Latest / Work It Like A Mum / Unlock the Power of Mentorship: How TALO's Jade Bentwood is Revolutionising Women's Career Transitions

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Unlock the Power of Mentorship: How TALO's Jade Bentwood is Revolutionising Women's Career Transitions · Work It Like A Mum

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Elizabeth Willits and I'm obsessed with helping as many women as possible achieve their boldest dreams after kids and helping you to navigate this messy and magical season of life.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I'm a working mum with over 17 years of recruitment experience and I'm the founder of the Investing in Women Job Board and Community.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: In this show, I'm honored to be chatting with remarkable women redefining our working world across all areas of business.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: They'll share their secrets on how they've achieved extraordinary success after children, their boundaries and balance, the challenges they've faced and how they've overcome them to define their own versions of success.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Shy away from the real talk?
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: No way.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Money struggles, growth, loss, boundaries and balance we cover it all.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Think of this as coffee with your mates, the mixed with an inspiring TED talk sprinkled with the career advice you wish you'd really had at school.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: So grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and make sure you cozy and get ready to get inspired and chase your boldest dreams, or just survive Mondays.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: This is the Work it Like a Mum podcast.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Investing in Women.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Investing in Women is a job board and recruitment agency helping you find your dream part-time or flexible job with the UK's most family-friendly and forward-thinking employers.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Their site can help you find a professional and rewarding job that works for you.
• 1:34
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• 1:41
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• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Search their website at investinginwomencouk to find your next part-time or flexible job opportunity.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Now back to the show.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Work it Like a Mum podcast.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: I'm delighted because today I'm going to be chatting with Jade Brentwood, who has founded an absolutely brilliant organisation called TALO.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be talking all about her business how she founded it, the inspiration behind the business, the early challenges she had when setting up her organisation and her future plans and how she balances it all.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Parenting, I think, is it two children under four.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Wow, so nice to meet you, jade.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me today.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: It's such a pleasure to chat with you and learn more about you, and obviously TALO as well, because it's such a brilliant organisation.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I haven't alluded to what you do, but if you want to give people a bit of an overview as to what your business is and who you support, Sure.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: So first of all, thank you for having me.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: So hi, I'm Jade Brentwood.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: My company is called TALO.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Talo is a mentor matching platform that supports women across lifecycle moments in their career, from parental leave to baby loss, fertility, menopause all those key transitional moments.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: We match women to mentors who are in their industry and have walked in their shoes personally.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: So it's that really human, authentic connection between two people who really resonate with each other.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: I think that's just.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: It's really interesting because you said about the fertility because I've had fertility treatment and actually going to do that work you feel really alone and isolated.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: But something like your app, your business, where you can connect with other people that have gone through that, it definitely helps all those certain points that women do go through to help them feel less isolated.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Definitely.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I think we think that was one of the key things that we learned as we were piloting and trying to figure out exactly how this was going to work that true relativity is so important.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: So if someone has been through that experience themselves and understands how to navigate that in the context of that same professional environment, that relativity is magic.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: It's really hard to beat that when someone has truly walked it and done it themselves.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, so what was the inspiration, then, behind the business that's?
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: a good question.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: So I worked in finance for 10 years running a women's private office and that my own experience of having children leaving the workplace for a number of months and just meeting some incredible women who had worked in their industries for 10 years plus two, and seeing how they struggled or lost their confidence or we're just finding it quite difficult to navigate that transition out and back in it felt like I had to do something to make this experience better.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: So it was born entirely from my own experience of working in a really fast paced environment and going through that experience myself.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Do you have an app or is it some?
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Do you log on or how does it work?
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: It's a platform.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: It's not an app.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: It's a platform, so it's kind of all done online on a website.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: And, yes, it's not an app yet.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: But you know, feature plans for the business, for sure.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so are you techie then?
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Are you quite techie?
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: No, no, absolutely not.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: No, no, no.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: I would say I'm like the people's person.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: I am incredibly passionate about people and I think that was very true in my old career in finance Always been really passionate about women and trying to connect with people and help people beyond just what you're doing.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: You know there's so many ways that you can connect and bring people together and I think I've always had a huge passion for that.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: So now I'm absolutely not techie, but I definitely very passionate about people.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: So what is a women's office?
