I am Newcastle born and raised and moved to Maitland in 2011 after meeting my now husband. We are now based in Western Australia with my little family.

I come from over ten years experience in the mining industry.

How did you become involved in Mums & Bubs Australia, whose precursor was Babes + Picnics Australia?

I was the founding Ambassador for Babes + Picnics Maitland and in 2017 launched the first picnic to 35 mums in Maitland Park. From there Babes + Picnics Maitland became the largest location group in Australia. When Babes + Picnics Australia closed the local Maitland mums still wanted to continue with the initiative that had been created and so Mums & Bubs Australia was created.

I was very lucky to have met some amazing mums through the Maitland Neighbourhood Centre mums group program while taking a career break to have my children and felt that each mum needed the same support I had. Bringing Mums & Bubs Australia to local mums became a lifeline to a lot of mums in the Hunter Valley.

There are a lot of mums groups around, why did you feel it was needed?

I discovered very quickly as a new mum that there was a huge amount of online support in way of mums groups (including the NHM Group) but that the face-to-face interaction was lacking. I also wanted to promote the local services and businesses that were available to the local mums that might not be known to them.

How is it unique and how does it work?

Mums & Bubs Australia is unique as our locations Connect, Support and Pay it Forward in their local communities. Our volunteer ambassadors host monthly events in their local community. We promote all our events on social media and invite not only local mums, but any caregiver of young children who is looking for support.

Who does it support?

Mums & Bubs Australia supports mums in the local community by providing a monthly event where they can come and meet, chat with other local mums, while engaging with local services who our Ambassadors bring on to guest speak at our events. I found in the early days of Babes + Picnics that so many families were travelling from Maitland to Newcastle for services that were available there. I really wanted to promote the services within my local community as so many new mums were making the trip to Newcastle when so many of these services were available in their own backyard.

How do you involve local businesses?

All Mums & Bubs Australia events host a free prize raffle for our attendees each month. Through these events we bring on local small and online local businesses who donate to the raffle and in turn we advertise and promote our donating businesses to the mums in our organisation and through our social media platforms. A lot of our locations also have small supporting business stalls at their events where the mums can have a chat to businesses owners, have a look at the products they sell or services they provide.

We have been very lucky to work with some local daycare centres within Newcastle and the Hunter Valley who attend their events with children's activites. Our Newcastle, Maitland and Pokolbin locations all have a local face painter who attends their events which is a huge treat for the kids.

Do you help charities?

We do. Each month our Ambassadors nominate a local charitable organisation to Pay it Forward back into. We do not ask for money donations,and like to work with organisations that our mums can donate items from around the house.

To date, our locations have donated to The Nappy Collective, Maitland Neighbourhood Centre, Friends with Dignity, Carrie's Place and RSPCA NSW

What do you get personally from it?

I believe very strongly that every mum deserves her own support network, this can be in any shape, and not just family. In being able to create this initiative I am so proud to have watched over 10 mums groups form. It's a really great feeling giving the mums that confidence in making friendships through these events.

What feedback do you get from mums?

Aside from meeting new friends, our mums respond very positively to having local and online businesses involved in our events, they love engaging with our guest speakers and feel they are contributing by donating back to nominated charities.

Where do you operate and is expansion on the cards?

Central Coast, Newcastle, Maitland, Pokolbin, Perth South and Sunshine Coast, and we continue to grow. Our Mums & Bubs Australia locations are run by volunteer ambassadors and we are all excited to see more locations created this year.