Helena Masat on motherhood, flexibility & designing for true accessibility

About this episode

Helena Masat discusses the challenges of motherhood in the design industry and the importance of accessibility in design.

✨ Subscribe to Show Notes for more from Space by Stansons at https://www.stansons.co.uk/space ✨ In this episode, Guy sits down with Helena, Creative Director and Founder of Studio Masat, to discuss navigating the design industry as a new mother while launching her own studio. Helena shares her background in design & build, what it was like managing pregnancy in a client-facing role, and why transparency, planning, and trust are essential when balancing projects and maternity leave. The conversation explores outdated industry norms around flexibility, the loss of talented mothers due to rigid systems, and why outcomes matter more than hours at a desk. They also dive into how motherhood reshaped Helena’s perspective on accessibility in the built environment — and why inclusive design should never be a retrofit or afterthought. This is an episode about leadership, flexibility, and designing better systems — both in our workplaces and in the spaces we create. They also explore: How parenthood exposed everyday access barriers (and why it changed Helena’s design lens) Why physical accessibility is being left behind in wider inclusion conversations The difference between inclusive…

People in this episode

Host: Guy Stanley

Guest: Helena Masat

Topics covered

• motherhood
• design industry
• accessibility
• flexibility
• leadership
• inclusive design

Keywords

• motherhood
• design
• accessibility
• flexibility
• inclusive design
• client projects
• transparency

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Studio Masat

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