We need more Mums in Marketing with Claire Ferreira

This week’s episode of Marketing the Madness is a special one! We’ve rebranded to Marketing in the Madfest for this exciting live recording at Madfest, and joining us is the fantastic Claire Ferreira from Mums in Marketing. Claire shares her inspiring journey of creating a community where the challenges and triumphs of motherhood and marketing intersect.

In today’s vibrant marketing landscape, the role of mums in marketing is more significant than ever. Yet, many mothers still face unique hurdles in balancing their careers and family lives. This week’s episode is your guide to navigating these challenges and thriving as a mum in marketing.

Katie Street, founder of Street Agency and host of "Marketing the Madness," dives deep with Claire into the importance of creating supportive networks and the incredible potential of mums in marketing. Together, they discuss the genesis of Mums in Marketing, the struggles of returning to work post-maternity, and the power of community and visibility.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

🚀 The Birth of Mums in Marketing: Claire Ferreira reveals how her own experiences of isolation and redundancy during maternity leave inspired her to create a supportive community for mums in the marketing industry.

👩‍🍼 Balancing Career and Motherhood: Hear firsthand stories from Claire and Katie about the challenges and triumphs of juggling a marketing career with motherhood, including flexible working hours and the need for extended holiday allowances.

💡 Overcoming Workplace Challenges: Learn about the unique obstacles mums face when returning to work, from gender pay gaps to outdated school and work schedules, and how supportive workplaces can make a difference.

🤝 Building Confidence and Community: Understand the importance of visibility and community support in empowering mums to push for salary increases, pursue career advancements, and balance personal and professional lives.

🌟 Inspiring Change: Discover how Mums in Marketing is creating waves in the industry, helping mothers connect, share experiences, and support each other in their professional journeys.
Join us for an inspiring and empowering conversation that highlights the incredible resilience and potential of mums in marketing. Whether you're a mum navigating your career or someone looking to support working mothers, this episode offers valuable insights and practical advice.

📢 Don’t forget to LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to stay updated with future episodes. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and share it with your network. Your support helps us reach more people and continue to share the remarkable stories of those balancing motherhood and marketing success.

Marketing in Madfest 0:00:00
Losing Job During Maternity 0:00:43
Founding Mums in Marketing Community 0:02:02
Challenges Mothers Face Returning to Work 0:04:08
Importance of Flexibility for Mothers 0:07:35
Bravery of Mothers Building Brands 0:12:18

Claire Ferreira
https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-ferreira-mumsinmarketing/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/mums-in-marketing/

Katie Street
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiestreet/
https://www.instagram.com/streetmate/

Street Agency
https://street.agency/
https://www.instagram.com/street.agency/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/streetagency/

Chapters

• 0:00 Marketing in Madfest
• 2:02 Founding Mums in Marketing Community
• 4:08 Challenges Mothers Face Returning to Work
• 7:35 Importance of Flexibility for Mothers
• 12:18 Bravery of Mothers Building Brands

