I faced infertility in my late 20’s, a devastating diagnosis and decided to freeze any remaining eggs at a Midlands Fertility Clinic. When my partner and I came to use these the clinic destroyed 20+ eggs in a tragic (could have been avoided) accident. We were one of the first people to take a Fertility Clinic to court in the UK to ensure others didn’t suffer at the hands of their negligence and was awarded a settlement 5 years later. This moment was pivotal as our fertility journey took us from UK to Georgia to Poland where we tried everything to have a child through IVF, Surrogacy in the UK, Surrogacy Abroad and in Georgia and Ukraine. All whilst doing a high pressurised communications role for large global advertising agencies. Our first child was born miraculously after a surrogacy in Georgia and her second was on the way in Ukraine when war broke out in 2022. Myself and her friend (also expecting) set up one of the largest support groups for Intended Parents with unborn babies trapped in a warzone. Every one of these babies got out safely with help from the British Government. This made me even more determined as one of the only individuals with such a unique fertility journey to change the face of fertility support and highlight the support needed in the workplace for those on fertility journeys. After having seen the negative treatment (personally) and lack of awareness, taboos and stigmas so many faced in her Network, I was determined to drive positive change and make workplaces more inclusive, give those on fertility journeys a voice and open up the conversation around modern family building so that there is more awareness, knowledge and support for those on fertility journeys but the workforce of the future (like my children) from modern family building journeys. The Fertility Coaching Company was born in 2021 and has gone from strength to strength. We offer training, awareness and policy support sessions, one to one counselling, workshops and base our training on real life stories that are diverse and from individuals heroically sharing their experiences and stories to help others.
We took time outside of her hugely stressful advertising role whilst setting up the company to set up and lead one of the largest support groups for Intended Parents with unborn children in Ukraine working with the group, lawyers and the government to help everyone on the group (and my own unborn child) get their surrogates and unborn children safely out of Ukraine. It was an intensely challenging and stressful time. We managed our company through this time and honoured all our ongoing fertility programs and business commitments even when we felt like falling apart emotionally. We kept the business going when we had to relocate to Poland where our miracle baby Child was born as she couldn’t be born in Ukraine, it was too dangerous and supported our surrogate and family and friends financially. The feedback we have received from Clients is that they hadn’t realised the positive impact opening up the conversation through training and
awareness could have on their employees until they launched our training. Now this is a critical part of the DEI strategy.
We are winning contracts for global training programs pitching against much larger providers because of our passion, unique experience and innovative training program that is so different
from others in the marketplace. We have won many awards including Diversity and Inclusive Champion, UK Small Business Winner, Stevie Award….Federation of Small Business – Diversity and Inclusion Award.
We had a vision rooted in a deep sense of injustice that employees were suffering in silence in the workplace, that this was our purpose and her passion and enthusiasm is felt by Clients and her team who love to learn from her experience. We now have around 50 corporate Clients that we are continuing to work with and who have signed up to long-term fertility support plans. For a small company this is an outstanding result to work with companies like M&S, NatWest, and helping organisations like the Premier League shine a light on how inclusive companies need to consider fertility support as a pillar in their inclusion strategies and programs. We have launched over 100 launch events, training courses and workshops and plan to do so many more in 2024. Having such an impact on global organisations inclusion strategies gives all the team such a sense of purpose and feeling of driving positive change and helping better peoples lives in the
workplace. More important the financial results is the impact we are having on wellbeing, reversing the trend where 60% of individuals leave jobs feeling unsupported in their fertility journey and driving much needed awareness and support.
