jess heagren, FOUNDER & ceo

I was once described as one woman on a mission. A worthy one, but just one woman. At the time I took offence but you know what? One woman on a mission is sometimes all it takes.

  • I previously held a very senior role in Financial Services, specialising in Business Strategy and Transformation. I set up the first Diversity Committee and led the Gender & Working Family stream for many years.

    When I fell pregnant with my first daughter I took just 5 months maternity leave. I didn’t hire a maternity cover - I wasn’t going to lose my hard-earned job to yet another older man. My return to work was so bad that I quit my job .

    I set up That Works For Me, a platform to help parents find part time and flexible work, speaking to thousands of other women who had similar experiences to my own. During that time I conducted research and worked with business on their approach to Diversity & Inclusion, specialising in working parents.

  • I could never work out why more of us weren’t talking about it the challenges working parents face.

    The Careers After Babies Report, a now landmark piece of research, started that conversation. Businesses started to reach out and ask what I was going to do in response to the findings.

    I set up Careers After Babies to change businesses. To make them be better for working parents. And to genuinely transform, not just tick boxes. That’s why the accreditation works in the way it does. It brings together policy, process and practice taking stock of where an organisation is now and where it needs to get to. I intend to create a world-class cohort of employers of working parents.

  • I have four children of my own, three daughters and a son. I want them to work in a different world to the one I did.

    As parents, we deserve to keep our jobs, use our hard-earned skills and have a family. More than that, we need to. 74% of families in the UK need both parents to work (ONS).

    I’m here to make sure that happens.

    Read more about our mission.

Gemma Blake, Director

I don’t yet have children of my own, but one day I will.

I’ve worked hard to build my career as an Account Director in the Marketing Industry and as much as I want a family, I’m not ready to throw it away.

I believe that we can have it all. And I plan to.

But I also know that that means organisations need to do more to support their working parents. I was so shocked by the findings of the Careers After Babies report that I knew I had to do something about it.

So I joined the Careers After Babies movement.

JOIN OUR MOVEMENT

JOIN OUR MOVEMENT

THE ACCREDITATION BOARD

  • Jessica Heagren

    FOUNDER, CAREERS AFTER BABIES

  • Gemma Blake director of careers after babies

    GEMMA BLAKE

    DIRECTOR, CAREERS AFER BABIES

  • Han-Son Lee

    FOUNDER, DADDILIFE

  • Shivani Uberoi Wallflower Academy

    Shivani Uberoi

    FOUNDER, WALLFLOWER ACADEMY

  • LIZZIE MARTIN

    FOUNDER, WORK.LIFE.MOTHER

  • Rachel Vecht

    FOUNDER, EDUCATING MATTERS

THE ACCREDITATION BOARD

The accreditation board exists to provide rigour, expertise and thought leadership to the Careers After Babies standards. we will be joined by our launch partners to tackle the most challenging of issues faced by organisations in relation to working parents.