For many women, returning to work after maternity leave is far more complicated than simply walking back through the office door. Confidence can change, priorities shift and the person who returns may feel very different from the one who left. For My Maternity Coach founder Zoe Scorah, this transition was something she experienced first-hand, twice. After navigating her own challenging return to work following the birth of her daughter, and later her son, she became determined to ensure other mothers didn’t have to navigate the emotional highs and lows alone. What began as a desire to make maternity transitions easier has grown into a business with a much bigger mission: to transform the way women are supported before, during and after maternity leave, helping them rediscover their confidence and sense of self while creating better outcomes for the businesses they return to. Here, Zoe talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the passion behind her work, the challenges she has overcome, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
Setting up My Maternity Coach was a journey. It started with my own two returns to work after maternity leave, and both were challenging in completely different ways. My daughter was born in 2019, so going on maternity leave was a huge change to everything and anything I had ever known. I remember driving home from my last day at work and I couldn’t stop crying. I felt so lost, knowing I wouldn’t see my colleagues every day like I had done for the past 4 years – I was scared! I remember phoning my mum, who was busy at work, and she tried to calm me down. When I got home, I just sat quietly on my own until my husband returned from work. It was such a weird feeling. Maternity leave was going well, and then COVID hit. My return to work journey was a very strange one, going from full-time in the office to part-time working from home. Everything had changed. I didn’t know what my job was any more. I didn’t even know what Teams was at that point!! To say that I was completely lost would be an understatement, and I had no one to talk to.
I was part of a lovely NCT group when pregnant with my daughter, and this meant I made some amazing friends during maternity leave and we all went back to work around the same time. Every single one of those friends had a challenging return to work journey – no exceptions. They felt left out, they lost confidence, they didn’t know who they were any more; their businesses didn’t have anything in place to support any of them.
So, when on maternity leave with my son, I decided I didn’t want to struggle like I did before, and I didn’t want others to struggle either. So I made the decision to do something about it, and in that moment, My Maternity Coach was born.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
When I was on maternity leave with my son, I started the process of getting certified. I did my training through a Hong Kong-based company with brilliant reviews. This also meant that timing wise I could do the training before the kids woke up (i.e. very early doors). After completing my certification, and going back to work, I approached the CEO of the global company I worked for and presented her with a business case – why should they take up maternity coaching? I was petrified, if she said no, what would I do then?!
She agreed! She rolled it out across the global business which meant I got to work with every expecting and new mum throughout their entire journey. Starting when they were pregnant, ensuring they were not on their own through the emotional ups and downs, during maternity leave (KIT day support) and on the return to work transition. From there, they decided to sell the coaching packages as a product to their clients. I did this for 4 years alongside my usual corporate job. Come December 2025, I made a decision that it was time to go it alone, so I made the leap and launched My Maternity Coach as an official business on 2nd January 2026.
The first few months have been a whirlwind of networking, prospecting and trying to get the word out there as much as possible. People didn’t even realise this was a thing, which shows how much work there is to be done.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
My biggest breakthrough has to be believing in myself. Coming from 10 years in a corporate role, I genuinely started to believe that my ideas were not good enough, that my thoughts and feelings didn’t matter and that I just needed to do my job and go home. Alongside this was the belief that work wasn’t supposed to make you happy; it was just something that I did to pay the bills. Now, working in my own business, My Maternity Coach has changed my life. I am so excited to be working. I love every call I have with clients, working with these ladies and seeing the difference this kind of support can have on their lives, and that of the business they work for. I believe in myself. I know I can make a huge difference to each and every lady I work with. This belief is what gets me up excited to start work every day!
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Being completely honest, this is something I am still working on. It took a while for me to understand that I was my own boss and I didn’t have to be working set hours. On the flip side of that, it means I can work all hours of the day and night and no one is there to stop me. Over the past 7 months, I have worked on my routine, ensuring I am spending quality time with the family – not time spent checking emails and answering calls. I try to break down my time with working hours and non-working hours – just like any 9-5 job. This has meant I still do most pick-ups and drop-offs for the kids, I still take time out for their birthdays and enjoy the occasional week off, mostly guilt free! I have spent a lot of time talking to my kids about the work I do, and helping them to understand how important it is to follow your dreams. I want them to see me working hard, having to say no to certain things, because they need to understand that working towards your goals is so important in life, and if you keep going – you will get there!
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
I have already spoken about my belief in myself, and how my confidence has grown since starting my own business. But I have certainly had my ups and downs. A few months ago, I was convinced things would not work out for me. I messaged my friend and said I’m job hunting – I need a regular income! After some pep talks, I realised it was simply a dip in belief. I do believe in myself and I absolutely can start my own business from scratch.
Another particular moment which stands out in my memory is when I was designing and printing some leaflets for My Maternity Coach. It took me about a week to be fully happy with the final design. I then asked several people to proofread them and made a couple of minor changes (including adding my name, which I missed out originally!!). Finally, I selected print and waited for the finished product to arrive. When it turned up a few days later, I realised I had 500 leaflets, with the wrong spelling of my own surname!!
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
I definitely thought running my own business would be simple: less stress, ownership of my time, flexibility and freedom. Little did I know that although all of this was true – it is not as easy as I first thought.
I always like to finish on a positive so I will start with the cons. I have always thought of myself as a fairly organised person. I love a spreadsheet, keeping track of where I’m at, and do things I say I am going to do. When it comes to running a business, there is so much more on my plate than I even thought possible. Not only am I continuously thinking about where my next client is going to come from, I also need to think about existing clients, time management, marketing, outbound messaging, accounts and tax (not my strong point!!), social media, paperwork, contracts, resources – the list goes on and on! I don’t have a team of people behind me who can support with these areas, so it is all on me. If I forget to do something, if I send the wrong invoice, don’t save a receipt, don’t reply to an email, forget to post on socials for a week – it is all on me. That is, for me, the hardest part, alongside the loneliness. I am a people person at heart. I used to love office days, being surrounded by my colleagues, so I do struggle working on my own, but have found ways to overcome this, including finding a co-working space.
Moving on to the pros – there are a LOT so I will try to keep this concise. I am my own person, I don’t have to answer to anyone, I don’t have to be worried about going into a meeting where I may be put on the spot or made to feel like I wasn’t good enough. This feeling, the feeling of owning my own life again, is just incredible. I am hard on myself, I set myself tough targets and probably work more hours than I should, but I LOVE what I do and to be able to do this for myself? You can’t beat that feeling! I also love that I can introduce new things into my business without a year-long debate as to whether it is possible. I think, ‘Hmm I want to add a new product’ and next moment – it is done! The freedom to believe in myself and my values for the business and run with it is unbeatable. The uncapped earnings too – working for a company, my salary was always capped to what they felt I was worth, whereas being my own boss, I can work additional hours and earn additional income. It just feels so much nicer to be more in control of my own bank balance.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
I love thinking about the future; it honestly fills me with all of the joys. My ultimate goal is to change the meaning of ‘maternity transition’. I want every woman across the globe to feel fully emotionally supported throughout the journey. I am aware this is quite a mission, but I genuinely believe that the gender pay gap can be significantly reduced, if not eradicated, if we work on this key transition of returning to work after maternity leave. I would love to support large corporate companies and take on more coaches within My Maternity Coach, so they also get an opportunity to support women across the world, to feel the joy of helping and supporting incredible women to feel themselves again when returning into the world of work.
Visit the My Maternity Coach website to find out more, and connect with them on Facebook and Instagram.
