In this episode of Challenge Your Guilt, I’m joined by Lauren Currie OBE - social entrepreneur, author, activist and founder of Upfront, a global movement supporting women and marginalised genders to build confidence, take up space and feel braver together.

I’ve admired Lauren’s work for a long time, because so much of what she explores - confidence, visibility, shame, shrinking and self-censorship - sits right at the heart of the maternal guilt conversations I have with mothers every day.

In our conversation, we explore how guilt and confidence are deeply interconnected, and how many women - particularly mothers - are trapped in a cultural double bind where confidence is encouraged in theory, but punished in practice.

Lauren explains why women don’t “lack confidence” - and how living in a system that penalises confident women leads many of us to avoid conflict, over-function, and take responsibility for everything and everyone. The result? Guilt, exhaustion and a constant sense of not being enough.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why the so-called “confidence gap” is systemic, not personal
• How women are praised for being accommodating, but punished for being assertive
• The double bind that keeps mothers stuck between being too much and never enough
• Why guilt often feels safer than conflict - and what that costs us
• Lauren’s idea of “runaway guilt”, and how low confidence erodes boundaries
• How motherhood intensifies guilt even when you intellectually “know better”
• What it looks like to notice guilt without letting it run the show

Lauren also shares honestly about guilt in her own motherhood journey - from early working-mother guilt, to the emotional pull between ambition, presence and rest - and how she now meets guilt with awareness rather than self-attack.

We also talk about Lauren’s children’s book Taylor Meets the Trick, and how giving families simple language to name patriarchy can remove shame, defensiveness and silence - not just for children, but for adults too.

I close by asking Lauren one question I return to often on this podcast:
What is one small act of courage a mother could take this week if she’s feeling stuck in guilt, self-doubt or invisibility?

Her answer is deceptively simple - and incredibly powerful.

🔗 Links & Ways to Connect with Lauren

If this conversation resonated and you’d like to explore Lauren’s work further, here are the best places to find her:

📲 Follow Lauren on Instagram:

Lauren Currie (personal account)

Taylor Meets the Trick (children’s book)

Upfront (confidence & community)

Lauren also writes regularly on LinkedIn and Substack, and I know she’d genuinely love to hear what landed for you from this episode.

📚 Books Mentioned in This Episode

Taylor Meets the Trick
A playful, powerful children’s book that gives families simple language to talk about patriarchy, gender roles and “the trick” - without shame or blame.

Be Upfront: 24 Rules for Life-Changing Confidence (published February '26)
Lauren’s first non-fiction book, distilling over a decade of confidence-building work into practical, culture-shifting insights.

💛 If You Enjoyed This Episode

Please subscribe, rate and share Challenge Your Guilt - it really helps this podcast reach more mothers who need these conve

✨ If this episode resonated, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a mother who needs to hear that guilt was never hers to carry.

What if laughter isn’t just a coping mechanism for motherhood - but a quiet act of resistance against guilt and shame?

In this episode of Challenge Your Guilt I'm joined by comedian, actor and creator of the much-loved Instagram account @thefunnymummyuk, Alyssa Kyria. Known for her razor-sharp parodies and unfiltered honesty, Alyssa shares the story behind her work, her experiences of maternal guilt, and why humour has become one of her most powerful tools for survival, connection and self-compassion.

Together, we explore guilt in all its messy forms - from working motherhood and being a parent of an only child, to phone addiction, mental load, screen guilt and the pressure to look like you’re coping. This is a conversation about honesty over perfection, empathy over shame, and why laughing at the chaos might just help us put some of the guilt down.

Warm, funny and deeply validating, this episode will leave you feeling less alone - and very likely laughing along.

