Zoë: Welcome to We are Childfree, a podcast about childfree women and the lives we lead. I’m your host, Zoë, a proud childfree woman. I created We are Childfree, to lift up the voices of women who have decided not to have children. To share our experiences, tell our stories and celebrate our lives. Each episode I speak with another incredible woman about her decision to be childfree, and what it’s meant for her life. We get into it all - our bodies, our choice, our stories. We are Childfree drops early 2021, and this is a little taste of what’s to come. On the first episode, I talk to Dr Kate Tomas, who’s a spiritual empowerment mentor.

Kate: It is such a pernicious belief, that you're not valuable if you're not producing, and especially if you're not producing children. There's this belief that you have to produce something else. You just live - just fucking getting up every day, getting dressed, eating food, and existing, is enough. That is enough. And if you manage to do something that brings somebody else joy, then that's even better. But you don't need to earn your keep on this planet, you know?

Zoë: I also chat with Vicky, who’s travelled to 45 countries, teaching English, sponsoring kids, and soaking up inspiration for her vibrant feminist art. Despite all the amazing things she’s done, Vicky sometimes feels “less than” as a childfree woman.

Vicky: And this is a generalisation, but that women are kind of taught to minimise, right? And just, "Yeah, oh, no, no, no, it's nothing". I think I kind of fell into that trap. So I didn't really look at what it was that I was doing and how I am helping people, because I didn't go down the traditional route of getting married and having kids. And it's almost like that is celebrated more, and that is more of an achievement, more than anything else. So I think in my own head, I minimised what I was doing, and didn't see it as that important because I hadn't gone down that traditional route.

Zoë: And I meet Rubi, who was born to immigrant parents in Austria, and describes herself as “the most uncommon Indian that you will ever encounter”. At just 22 years old, Rubi already knows what she wants and refuses to apologise for it.

Rubi: In my teen years, it was all, you know, rebellion. I was the rebel of the family who doesn't want to wear traditional Indian clothes, and just doesn't want to fit into this thing. And I feel like, over the years, now that I'm older, it has gotten to a point where I just accept myself as whoever I am. And I never apologize for it. It was always, "No, I know what I want". And maybe it came from that thing where, at an early age, I saw what I don't want to become, and that's kind of given the strength to fight for who I want to be.

Zoë: Through inspiring interviews with childfree icons like these, I shine a spotlight on the beautiful diversity and strength of women, challenge preconceptions about what it means to be childfree, and open up a conversation about our place in the world. We are Childfree drops early 2021. Subscribe wherever you get podcasts, follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and sign up at wearechildfree.com to be first to find out when we launch. Speak soon lovelies!