HOMESCHOOLING WHILE WORKING AS A CITY CEO

SAM SMITH is the first to admit she ‘likes a level of stress’. And it must be true, because in 2007, at age 33, she became the first, and remains the only, woman chief executive of a City stockbroker, when she orchestrated a buy-out of the corporate finance division of JM Finn to create investment bank FinnCap.

In an industry dogged by a dearth of women in top jobs and known for its poor work-life balance, Sam stands out. Not only does she have 140 employees and is forecast to have a turnover this year of £36m (up £10m from last year), she’s also a single mother to Aoife, aged six.

But even for her, the past year has been ‘extremely stressful’.

‘There’s not one free minute in the day,’ she says, ‘what with trying to feed everyone [she has a live-in au pair], keep everyone in the office happy and home school, while keeping your daughter happy. Oh, and trying to be fit!’ — she does her conference calls on her Peloton bike. ‘You have some days when it feels under control, but the next day it’s hideous.’

Take this week. Her daughter was doing a school project on ‘air resistance’ which involved making a parachute out of a plastic bag and getting an egg to land in a cup without it smashing.

Her au pair and Aoife were getting things ready, while Sam moved into her bedroom to take a call. ‘Suddenly they came in to throw the egg out of the window and said I had to film it. So I’ve got Aoife’s iPad in one hand, videoing, while taking my business call on my phone. “Everything OK?” asked an executive on the call. “That sounded like an egg smashing.” It was totally bonkers.’

When the first lockdown began, Sam moved to a house in Dorset. ‘It was pretty brutal,’ she says. Not only was she without the help of Aoife’s father, who usually has their daughter two days a week, she had poor wifi connection — which is hard when you’re running a bank.

This time round, she’s stayed in London — and installed superfast broadband.

She says she doesn’t miss getting dressed up for the office.

‘I don’t bother with breakfast, and I just put on some gym kit. If I’m doing a meeting, a proper pitch presentation, I’ll just put a dress or a shirt over the top.’

She stops work at 6.30pm (‘I’ve always done Aoife’s bedtime’). But whereas before, Sam would sometimes go out once her daughter was asleep, now she often works from 8.30pm until midnight.

She misses the chat of the office and having time to think. Once able, she plans to return to the office three days a week.

‘I wouldn’t want to be full time at home, that’s for sure! But the quality time I’ve had with my daughter, and finding out how she learns, has been amazing.’