Marija Duka (2025)

08/08/2025

Life lately 🥰

21/06/2025

My favourite thing about being a mum is experiencing the deepest joy in the simplicity of our days together. This is my rich 🙌🏽

06/02/2025

For most of my career, I thrived in a high-achieving, hustle-driven environment. Hard work, discipline, and productivity were the norm…

But over the years, I started unlearning the hustle mindset, especially when it came from a place of scarcity,

you know that feeling of never being enough 😪

When the hustle permeates every part of life, it leads to burnout, something I’ve seen too often in the legal industry.

I thought I had let go of that way of being. Then I became a mother.

Motherhood has asked me to soften and surrender in ways I never expected.

These words, soften and surrender are often seen as weakness, but in reality, they require immense strength.

And let’s be real, they are some of the hardest things to do 😣

In the early days of newborn life, I found myself clinging to my old identity, trying to be productive in the ways I used to be.

But the most productive thing I could do was be present with my baby.

Parenting is work—the most important, humbling, and often thankless work.

I used to be afraid of softening, but now I’m embracing it. It’s giving me a breath of fresh air I didn’t realise I needed.

Instead of running on a shot nervous system, feeling like I have to keep up, I’m learning to just be.

This transition into motherhood is messy and imperfect. Some days I wonder, Am I doing this right? 🫠

But the more I soften, the more I realise —there is no right way. No rules. Just what feels right for me and my family.

Being a lawyer trained my perfectionist mind to always seek control.

Becoming a mother is teaching me to let that part of me rest.

To take a breath and to trust that I am enough, just as I am.

03/02/2025

Transitions are a constant throughout our lives.

Becoming a mother has been and is the biggest transition I’m still navigating.

There’s days I feel resilient and other days where it feels all too hard and like I’ve lost who I am.

With this big identity transition, I’ve had to constantly dig deep and trust.

Trust that I will find my footing.

Trust that I will become clearer and even more confident in the woman I’m becoming.

Trust that I can be a great mum and also be creative, do work that feels aligned and feel ignited by work again.

Trust that on the other side of this transition I’ll be thankful for falling into a million pieces to be brought back to a fuller and more vibrant version of me.

Mums that are on the other side of this transition period, what would you say to that new mum version of you 👇🏽

30/05/2024

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of running a workshop for the HQ team at focusing on unlocking their full potential in their roles.

We tackled some key challenges to thriving in the workplace, providing tools on:

✅ Overcoming the overwhelm from a busy workload with prioritisation techniques

✅ Managing self-limiting beliefs by adopting a leadership mindset

✅ Maximising unique skills to get the most out of your role

We had engaging conversations around:

✨ Structuring your day around your natural energy rhythms

✨ The qualities of a true leader

✨ Creating more impact through intentional action

I’m curious, what strategies have helped you thrive in your role? Share your thoughts below! 👇🏽

16/05/2024

Loved working with this client on embedding herself as a leader in her role as General Counsel.

Over the 3 months we worked together I saw her flourish in the following ways:

✨ Back herself and have stronger boundaries around her work and life

✨ Step into her leadership mindset and honoring herself as a leader

✨ Being the GC that the organisation needs in a way that aligned with her values

✨ Delegating work and not doing it all on her own

✨ Confidently communicating her needs to her organisation

If you want to develop yourself as a leader without the overwhelm, shoot me a DM! I’d love to support you 😊

15/05/2024

As someone that is highly driven and often thinks I can do all the things at once…

pregnancy has taught me the importance of surrendering.

My changing body and energy levels have meant that I need to rest more,

need to understand my limits and

to also have even stronger boundaries around what I say yes to.

In addition to the physical changes, comes …

the lifestyle changes that I’m yet to experience (as all parents would be familiar with).

The overwhelming feeling of bringing life into the world, to my day to day routine and of course work…have admittedly left me feeling stressed many times throughout my pregnancy.

But I keep reminding myself that this is a new experience with lots of new learnings and all I can do is surrender to the moment and take it step by step.

And that is good enough.

🎙️ I share more about my pregnancy journey on my latest episode of The Career Confidence Podcast.

🎧Tune in on Spotify and Apple Podcasts if this resonates.

14/05/2024

I often talk about the benefits of intentionally designing your career.

BUT what‘s the cost of delaying your next career move? 🤔

Here are some examples:

➖ Overstaying in your role (even though you know it’s time to move on)

➖ Feeling energetically depleted as your role no longer aligns with you

➖ Dipping into scarcity mindset (believing there’s nothing out there for you)

➖ the obvious one - Time, that you could be getting intentional and making moves towards that role you really want

If any of these resonate with you, think about how long you’ve spent in this same cycle and ask yourself….

what’s the next step I can take?

I bet you already know the answer deep down but it takes bringing that truth to the surface so you can see it.

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👉🏽 If you need support to intentionally design your career and find out what that could look like for you, book in a 30 min discovery call with me today - DM me for the link ✨

12/05/2024

Happy Mother’s Day to the most beautiful, caring, selfless and boss of a mum, my mama. I can’t wait to take what I’ve learned from you and be half as an amazing mum as you are to my son 🤍✨

07/05/2024

Designing your career begins with knowing what you want…

even if that picture isn’t super clear right now (deep down you have a knowing of what you want)

And then

clearly communicating that vision, the value you bring and marketing yourself…

This will allow you to:

✔️ Apply for the right jobs with confidence

✔️ Land interviews because you’re aligning yourself with the right organisations for you

✔️ Feel confident in yourself and your unique skills

✔️ Feel fulfilled and purposeful in the work you get to do

✔️ Reclaim your time and create an abundant and exciting life

The perfect job won’t just land in your lap if you, yourself cannot communicate what you want.

No one can make this happen for you but you.

When you have the right tools and support, it makes this process a whole lot easier and dare I say fun! 🤩
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👉🏽 If you need support in getting clear on your next steps and creating an intentional plan to get there, DM me UNBOUND for a private chat about your career goals.

03/05/2024

You create your own opportunities 🙌

This is why I get so excited about designing your career… because YOU actually can have a huge influence on where you take your career next.

👇🏽 These are just some examples on things you can do outside of your job to build your profile which = new opportunities 💡

As lawyers, we can get caught up in black and white thinking and when we apply that to our career - well it limits our potential AND earning capacity.

So if you needed a sign to start creating opportunities for yourself - THIS IS IT 💥

If you need support in starting and growing these opportunities 👉🏽 DM me UNBOUND for a private chat about where you’d like to take your career next.

01/05/2024

It was love at first discovery call 😍

When I jumped on our first call with Helena we just hit it off - after our call she even told me that she loved my energy.

Working with my dream clients gets to be FUN.

Something I’m mindful of is how I show up energetically to all my interactions.

I’m coaching my clients on leveling up in their careers so you best believe that I not only hold this energy for my clients but I also show up as a leader in my life too.

As Helena says in this kind testimonial - being in the legal industry myself “I get it”.

Having transitioned across multiple legal roles - I intimately understand the challenges my clients face in their roles AND I also know the opportunities that await them on the other side.

With my guidance and her hard work Helena was able to:

✨ drive positive change in her organisation by streamlining processes without overwhelming stakeholders

✨ shows up as an empathetic leader with an innovative approach and strategic mind

✨ overcome self-doubt of being “too young” to being a trusted adviser in her organisation

If you want to be coached by me (before I go on mat leave in Sept), book yourself a discovery call today for a chat about how we can turn your career goals into reality - DM me UNBOUND for the link ✨

Marija Duka