MBA Voices: Balancing Motherhood And An MBA At London Business School

Two years ago, my odds of pursuing an MBA while being a mother were a resounding zero. I have always believed that life is like my favorite sport, windsurfing. You catch the sail by your hands, ride the wave, and enjoy the rush out in the open sea. Somehow, while at London Business School, I was not just catching a wave: I had hopped onboard the MBA mothership.

Born in India and having lived in Singapore for 13 years, I felt exhilarated and overwhelmed to immerse in a new country and culture. It was an entirely new world. As an MBA student, I multiplied it with exhaustion, scans, hormonal fluctuations, and breastfeeding. Many of my colleagues at London Business School have asked me, How do you do it all?

The answer: I follow three guiding principles for juggling multiple aspects of my MBA experience (studying, internships, speaking engagements, networking, co-curriculars, and podcasting) and motherhood (playtime, breastfeeding, lullabies, and nappy changes):

A) Leading with Intentionality: Staying away from our eight-month-old daughter, Kyra, is one of the hardest things to do as new mom. The mom guilt is so real. So, when I am taking the time to be away from her, I am constantly thinking: How can I lead with intentionality? How I can really make this time worthwhile?

I have never been more laser-focused in class. Coming from a marketing background, I took up elective courses that pushed me out of my comfort zone such as financial modeling, asset management, and private equity. I reminded myself that I pursued an MBA to learn what I don’t know and that I am privileged to be in a position where I have a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from such brilliant faculty.

As a new mother, without second thought, I have moved straight to the first bench. Phone on airplane mode. No distractions. No obsessive monitoring of the baby camera. The mission is clear: If I am away from our baby, make every second count.

Before motherhood, when I was bored, I would simply scroll through social media or start browsing content to watch an interesting show. Now, all of that is non-existent. It’s not because I can’t allow myself to lay back, but I simply don’t believe that the utility that it provides is valuable to me anymore.

Instead, I am so much more protective and intentional about my time. I make deliberate plans, focus on studying in deep work blocks, explore London with a stroller, take our baby to rhyme time at the local library, meet my MBA friends for board games, and speak more often at events at London Business School.

B) Blending My Identities: I do not want to have the two distinct identities of being a student and a mother. I wanted my life to blend in seamlessly because I believe that these two identities are actually what makes me whole. Kyra has come to campus numerous times. When she grows up, she will surely have the opportunity to say that she has dropped her mum to school before her mum dropped her to school.

Our daughter loves to explore the beautiful parks such as Regent’s Park in London. We often supplement it with inviting our friends to come join us for picnics in the sun and to play along with her. We go out to British Sunday roasts together. Here, Kyra is a central part of the outing, with our friends taking time to engage with her while we dig into a sumptuous Yorkshire pudding.

It is no surprise that our daughter is so sociable with my MBA colleagues. Kyra has been embedded in the MBA experience right from when she was in my womb. While I was pregnant, she came alongside me and partner for a London Business School trip to Saudi Arabia. We were a group of 80 students exploring the beautiful sandstone terrains of AlUla and going stargazing under the desert sky. Kyra kept kicking around when I ate the incredibly sweet dates of Saudi and walked around the Boulevard World in Riyadh. She was excited to be part of the MBA experience since before Day 0 orientation.

C) Taking the Bold Bets: Having a baby has only multiplied my thirst for having even more real-world impact. I want to help build the world that I would proudly want my daughter to live in. I have built an arsenal of varied experiences across some of the leading technology companies in the world: Skyscanner, Uber, Meta, and Google. My career trajectory has been incredibly rewarding and stretched across growth marketing, marketing science and strategy and insights thus far. Becoming a mother while at the MBA has not left me yearning for stability, but quite the opposite. It has encouraged me to take the big, bold bets now. To not look back, but take the leap forward into the unknown.

During my MBA, I started a podcast called Europe on the Bull, where I talk about how the rapidly-evolving startup ecosystem in the region. My goal with the podcast is to give the European Innovation landscape a stronger voice. I am putting myself out there to become an even stronger role model for our daughter. That way, she too can become a woman who took bold bets someday. My ambition is to double down on technology investing and growth equity, playing a hands-on role in accelerating Europe’s next generation of high-impact startups. I am not content observing the future unfold; I want to play an active role in building it. Motherhood didn’t shrink my ambition. It clarified, accelerated, and sharpened it.

My husband, sister, and parents have gone far beyond support: they have stepped fully into the rhythm of raising Kyra. From bedtime routines to diaper changes, they have created the stability that allows me to venture outward with focus. Our daughter grounds me, fuels me, and reminds me why I step out into the world in the first place. When I return from conversations and classes that spark new ideas, that renewed energy flows back to her. It is a beautifully intertwined cycle with energy flowing both ways. Motherhood and ambition don’t compete; they compound.

Pursuing an MBA while becoming a new mother has been the most intellectually rigorous and personally transformative experience of my life. The classroom taught me finance and strategy; Kyra taught me everything else. She taught me to lead with intentionality, to be deliberate about where I invest my time, energy, and ambition. She pushed me to fully integrate motherhood into my MBA experience, not compartmentalize it – to show up whole, not divided. And she gave me the courage to take big, bold bets – on my growth, my voice, and the future I want to help build.

At my London Business School graduation, I’ll stand with a degree in my hand and my daughter in my arms, not just holding a qualification, but holding the reason it all matters.

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Astha Kalbag is an MBA candidate at London Business School focused on growth equity and private capital. With over eight years across Google, Meta, Uber, and Skyscanner, she has led $200M revenue portfolios, scaled experimentation-led growth engines, and advised senior leaders on capital allocation and market expansion. She has operated across both sides of the table – developing fund strategy at Founder One, shaping climate-tech go-to-market at Unravel Carbon, building her growth consultancy Mooketing, and co-founding a fintech startup backed by Antler. She is the host of Europe on the Bull, a podcast spotlighting the capital shaping Europe’s innovation economy. Her work sits at the intersection of capital, conviction, and long-term value creation, helping define Europe’s next chapter.

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