Blog posts

• May 22, 2020 Hypnobirthing, a More Peaceful Birth Experience in Covid-19
  In these “uncertain times” there are so many unknowns, and for first time moms especially, birth can seem like just one more thing to fear. The mindset shift from one of fear of the unknown to an innate trust in your body’s ability to birth your baby is crucial when there is a limitation on the support mothers have access to during their labor. Through the use of breath and self-hypnosis, you will come to realize how powerful your mind truly is.
  
  Calm… Gentle… Quiet…These are not words we often see accompanying descriptions of birth. But they can be! HypnoBirthing® is a method of childbirth education that reframes how we look at birth. Through use of language and affirmations that are focused on empowering the birthing mother to trust herself and her body, HypnoBirthing® endeavors to create a more peaceful birth experience. This is accomplished through teaching the mother visualization, self-hypnosis, and breathing techniques.
  
  Hypnosis is a natural state that you go in and out of throughout the day, for example when you daydream or follow ingrained routines. You can learn to harness this practice and call upon it when needed to better enhance focus. Practicing HypnoBirthing® brings these meditative techniques and deep relaxation giving you something to center on as you move through labor.
  
  In the time of Covid-19, you could not ask for a better approach to childbirth education. HypnoBirthing® not only teaches you about the different stages of labor and coping mechanisms found in traditional childbirth education, but empowers the mother to support herself, not relying solely on outside sources. Through HypnoBirthing® you will learn to tune in to your experience to achieve deeper communication with your body. Instead of trying to escape what you are feeling during labor, the key is to lean into the sensations and support them with intentional breathing. In this way, you work with your body rather than against it. Having these tools at your disposal will help you to direct your birthing experience in the way that feels right for you. This sense of direction will allow you to approach your birth with an air of self-confidence, surrender, and trust.
  
  There are also practical benefits to these techniques through the impact they can have on a healthy delivery. By helping moms to maintain a level of comfort and composure as they labor, families may be able to spend more time laboring at home before needing to go to their birthing place.
  
  HypnoBirthing® is also known to reduce fear and anxiety in moms, which can reduce the risk of unplanned cesarean sections by helping moms to move more swiftly through the stages of labor. However, this approach is valuable no matter what type of birth you have, vaginal or cesarean section, as you can use the relaxation and breathing techniques to support yourself physically and emotionally through any birth experience.
  
  Having control over your inner mental state is deeply comforting, especially given the uncertainty that may accompany many other parts of your birth experience during this time. This sense of inner peace and certainty will allow you to return to the way birthing is meant to be. As you practice HypnoBirthing®, you’ll truly be able to say the affirmation, “I put all fear aside and welcome my baby with happiness and joy.”
  
  By Ashley Chapin HBCE, MA Child Development, HypnoBirthing® Class Instructor
  
  
• May 08, 2020 #MothersDayEve Meet Angelina Spicer
  

  Angelina Spicer

  Comedian, Creator and “Me-Time” enthusiast Angelina Spicer has built an impressive online presence with her viral comedy sketches. It began as she portrayed Tyra Banks, Beyonce and Nicki Minaj on the Disney web-series Electric Spoofaloo. Her viral success catapulted her career from phone screens to the silver screen, when she's appeared several episodes of hit talk show THE REAL, and playing a crazy mix of characters on JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE, and CONAN. Many of her sidesplitting skits have featured onHuffington Post, The Wall Street Journal,

  Funny Or Die, WorldStar Hip Hop, Essence magazine, and been tweeted by countless celebrities including Shonda Rhimes, Taraji P. Henson and Taylor Swift, Angelina became a outspoken advocate for maternal mental health, when she was
  released from a psychiatric hospital for treatment of Postpartum Depression. It was then that her journey to remove the stigma from the shame and guilt began. She teamed up with Red bull cartoonist Chari Pere to transform some of her funniest social media posts into caricatures depicting the hilarious moments of Angelina’s new life as a mom. Her cartoon series Milk Mamas caught the attention of Plum Organics, and in 2016 Angelina joined the brands’ national #ParentingUnfiltered campaign.

  Earlier this year she amped things up when she launched a GoFundMe campaign to create a documentary film about her twelve month struggle with postpartum depression. Much like her live stand up comedy shows, the film is slated to hilariously depict Spicer’s awkward transition into motherhood, her ridiculous race to return to work, complete denial of her postpartum struggles, her acceptance, recovery and triumphs over the illness. Education has always been at the cornerstone of Angelina’s values. Having been raised by a teen mother, and at times, joining her in college classes, Angelina was raised knowing that a strong education shapes a strong future. A long time advocate for child literacy, Angelina has been a volunteer storyteller, reading at Libraries, Inner City Schools, Hospitals and volunteering with Dr. Seuss’ Read Across America. She also served as the mistress of ceremonies for the 2014 United Negro College Fund Walk for
  Education.

  You can follow Angelina on Instagram.

  Or help sponsor her documentary here.

• May 08, 2020 #MothersDayEve Meet Dawn McCoy
  

  Dawn McCoy

  TV & podcast host, writer, social media influencer and food & philanthropy advocate, Dawn McCoy, is a personality…and, not just in a “TV personality” kind of way.
  She has been a frequent visitor to your television set, appearing on shows such as The Dr. Oz Show, Hallmark’s Home & Family, Access Hollywood, Extra, The Real and Chef's Layer, and on radio channels and podcasts including iHeart Radio, SiriusXM, Pandora, The Moll Anderson Show, The Dear Mattie Show, The Actor's Diet, Kathy Kaehler's Fit & Sexy For Life, and more.

