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Welcome! In This Season is a podcast dedicated to the community of Motherhood Minute and a way to continue the conversations we have in this space. Please consider supporting this project and future projects that help mothers build community!
In this episode, I interview Zoe Gardiner from
about building community in motherhood for the series Nurturing Spaces. We discuss the importance of sharing postpartum stories and the challenges of building community in motherhood. Zoe shares her experience of setting up a physical space for women to connect and offers advice on creating an in-person community. Hint: it’s mostly recognizing you need to ask for help!“My in-person work kind of started around my kitchen table and everyone would just come every Friday and I'd get like all of the paints out and we would go wild in my living room. Then we'd all sit around the table and have cake and tea and journal and it was like that for a good year and it was lovely.
And I think, yeah, you build the confidence of that and it just becomes its own thing. But I think unless you just start really small, it doesn't happen, does it?”
-Zoe Gardiner
Zoe blessed me with a conversation after a long day in the research lab and opened up for a chat about doing what we are able in this season to build communities of our own. I am significantly inspired by Zoe and have to remind myself that in my current season I probably shouldn’t stop what I’m doing and open up my own Women Health Hub!
If you’re looking for inspiration on how to build community in motherhood, take her advice, start small! Sometimes inviting another mother to do life alongside you or at the kitchen table is the best community you can ask for at this time.
If you are ready to hear more from Zoe, sign up for her newsletter at
. You can also find her on social media or by emailing her at zoe@postpartummatters.co.ukhttps://www.instagram.com/postpartum_matters
https://www.facebook.com/womenshealthhartlepool
Questions Chanel asked in the episode:
Could you give our listeners a bit of background about who you are, where you live, and your nonprofit, Postpartum Matters?
In your introduction post on Instagram, I noticed you described your postpartum care after your second child as “rubbish.” Can you talk about that experience and how it connected you to helping other women?
I love seeing that you’ve provided a physical space to hold women in whatever season of womanhood they may be in. What do women do in your space at The Women’s Health Hub? How are you building relationships and community past the pregnancy stage?
One thing I have personally noticed as a former business owner, mother, and creative is a constant negotiation with where my energy can be spent, sometimes on an hourly basis. I’m curious how you navigate those challenges in your own life and what you may be learning as you go.
What is one thing you would like to “set down” and one thing you would like to “pick up” in life in this current season?
How can women find this kind of support in their own communities?
Please let us know your final thoughts and subscribe to stay tuned for more episodes and newsletters. If you’re waiting for the transcript, please subscribe and it will be sent a few hours after all podcast episodes!
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