Emma Grede

And I thought, yeah, of course, you know, I've had kids naturally and I waited and then I waited a bit longer and then I was super busy and, you know, all the things were happening.

And I feel like by the time I kind of got around to it, it was then no longer my choice.

And I was so frustrated and mad about it and frustrated because I felt like within my organisation, I'd been somebody who had said, you know, freeze your eggs, focus on what you're doing at work.

You know, it'll all be fine.

You can think about it later.

And by the same token, that wasn't my experience.

And so what ended up happening with me for...

For those people that don't know my story, I had my first two kids naturally.

I had my twins by surrogate.

In the middle of that, I had multiple failed rounds of IVF.

In fact, they weren't failed rounds of IVF because they worked, but I lost a baby every single time.

I'm so sorry.

so miserable and you know like you're consumed like I couldn't think about anything else you end up being like what do you want for dinner I'd be like a baby you know I couldn't think about anything and some people would be like well you had two kids and you had a boy and a girl but what were you doing but any woman who knows you've got your mind set on having a kid that's just where I was wired and that's just what I wanted and I couldn't get away from it so I was super lucky and

To have a surrogate and to have this magical experience and now I have baby number three and number four and they are delicious and lovely and I'm very happy that the need is settled.

But I don't think it's helpful that we have decided that somehow being successful comes with this opportunity.

idea of when you should have a kid and that the default story is pushing it so late that many women no longer have the choice.

And that's the part that I would like people to understand.

There is no great time.

And when I talk about seasons...

You can't always be in go, go, go mode in your career at the detriment of what you might want, which is to have a family.