Transcript

0:00

Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of marketing the madness. Now, as you may see behind me, if you're watching and not just listening, we are not actually called marketing the madness anymore. For the next few weeks, there are some very special episodes coming because we are live backstage in the female leaders club at madfest. So at the moment, we are called marketing in the Mad fest, rather than marketing in the madness so there's going to be a few special episodes coming at you. This being one of them, which I really hope you enjoy. We're going to be uncovering not just the marketing innovations that get us further, but also the cultural innovations that need to happen to get women ahead at work. So I lost my job, and thought it's now, it's now, and it's one of the most terrifying things that I've ever done. It was fucking shit. It is really shit. I personally felt like I just not been thought about, like, oh, we thought that Katie because she's on maternity leave, but there was me excited to come back my career, excited to, you know, use the things I'd learned I'd never been able to find the community that put marketing with being a mother. Oh, sorry, we forgot about you, and you've lost your job, flipping out of work, having my children coming back, everything just looked and felt completely different. You have to become so freaking organised. You're planning the way you construct your day, your week, your month, fucking borrowing place to not have mothers at work. No one's got a sense of humour like a mother. I mean, the things that we have to go through, you've got to have a fucking awesome of humour, sense honestly, and say anything. So otherwise the human race will stop. Our generation is the first having to put ourselves out there on social media, and it's just become such an incredible space of celebration, like what I can see every single day, you know, just knocks knocks me out. Blows me away, all of it. Hey guys, and welcome to a very special episode of marketing the madness. In fact, as you can probably see behind me, we've changed our name this week. We are marketing in the Mad fest, because I am live at Mad fest with the fantastic Claire Ferreira. I want to say Claire Ferreira Roche, but apparently we don't quite have that brand equity yet, but that's why we're doing the podcast, and it's going to happen today. So Claire is joining me from mums in marketing, which, of course, I am a fricking mum in marketing, so I'm super excited to have you with us. I mean, you're going to be on stage later. I'm learning more about the mums in marketing community myself, and I'm hoping that you're going to be able to tell me a lot about what you're doing, why you're doing it, and I guess, yeah, all the principles that sit behind mum's marketing. So let's start there. Claire, why have you started mums and marketing? So originally, mums in marketing was to meet the need that I'd been looking for. It was a space I'd never been able to find the community that put marketing with being a mother, like you could get one or the other. But I wanted where you could talk about, yes, trying to wean, but also multi million pound campaigns. I wanted to celebrate getting the website live. I wanted the people got excited with like the smell of fresh Prince and seeing an out of home campaign going live alongside all of the worries, not just about being a parent or a mother, but just being human and having all those everyday moments. So it came from my own experiences of stepping out of work, having my children coming back, everything just looked and felt completely different, and feeling incredibly alone in that journey, not being able to talk to anyone about it, and in fact, quite the opposite, being silent and not sharing anything how it felt. So I lost my job and thought it's now, it's now, and it's one of the most terrifying things that I've ever done, probably like, I mean, outside of having my kids, because that is the most terrifying. But it's really frightening to put myself out there, but grew really quickly, and it's just become such an incredible space of celebration, and that, in itself, is just like what I see every single day. You know, just knocks knocks me out, blows me away at all of it, amazing freaking women. It's actually funny that you said, I don't know if I've spoken about this in the podcast before, because I was also made redundant whilst I was pregnant, and ended up having to get, like, a recruitment lawyer to help me to make sure. I mean, I got peanuts, but I got something because they were literally just going to get, like, I went to go, hey, you know, when am I coming back? I work for a drinks brand at the time, when am I coming back? What's the plan? And they were like, oh, sorry, we've made. Round of redundancies. We've got to tell you about yours. I was like, what whilst I was on maternity leave, so I don't think it is talked about enough. And I mean, the thing is, that happening at a time in your life where you know you've been through such a momentous physical journey, where was it fucking journey? Like you're going somewhere nice, but then for that to happen at a point where you need all of your reserves, I mean, it's just, it's distressing, yeah, I mean, we can swear, Claire, it was fucking shit. It is really shit. I think the way that we're treat you, know, it was a bit like, I personally felt like I'd just not been thought about, like, oh, we forgot about Katie because she's on maternity leave. But there was me excited to come back my career, excited to, you know, use the things I'd learned becoming a new mom, all the new skills, all the, yeah, I mean, you have to become so freaking organised you're planning the way that you construct your day, your week, your month, like you have to, yeah? I was like, yes, I've learned a lot by being a mum. My daughter was almost like, because I've always been very entrepreneurial. She was a bit like, my new project, yeah, we were at different classes every day do it. And I was like, Cool. I've, like, learned all these cool new things. I'm really and then I was like, oh, sorry, we've forgot