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Because you said you worked in a women's office for a bank and I've never heard of a women's office.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: And people are like I'm probably not alone and not here.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's it.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: So I worked in wealth management, so I was qualified in giving women or giving people investment advice, and it happened really quite organically from.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: I was looking after a lot of high net worth families and one of them went through a really high profile divorce in London and the female spouse basically came to me and said Jade, I really need your help.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: This is something I've never done before.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: This is all very new to me.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: And the investment said, yeah, it hadn't necessarily been something that she had done.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Within that family dynamic, which is so true of so many households, we tend to pass that responsibility over when we get married, or that's just kind of usually what happens, and so this was the first time that she was going to be doing that type of thing for herself Young children involved and she came to me and asked me for my help and, to be honest with you, I took her through this process, doing the same thing that I'd always done, but adding so much more value, because this was two people who kind of got it.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: I understood why she didn't have any prior knowledge of these things, because we're not taught it and so being able to give her an environment where she could ask what she would perceive as silly questions and where I could build her confidence around that, where we could educate her so that she could understand her portfolio and stuff more, was a really empowering place to be.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: So after that experience I went to the partners and I said I think we should start a division that focuses on making finance, investments all of those sort of male dominated things more accessible to women, and so that's sort of how it started and how it was born, and yeah, it went on to be really successful.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: We had women who were going through divorces or life changing events.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: We had women who were entrepreneurs, building successful businesses.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: We had women who were professionals, just working, trying to be more savvy with their money and just to understand more about finance, because it's something that is not taught and we have 50% of the money, so it's important that people kind of learn.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that's fantastic, yeah, so what prompted like leaving that then and then?
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: yeah.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: So I think I'll always have an interest in wanting to continue to do that and that is definitely something future goals for the business to try and incorporate that into TALO and try and help women keep that kind of financial identity and independence and understanding of their own situation.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: I think the investment, because there's obviously a lot of people on Instagram that you can follow that it's like this is how you save money.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: You know I'm thinking you know quite big, but actually it's the investments, isn't it?
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: It's like okay, we've got a bit.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: You know you might have a bit of money, mike.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, how much money do you need to like invest to how you know what's the smallest amount?
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: People.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Well, it depends Not very much.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: It depends what your goals are, right, so people can start saving immediately, like I did a lot of work with another lady when I was working at London and Capital, and you don't need you know, you can start small, and I think there's that misperception of rich before you can start, but yeah, exactly.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: So I think after a while, I've always wanted to build a business from scratch.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: I think that has definitely been part of my sort of DNA to have a go at it, and I think when I went on that transition myself, seeing the impact it had on me but not just me, but my peers and people around me, wanting to make that experience better was something that I was so passionate about.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: So that's sort of where the business was born.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, I mean.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: So you left your organization.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Was that your choice?
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Or because a lot of people are made for you, didn't you?
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely Like.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: I had a really great experience there.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: You know they were very good to me and I learned so much there.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: But I always wanted to kind of try and build something from scratch and I think for me, seeing that feeling of going through something so personal having a child, seeing how I was going to reintegrate but not just my experience looking at the people around me, I realized that I had to try and make this experience better, not just for moms and people that are going through things, but also for companies who are really struggling to retain great talent and struggling to navigate and manage these kind of transitional moments and not really knowing or having the resource or know how to do it effectively.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, that's sort of why I started it.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: So talk me through the early days then, because obviously you know say we started a business, but that doesn't really tell us.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: You know what were the steps involved then to sort of getting Tallow off, you know, off the ground, online somewhere you could know.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a process, a process for sure.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: So I think, like I said, like I've always got my energy from people, I think that's always been for me, the best way to learn, and so in my local area there are a whole host of different you know, there's a lot of young families around here and I used to hold these events at my house and just say everyone, come, bring the babies with people that were working on maternity leave or maybe we're about to go back.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: And I just started to really understand from different women in different industries what were their pain points, what are their experiences like, what are their companies currently doing whilst they've been off and just starting to collate and see, you know, data around that.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: And so the early days was very much around talking to lots of people.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: I would any mum that walked past me with a buggy, I would be asking her about her experience and what she was finding challenging or what her plans were.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: And I think for me that has always been the best research just talking to real people and hearing from them firsthand what they are going through, feeling and worrying about.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: So I think, collating all of that and holding these events at my house, suddenly it became really clear to me that this was a huge problem and actually I really wanted to be at the forefront of trying to create a solution that was a little bit different, a little bit more human and authentic but could actually make a big difference.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: And so the early days were collating lots of information, speaking to lots of people, trying to create some sort of proposition, trying lots of things and getting them right, getting them wrong or realizing that maybe the commercial side of that wasn't quite right.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: And then what we did in the very early days was approach businesses who recognize that losing good female talent was an issue for them, and we piloted, and we still do that now.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: We pilot with companies, just testing our proposition and hearing firsthand from their employees what they think the impact was, and it gives companies an opportunity to try it, it gives us an opportunity to learn, and that's been a really, really important part of our journey testing, piloting, learning, having a really open line of communication to try and build something that people really want and that's valuable for businesses who are ultimately my clients.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: They pay you.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Is it free for individuals to sign up?
