Have It All

Can you be a present mum, a career woman and a founder all at once? Not perfectly. But Sasha McLeod is figuring it out in real time, and she's honest about every (messy) part of it.
In this episode, I chat with Sasha, Dose Buddy founder and mum of two, about:
Balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship
The journey of launching DoseBuddy
Work flexibility and support for mums
How Sasha's own upbringing shaped the kind of mum she wants to be
Sasha also runs digital marketing at Sea Digital in Wellington, so she's not romanticising the juggle. She's living it. She brings the kind of clear-eyed perspective that comes from doing all of it at once and choosing what to say no to.
Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or watch the full episode on YouTube.
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Most conversations about “having it all” skip over the reality of what it actually takes.
In this episode, I’m joined by Charlotte, founder of Rose Studio – a boutique design studio based in Auckland, New Zealand helping bold, passionate business owners to bring their vision to life with strategic and intentional design.
Charlotte built her business while raising three young kids, including a high-needs autistic child, navigating life across countries, and spending long stretches solo parenting when her husband was overseas for his professional football career.
We talk about what it really looked like behind the scenes – from waking at 4am to carve out quiet time for work, to rebuilding her confidence as a mum returning to the workforce.
We cover:
The reality of solo parenting and navigating motherhood without your usual support systems
How Charlotte built her business around her life (not the other way around)
The confidence shift that came from studying again as a mum
What motherhood has taught her about leadership, resilience and capacity
The challenges of raising a high-needs child alongside career ambition
Why “having it all” looks different for every woman — and why that matters

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NEW episodes every second week.

What happens when motherhood, identity, and a creative spark collide? In this episode, I sit down with Zazi Henderson — speech and language therapist, mum of two, and the creator behind Zazi Plays, the parenting community loved by thousands across Aotearoa.

Zazi shares the beautiful chaos of raising young children while running a business, but also the deeply human moments behind it all — like the realisation that so many parents struggle with something as simple as play. As she says in the episode:

“It is just really hard. We no longer know how to play and it feels really clunky and strange. We’re adults now — it doesn’t come naturally to us. So you’re not alone in finding it hard. I don’t just find it easy.”

We talk about the emotional weight of returning to work as a first-time mum — the inadequacy she felt at the time, and the compassion she now has for her younger self. She reflects on how much more confident she wishes she’d been, and how common those feelings truly are.

Zazi also opens up about her business turning five years old, and what it’s taken behind the scenes: the partnership, the family dynamics, and the moments of guilt when choosing her own wellbeing. She shares how she started to carve out time for herself — even if that meant missing dinner for a gym class — and how she reframed exercise as something that teaches her kids what self-care looks like.

If you love Zazi Plays, or you're navigating parenting, identity, business, or mental health right now, this conversation will feel like a deep breath out.

What happens when the return-to-work plan changes?
In this episode, I sit down with Charlotte — paediatric ICU nurse and founder of And Breathe First Aid. When we first recorded together, she was preparing to return to Starship after maternity leave. Six months later, everything looks different. Charlotte made the decision to extend her leave and pour her energy into growing her first aid education business.
We talk about how becoming a parent reshapes your perspective on work, why mums who work from home or run their own businesses often face judgement for using childcare, and the messy, honest juggle of raising young children while keeping a business afloat.
Charlotte shares how her nursing lens has shifted since becoming a mum, the emotional weight of caring for families in crisis, and why parental advocacy in healthcare matters more than ever.

In this episode of Have It All, I sit down with Arti – mum of two, Nutritionist, and Senior Talent Acquisition Consultant – to talk about the juggle of working two jobs during school hours, raising a young family, and navigating big life transitions along the way.
Before motherhood, Arti was in a high-pressure recruitment role, working across nine retirement villages and managing a busy team. But becoming a mother shifted everything – from fertility struggles and the grief of losing her dad during her first maternity leave, to making the tough decision to step back in her career for the sake of balance.
We talk about what it’s really like to cram a full-time workload into school-hour days, the motherhood penalty she’s seen play out in her years as a recruiter, and the confidence gap many women experience when returning to work after having kids. Arti shares the realities of imposter syndrome while building her own business, the importance of negotiating terms upfront (because if you don’t ask, you don’t get), and why support systems – from family to girlfriends who “get it” – make all the difference.
This is such an honest conversation about the trade-offs, the sacrifices, and the strength it takes to build a career while raising a family. And it’s also a reminder that “having it all” doesn’t look the same for every woman, or every season of life.
Make sure to follow Have It All to keep up to date with new fortnightly episodes. And give this episode a like… if you like!

LINKS
Follow Have It All on IG @haveitall.podcast
Follow Arti on IG @nourishmemama.nz or visit her website https://www.nourishmemama.nz/