about you, and you've lost your job, and just around that, I think it's such a missed opportunity. Oh, totally, particularly, you know, in our industry, so how many products, services, you know, with the consumer in mind at the end, but also B to be like, you know, 50% of the population of female of those, we've got mothers in there, being able to have that shared experience brings you closer. Immediately you've got connection. Now, can speak to that on what that brings but I think just at the side of it, I think there's great lessons to be learned around keeping in touch days and not making an assumption that everyone else's experience is the same, you know, like, oh, we'll not disturb them and they don't want it. It's not always the case, you know, like you, that was your experience. I didn't wear lipstick for two years, so, like, I will Duff my cap to you. But that's the thing. You not to make that assumption. Yeah, exactly. You've got to keep the conversation open totally, I guess, is exactly what you're trying to do with mums and marketing. So tell me, obviously you've got this fantastic community, and like you say, sharing is caring us, learning from each other, feeling that you've got people that can empathize with you, that can understand the struggles we have to go through being a mum. What's your aim? What is, why does mums in marketing exist, and what change you trying to make, to keep mothers in our industry, however that looks for them. The goal is that if we're all together on that, it's easier. So I just got really frustrated at the same time I was wanting to create a space for, you know, yes, having that closeness, yes, having that connection. What I really wanted was all women to come together, to see each other, all these mothers, to look around and go, oh yeah, there's fucking loads of us. Let's do this. Let's start the wheel turning. And it has happened in such a short space of time. And so now, when I see those posts, oh, I pushed back on that salary increase. Thank you for your responses to my post. I've got X amount extra, or thank you for your responses from my posts. I did go for that job, even though I felt like I didn't necessarily have the skills. So it's not that incredible memes and that fucking love them. It's not that they're not capable and not that they know, but sometimes it's just bloody humans who have someone in your corner, yeah, just for those days. And it's not all like doom and gloom and you know, everyone like flinging themselves on the floor, yeah? Is actually the complete opposite, because it's when one person reaches out 1000s fucking raw I love that. That is so true. And it is that encouragement that, you know, I'm actually mentoring the, well, not all of but a group of, at the moment, seven women across your next digital marketing and product team to help them get further in their career. And I'm literally mentoring them. We're doing some really interesting. I guess, you know, different things that we're trying and getting people in to inspire them, but they've got me to talk about like, how did I, you know, get some family my own business? How did I grow in my career, to give them that encouragement, that confidence, and, yeah, you know, to help them build their network, to do all the things that you need to do to get ahead in your career. Now, we talked about something, breathe the recording. We haven't planned this much, guys, this has been, this has been very on the fly. But we did talk about one thing, which I thought is incredibly interesting, and I probably haven't spent enough time thinking about, which is when women leave to go and have a baby. Often they feel when they. Finish them at 10 to leave if they don't get made redundant, like me, which is in the end, what I ended up doing, they have to go out to work on their own. So they have to become a freelance marketer, because, and I do not know what all the answers are, because I try to do my best to support but it's not so easy, because when they want to come back to work, the flexibility in working that they need is not available. Now I try. I have had many a mum work for me. I've had two or two people actually go off on maternity leave and come back money still with me. But it's really like I have said to them, when you come back, do the hours that work for you. I am totally happy for them to pick the hours that work for them. Now, the one thing that I and maybe I should do, and it's something that I've thought about, because one of the team that have recently just left, has left. This reason is holidays like five six weeks holidays is not enough when you've got kids at school who get three months worth of holiday a year. So flexibility in terms of, I thought, yeah, we're really flexible, actually, like, which we are so true, but not enough, because I need to be. But how do I do that? As, I mean, hard for me as a small business, but I do think, yeah, I don't know. The world of work is design, or this world of school is designed about around, you know, an economy, like, 100 years, I don't know, maybe not, 100 years, 6070, years ago, like the school day, like, it was really hard for me. I used to have to plan my daughter's summer holidays down to an absolute team with getting people to help, sort of like, get me saying to one mom, well, I'll take a week off and I'll look after your daughter. Well, you take a week off, you take after my daughter. I'll do six weeks of summer club. I'll do which she hated, like, really hard, and it's expensive by the time. You're lucky, I was on a big enough salary to make it work. But a lot of my friends who are nurses who earn good money because childcare costs so much, it's not actually worth them working for those weeks over the summer, because you've got to take 678, weeks, bloody holiday. This is the thing industry businesses feel like change is being made, and in some sectors potentially, and yet, we have a situation in the country where we're being squeezed from both bloody ends. So you might get to a point in your career where you think, okay, financially, I've reached a point where I could, you know, I might think about having a family or