10 minutes with: Maia Dunphy

You’re involved in Diet Coke’s Get the Gang Back Together campaign, with €50,000 worth of getaways up for grabs – tell us more.

‘‘Since I moved to London and became a mum to Tom (who is 18-months-old) I found that it’s harder and harder to find time for friends, and it’s really important, no matter how happily married you are or how good your job is, or no matter how great your partner is or no matter how much you love motherhood, it’s really important to find some time for you.

‘‘For me, I don’t particularly want more time on my own because I have enough of that. I’d like to have time with friends, and that’s why I love this campaign – especially if you win a weekend away, there’s no guilt involved and you have to go.’’

What does support from your friends mean to you?

‘‘Support from friends is vital, in all parts of life. It’s so important to have people in your life who know you, not you as a mammy or you in the office, or you as someone’s wife.’’

What’s it like commuting back and forth from London to Dublin?

‘‘When Tom was eight weeks old, I flew with him for the first time. I worked it out – he’s been on 47 flights in 18 months.

‘‘The first few flights were horrendous and then suddenly nobody dies and you make it and it’s fine. We fly once or twice a month.

‘‘I think it has been surprisingly easy. Being pregnant, I worried so much about how I was going to do this. How am I going to commute? How am I going to make this work? Once you do it, it becomes the new norm. Like any new mum, or older first-time mums like I was, I worry about not sleeping. When you’re 39, it’s like how am I going to cope without sleep? And you just do. Women are very resilient and mums are very resilient.’’

You made some great documentaries for RTÉ, like your What Women Want series. Do you have any plans to make more?

‘‘I’ve been developing a lot of show ideas and I’ve done some work developing for other people as well, but this year I’m hoping to get back to telly. It’s just a question of the logistics and when I’ll have enough time here to actually make something happen.

‘‘I’ve been lucky that the doors haven’t closed yet. I think it’s because I wasn’t someone who was on telly everyday on an afternoon show. People weren’t used to seeing me all the time. They kind of know what I do is sporadic.

‘‘At one stage I was eight months pregnant in London, doing a 12-hour day and just thinking, I must be sick because I’m so tired. My friend Amanda, who was producing, said ‘no, you’re eight months pregnant and you must be knackered’. That was kind of tough. I loved making documentaries, but there’s no denying that they are an awful lot of work.’’

You recently launched a new website on parenting. How did it happen?

‘‘It started with me posting blogs that I thought reflected the reality of motherhood and it just really took off. What I’m doing is not remotely original, but for some reason it resonated with a lot of people.

‘‘I think what I’ve tried to do is talk about the reality of motherhood and sometimes the bad side of it, with a sense of humour.

‘‘I want the website to be a platform for other women to write. I want to make this an online magazine that people will want to be published. At the moment, we have 10 to 12 contributors.

‘‘The tagline we have is: for women who happen to be parents, you are fundamentally still you.’’

Diet Coke’s Get the Gang Back Together campaign runs until 2 April. Special in-store prizes for ultimate weekend away include Diet Coke hotel breaks in Paris, London, or Rome. These are available across Spar and Dunnes Stores in Republic of Ireland and Tesco and Centra in Northern Ireland.