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Emma Storey: How 2 part-time working mums billed £500K in their first 2 years!Emma Storey never thought she'd still be in recruitment after having kids.She'd never worked with a mum in the industry. Never had a role model who'd done it. The assumption was always the same: have a baby, and your recruitment career is over.But after successfully juggling recruitment and becoming a mum inside the pandemic, in 2023 she launched her own agency with colleague Nicola Morse, a fellow working mum.They launched Hera with the plan to both work part-time, and within months, Emma soon fell pregnant with baby number 2.Inside the first 2 years, working part-time around school runs, nursery pickups and a maternity leave, they have billed £500K.That's £150K in year one during one of the worst recruitment markets in a generation, and £350K in year two with Emma off for three months and working three days a week for the rest.But what makes Emma different isn't the revenue. It's the reason she built the business in the first place.Female candidates regularly tell Hera they're nervous about wearing their wedding ring to interviews because they know it signals they might want children. Hiring managers have told them directly: we don't want people from that age range.Emma lived it herself. In one agency, a mum who left at three o'clock was met with the same comment every single day: "Thanks for coming."So Emma and Nicola built Hera around a guarantee most agencies won't make: a diverse shortlist on every single role. They positioned diversity and inclusion not as a side project but as the commercial engine. And it worked. Every client they've won has bought into it.Their target is £500K this year. They have no plans to hire a team. No plans to scale beyond two. No plans to stop billing.Inside this unique story we cover:Why Emma assumed motherhood would end her recruitment careerThe "thanks for coming" culture that still exists in agenciesWhy female candidates hide their wedding rings in interviewsHow two part-time working mums billed £500K in their first two yearsThe diverse shortlist guarantee that wins every clientWhy they target £500K a year and have zero interest in scaling beyond thatHow shared parental leave changed everything for their familyThe co-founder relationship that started at kids' swimming lessonsThis isn't about scaling fast or building an empire.It's about two women who were told, directly and indirectly, that motherhood and recruitment don't mix. They billed half a million pounds in two years working part-time and proved it wrong. Without sacrificing bedtimes, school runs, or being present for their kids.If you're a female recruiter wondering whether you can have children, build a business, and still love what you do, this episode is your blueprint.__________________________________________Episode Sponsor: AtlasLet’s be honest. Admin is one of the biggest drains on growth in a recruitment business.That’s where Atlas comes in.Atlas is the AI-first recruitment platform built for modern agencies that want to scale without adding more manual work.It doesn’t just track CVs and calls. It captures every conversation - emails, interviews, client calls - and makes it fully searchable.With Magic Search, you can literally ask:Who mentioned they’re open to relocating next year?Who talked about wanting a four-day week?Who’s worried about their commute?Atlas searches across real conversations, not just keywords on a CV, and gives you answers instantly.Atlas 2.0 also makes business development easier. 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