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: They pay you.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: So companies pay me to support their female talent across these different transitions, but it's free for the mentees, it's free for the talent.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: A new bootstrapped or did you get funding?
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're currently bootstrapped and I think it's been really important for me in these early days to focus on the product and the proposition rather than distractions in other areas.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: I think future plans for the business different, but in the early days, yeah, and certainly now, we are definitely bootstrapped, able to deliver currently in that way?
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: And what about the?
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Because you said you weren't techie.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: So I mean, obviously it's in, it has to be.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: The tech has to be quite good, I guess, if you are going on there and you're searching for profiles that match yours.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so currently it's a little bit more manual than that.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Currently.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: The future plan for the business is that it will be.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: You can go on, search, look at people's videos, profiles.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: That's absolutely the goal.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I'm not a techie person.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: There was obviously software and different things that enable us to do that, but part of our proposition right now is I do a huge amount of work in the discovery process.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: So every mentor that joins our platform, every mentee that goes through the process, we work really intensely with them to understand them, their personality, what their challenges are, the context of where they are in their lives, and also for mentors to understand their motivation for wanting to help someone else, but what they like, what they don't like, all those kind of their industries, their sectors.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: There's a huge amount that goes into the discovery part of the process, which currently is myself the bit that I love.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: But to be able to deliver that at scale, yeah, certainly we need technology to support that.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Did you build the website?
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Have you got a website?
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Did you go to yourself or have you got somebody?
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: That's lovely.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: No, I had some help.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: I had some help building that, for sure.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: And yeah, like I said, for us feedback's always been so important.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: So hearing from people the bits they like, the bits they don't, the bits they other things they wish that they were on there always interested to hear feedback from people on that too.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: But yeah, currently it's a website and a lot of work that we do in the background and in the future, hopefully, it'll be some kind of app-based product.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: But how are you?
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: I always thought I think it's important to say I would ask Dad this as well, because I think we should talk quite honest about how we actually do all the things, because you've got two children under four and how old's the business?
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: So the business is well.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: I started the business when I had my first child and it has been a juggle, I think.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Obviously you've had lockdown in the middle of that and so it has been this really interesting time for everyone, right where the world hasn't really looked like it used to, but it has been challenging.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: I won't lie to you, like the mix of trying to build something, trying to be creative in those early days, is very hard with two young people.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: But I think somehow I think you know, just trying to put one foot in front of the other and continue to be driven by the passion and mission has been the thing that's kept me going.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: But feedback from mentees who have gone through the process, done a pilot and told me that has changed their entire trajectory, that mentors changed their life, that you know, all those kind of really wonderful bits of feedback, gives me all the energy to kind of continue to keep pushing and keep pushing.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: But it's a juggle, you know, my kids now are a nursery, so that obviously is a huge help.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: But yeah, and this early, early day is tough, really tough.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I mean I was doing it.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I remember in nap time really early days.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: It was like my kids.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: I was quite fortunate they had a two hour nap.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Actually in the afternoon I literally raced downstairs from the car.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: So like I've never typed so fast in my life, like I mean that the baby's going to go off and then you know when they've gone to bed.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: And it's still the same.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Actually, even though they're at school, in nursery, it's still like logging back home when they've gone to bed and it is tiring.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: It's tiring and it's also a shift right For my corporate days when I would get into the office.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: You know it was quite a fast-paced company and everyone had a really strong work ethic.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: So you'd get into the office and you were able to have.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: For me, the biggest challenge has been the lack of time to think.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: So you'll just mention that you've got a two-hour nap, you'll go down.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: It's like you haven't really got the space of time term or the luxury of time to think and be creative and allow things to flow and they would in a normal working corporate job, and that has been really, really difficult.