or it could be just taking a break, because, you know, I don't think flexible working is just our five but for mothers, I will speak to mothers so you get to that point. Okay, great. Well, first of all, you know, when you go back the gender pay gap is what it is, and you are going to have a few years essentially wiped off your experience just because you stepped out the door. On top of that, then you're also going to get, I'm on a right to do rant. Now, I love this, but you're also then going to essentially get taxed with the childcare situation, and everyone's looking around and pointing the finger at each other, because industry and organizations like well, we're trying to put in place flexible work in and yet. And what you're talking about there with holiday club, and if one of your children gets ill and cannot go, or if the holiday club has a holiday school clubs, and it's just that that flexibility is not just about you can work from home. Flexibility is it's like brand. Brand is not just a logo. It's It's who you are, it's what you stand for. It's in your organization. It's the people that work for you. It's knowing your culture, your values, all of that flexibility is the same thing. It's not just like, Oh, there you go. We'll do hybrid. You know, there's so much more, but the benefits to it and what women put into the workforce and what it represents as well. Like, oh, what a fucking boring place to not have mothers at work. No one's got a sense of humour, like a mother. Oh my god. I mean, the things that we have to go through, you've got to have a fucking awesome sense of humour, honestly, pain, a child bath, that alone. There was one other thing that we spoke about earlier, which I think I'd really like to dial into, because I hadn't, again, hadn't really thought about it, but something that we spoke about earlier that I really want to dial into and you're so right is we are potentially. I'm not claiming this is mine, by the way, this is statement by Claire watching you, stealing my saying, not not so harsh, but gently, but true. Like we are the first women to have to put us at your our generation is the first having to put ourselves out there on social media. Yeah, I'm allowed to ask you how I do our Claire, I'm 50. Oh, my God, you look awesome. I love you for 50. Cheers, last. Um, well, I'm 41 and like, you know, looking glass. Thanks, darling. Um, but this is literally, you know, I. I social media wasn't even a thing till I was in my nearly mid 20s. I think Facebook, Myspace came out. Like, you know, so I guess I've got a bit of experience, but that's a lot of us in our kind of generation that was in your 30s, like, you know, this is we're teaching ourselves something pretty new here. So, yeah, give me your thoughts on that. Sorry, I'm stealing your No, I love it. And because I think there's something else on top of that as well. And this is something I do talk about, is that we are in a very weird fucking paradox where social and the digital space is our world for work and we fucking love it, but in the same instance, we're raising children in that now. So that is an absolute dichotomy of like, Where'd you go with it? It's a very strange and bizarre thing to be in. But what you were talking about there that with discord, I mentioned it, but it's something that has really been like bubbling up inside of me, is that absolute bravery of women at the moment to do that. So if you're a mother, you are encountering the situation as it is in the world of work. So you might be a mother who has been in a situation where you can't get flexibility. Or you started your own business. To grow your business, you need to we hear the word, become visible. So make yourself visible. Yet as women, we might have grown up with that very opposite message. So we are fighting back again years of you know how it should look to be a woman. You know how you should be. And we are absolutely putting ourselves, not just out there, out there, and put raising our heads above the parapet, saying, Yes, I'm going to talk about me and my business fucking hell like that is and stepping into it. So quite often you might hear mothers who or women who've talked about, you know, oh, well, when I was working for a brand, or when I was at the organ, but now it's talking about me. So I would love to celebrate all the women who are doing that, because that is, like, 100 times more before, you know, we had our in person communities. You know, my mum used to when we were kids. My mum had, like, a part time job. Got it through a friend. It was all like that. Now our world has changed, and for us to get work, we are putting ourselves out there. It's like you're fucking going on telling every single there. Yeah, it is, and we're having to do it without any training. But I do think there's credit it's incredible. I really want to just say that if anyone you know at the minute is doubting themselves or feels like that's a struggle, just know what you are doing by even doing it, inspire one other woman who's worried, who's scared, who's doubting themselves after having a baby, you've made all the difference any point in parenting, yeah? Any point, any point, because you know that it never ends. Yeah. Well, Claire, I just want to say an absolute delight to have you on honestly, I'm super inspired. I'm proud to be a mom in marketing myself. I really want to make sure that we do more stuff together, and we're going to be following you even more closely. And yeah, enjoy the rest of madfest. Thank you. Thank you so much. Hey guys, me again. I hope you enjoyed the episode that you've just listened to, and if you did, I'm going to do the, you know, The annoying thing that all podcasters do, which is go and ask you to subscribe, because it really does make a difference to our rankings, and please do go subscribe, leave a comment, give us a five star review. If you did love it, if you want to get in touch, do check out the email address in the show notes. Most importantly, again, if you're on YouTube, please subscribe by clicking the button somewhere that is on this screen, and it'll mean you get notified when new episodes go live.