Work-life balance campaigner, Sarah Jackson OBE, and campaign leader, Michael Mpofu, join Careering into Motherhood’s Advisory Board, adding further strength to the women’s careers platform

 

Sarah Jackson OBE and Michael Mpofu have joined the Advisory Board of Careering into Motherhood, the online community and careers advice platform for working mothers. Their appointment comes on the back of last month’s announcement that marketing industry chief, Ade Onilude, had been appointed, and will accelerate the further growth of the company that is helping working mothers to access professional career advice and remain on the career path they choose.

Sarah Jackson OBE, is a Visiting Professor at Cranfield University School of Management, the former CEO of Working Families and a life-long advocate for working mothers. She brings her experience of leading an organisation focused on social change, lobbying government and working with corporate clients so that opportunities for working mothers improve.

 

Sarah said, “I am thrilled to be joining Careering into Motherhood’s Advisory Board. Jane and I share a belief that women with children should not be disadvantaged or excluded from having the career they want. Careering into Motherhood not only supports working mothers to build a career on their own terms, but it also supports female business owners and gives them support to grow their business, via the partnership with independent, female coaches. It’s just great to see women supporting other women in this new and creative way.”

 

It has also been announced that Michael Mpofu will be joining the Advisory Board. Michael, a senior strategic communications advisor to some of the UK’s leading companies began his career in South African politics and served as the spokesperson for the Premier of the Western Cape prior to moving to the UK. He will bring alternative and diverse perspectives of nuanced political and social change to the business as it grows.

 

Michael said, “I was delighted to accept this advisory position with Careering into Motherhood. I know Jane is a firm believer that social change happens through inclusive discussion and diversity of perspective. People who care about authentic change are in the business of being brave, and I look forward to being a part of Careering into Motherhood’s courageous journey.”

 

Careering into Motherhood began as a Facebook group where women could ask for help and advice. At the start of the year, a partnership with female coaches led to the launch of the online platform which has fast-become the largest curated library of free career advice for women with children.

Jane said, “This year we are building, learning and growing. That Michael and Sarah have agreed to lend their support to us is incredibly exciting. Women are the backbone of the modern economy; we influence over £25 billion of the UK economy. I don’t believe we need to wait to be invited back into a traditional world of work that didn’t work for us before or during the pandemic. We have the power to create something brave, inclusive and new. It is important to me that ideas and concepts are challenged in the right way and that the business I am building is sustainable and based on my values.”

 

The announcement coincides with the expansion of Careering into Motherhood’s coaching platform, which now supports 50 female-business owners through the coaches’ partnership.

 

By connecting female coaches with women looking for support and advice, Careering into Motherhood supports female entrepreneurs and helps mothers build careers and a world of work that is inclusive of women with children.

 

ENDS

 

 

NOTES

Sarah Jackson OBE, is a work-life balance and flexible working expert. Since becoming a parent in the early 90s, her working life has involved campaigning and practical action to make paid work more inclusive of parents and carers.

She was the CEO of Working Families, a role which at times she job-shared, job-split, and worked reduced hours, in order to retain time for her family life. Her experience at Working Families included judging the annual employer best practice awards, commissioning and editing research into flexible working and lobbying government on behalf of working mothers and fathers.

She is an expert in workplace discrimination, and in family-friendly and flexible working best practice and policy development.

Sarah is a Visiting Professor at Cranfield University School of Management, Chair of PiPA (Parents and Carers in Performing Arts), Deputy Chair of the social justice charity Commonweal Housing, and a trustee of Rosa, the UK Fund for Women and Girls.

www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-jackson-421b1020

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Mpofu began his career in South African politics, working for the official opposition and later in government as the spokesperson for the Premier of the Western Cape.

He has influenced policy and led behavioural change campaigns.

A media and Public Relations expert, he advises some of the UK’s most influential firms.

 

www.linkedin.com/in/michael-mpofu

 

Jane Johnson, founder of Careering into Motherhood, was the first person at HSBC to negotiate a Global Director role as a job-share in 2015.

 

With the aim of helping more women to have access to similar career opportunities in 2016, she launched a successful recruitment business, but was inundated with candidates, so in 2019 she set up the Careering into Motherhood Facebook group.

She has run mentoring programmes, free online coaching and masterclasses, and is the host of an award-winning podcast for the online community which now totals around 16,000 mothers.

 

Jane was invited by 10 Downing Street to advise the Department For Business (BEIS) on flexible working but does not believe that government policy and corporate attitudes to motherhood will change.

 

At the start of the year, she launched the Careering into Motherhood platform, connecting women with professional coaches and coaching resources, directly helping all women to access more opportunities to have fulfilling careers and supporting female-owned businesses via the coaching partnership.

 

Careering into Motherhood is the largest online library of curated career advice for women.

 

Career coaches provide their expertise via blogs, podcasts and live sessions, and mums can use the free materials or browse coach profiles where their qualifications, fees and testimonials are given, and engage a coach privately.

 

 

For more information, contact jane@careeringintomotherhood.com or 07799 627 309.

 

www.linkedin.com/in/jane-johnson-careeringintomotherhood

June 21, 2022