Katya Obolensky, Rose Bartel & Emma Whitmarsh

Why are there three? In summer 2019, Rose, Katya & Emma pitched an unusual idea to our management team. The idea was to radically challenge conventions around motherhood and leadership. The trio had been identified as Future Leaders and became determined to make this a reality, despite also wanting to have children in the near future.The pitch was to convince management to see the value in overinvestment, appointing three,

Creative solution

Our management team were enthusiastic about this creative solution, and what followed was refreshingly open conversations about each other’s family plans. And with that, a mutual understanding that you can’t plot babies into a laydown - so there may be times of overlap, when they’re down to 1 or even up to 3 for certain periods of time. It works due to transparency, absolute trust in one another, matched passion for delivering the very best and ultimately, friendship.

This has enabled three ambitious women to secure one of the top jobs in one of the top communications agencies in the UK, despite the arrival of three babies (so far!). The reason for this was...

17% of women leave employment completely in the five years following becoming a parent, vs 4% of men. 'For couples where the woman was the main breadwinner prior to birth, just 46% remained the main earner three years later.' -workplaceinsight.net

As trailblazers we've navigated our way through this unique set-up and only as a trio we've kept come out stronger in our most challenging time.