  Described by Beverly Hills Mayor Bosse, as “Oprah before Oprah was Oprah,” she she has been featured in Glamour Magazine, Huffington Post, Traditional Home, Living Healthy, Cameron Diaz’s The Body Book, Gio Magazine and more.
  With over 18 million impressions, her work as an ambassador to Beverly Hills helped to redefine the city’s social media footprint and iconic reputation.
  Known for her creative, authentic, heartfelt digital content across multiple social media platforms, her voice is like no other, shooting straight from the heart with wisdom, inspiration and approachability.

  Whether it be working with a household name brand, a Fortune-500 company or a nonprofit close to her heart, Dawn crafts not just a picture but a STORY that engages and inspires every single time.
  
  A food-lover, connector and home baker & cocktail maker, she is the producer and host of the Los Angeles Food & Wine Kickoff, a partnership producer for Pebble Beach Food & Wine and is beyond honored to be on the James Beard Taste America LA Board.

  Her podcast, "Dine & Dish with Dawn" is the celebrity interview show "where talking with your mouth full isn't frowned upon, it's encouraged.” Featuring guests dining and dishing with Dawn as she asks them questions intended to inspire her listeners, each show's guest also chooses a charity they support to which Dawn then donates a portion of her show's sponsor fees.The show also has also spawned a popular cross-country event series of the same name.

  She also recently co-hosted the James Beard Taste America LA gala with Curtis Stone and Dave Bernahl, the Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive Holiday Celebration, the Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive Summer Celebration and the No Kid Hungry Champion Award presenting to Ayesha Curry. Additionally, she has hosted the world premiere red carpet of Star Trek Beyond for Vizio and Paramount, hosted Simply Stylist with Jamie Chung (sponsored by Dove at the Grove), and emceed Max Love Project where she helped raise over $200,000 for integrative wellness to help kids and families thrive in the face of cancer.
  
  In September, Dawn co-hosted the No Kid Hungry LIVE Telethon with Busy Phillipps and Curtis Stone, raising thousands to help feed the 1 in 6 children living with hunger in America.And, in October, Dawn was honored to be selected by Glamour Magazine as 1 of 9 inspiring influencers to attend their “Empowered Women Empower Women” trip in conjunction with Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards.

  You can follow Dawn On Istagram

• May 03, 2020 The Story of Mamalode, Mother's Day Eve and Moving Forward
  

  By Elke Govertsen,Co-Founder Mamalode

  Once upon a time I had a baby. None of my close friends had babies. They were all in that phase of life where you are thinking about getting a dog but not sure if that is Just Too Much.

  I loved that baby more than I knew possible. But with motherhood came a host of mixed feelings—exhaustion, terror, numbness and something akin to buyer’s remorse. Those feelings I kept inside and they threatened to topple me.
  I found a group of women all with babies the same ages and we began sharing—the good, the bad, the ugly. It was those honest stories that saved me. Suddenly all of my mixed feelings lost their dynamite. It was all just part of the deal. Hard stuff became funny. Messy emotions were normal. Motherhood was something complex and that somehow made it simple.

  
  I wanted to celebrate those women and thus Mother’s Day Eve® was born—a party just for moms on the night before Mother’s Day. The first year 45 women came together. By year three there were 450.

  I was onto something—these women needed each other’s stories. Mamalode was born.

  Mamalode started as a free, local PRINT magazine in 2009—which is probably the worst business model at the worst time ever. Our unlikely success came from our readers—they mailed magazines all over the world to friends or moms or sisters and then those women also wanted Mamalode. Within a year of starting a subscription program we had subscribers in all 50 states and 10 other countries.
  Now Mother’s Day Eve® is a trademarked event that has been celebrated in 59 communities across North America. Mamalode.com is read worldwide. Our website has over 3000 stories from over 1500 writers—moms, dads, kids, New York Times Bestsellers, huge bloggers and a merry batch of first-time writers. We produced 27 print issues and a special anthology just for dads (Dadalode).
  We never had staff writers—our stories came from readers. Their stories are the heartbeat of motherhood. Our story is really a fairytale come true—a little magazine that has chugged along the track laid out by our audience. They believed, so we did too.

  And now, Mamalode is for SALE.
  
  It’s a crazy thing to build, love, nurture and grow a business and then realize it’s time to sell it. We are proud and excited to see what this business will do next and know that whoever helms Mamalode next is in for an amazing journey.
  
  Here are some of the biggest learnings from running Mamalode:
  
  The sky’s the limit: We built Mamalode on a shoestring and bootstrapped our way into people’s hearts. With the right resources, savvy and plan, Mamalode can have enormous impact.
  
  Authenticity is a rare currency: I shared the Mamalode story in the Girl’s Lounge at Adweek in New York. The next day I was invited to present to a team at one of the largest ad agencies in the world. The agencies, with all of their brilliant staff, resources, data, and planning wanted what we had: authentic content and trust.
  
  This is an important conversation: Not only are moms one of the most powerful consumer groups in the world, they are also shaping the future. They are running for office, running companies, running marathons, and running households. Being at the center of this conversation is being at the intersection of change and influence.
  
  We are open to any and all discussion about next steps for Mamalode. Our primary goal is to find someone to do the next best thing with what we’ve started. If you want to know more about the opportunity, please direct all inquiries and requests for information to Julie Gardner at juliegardnerproperties@gmail.com.