Rewind to 2020, I’m(Sami) pregnant and we live states away from family and friends. I started researching all the evidence-based things relating to pregnancy, birth, and postpartum care. I learned the importance of a support system but that was on the bottom of my prep list since I have always been an independent person and we had no one around anyway. Everything else I was super prepared for.

Fast Forward to early postpartum days feeling so alone in my experience with no mom friends close. Breastfeeding hurt, the mourning of my old self mixed with all the hormones and the new little stranger that I loved more than the world was a lot to handle. I started to see why a “village” to support the mother is a nice luxury to have.

Fast Forward to the birth of my second and things really changed! I felt confident as a mom of one. We had our moments and I turned to evidence-based research and intuition for most things, but everything changed when my second was born. That’s when I felt the Rage. And still had little support. I started thinking support shouldn’t be a luxury and really should be a staple like it use to be.

I never understood the rage before becoming a mom of 2. I’ve had some pretty volatile experiences in my childhood and thought there was no way I would ever feel Anger and Rage towards my children. However, I was beyond overwhelmed, under slept, and overstimulated with a toddler and a newborn. I was triggered left and right- way more than I ever experienced before. Again I sought out evidence-based theories and practices and mixed them with intuition to find what felt best for us. I tried. I knew I needed support. Even just someone to come over so I could have a moment in the shower by myself. Things got better (my 3 things helped a ton!) but it could have been faster if I had more support- it just wasn’t an option.

I felt as if I was drowning and If I felt that way, my friends probably felt that way too. How could I possibly ask them for help when I knew I wasn’t in a state to be able to give anything back to them?

I started thinking about how awesome it would be to have a non-judgemental loving community where we could be really honest, like raw honesty, and find joyful connections with other mamas who are going through or have gone through similar things. I found it so healing to connect with a mom friend who literally has the same age kids as me and going through similar things. We could be honest without the nasty judgment and comments you often see in FB groups.

Most of my other friends at this point had older or younger kids and were at different stages of motherhood. It was still nice to get together and share in the camaraderie of motherhood but we still had different challenges at any given time. So, I decided to set out to create this community where all are welcome especially if a “village” is something that is lacking, like it had been for me.

Meeting with so many mamas, I realized that when something “labeling” comes up in motherhood, we are pretty divided on the internet. You can find groups for loss, groups for natural-minded parenting, groups for difficult diagnoses, groups for whatever- but why not have them all in one place? After all, we are all mamas and often flow in and out of these “labels”. There is healing power in connection.

Along with this, I wanted a place to share ALL the research I have found in a way that people could plug and play. They could find all the info and see what feels right for them because every motherhood journey and every child is different. More-so, they could share their favorite resources with all of us too! I believe the more information is available the better decisions we can make for our families.

On top of that, I really value growth in myself and am always trying to learn new skills to be more calm and present- a skill that every mama should have in her tool belt! I wanted lessons like this to be immediately available for the community members. I wanted to partner with some of the best in their fields to bring you (and me) Amazing stuff!

If we, as mothers, can remain untriggerable we can intentionally raise our kids in the most aligned way for them and us! And that’s how GEM came to be, a place for community and resources where we can continue to grow in our mothering journey with all sorts of tools in our toolbelt for every hurdle along the way. We can be seen, heard, loved, validated, supported, and resourced AF. And we can do it all together!

Probably my favorite part of starting this community was the thought of how much I’d like to give back to help other mamas. If we can have our basic needs and stresses met, it’s SOO much easier to stay calm and conscious in our parenting. I thought about my mom. She was a single mom trying to make ends meet. I watched her from a young age do everything she could to make sure we were cared for, often neglecting herself. We’d often ate at places that had “kids eat free” days so she could feed us while she didn’t eat. I often wonder if she had more support, how things would have been different- hence the Kari Fund was born. It’s hard to pour from an empty cup even though we all do it. I want us to pour from a full cup- scratch that! I want us to have so much overflow, that we don’t even have to pour at all! We can all dance in those splashes!

So GEM is a full circle mother support community- the goal is to support us mamas through whatever season of life we are in. If we can support the mothers we can watch the world change.

Welcome to GEM.