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: So it's okay when you're reacting to something and you're just replying to emails, trying to do something structured, but if you're trying to be creative about you know which industries to look at, which sectors or something a bit broader, that's been really hard to try and do that in a really confined space of time.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: And also, at the end of the day, you know things you're exhausted things of.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: You know bedtime doesn't necessarily go how you think it's going to go.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: So it has been a real juggle but I think I've adjusted my working way accordingly, like in the way that I've had to At the beginning.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: I remember there was a time when me and my husband, to be fair, would get up at like crazy o'clock before the kids try and get a couple of hours and then nap times afternoon.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: You know it's been a juggle for sure.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: I'm pleased I've done it though, because then, you know, I was chatting to some of my friends on Friday and a couple of them have been stay at home months and now they're thinking about going back to work and you know, and I'm pleased, I've done something.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Basically, it definitely feels less daunting.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: My youngest is starting school at the moment, so you know that transition and yeah, I think so.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: I think it's such a personal thing Like I have friends who have gone back into their corporate worlds and have a leaving or have really struggled.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: I have friends that have started businesses again different types of challenges.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: I have the utmost respect for my friends that have decided to focus on their kids for now and then, when their kids are in school or a little bit older, then try and get back into it.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: But there are challenges with all of those right to be out for a period of time, depending on what you want to go back into do.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: I think losing that kind of momentum in some way makes it really hard and that's a confidence thing.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that's what I see so much with our mentees.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Like the biggest challenge people come to me with when they're let's talk about maternity is the loss of confidence, that loss of identity from being someone professionally, because ultimately, when you have a child, you change as a person.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: You're not the same person you were before that, and so going back into a job, in a role, trying to be that same person, is hard because you're not, and so figuring out who you are now and how you're going to make your new life.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: Work is hard without support.
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: Someone to bounce off that really gets it and understands your situation.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: What's been the biggest adjustment for you, moving from a corporate employed role to now being self-employed?
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so many things that I went into with my that's funny, naively, obviously the comfort of having a salary, and that is a massive, massive change.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing for me is the loneliness that being a founder can bring.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: You go from having a team, you go from having individuals that you see, you go from having that energy that you get and bouncing off ideas and process and things like that with a team to it being you and, whilst I'm quite sure of what I'm trying to achieve and stuff, not having that team, that person, those people around me has been really, really hard.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: But I think, recognizing that I work in like a co-working space where there are other people around, and that has been a massive, massive change.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: And finding people in my network that I will speak to regularly to get that energy in a slightly different way.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: But I think in the early days it was COVID as well, so that was another challenge but that was really hard.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: I think the financial shift from being an employee to being self-employed is a big, big change and just psychologically, going from that type of you're pushing and you're pushing and you believe in the mission, but it's only once you start to see a bit of the fruits of that be rewarded.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: It's really challenging.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: It's really tough.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: You mentioned about the financials and I think as a recruiter, I probably noticed that I'm getting a lot of people messaging me that have been made redundant.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: And they've been made redundant and often sometimes not been there.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: They're involved for very long.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: The company obviously went through.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: You know, if they were an online business, they might have hired quite heavily in COVID and they thought it would last forever, and so I don't know if I feel like there was a bit of a shift that actually employed isn't always more secure than self-employed.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you feel like that.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: I mean, I guess in my job I get that, I get the messages from the people that are being made redundant and I think there's sometimes a bit of a misconception that it's risky, but actually you have a bit more of an overview of your fine.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: You actually have that in a way, more control, you know.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Definitely.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: I also think it depends on where you're at the point you're at in your career and your journey.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: And I think you know, for me, certainly when I was starting out in my career, that was important.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: But now I think in this part of my life now, with young children, and I see so many women that are going from that employed route to wanting to be self-employed or freelance or try something for themselves.
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: I agree with you, there is definitely merit in that.
