The Startup Mom
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Join our community at www.timefreepod.com
Find Olga here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olga-shapkina-a6425444/
In this episode of TimeFree, Michelle speaks with Olga about motherhood, ambition, corporate burnout, entrepreneurship, moving to Spain and building a life and business around energy, freedom and family.
Olga shares her journey from living in Luxembourg for 25 years, completing a master’s degree in finance and working at KPMG, to stepping away from the corporate world and eventually moving to Alicante, Spain with her family. She speaks honestly about the reality of trying to build a career while raising children, studying with a newborn, working long corporate hours and realising that a prestigious job was not the same as a fulfilling life.
This conversation explores the pressure many professional mothers feel to keep pushing through exhaustion, even when the lifestyle no longer works. Olga explains how early motherhood, sleepless nights, university, business ownership and corporate expectations shaped her understanding of work, ambition and family.
Michelle and Olga discuss why the traditional corporate model can look attractive from the outside but feel impossible for mothers who want to be present. Olga describes the reality of working in a large professional services firm, where the perks are designed to keep people in the office, and why she knew that was not the life she wanted.
Olga also shares her entrepreneurial journey, including launching a children’s clothing shop, trying an online food and product business, moving into real estate in Alicante and later creating a HealthTech startup designed to connect expats, patients, doctors, clinics and insurance companies through one secure digital platform.
Her current startup is focused on making healthcare easier for people moving between countries, including access to medical records, translation of documents, insurance approvals, clinic appointments and doctor-patient communication.
This episode is especially relevant for mothers, founders, expats, women in startups, professional women, career changers and anyone who has wondered whether success is worth it if it costs your health, energy and family life.
Michelle and Olga explore what it really means to choose yourself after years of caring for everyone else. Olga explains why “self-care” is not always a massage or manicure, and why sometimes what a woman needs is a bigger life change: more sun, more purpose, more space, more creativity and more control over her time.
They also talk about moving from Luxembourg to Alicante, the importance of listening to your own dreams, balancing motherhood with startup life, working weekends when the work gives you energy, and why women need to be clear about what they want.
Olga’s definition of time freedom is about doing work you are passionate about while still having time and energy for your family. She also shares why her best strategic ideas come not under pressure, but in quiet moments when she has space to think.
Topics include motherhood and ambition, corporate burnout, leaving KPMG, finance careers, women in startups, HealthTech, expat healthcare, moving to Spain, Alicante life, Luxembourg to Spain, entrepreneurship after motherhood, real estate, startup founders, mothers in business, working mothers, work-life balance, flexible work, women founders, time freedom, midlife change, self-care, family life, strategic thinking and building a life on your own terms.