From a 'broken mum on maternity leave' to blogger with 20m readers

Former TV and film director Vicki Psarias-Broadbent was a “broken mum on maternity leave” when she launched her parenting and lifestyle blog back in 2010. That her Honest Mum brand would go on to reach an average of 20 million parents a month across her blog and social media platforms today was “utterly unimaginable” back then.

- by Laura Reid

She didn't start writing with a change of career in mind; rather, blogging was a way to rediscover her voice and regain her confidence after suffering from a traumatic birth.

“A friend who was also a director banged on at me to write a blog,” remembers Leeds-born Vicki.

“She didn’t have kids and I would ring her and tell her about all these baby groups and this brave new world and how much I’d lost my identity, how sort of surreal it all felt.

“I went from being on sets of hundreds, at the helm, to suddenly being with just a baby and I was pretty lost, and far away from family too. So it was a really hard time. My friend was like 'just write about all these crazy experiences you're having'. So I did.”

Oliver, her eldest, is now 15, and by the time Vicki's second child, the now 12-year-old Alexander, came along, she was blogging full-time, working with several brands and growing her online platforms. Now a mum-of-three (Florence arrived three years ago), Vicki is an author, content creator and TV and radio panellist, who has featured on the likes of BBC Breakfast, ITV's This Morning, Good Morning Britain and Lorraine.