We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tameka Mitchell . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tameka below.
Tameka, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
Who Is Tameka Mitchell? Tameka Mitchell is a motivator, entrepreneur, author, slayer of imposter syndrome, and most importantly, a MOM. Coined the Chief Mom Motivator, Tameka is a fierce advocate of mothers living their best lives and pursuing their dreams. She hopes to motivate mothers and create stories and visuals that help mothers guide their children to becoming empowered and confident readers. Her focus is to produce content that is a tribute to people of color with vibrant, simple messages that encourage family and community conversations.
As the Chief Mom Motivator, Tameka is particularly passionate about educating and empowering all mothers but with a primary focus on new mothers with newborns/ infants. She specializes in the unique postpartum experience for women of color and their specific challenges.
Why?
In 2020, the maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, 2.9 times the rate for non-Hispanic White women. Rates for non-Hispanic Black women were significantly higher than rates for non-Hispanic White and Hispanic women.(CDC)
It’s time to make maternal mental health a part of our daily conversations. Especially in Georgia where Tameka resides, all pregnancy-related deaths attributed to hemorrhage, mental health conditions, cardiomyopathy, cardiovascular and coronary conditions, and preeclampsia and eclampsia were determined by the MMRC to be preventable. For pregnancy-related deaths attributed to embolism, 83% were determined to be preventable, while 17% were determined to be not preventable. (Georgia Department of Health).
How?
In her role of Chief Mom Motivator, Tameka strives to be an informed advocate leveraging her personal experiences, current events, interactions with local and national postpartum tasks forces and active engagement in community events/programs to collectively address the maternal mortality rate crisis.
As the CEO of Maternity Motivation Publishing, LLC, Tameka plans to rewrite the narrative on maternal health. Developing conversation starters in the form of books and valuable resources is the first step. In her new book, “Mom, You Did It!”, Tameka begins the conversation of postpartum mental health by addressing the many challenges new mom’s face and in a voice that speaks directly to them. By addressing their needs, “Mom, You Did It!” gives new mother’s permission to be authentic and openly express their feelings.
The second step is where the real change begins. By hosting formal and informal discussions with medical professionals, doulas, activists, lawyers, educators, and women health influencers, Tameka hopes to facilitate greater awareness of the maternal issues faced by women of color. Building this network will have a trickle-down effect to where “Mom, You Did It!” is not just a motivational phrase but an active movement toward mothers living an authentic and joyful life.
Tameka is also the author of her debut children’s book, “My Super Mom and Her Sidekick Crew”, which celebrates the superpowers of mothers and the various “sidekicks” in our families. When Tameka isn’t writing for children and motivating moms, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two beautiful children.
Tameka, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My mantra is Faith. Family. Focus. My faith is extremely important. It anchors me when I am handling the hustle and bustle of life, doubt, anxiety, joy and happiness. Most importantly it has aligns me to my purpose and how I intend to support others.
I love my family! My relationship with my husband has grow tremendously over the past two years through our individual and collective work. My children are the driving force behind my creativity! When we are not making inventions, reading or exploring new places, it’s just as nice when We catch up during car rides.
I’m focused on being the best version of Tameka. Everyday I love her more and more because I chose to forgive myself, learn new things and trust my BIG ideas
These three phrases have been so important as I rediscover the latest version of myself while being a wife and a mother.
17 years with the financial industry has taught me.a lot. In this season the power of AND is a mom negotiable. I’m an entrepreneur and a mother and a wife and an author. Possibilities are endless.
For my own sanity, I have to focus on ways to recharge and share my own journey of living an authentic and joyful life. It is not easy but I know I’m worth it. I want people to know that I can be an additional member of their personal board of directors that encourages them and to have honest conversations about hurdles that stand in the way of their greatness. My platform promotes a growth mindset and being a lifetime learner
I’m not proud of the publication of “Mom, You Did It!” it has allowed me.to unpack my own postpartum experience and shed light on the work that needs to be done to normalize the discussion.
Where can you find me?
chief _mom_motivator on IG
Chief Mom.Motivator on Youtube, TicTok, and FB
maternitymotivation.com
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
During the development of “Mom, You Did It!” I wanted to tap into the crowdfunding to cover final production cost.
Looking at the success of others and the visibility I knew it would be a game changer.
Yall crowdfunding is tough! It takes a lot of preplanning, follow up and knowing your target audience.
A lesson learned of not launching one within a two month period is not good, invest in the marketing and visuals and rally your team of support to be dedicated allies
I was unsuccessful in funding how ever I used those key learning to shift my marketing strategy, and key routines and collaborate with other authors.
Any fun sales or marketing stories?
In honor of my mother, I like to launch my books in October (her birth month) this year I registered as a Vendor at the Mahogaby Moments Event. With Hallmark. A couple of days before the event they announced Tabitha Brown would be the keynote. I love Tabitha Browns energy, platform and backstory and family focus. She’s been on my vision board and I knew I was going to meet her. Not just meet her but be prepared to pitch my vision, products and personalit. End of the event she visited the vendors and not only did I get a picture but I had a personalized book launch box. My son made a picture to give to her.
Two weeks later she posted a wonderful review of “Mom, You Did It!”
I’d you.stay ready you don’t have to get ready.. Believe in yourself. Trust the process with faith, family and focus.
Contact Info:
- Website: maternitymotivation.com
- Instagram: Chief_Mom_Motivator
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tameka.mitchell.39?mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Linkedin: Tameka Mitchell
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/@chiefmommotivator
- Other: https://linktr.ee/chiefmommotivator?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=973504d7-9f1d-4868-84b7-8556c4a3a097
Image Credits
Family.photo and images of my in library from Ashley founded Ashley Nicole Photography