The pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives but one of the biggest is the way we work– with 46% of people working from home last year. Perhaps no group has been more impacted by this than the young - from unemployment to the mental health pressures of working from small homes and a tough jobs market, this generation has been dubbed 'the Covid generation'.   But at the same time there are also opportunities – could apprenticeships be part of the solution?    On this sponsored podcast, Katy Balls talks to a panel of strong women about the challenges and opportunities facing young people in professional life. She's joined by Gillian Keegan, the Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills; Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the TUC; and Michelle Blayney, Chief Culture and Talent Officer at Lloyds Banking Group. Sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group.

Elif Shafak is an award-winning Turkish-British novellist, essayist and activist. On the episode, she talks to Katy about what it was like to grow up in conservative Ankara under the strong women in her family; her prosecution by the Turkish government; and why she thinks too much information is not necessarily a virtue.

Rachel Reeves is the Labour MP for Leeds West and the shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. On the podcast, she talks to Katy about being a teen chess champion (pictured playing), going to a school where her mum worked and what Labour needs to do to turn its losing streak.

Suzanne Moore is a journalist. On the podcast, she tells Katy about interviewing to work for Marxism Today, feeling out of place at The Guardian, and standing to be an independent MP.

Mims Davies is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Employment and the MP for Mid Sussex. On the podcast, she talks to Katy about how her family became lifelong carers when her dad was attacked at work, about why she didn't come out as a Tory in her student days at Swansea University and why her change of seat in the 2019 election was not all that it seems.

Claire Williams OBE is the former Deputy Team Principal of Williams, family-run the Formula One racing team set up by her father, Frank Williams. On the podcast, she talks about what it was like to be seen as 'Frank's daughter', the struggles of trying to turn around an ailing F1 team and how none of her family actually passed their driving test, first time.

Christina Lamb is an award-winning journalist who has reported on conflicts and politics across the world for more than three decades. Her latest book is Our Bodies, Their Battlefields, highlighting especially the treatment of women in war.

Barbara Amiel, Baroness Black, is a journalist, writer and socialite. She's been married four times - her fourth to the newspaper proprietor Conrad Black. On the podcast, she talks to Katy about her difficult childhood (which she describes as 'slightly unorthodox'), establishing her journalistic career in Toronto and London, comparing bathrooms with Ghislaine Maxwell, her glamorous marriage to Black and their fall from grace when he was jailed for fraud. Her new book, Friends and Enemies: A Memoir, is and out now. Presented by Katy Balls.

Gillian Keegan is the minister for apprenticeships and skills, and Conservative MP for Chichester. She previously worked at Natwest, Mastercard, Travelport and Amadeus.

Dr Alice Bunn is a scientist and international director at the UK Space Agency. She tells Katy about falling in love with the stars, finding the right career and the threat of space debris.