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: It depends on the industry, the context of what you're doing.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I agree with you, I don't think employed is always best.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: I think it depends on what your industry run.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: I just feel like there's a bit of a shift now where there's people, and maybe a lot of people that started businesses up in COVID and it's not easy, because then I get a lot of people that have started businesses up and hasn't quite gone to plan and they're coming to me because they want a job, because yeah, but I think even women like that and I meet lots of women in all different types of situations the learnings that they will have taken from trying to start that business, from it not working, from now picking themselves up and going and getting.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: I think there's so much merit to learn from that.
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: I think it's quite hard to translate that to employers sometimes, but I think there's huge learnings to take from that and confidence that can be built from those experiences for sure.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: So, thinking about where you are now in the business, what do you, if you could rewind, was it four years ago when you launched the business?
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Could rewind four years ago?
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: What would you tell Jade four years ago?
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Just don't be so.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: I've always been a bit of a perfectionist.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Just go for it, Get it out quicker, learn faster, and it's never going to be perfect.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: So just don't worry so much about trying to create something perfect before anyone sees it.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: Get out, speak to people, get the feedback, launch it, get going.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: I would have done that quicker, I think for sure.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: And I think, like I said, for me one of the biggest challenges I had was that feeling of loneliness and not having those people to bounce off.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: So I would have got those sort of people in position earlier that I could bounce off and draw on for their experience and contacts and things like that.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: So I think those three things probably my biggest learnings.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: And if someone's listening to this and they are thinking I want to start a business, I'm a bit nervous, as we all are, what would be your advice to them?
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: Go for it, Absolutely go for it.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: I think for you like I just said, the people that do it and fail or it doesn't work the learnings that you can take from that are huge, and so I would say to anyone trying it is a journey.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: Be really honest with yourself about whether that this type of environment is for you.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: I think, if you are passionate about something, if you are driven to try and make it work, if you've got, you know, the right people around you I think that's something that I realize my husband is incredibly supportive of me doing this I think that's really important to have your, your own, your own, your own, your own, your own, your own.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: I think that's something that I would say.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: I think that's something that I would say is a way to get involved and to be a part of your support network around you.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: But go for it.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: You've got one life.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: So I would say, absolutely, have a go.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: I think that I always think that you have only got one life, and do you regret it?
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Do you have any regrets?
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Like none, because like you, I'm like we're only here for a short amount of time really.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: I know it sounds quite depressing, but you know I want to go for it, like you, and you know I'd say we were here for a short amount of time, but actually we, you know, we worked for a long time, absolutely.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and like saying that you know, for us, you know, talo is absolutely about.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: On a broader level, it's about giving women the support so that they can achieve everything that they want to achieve in life.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: And so, for us, those connections that you get from mentors and in this context we're talking about someone that's been through that transition but having people around you that are that buy into what you do and can support you, as is everything.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: So I think, just to clarify on TALO, so when it started it was all around maternity leave, and that is still a huge, huge part of the business.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: But organically, companies then came to me and said Well, you know, we've got someone that's going through baby loss or fertility or menopause.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: How can we as a business, support them?
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: And I think that's sort of been a really exciting growth part for us, where it's not just about maternity leave.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: This is about all those kind of key life transitions that women go through across their career.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: How can we support them best?
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: So we do a lot of consulting work with companies to try and help them better their processes, share the data with them on, you know, how to make everything the experience better internally and then externally we will match them to people who get it and who can.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Is it just for employed people?
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Listen, you know asking for me, actually, but or do you thought self employed?
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: You know connecting with other self employed.
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: That's another growth thing for us this year is, obviously my clients are corporates, so they are paying me.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: They will send me their mentees, people that are going through these lifestages.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: We will match them to mentors and then give those businesses best practice on how to support them on the way back in.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: But I have a lot of people that come to me that aren't working for corporates that would also love access to mentors who are a little bit further ahead than them, that get it that they resonate with and that they really like, and to be able to deliver that we have to be able to make sure that this.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's something that we are looking to do this year for sure, but it's not something that we currently offer.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: There's lots of things you do offer.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: So if someone's listening to this and they think you know I would love to be a mentor or a mentor yeah, I need to be mentored or I'm.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: You know, I want to mentor somebody else how can people find you, connect with you and join TALO?
