The gift of balance on Mother’s Day

Teresa and her boys on wheels

Mother's Day marks the end of my seventh week as Associate Director at Cause Communications. Working alongside three incredible PR women - Sam Carlisle, Jenna Sloan and Aimi Jones - who are creating huge media coverage for clients on a daily basis, alongside being proud mums who will also be celebrating with their families this weekend, it feels like a good time to take a look back at my first weeks at the agency.

Moving on from working at the same charity for the past 23 years was a huge move, and it says everything about the founder Sam that she is the person I wanted to work with. 

Sam founded Cause Communications in 2017, to use her campaign experience to amplify the voices of charities. That charity experience included working directly with me, in her role at The Sun when developing the award-winning Give Me Shelter campaign, that was credited by both Jess Philips and Theresa May as influencing the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act. The work with The Sun was one of the proudest moments of my career, as together we secured refuge funding that literally saved lives, and we joined up campaigning and communications to great effect and unbelievable impact. 

But Sam is not just a standout journalist, editor and campaigner. She is a dedicated and loving mum to her two children, who has faced more challenges in motherhood than most. Sam's daughter, who is 23, has a rare genetic condition and learning disabilities. Elvi has rhizomelic chondrodysplasia punctata (RCDP) which means she has physical disabilities and is autistic. 

Sam has built an agency with a range of mutual incredible skills and contacts, but also created a really positive working environment. We secure outstanding coverage for clients, and are also able to prioritise important moments for our families, and we actively support each other to achieve that balance.

I am a mum of two lovely boys aged 11 and 8, but it is not something that everyone would know. During my PR and communications career, I have always strived to achieve the greatest impact, and am currently in the Marketing Week Top 100 and Campaign Power List. Having children did not lessen my ambitions, if anything I wanted to reach new heights in my career and show what I could do. And that is something I share with the team at Cause, who also have children but are working at the highest level. Working with this team inspires me everyday, from the sheer amount of coverage achieved, to the tactical PR that achieves campaigning targets for clients. 

Joining Cause has not just broadened my charity horizons, working with inspirational charities including the Disabled Children's Partnership, OnSide, One Home and Jamie's Farm, but I have also found a flexible and supportive environment. We work from our respective locations in London, Bolton, Bristol and Qatar, with a diverse range of clients, from the leading environmental scientist Angela Terry to the brave charity adventurer Angus Collins. We are ultra–responsive and effective, with brilliant contacts and decades of expertise between us - the results speak for themselves - but equally as impressive is the way that when someone in the team has something happen in their family life, the work baton is seamlessly passed, and you go to where you are most needed. 

With Adolescence on Netflix (where a 13-year-old boy kills a female classmate, influenced by online misogyny) being discussed on every social media platform, with my professional background specialising in ending violence against women, I am more aware than ever of the need to be involved and proactive in my boys' lives and be aware of what is influencing their values and beliefs. 

While knowing directly through my work the devastating impact of misogyny and the number of women killed and abused by men they know, I also know the positive impact of the work I have done firsthand with men and boys through workshops and campaigns I have developed.  Some of the feedback I had from 18-year-old academy players in a Premier League football team discussing online influencers was the most encouraging in terms of hope for the future - they just needed time for engagement, a safe environment to have a discussion, and a format that worked for them. And the work of Cause client OnSide, that run Youth Zones around the country, is not only providing a safe environment for young people, but also the much-needed role models that boys need in their incredible Youth Workers.

While wanting to get the serious stuff right with my boys, I also equally want to be there for the fun parts when they are still young enough for silliness and lots of hugs. Listening to my 8-year-old sing this morning "Have a holly, jolly Christmas, it's the best time of the year" in March, then whoop to his brother "only 9 months to go!", is everything. 

There may be no such thing as a perfect balance between work and family life, but this Mother's Day feels like the closest I have ever been.