We recently connected with Enitza Templeton and have shared our conversation below.
Enitza , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on is my podcast Emerging Motherhood. It was created after a long hard divorce and realization of so many wrong turns I had taken in life.
I grew up raised in a very traditional Latin home with very traditional gender roles followed in the home. I was expected to learn how to be a good wife because that was all that mattered in life. Every time I expressed interest in a serious career such as journalism or going into law I was discouraged because as I was told “that’s a man’s world” . It was ingrained in me from as little as I can remember that I would one day be a wife and mother and that was the ultimate goal. Once I reached this goal, would my life truly begin and happiness settle. Even if the guy was a little rough around the edges, it’s ok because marriage and kids will get him to settle down. I was encouraged to ignore any red flags, just find love and have babies, the rest will work itself out.
10 years into a loveless, abusive marriage I realized through therapy that I was at a minimum in an unbalanced relationship that needed boundaries set. That didn’t go over well and the divorce ensued. After going through therapy to process how my life turned up where it was I decided to share what I had learned and continue to experience through the podcast and social media.
It was my lowest and loneliest time of my life and I used it to propel me into the top 100 charts in love/relations in several countries and have amassed a tik tok following of over 100k. I poured my heart into this message of Emerging Motherhood and it was received and is growing faster than I could imagine. Not only have I been able to provide hope and a lens into what life would look like if you choose yourself first-even as a mother- but I have been validated in knowing that I am not alone in this journey.
Enitza , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I got started on social media during the pandemic like a lot of people did at the time. It was the first time I had ever had so much time away from my kids with beginning to split custody instead of being the stay at home mom I was used to. It was so extremely lonely it was physically painful. It was a pandemic so I couldn’t reach out and find support in person so I turned to social media. My first video on tik tok that took off was to the audio “Hello, hello, hello, hello, it’s a m-fin pleasure” I was putting my hair up in a messy bun as I introduced myself and explained I had been married to a narcissist for 10 years. We had 4 kids together, 1 which has special needs and has had 4 open heart surgeries. I lived over 1500 miles from family and had no support but I left and started a new life for me and my kids. Ever since that video, it snowballed and I felt that the 15-30 second videos at the time were enough to share my story and hopefully reach other women going through the same thing and that sparked the idea for the podcast which has been downloaded worldwide to thousands of listeners.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I think the key to social media and building a following is being genuine. Be your absolute, raw, real self. We always laugh the most and connect deepest with the people and thoughts that reflect what we had going on inside. Like when someone says the thing you had been thinking in the exact way you would’ve said it but they kinda blow your mind because how did they know your thoughts like that? It’s because being a human is universal. We all think and feel pretty much the same stuff. If you put yourself out there you will find your people and you will connect, it’s just a matter of consistency and sincerity.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Being on social media can be rough. People are mean and the pendulum swings both ways. As much as you will find people you connect with, the cruelest, craziest people will comment and try to insert their negativity into your light. At one point my Instagram grew to over 10k and was really catching speed. A few people reported the page and got it permanently banned and I had to start from scratch. It’s still rebuilding, people are still finding me from the old account but that was a big hit. It took a lot of energy to try and work to rebuild that community to what it once was.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://emerging-motherhood.simplecast.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emergingmotherhood/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/emergingmother1
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC3Xczt_qtfIbhXYnHkaCSxQ
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/5sLVEH9D2sk9i4reZaIftG?si=tylLjkFKS1eRvHvg9_PJCw
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