CWB speaks to Diana Bardega, founder of The Mamahood, an online community and marketplace for businesses exclusively run by mothers.

 

Laura Turner: What’s the story behind The Mamahood?

Diana Bardega: I launched The Mamahood at the end of 2015. Following maternity leave from my career in the charity sector, I returned to work. However, like so many other women, I found that ‘work’ simply didn’t work anymore. Logistics, the cost of childcare, and inflexible employers meant becoming a stay at home mum was my only option.

Desperate to contribute, I found myself building a business in nap times and late into the night. As I started on my entrepreneurial journey, I uncovered so many gorgeous, female-founded businesses run by mothers and started at the kitchen table; incredible side projects and brilliant entrepreneurial women spotting and filling gaps in the market. And so, The Mamahood was born.

 

 

LT: What’s the concept behind The Mamahood?

DB: The Mamahood is a curated platform to support mother makers and creators who are building a business that works around building a family. We shine a light on these amazing female founders and their products to help them grow, enabling more shoppers to discover their products.

LT: How do you typically support the businesses on your platform?

DB: We provide community, kinship and networking. We also support their development with access to expertise, knowledge and training. The Mamahood is the community support I wish I’d had when I started building a business around my young children.

Essentially, The Mamahood connects like-minded mamas online so they can share and learn together and receive the support they need to grow their businesses. We even have our very own Genius Bar. The Mamahood Mentors are a panel of industry experts who each bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our community and share advice to help our members grow. We also run webinars and masterclasses on key small business topics such as Facebook ads, photography and press. We leverage small business discounts for our community, too.

 

 

LT: How has The Mamahood’s support to members changed during the Covid-19 pandemic?

DB: At the start of this pandemic we knew we needed to act. We paused all membership fees and opened our doors to any mother maker or mum-run business needing help, offering them access to both our knowledge base and library of resources. We know what a turbulent time it is for small businesses and we are doing all we can to navigate it together.

LT: How many businesses does The Mamahood work with?

DB: We have over 130 retail partners and over 300 small businesses run by mothers in our community.

LT: Can you name some of the children’s brands and retailers amongst your members?

DB: We have a wealth of kids’ brands as members. Standouts include makers such as Avery Row, Eddie & Bee, Amy & Ivor, Etta Loves and Luna & River. We also have some wonderful independent shops on our site including Mama + Max, West Stanton and Little Lulubel.

 

 

LT: Aside from kids’ products, which other sectors does The Mamahood represent?

DB: We have brands with products for her, him and home. From jewellery, beautiful prints and accessories through to subscriptions and gift sets. We have something for everyone.

LT: How can a business get involved with The Mamahood?

DB: Any small business run by a mother can apply to join our community. All details can be found here.

LT: What’s next for The Mamahood?

DB: Our first goal is to reopen our successful pop-up shops. We can’t wait for lockdown to be over so we can start filling empty retail units again; offering beautiful, inspiring products from the UK’s best independent mum-run brands and enabling more shoppers to discover their magic.

For further information on The Mamahood, please click here.