Why Mum Hug?

I created Mum Hug to build a village of mothers helping other mothers through their stories in hopes that we learn from each other as we go through motherhood. Whether you are a new mum, seasoned mum, postpartum mum and working mum, my goal is to share the best hug of all — a hug from another mum. A hug that says I get you, I understand you, I share this experience with you.

Mum Hug

My first mum hug was from another mother in my child’s music class. She noticed that my baby was tiny whilst she had a baby who was outgrowing her clothes fast. She got to know me over coffee and generously gave me bags of her baby’s hand-me-downs (only worn once or twice!). Her kindness is like the warm hug I needed the most in those early weeks of postpartum.

Mums creating a village for mums

I remember preparing for the birth of my second child and looking back at my experience as a first-time mum. I remembered the struggle. I found it all very hard — everything from pregnancy to delivery to postnatal.

I often read about raising children takes a village, and looking back at my experience — I feel that I didn’t have a village or if I did, it wasn’t a village that could support me for what I needed in my journey as a mother. So this got me thinking, how do I build a village around me? How do I help others create a village around them to support them? Hence I created Mum Hug. I wanted a space in this world where Mums can help build a village through their stories and have an outlet for their voices.

Who am I?

Hi! I’m Juliet Lara. Before I became a mum, I’d never considered myself maternal or gentle. Motherhood has softened and toughened me at the same time. For a career, I was a hustler building startups and working as an IT consultant building tech teams and executing tech projects. Much of my days have changed now since I’m on maternity leave with my second child.

Although many things have changed in my life for the better, I’m still hungry and passionate about the same things that is connecting with people through their stories, building teams (now I want to build villages of mothers!) for the better, and sharing these stories through my writing.

I hope one day that I get to hear your story and give you a Mum Hug.

Are you a mum looking to join and build a village with other mums? Why not write for us and share your stories.