What We Cover in This Episode

• Alyssa’s journey from actor and character comedy to @thefunnymummyuk
• Why becoming a mother changed how she shows up creatively
• Maternal guilt through the lens of having one child
• The guilt of working, touring and missing key moments
• Mental health, burnout and the pressure to always appear “fine”
• Why curated social media feeds fuel maternal guilt
• Phone addiction, boundaries and the impact on family life
• Screen guilt, mental load and modern motherhood
• How humour helps dissolve shame and restore connection
• Laughing at ourselves as a form of emotional resilience
• Alyssa’s upcoming podcast Cringe & Tell and future projects

Key Takeaways

• Guilt shows up no matter how many children you have - there is no “right” way to mother
• Shame thrives in isolation, but laughter creates connection
• You are not failing - you’re responding to impossible standards
• Humour can help us step out of self-judgement and into compassion
• Being honest about the hard parts of motherhood matters

Find Alyssa online:

• Instagram & Facebook: @thefunnymummyuk
• Website: https://alyssakyria.com/

Links & Resources

• Buy the book: Challenge Your Guilt: How to Flourish in Motherhood, Work and Life
• Apply for a free Motherload Breakthrough Call with Belinda
• Subscribe to Belinda’s weekly newsletter for reflections on motherhood, work and guilt

✨ If this episode resonated, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a mother who needs to hear that guilt was never hers to carry.

In this rich & energising conversation, I'm joined by writer, multi-award-winning blogger & long-time flexible working campaigner Vicki Broadbent - known to many as @honestmum - whose digital career began after leaving her role as a screenwriter & TV director when motherhood collided with an inflexible industry.

The author of Mumboss and Greek Myths, Folk Tales & Legends, Vicki has built one of the UK’s most recognisable digital platforms while raising her three children - & advocating for mothers’ rights, visibility & creativity along the way.

We explore how guilt showed up in Vicki’s early years of motherhood, how identity loss & creative reinvention shaped her path, & what 15 years online has taught her about women’s voices, misogyny, stigma, & the pressures mothers still carry today.

What we cover:

✨ The early career pivot that wasn’t really a choice

Vicki shares how the TV & film world made it almost impossible to combine directing with raising a baby - & the subtle (and not-so-subtle) stigma she faced for becoming pregnant at 27 in a male-dominated industry.

✨ The constant undertow of mum-guilt

We discuss guilt as the “side dish of motherhood” - from being physically separated from your child for work, to trying to work around them at home, to the emotional whiplash of being endlessly stretched, responsible & tired.

✨ Flexible work: blessing or burden?

Vicki shares how working digitally gave her more presence with her children - but also came with increased expectations & mental load, reinforcing gendered roles even when both partners wanted equality.

✨ Fathers, stigma and the pressure to “provide”

We discuss how stigma, financial norms & patriarchal expectations also constrain fathers - keeping equality stalled & mothers overloaded.

✨ The mental load and the quiet crisis of modern parenthood

From crying in the car after drop-off to the exhaustion of juggling kids, care, work, after-school clubs & emotional labour - Vicki names the hidden strain so many parents carry.

✨ The culture of comparison & social media’s influence on maternal guilt

We talk candidly about how curated feeds, beauty standards, pressures on girls, & toxic masculinity messages shape how children grow up - & how mothers feel.

✨ Creativity as the thread back to yourself

Vicki shares how blogging, writing & storytelling helped her rebuild a sense of identity after traumatic birth & career upheaval - & why creativity is still her anchor.

✨ Her new book: Greek Myths, Folk Tales & Legends

Vicki explains the emotional & ancestral pull behind retelling Greek stories for a modern audience, how she researched & reimagined characters, & why writing this book was unexpectedly grounding & healing.

Links

• Buy Vicki’s book: Greek Myths, Folk Tales & Legends
• Connect with Vicki: @honestmum
• Buy Belinda’s book: Challenge Your Guilt
• Apply for a free Motherload Breakthrough Call
• Subscribe to the Flourishing Mother newsletter

✨ If this episode resonated, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a mother who needs to hear that guilt was never hers to carry.