Running your own business is increasingly becoming an option for women who want to have a family without sacrificing their career. CATHERINE BRUCE talked to a woman who set up a public relations firm after becoming a mother.

WITH so many new businesses deciding to locate in the York area, there are a lot of firms eager to promote their wares to potential clients.

For Rachel Goddard, who runs intandem marketing and communications from her home at Ellerton, near Bubwith,in the East Riding, promoting York's thriving business community is the name of the game.

She is no stranger to marketing successful companies in the city. Before she set up intandem she was head of marketing and PR for York-based Shepherd Construction.

She decided to break out on her own and start her own business two years ago after the birth of her son Jonty, who is now three-and-a-half.

"I wanted to have the flexibility of working at a senior level, but to be able to fit it in with the demands of family life," she said.

I do have to juggle quite hard to do both. I can fit everything in, but it involves a huge amount of time management."

Rachel, 38, works with a team of specialists in other areas, including designers and photographers, to help businesses achieve their goals by carrying out market research, producing brochures and newsletters and keeping the local media up to date on their actions.

Rachel said marketing was often low on the list of priorities for small businesses, who often could not afford to employ their own PR workers.

A lot of Rachel's customers come from York's scientific community. Her roots are in science as she has a degree in Agricultural Science and she now handles the PR and marketing for Science City York, Agrovista and SightSonic, York's International Digital Arts Festival, to name but a few.

"I work very closely with York's science community. I am now doing exactly what I wanted to do," she said.

Updated: 11:30 Wednesday, June 30, 2004