Working Mums Club is evolving...

May 29 Quick update before you read this! So, I hit publish on the piece below announcing a new name for this Substack - “Activate”. I slept on it and woke up feeling, no. That’s not the new name. It felt like a pill I didn’t want to take.

So, I did a swift course correction with something that felt much better and more aligned with what I want to create here. We are officially moving forward as Women in the Loop (what do you think?).

It’s a little play on the tech phrase human-in-the-loop - which basically means keeping human intuition and judgment at the centre of all things AI. The world needs more women driving that conversation right now, and this is my way of getting into it and building a community of women who want to get into it too - by staying in the loop!

Read on to see what I mean, why this space matters so much for our future and that of our kids, and let’s just pretend the word “Activate” never happened, cool?

I started this newsletter almost 5 years ago (!) with a simple idea.

I wanted to find other women like me, who had left - or were thinking of leaving -corporate life to build a different type of career. Women wanting to design their own work while also raising kids, managing a home, and trying to stay sane. Women who wanted to use technology to make their lives easier and were navigating it all alone.

I called it Working Mums Club, and about 1,500 of you are here today, and I am SO grateful. Thank you for being here!

I’ve spent the last 3 years teaching women how to use AI. In workshops, in corporate training rooms, in one-to-one sessions, in webinars at 7pm when the kids are finally in bed. And the more I teach, the more I realise that what I’m really doing isn’t just teaching AI.

I’ve been helping women get on a path to claim their place in a world that is changing faster than any of us can keep up with.

And this is my biggest realisation:

We are the last generation to have known a world without AI, without the internet, without any of this.

Our kids will grow up never knowing what it felt like to look something up in an encyclopaedia, to write an essay without a machine that could write it for you, to navigate a career in a world that wasn’t being reshaped by large language models and algorithms every few months.

That makes us something rare. We have a before and an after. We know what changed. And that means we are uniquely placed to understand what this moment actually means - not just for our future, careers or our businesses, but for our children and the world they’re growing up in.

The pace at which the world is changing with technology like AI is unprecedented and frankly, insane - but we have to refuse to be left behind. We have to stay informed. We have to stay in the conversation.

So here’s what’s changing about this newsletter.

Working Mums Club is becoming Activate - a newsletter for women building their place in an AI-first world while navigating work, motherhood and everything else.

I chose that name deliberately.

It’s exactly what I want this newsletter to do for you. Not inform you. Not overwhelm you with AI news you don’t know what to do with. Actually activate something in you - your curiosity, your confidence, your sense that you belong in this conversation.

Every issue will strive towards that, and with your feedback I will keep making it better.

Every time you read this newsletter, I want you to finish reading and think one of three things.

“I’m closer than I realised.” “I can do that.” Or “Wow - that’s opened my mind.”

That’s what I am for Activate to be.

What does that look like week-to-week? I want to talk about things that fall under the topics of:

• How AI is changing the workplace and what it means for your job security

• How to use these tools without being techy

• What we need to think about and know to help your kids navigate the wild west of AI!

• How women are using AI to build businesses, reclaim time, and stay relevant

• And always - what it means for you, your life, and the future you’re stepping into

I believe that AI has its pro’s and con’s, but I also believe that an AI-first world will be net positive and we will all be able to flourish, but we do need an AI-postive mindset for that.

I want to keep this newsletter away from jargon, overwhelm and doom. Just what matters, and what you can do about it.

And here’s what’s staying the same.

The motherhood juggle. Because AI doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it exists in the middle of school runs, work deadlines, mental load, and trying to understand what’s going on, and figure out who you are both inside and outside of all of it. I’ll keep writing about that, because that’s the real context in which we’re all trying to figure this out.

You. This community. The Working Mum Wisdom interviews - real women, real stories, real lives. All of it carries forward into Activate.

If you’ve been here from the beginning - thank you again.

You were the foundation of this. You showed up when it was just an idea. I hope you’ll stay for what comes next. I think it’s going to be the most meaningful thing I’ve built.

If you’re new here - welcome!

You’re exactly where you need to be.

We are the last generation that knew a world without AI. Let’s make sure we’re also the ones who help define what it becomes - for ourselves and for our kids.

That’s what Activate is for.

I hope you stay with me on this journey. If you have any thoughts or feedback, let me know - just hit reply, I reply to every email (no bots, no AI!)

And one quick question before you go:

Abha x