What happens when your career takes you somewhere you never expected? In this episode of Ctrl Click Career, I speak with Leah Hazard, practising midwife, bestselling author and advocate for women’s health, about career journeys, finding purpose and improving maternity services. Midwifery wasn’t part of Leah’s original plan, but her passion for improving maternity services ultimately led her into the profession and shaped the career she has today. From working as a midwife to becoming an author and advocate, Leah’s journey demonstrates how our careers can evolve in unexpected ways when our interests, values and passions lead us in a new direction. We discuss the realities of working in maternity services, the importance of supporting midwives and staff wellbeing, and the need to improve the systems in which maternity professionals work and families receive care. Whether you’re considering a career in midwifery, already working in maternity services, exploring a career change or passionate about women’s health and social justice, this conversation offers an opportunity to look beyond the job title and explore the experiences and motivations that shape a career. Sometimes, the career you never planned for becomes the one that gives you purpose. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Coming in 2027: Leah Hazard’s New Book “Birth Wars: Delivering Safe Maternity in a Changing World” Leah’s forthcoming book, Birth Wars: Delivering Safe Maternity in a Changing World, explores the complex forces shaping childbirth and maternity services around the world. Examining issues including inequality, migration, climate change, politics and technology, Leah considers how wider social and political forces influence birth experiences and the maternity systems responsible for supporting families. The book invites us to look beyond individual birth experiences and consider the broader circumstances shaping maternity care and the challenges facing those who deliver it. Publication date: January 2027 Preorder Birth Wars: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/464536/birth-wars-by-hazard-leah/9780241720929 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT LEAH HAZARD Leah Hazard is a Scotland-based midwife, bestselling author and women’s health advocate. Through her clinical work, writing and public engagement, she contributes to important conversations about midwifery, maternity services and women’s health. Her books include Hard Pushed: A Midwife’s Story and Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began, with her forthcoming book Birth Wars continuing her exploration of childbirth and maternity services. Connect with Leah and explore her work: Website: https://www.leahhazard.co.uk/ Books: https://www.leahhazard.co.uk/books Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leahhazard/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/leahhazard.bsky.social Newsletter — Body of Work: https://leahhazard.substack.com/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN MIDWIFERY? Thinking about becoming a midwife? Already studying midwifery or considering a career change? Explore these resources to learn more about the profession, training routes, registration and career opportunities. Royal College of Midwives (RCM): https://rcm.org.uk/ Explore the professional organisation representing midwives and maternity support workers across the UK. Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) — Becoming a Midwife: https://www.nmc.org.uk/education/becoming-a-nurse-midwife-nursing-associate/becoming-a-midwife/ Learn about approved midwifery education programmes and the requirements for entering the profession. NHS Careers — Midwife Career Profile: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/midwife Explore the responsibilities, skills, working arrangements and career pathways associated with midwifery. UCAS — Midwifery Careers: https://www.ucas.com/careers/nhs/midwifery-careers/midwife Discover more about studying midwifery and preparing for a career in the profession. Independent Midwives Association: https://www.independentmidwives.org.uk/ Find out more about independent midwifery and the role of independent midwives. Whether you’re exploring your options, preparing a university application or looking for a new direction in your career, these resources are a great place to start. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT CTRL CLICK CAREER Career stories. Unfiltered. Beyond the job title. Hosted by Le’Shaé Woodstock, Ctrl Click Career explores the journeys, decisions, challenges and experiences that shape our working lives. From unexpected career changes to navigating professional challenges and finding purpose in our work, we explore the stories behind the job titles and the experiences that don’t always make it onto a CV. Enjoyed this episode? Follow the podcast, leave a rating or review, and share this episode with someone who would enjoy the conversation. Opinions shared by the guests and hosts of this show are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Be the Change Media Network.
