For brother-and-sister founders Rachael Bannister and Richard Campbell-Connors, ParentPath grew from a simple but powerful realisation: that becoming a parent can be one of life’s most significant experiences, yet many families are left navigating it without the continuity, reassurance and personalised support they need. Rachael’s more than a decade of experience as a midwife showed her first-hand where the gaps in maternity care existed, while Richard’s experience of becoming a parent gave him a personal perspective on how valuable trusted guidance can be. Combining their clinical and commercial expertise, they created ParentPath to connect the dots between parents, healthcare professionals and employers, making expert, personalised support more accessible throughout pregnancy, early parenthood and the return to work.
The passion: ParentPath is a brother and sister founding team, which is unusual. How did the two of you come to build this together, and what does each of you bring?
Richard: It really started with my experience of becoming a parent. Having Rachael as both a sister and a midwife meant my wife and I had access to something many parents don’t: someone we trusted who could answer our questions, provide reassurance and help navigate important decisions. As we compared that experience with that of friends and colleagues, we realised it wasn’t the norm.
Rachael: My experience as a midwife has shown me that continuity of care, personalised support and trusted relationships are incredibly important for women and their families. But this level of care is increasingly difficult to access within an overstretched healthcare system where midwives don’t have the capacity to provide the level of care families need and deserve.
It is one of the most important times in a person’s life, yet I repeatedly saw parents feeling overwhelmed, isolated and unsure where to turn once they left the hospital.
Richard: One conversation particularly stayed with us. We asked ourselves: why isn’t this available to everyone? The more we explored that question, the more we realised there was an opportunity to complement existing maternity services with the continuity, reassurance and personalised support that so many families are looking for.
Rachael: We’re fortunate that, as siblings, we bring complementary skill sets to the business. I bring over a decade of clinical expertise and understanding of maternity care, while Richard brings commercial, operational and business growth experience. Together, we’re making expert parental support more accessible to families, healthcare professionals and employers.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning? What was the moment you realised this was a business rather than just a good idea?
ParentPath is very much a family business. I founded the company with my brother, Richard, combining my clinical experience as a midwife with his commercial expertise.
We spent months talking to parents, employers, HR professionals and healthcare colleagues to understand where support was falling short. The more conversations we had, the more obvious it became that this wasn’t just a healthcare issue. Parents, healthcare professionals and employers were all describing the same problem from different angles. Parents wanted more support. Healthcare professionals wanted more time with families they cared for. Employers wanted better outcomes and staff wellbeing. Nobody disagreed about the problem; they just weren’t connected.
We realised this was a great concept for a business when I started talking to people about what we were planning. The reaction was almost always the same: “That’s such a good idea”. What surprised me wasn’t that people liked the concept; it was that they assumed it already existed.
We started building ParentPath with one clear mission: to complement NHS care by providing continuity, personalised support and practical guidance that employers could offer as an employee benefit. Seeing that vision become a reality has been incredibly rewarding.
The most exciting part is that we’re now expanding ParentPath beyond the workplace, allowing every parent to access the platform directly! While partnering with employers remains a vital part of our mission, our ambition has always been much bigger than that.
From day one, we’ve wanted to open the doors as wide as possible so that every parent, regardless of where they work or their circumstances, can access personalised, expert support throughout pregnancy, early parenthood and beyond. Seeing that vision now evolving feels like a huge milestone, and we’re incredibly excited about what comes next.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
The biggest breakthrough came when we stopped thinking about maternity support as a single event and instead looked at the whole journey.
Pregnancy, birth, parental leave and returning to work are all connected, yet they’re often treated separately with gaps in support at crucial points on the journey. It often means parents feel like they’re carrying everything themselves. Healthcare understands one part of their life and employers understand another, but nobody is looking at the whole picture. The systems simply weren’t designed to work together.
