105. COMEBACK – Danielle Wallington – Flockhere founder – building a biz after flex request refused on maternity leave – guilt + grit – community is everything.

Hello Bright Minds, today I’m talking to Danielle Wallington who lives in St Albans, the place I’ve called home for 23 years. Danielle was an events manager who had her flexible working request turned down after maternity leave with her first son. From that setback came her first business “Milk & Fizz” where she used to her events management skills to bring mothers together for a different type of gathering to what was on offer at the time. She’s now the founder of Flock Here – a social networking app that connects women who work from home to places to work from and people to work with. She’s been through some massive setbacks in the business which is why I wanted to bring you this conversation. Self-employment isn’t an easy choice and it’s not for everyone and this is a chat you’re going to get a lot from if you work for yourself and have small children or if you’re wondering about self-employment as an option; if you’re a woman working in events or if you’re needing to hear a tale of grit to boost your own motivation. 

If you’re a long time listener you’ll know that COMEBACK COACH is part of a broader package of support: the Comeback Community employee experience. It’s a blend of online resources, coaching, live expert Q&As, career development tools and line manager support that we deliver in many large and small organisations that who want to support their returning colleagues and get them feeling comfortable back in their roles as smoothly and swiftly as possible. Find out more and help us start a conversation with your HR team at www.comebackcommunity.co.uk/introduce.

REFERENCES 

Flock Here

Danielle on LinkedIn

Kings Global Institute for Women’s Leadership events

Gender differences in the association between unpaid labour and mental health in employed adults: a systematic review

How I built this podcast with Guy Raz

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