“mater mea: I think, for the both of us, we were looking out at the media landscape and found it to be sorely lacking in what we needed at the time. We were both following that adage of creating what we didn’t see. What did it mean for you as a new mom to not see a community of mothers of color online, and how did that inform the direction of Raising Mothers? Raising Mothers: I found it tiresome to feel so invisible. I’ve always been hyper aware of the general online landscape since I’ve been an avid reader of too many blogs to make sense and I’ve also had my own blog in various iterations over the years. In the past few years, there have been some really great sites like My Brown Baby, MommyNoire and Baby and Blog catering to Black mothers, but I still didn’t see myself. I am more pulled to reading long essays rather than articles. I literally couldn’t findme so I made a place for women like me. I’m a Black mother in an interracial marriage …

Elelta, Gavin and Hana. London, England  Welcome to our first post in a new series where mamas from all over the world take us on a tour of their cities. Join us today as Elelta takes us all over her personal London-town.

Justina and Ida, Los Angeles, California If you’ve been online for any amount of time or you’ve followed the #facethefoilage tag and account on Instagram or she’s turned you into a pattern and plant coveter or you love interior design or at least didn’t know you did until you bumped into her, you’ve heard of Justina. The woman behind this design empire is the instantly recognizable Justina Blakeney, who not only pens the incredibly popular design blog, The Jungalow and authored the New York Times bestseller, The New Bohemians, but she is a wife to an incredible husband and mother to the sweetest daughter, Ida. Recently, I had the opportunity to have an intimate conversation with her. So, grab your morning tea and read through our interview below as Justina shares her unique and refreshing take on motherhood, sisterhood and weaving creativity through it all.

  Monique, a Brooklyn childhood behavioral specialist, lives in Brooklyn with her husband and toddler daughter. I was first drawn to her by her stories of breastfeeding and her stunning photos. We spoke about her Haitian roots and how her upbringing inform her motherhood today. How do you identify yourself racially? I identify as black, specifically Haitian American. A big part of my identity is being born to Haitian immigrant parents. Where were you born and where have you lived? I was born in Jamaica, Queens NYC. I was born in and grew up in Queens until the age of 18. I attended university in central Pennsylvania and upon my return to NYC I landed a teaching job in Brooklyn and have been living here for over a decade. Did having a multiracial family factor into where you live now?  I moved to East Flatbush, Brooklyn because I fell in love with a beautiful brick house that was built in 1925. East Flatbush is a Carribean neighborhood very similar to Crown Heights where I lived for the …