Motherhood | BusinessMotherhood Made me a Fearless Business Owner
Author: Alyx Jordan | Published: September 2025
During my 20s and in the earlier part of my corporate career, I worked for a large company in the heart of London. On a daily basis I was surrounded by members of Royalty, Parliament, Founders, CEOs Professors and incredible technical thinkers. My role required me to move fast and to strategise. My days varied between lengthy boardroom settings and projects deliverables. Sometimes I would travel around the city in a black taxi, moving from one firm to another, coordinating details and speaking with fascinating individuals. On one particular occasion I was preparing for a Donors Soirée where every guest had a net-worth above $5 million.
This project demanded the utmost precision. I liaised with stakeholders, prepared information packs, tasted the menu, vetted the venue, arranged the seating plan, and absorbed last-minute changes with ease. The evening before the soirée, I found myself in conference with a Senior Director, detailing the last minute arrangements.
She was about fifty-seven, tall and ballet-thin, refined, highly educated, deeply respected and quintessentially British. With two teenage sons and a reputation for focus, she carried herself with authority and dignity. In the middle of our conversation she stops - looks at me - and asks, “Are you pregnant?”
The question caught me off guard, because not only was I pregnant, I was due in three weeks - so I was heavily pregnant. I smiled quietly and said yes. She tilted her head and paused. “I’m really disappointed. You had so much potential. Motherhood this young will ruin your career.”
And with that, she packed her bag and ended the meeting abruptly.
I sat on my own in disbelief; shocked by several revelations:
Number 1: How had she failed to notice that I was pregnant, until that very moment? At 8 and a half months pregnant, I had a signature waddle, my desk was covered in gifts from colleagues and my stomach was impossible to miss. I was proud and made no attempt to hide.
Number 2: Do women truly say such things to one another? The Director was a mother, she was well educated and she had built a great career. Was I missing something?
Number 3: Until that moment I had never considered that having a child would ruin my career potential. Was she right?
This particular Director had always been extremely supportive and nurturing during my time at this company. But in the space of a single conversation she went from singing my praises to feeling overwhelming levels of disappointment - all because of pregnancy.
Perhaps I was too young to truly understand the journey of motherhood, but the fact remains that at no point had I considered it to be the end of my career. And as it would turn out - it actually had the complete opposite effect.
Ironically, around six months after this eye opening conversation, I registered my first business. I remember the exact moment. As my daughter sat in her baby bouncer on the floor next to me, I received my first set of corporation documents. Not long after this, I opened my first office, and then my second. Next, I decided to build a nursery in one of my production units so that I could keep an eye on my children whilst I worked; giving them a space to play and nap. Within another year, I was nominated for a Young Woman in Business Award.
Having children didn’t make me feel like my career was over. If anything, the shift into motherhood gave me a reason to be brave and to find my truth. I also didn’t fight my reality. I needed to be a business owner and a parent, so I decided to create a life where my two responsibilities were able to coexist harmoniously.
That conversation with the Senior Director was my first confrontation with the forced assumptions placed on mothers. During that conversation I was handed a version of disappointment and a sealed future. However, my reality was completely different. I truly believed that I had a choice and rather than follow her future predictions, I chose to create my own.
It’s important to identify that I grew up in London, and I know not every woman has the same opportunities. Having the choice to create your own future is not universal. It’s a privilege. As someone who has had the privilege to choose my path and be both a parent and a business owner, I feel I have a duty to use my choice fully, and to widen the possibility for others, and I do this through mentoring, open conversation, networks like the Ivy Group and charities. I chose to create a version of motherhood that complimented my overall actualisation. That decision ignited my determination and gave me a sense of responsibility to support women in building their versions of motherhoods in alignment with their goals.
Motherhood sharpened my career and heightened my ambitions. Urgency replaced hesitation. Clarity replaced doubt. Any thoughts I had around “being afraid” were trounced by a sense of bravery. I live by the following mantra: I would prefer to try and fail, rather to never have tried at all.
Unfortunately, there is a part of society that still finds ambitious mothers uncomfortable. Women are expected to be grateful for balance, rather than hungry for scale. We are expected to sacrifice quietly, to quit jobs or gain weight, and to move ourselves further down the priority list. In my personal experience, having children did force me to retract or soften my goals, instead they helped to amplify and clarify them.
Motherhood gave me structure and discipline as a business owner. I could have left it to society to decide what my life should look like. Instead, I leaned into my internal agency and used that privilege to build something on my own terms.
Success is no longer about vanity or validation, nor is it measured by others. Instead it is about legacy, structure, flexibility, and the freedom to make decisions. Ambition is not a liability, and if structured well, ambition can sit alongside responsibility. I would highlight three lessons that apply to both motherhood and business:
Just try
Don’t be afraid of mistakes
Choose your own version of ‘true north’
A positive narrative turns into a belief system, belief systems affects your actions, actions on repeat become commitments and a million tiny commitments turn into results.
Motherhood informed my business acumen and taught me to build with incremental intention, to take control of my choices, and I have never looked back.
Alyx Jordan is a Serial-entrepreneur, investor, partner and strategist, She runs an ecosystem of 10+ business and enjoys travelling with her family. She is passionate about elevating women and helping them to make their goals real.
