Balancing It All: Emma’s Journey from Empowered to Elena Apparel
This is Emma’s story. One of genuine passion, identity, and learning when to share the load.
There’s a certain kind of resilience in women like Emma. A resilience built not from perfection, but from persistence. From long days in demanding jobs, late nights packing orders, and the quiet moments of motherhood where you question who you are now - and who you want to be next.
Emma didn’t follow the textbook plan. She built hers sideways: finance career by day, fashion reseller by night, eventually growing her own gym wear brand while still juggling motherhood and a thriving career.
A Hobby That Never Let Go
Business has always been in Emma’s blood. From reselling sunglasses as a teenager to trading dresses at university, the hustle was never just about money - it was about fuelling her skills, connecting with people, and carving her own space for success.
Even as her full-time finance career took off, Emma held on to that spark. What began as selling dresses on Depop - where she quickly became a top seller with over 45,000 followers - evolved into Empower, a gym wear brand that grew rapidly during the pandemic.
And yet, Emma never positioned it as her main income. She protected her stability through her career, letting the brand evolve as a passion project first.
Lesson: You don’t need to risk it all. Start your side hustle small, keep it light, and let it grow alongside your career.
Motherhood, Identity & The Pause
Then came Elena. Becoming a mother changed everything. The brand that once reflected Emma’s confidence and connection with her community of dedicated affiliates suddenly felt misaligned. She was encouraging women to love their bodies - but she no longer felt that love for herself. “I just fell out of love with my content and myself.
“I just didn’t feel ready to come back. My orders dropped from hundreds a day to four or five, and I wondered many times whether it was just time to give up.”
For a while, Emma stepped back. Orders slowed. The voice she’d once confidently shared with her community felt muted.
But here’s the thing: sometimes, losing yourself is the first step to finding a truer version.
Lesson: When life changes, your business or passion might need to change too. If it no longer feels authentic, give yourself permission to pause, reflect, and realign.
Re-Finding Confidence
It’s taken time, but slowly Emma is finding her way back. Not to who she was before motherhood - but to a stronger, fuller version of herself.
She’s showing up again, not with polished, filtered images, but with reality: running with her daughter in the pram, testing leggings on early morning workouts, sharing the truth of her journey rather than the “perfect” highlight reel.
“I’ve always loved seeing women do well, supporting women, bringing women up — I now feel in a place myself where I can really start to give value back to my community again.”
That shift has changed everything. The more Emma shows up as herself, the more her community responds. Confidence, she’s realised, isn’t about fitting into her old mould. It’s about embracing her new one - body, business, and all.
Lesson: Confidence after motherhood doesn’t mean snapping back. It means stepping forward, honestly, into who you are now.
The Power of Letting Go
Emma could have closed the doors. Instead, she opened them wider. Meeting Jess, a young entrepreneur with aligned values, shifted everything. Together they rebranded from Empower to Elena Apparel - a name and brand with new meaning, rooted in light, family, legacy, and authenticity.
By sharing ownership, Emma didn’t lose her vision - she strengthened it. Jess brought fresh energy, content creation, and a new perspective that helped keep the brand alive.
Lesson: You don’t need to do it all alone. Collaboration doesn’t dilute your story - it helps redefine it, it helps it grow.
What Emma’s Journey Teaches Us
From finance roles in Manchester boardrooms to late-night packaging orders at home, Emma’s journey blends motherhood, career, and entrepreneurship into something beautifully real. Her key learnings?
- Keep it sustainable: Start your business as a hobby, not a burden. “Build your base - have that strong customer following behind you and love what you do.”
- Stay authentic: If your message no longer aligns, pivot until it does. “You evolve and so should your brand and messaging.”
- Build community: Surround yourself with people who lift the vision when you can’t. “Surround yourself with strong women who call you out, share in your successes and challenge you when you fail.”
- Protect your standards: Sell only what you believe in and trust. “You have to love and believe in the quality of your product or you can’t sell it authentically.”
- Embrace imperfection: Progress often looks like slowing down, rethinking, and restarting. “You will make mistakes along the way, but as long as you focus on the important things - like good customer service, a quality product, and backing yourself before chasing profit - you’ll be okay.”
So, how do you balance a full-time job with a side hustle? For Emma, the answer was simple: genuinely love your side hustle like a hobby, build community, and evolve as life changes. Success, On Your Own Terms
Success, On Your Own Terms
Emma’s story with Elena Apparel isn’t about overnight success. It’s about longevity. About refusing to let go of something you love, even when life shifts. About understanding that balance doesn’t mean doing it all perfectly - it means learning what to hold close, and what to share.
From Manchester boardrooms to UK living rooms, Emma’s story resonates with so many women carving space for both career and creativity.
For anyone in their 30s balancing a full-time job, a side hustle, and the identity shifts of motherhood, Emma is proof that success doesn’t have to look like the highlight reel. Sometimes it looks like slow growth, pivots, and partnerships.
And sometimes, that’s exactly where the real success lies.
Listen to Emma's Story
A Final Thought
If you’ve ever felt like motherhood made you lose a part of yourself…
If you’ve ever questioned whether you can juggle a career, a family, and a passion project…
If you’ve ever stood in front of the mirror, wishing you could recognise the woman looking back…
Emma’s story is your reminder.
That confidence isn’t about snapping back - it’s about stepping forward.
That a side hustle doesn’t need to be perfect or profitable from day one - it just needs to be yours.
That success isn’t always about doing it all - it’s about knowing what to hold, and what to hand over.
You don’t need a flawless plan.
You don’t need to look like your old self.
You just need to begin - right where you are.
Because success isn’t about being “there” already. It’s about beginning - even when you’re not there yet.