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Rachel Ruxton, communications officer at the People’s Postcode Lottery, describes a day balancing work and being a mum

My Day

6.00am: Early start for me, as I play the daily game of “How quickly can I get showered and dressed before my 17-month-old daughter, Eva, wakes up?”.

8.00am: Multi-tasking as I get Eva dressed, fed and ready for the day, while casting my eye over the news on my iPad. Walk to work, dropping off Eva at her grandparents en route.

9.00am: First of many coffees, and a quick skim over the press cuttings. Our players support hundreds of charities and projects, which generates lots of press. Calculate the value of the cuttings, before circulating to all four offices.

10.00am: Team meeting between the communications and the charities team. As well as managing both internal and external comms, the People's Postcode Lottery works with the press teams of supported charities, so a good relationship between comms and charities is vital. I then read through the daily newspapers: tabloid and broadsheet. Our market is so broad, our players will read both.

11.00am: We surprise our Saturday Street Prize winners over the weekend, so it’s my role to interview them over the telephone, and then sell the story into the press. The accompanying photos and video always bring a tear to the eye.

12.30pm: Time to pop out and get a Weightwatchers-friendly lunch. I also try to stock up on ingredients for dinner, baby wipes and Petit Filous to keep Eva happy.

1.30pm: Pull together briefing papers for the managing director, who has some high-profile meetings over the next couple of days. As well as making sure she is briefed, it allows the comms team to be fully prepped for any issues that may arise as a result.

2.30pm: Meet with the HR manager regarding our internal comms strategy. We are working on how to follow up on the results of our Great Place to Work survey.

3.00pm: Grudgingly sample some of the never-ending assortment of cakes which are continuously being purchased by non-calorie watching colleagues. The sugar rush gives me the boost I need to start tackling a fairly meaty policy document, ensuring our strategies are updated accurately.

5.00pm: Final cup of coffee while I pull together a photography brief for a charity photoshoot at the end of the week. Having raised over £16 million for charities within Great Britain, we have a lot to shout about: and thank our players for.

5.30pm: Power walk home and collect Eva on the way. Any parent will relate to the excitement I feel each night when I see her face through the window.

7.00pm: Play time and story time, as I swap my comms hat for my Mummy hat. Bath, bottle and bed for Eva, then it’s tidying time for me. It always amazes me how much destruction a little girl can create in 45 minutes.

9.00pm: Time to sit down for dinner with my fiancé, who is late home from work, and to finally RELAX! Weightwatchers goes out the window as hubby-to-be surprises me with a bar of chocolate. A quick scan of Facebook and Twitter before bed. Only nine hours until the madness starts again.

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