experience after her third child.   Kiran talks about her experience of Burnout, which she describes as the...

It may be Valentine’s Day, but Natasha Lunn, journalist and author of Conversations on Love, is talking about ALL the different kinds of love.  Steph and Natasha talk about romantic relationships and how we might maintain a them once the initial lust has gone and also after having kids (when you might sometimes not be your kindest self…!). They also talk about friendships and how those change over time from our schools days or twenties but can be essential to our wellbeing, especially in the...

After going through her own divorce, comedian, actress and author Samantha Baines started The Divorce Social podcast talking to a different guest each week about their break up experience.    Sam and Steph talk about losing yourself in a relationship, and the ‘phases’ after a marriage ends. Sam gives some excellent advice on how to support a friend (and what not to say) and some thoughts on not seeing the relationship as all just a horrible mistake. Also, everyone should apparently spend a...