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: So we have a website.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: We are TALO TALOcom.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Linkedin.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: I'm always people can always reach out to me on LinkedIn as well.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: We have an Instagram page at.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: We are TALO and I don't know if you have shown us, but I can leave my email address.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: I'm very happy to hear from mentors who may want to support someone else on their journey, and mentees who are working or on maternity leave or thinking about having a baby or going through any of these life changing events and want to know how they can keep professional momentum themselves.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: I would love to hear from anyone Also, just to note, for our mentors, one of the key things for me was I'm obviously a commercial business.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Mentors are giving their time, which a lot of people do anyway, and I'm just formalizing it a little bit where mentors are either paid for their time or we allocate that proportion that money to a female led charity.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: So I want mentors to know that their time is not just giving back to someone else, but is actually doing something a little bit more impactful.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: And that was really important for us that mentors are renumerated properly for their time.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: And what's the time commitment then, actually?
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: So it depends on the transition that we're talking about.
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: If we talk about maternity leave, there's five sessions that mentors have across that transition, usually from about halfway through maternity leave and in that transition back and then when they're back at work, and sessions are 45 minutes to an hour.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: 40 minutes depends on the individuals.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: But we as a business will create a really clear agenda for mentors and mentees so that it's not formal but there's a definite structure to it so mentors and mentees get true value from those interactions.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: So it sits somewhere between this really kind of formal, structured process and like talking to a friend.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: You know, we want it to be that human approach, we want it to be authentic, relaxed, but actually it's important that people take some true outputs from it.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because I just could just have a nice chat with those.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: I try chatting but I don't really get anything.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: And is it specific to industry or yeah, so obviously, given what I used to do, a lot of our clients are in professional services so banking, insurance, finance, consulting but we have a lot of pilots and companies that are in retail or transport, food and beverage like it's a whole mix, but definitely with a focus on professional services.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: So anyone that's listening, that works in those industries, would like to hear more, would like to give me feedback or try it or have a chat.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: And obviously I guess you're welcome to.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: you know in HR, listening from another industry and would like to try and organise it yeah definitely Because I think we've done a lot of work this year with trying to work closely with HR teams D and I specialists on their challenges as a business, and often they are under resourced.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: There's so many things to focus on so it's hard to know where to start and actually TALO kind of complements a lot of things being utilized already, and so, yeah, we've done a lot of work with HR teams on how can we take all the data from our community and deliver that to them to help them look at their internal processes, to help them look at what the market's doing, to help them look at a broader range of things, and that the data is actually useful.
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, we're really interested in knowing from HR individuals on how it might be best.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: We'll put all the links in the show notes.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: I think it's brilliant what you do.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: I really do because I would genuinely.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: You know, when I was on maternity leave, you know it would have been brilliant to be able to connect with somebody that you know can't go through it and be able to chat with them, and because, you know, is this kind of a problem, isn't it?
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: And I don't think people talk about this, really about it.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's also the practical side as well.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: Right, like you know, you can have a nice chat with someone.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: You have your friends, your NCT, but someone that works in your industry, that understands the nuances of that, that can help you with the communication element of what to ask for, how to pitch that, how to prepare what you might need to know.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: You know, that level of just that practical kind of guidance and advice can be so helpful for someone's confidence and help them have a successful return.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: And I think that gap on maternity leave, when often there's not that much communication, this can really help kind of bridge that gap and make sure that someone successfully returns and and that those conversations can be open.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: You know, if someone's is not going to work, it's.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: It's better to identify that earlier and for women to be helped to understand what do they actually want.
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: So I think there's often a pressure where we think we need to say we want to be full-time and actually we might do, but we also might not at that particular point.
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: So it's just you know, being you know, understanding what we actually want ourselves as well, can be quite helpful.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much, jade, for joining us today.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: We'll put all the links in the show notes.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: It's been such a pleasure to chat with you and learn more about Tallow.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Thanks, elizabeth, take care you too.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to another episode of the Work it Like A Mon podcast.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review and subscribe, and don't forget to share the link with a friend.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: If you're on LinkedIn, please send me a connection request at Elizabeth Willett and let me know your thoughts on this week's episode.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: You can also follow my recruitment site investing in women on LinkedIn, facebook and Instagram.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Until next time, keep on chasing your big dreams.