Parents can find themselves trying to navigate between different services, professionals and sources of advice at a time when they need clear and consistent support most. This can leave many parents feeling isolated despite being surrounded by people who genuinely care and want to help.
That’s the gap ParentPath was built to address by creating continuity across the entire journey, ensuring parents have access to trusted support at the point they need it throughout the whole journey.
That holistic approach is what makes our approach different. It’s not about replacing existing services; it’s about joining the dots and making sure no parent feels like they’re navigating this life-changing experience alone.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
I’m not sure anyone ever truly masters the work-life balance! Richard and I are both very much still learning every day what works and what doesn’t for our families. Building a start-up while raising a young family means every day is different for us both. Especially now it is the summer holidays, which is throwing a whole new level of wonderful chaos into the mix for myself.
I’ve learned that balance isn’t about doing everything perfectly but it’s about continuing to come back to what matters most. Our families are a big part of why we started ParentPath, so protecting time with them is non-negotiable. We both make it a work priority that family comes first, and we actively encourage each other in this whilst working flexibly to still make sure the business builds. So yes, sometimes that means an early morning working or a late night to get things across the line, but family always comes first.
For me personally, I’ve also had to become much better at accepting that I can’t do everything myself (despite wanting to think that I am superwoman!) and that asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. It’s been really encouraging to see the network I have around me when I have reached out for support.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
Leaving the NHS after more than ten years was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. Midwifery isn’t just a job; it’s part of who you are and I genuinely thought I would be an NHS midwife for the whole of my career. But sometimes a closed door is a blessing in disguise, which this certainly has been for me.
For Richard, I know it has been a challenge juggling his full-time job alongside building the business. He has done this with such energy and dedication that he has honestly made it look easy! But I know it has been tough balancing home life and work commitments. Now, he is stepping away from his day job to go all in on ParentPath. It’s exciting. It’s daunting. And yes, to some, it’s a bit mental! But over the last few months, every conversation has shown us that there’s a real need for what we are building.
Starting a business from scratch has brought plenty of uncertainty, long days and moments where we’ve both questioned ourselves. But we have continually encouraged each other throughout. Any challenges have only strengthened our resilience and reinforced why ParentPath matters. Every conversation with a parent who tells us they finally feel supported reminds us exactly why we started this journey.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
The biggest advantage for us really has to be the opportunity to work together. We spent most of our childhood separated at opposite ends of the country. So while this is a huge commitment for both of us professionally, on a personal level, we feel very lucky that we’ve been given this opportunity.
Another big advantage is the purpose it has given us in what we are aiming to achieve. Every decision we make has the potential to make a real impact on someone’s experience of becoming a parent, and that’s incredibly motivating. We know that ParentPath can make a real difference and that is what keeps us going.
I have also loved the excitement and creativity that comes with building something new. No two days are ever the same, and we’re constantly learning and evolving, which is so fulfilling.
The downside is that it is proving hard to switch off! As a founder, you’re always thinking about the next challenge or opportunity. Especially working from home, it can be hard to close the office door and move on from the day’s work to focus on family time. Also, the responsibility can feel huge, which is overwhelming at times, but seeing the impact we’re making makes it all worthwhile.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
We’re still at the beginning of our journey, but our ambition is big.
We want ParentPath to become the UK’s leading personalised maternity and parental support platform. We’re growing our network of healthcare professionals, developing new digital resources, working with forward-thinking organisations that recognise supporting parents is essential and also widening access for all parents.
But those are milestones rather than the final goal. We want ParentPath to become the place parents turn to throughout their journey. A platform that connects families with trusted healthcare professionals and provides the continuous, personalised support.
We want to build a future where no parent feels like they’re navigating pregnancy, parental leave or the return to work alone. Our success won’t be measured by the size of the platform, but by the number of families who have access to the kind of support every parent deserves. Ultimately, we would love to see a future where every parent has access to trusted, personalised support, regardless of where they live or who they work for.
Visit the ParentPath website to find out more, and connect with them on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
