With Talya Stone — Founder of Motherhood: the Real Deal and co-founder of Self Love Today
Being born and bred in Yorkshire, it’s in my genes to drink a lot of tea! In this new series, I’ll be chatting to industry experts, journalists, bloggers and the many interesting people White Rose PR work with day in, day out, to find out what motivates them, inspires them and their health and wellbeing tips. And of course, I’ll be doing this over a good old cup of Yorkshire tea!
For the first in this series, I spoke to Talya Stone, founder of Motherhood: The Real Deal, ranked in the top 1% of UK parenting blogs and co-founder of Self Love Today which helps busy women move from stress to success.
What inspired you to set up your blog?
Initially it was because I was really struggling as a new mum in so many ways – feeling mum guilt, having an identity crisis, and not feeling like I was being a good enough mum and wondering why everyone else looked like they knew exactly what they were doing! I was trying to make sense of the myriad of emotions and struggles that becoming a mum brings with it. Back then, five years ago, there wasn’t a lot of talk about some of the challenges being a mum in this modern world brings with it and I really thought that some honesty needed to be brought to the table. Obviously now things are very different and the conversation around the challenges of motherhood has really opened up which is fantastic.
You’re a working mum who has achieved huge success growing Motherhood the Real Deal, as well making appearances on national TV and creating a massive social following, what’s the secret to your success?
Honesty! Not being afraid to speak up and tell it how it is. And also, answering the questions people have and trying to help and support people with finding out their solutions rather than saying hey! look how perfect my life is…which it definitely is not! So, I guess as well as authenticity, vulnerability as well. There is great strength in vulnerability which sounds counterintuitive!
- You also co-run Self Love Today, which runs health and wellbeing workshops, events and training, tell us more about this?
I co-founded Self Love Today two years ago with my business partner Aliya. We were both coming from a place of burnout. For myself it was trying to be a working mum juggling too much and trying to “have it all” which had huge negative health ramifications for me. We knew that women were all carrying a massive burden in this modern age, and we wanted to create a series of events and workshops to help support stressed out female professionals get a sense of balance again in their lives – so helping them move from stress to success. You can find out more at www.selflove.today and by joining our support Facebook community From Chaos To Calm
- You always look very happy! What do you love most about your work?
The best thing for me is when someone comes along and tells me that something I have written, recorded or done has really helped them. The feedback I get is worth its weight in gold! I genuinely love helping and supporting people. I also love the freedom my work brings – I was working from home with flexible hours long before the pandemic and able to call the shots which meant I could create a better work-life balance and be there to see my daughter grow up every step of the way. And lastly, the variety and creative freedom I have in my work is fantastic.
- What’s next for you?
These are strange times indeed so it’s hard to say what’s next for me. I’ve had to pivot so much in both my businesses during the pandemic so I want to say…stability and calm! But aside from that, I hope to be able to get some more TV and radio appearances in when this is all over because I really miss the excitement of those. I am not big planner but rather seize opportunities when they are presented to me so who knows what is around the corner!
What are your top tips for health, wellness and a good lifestyle?
- Prioritise sleep and get to bed early – make sure you have a really good evening wind down routine which includes meditation before lights out. So much easier to get off to sleep that way!
- Nourish your body and your soul – good nutrition is just as important as taking care of your mind with meditation or mindfulness
- Practise gratitude daily – it’s life changing!
- Make exercise part of your life and always think that you want to do it rather than the fact you actually have to exercise – the latter can be massively off putting!
- Prioritise self-care – don’t allow yourself to be run into the ground as it’s a long crawl out of a hole once you get there.
- Finally, what are you reading at the moment?
I usually have a few books on the go at one time! At the moment I’m reading The Girl With The Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier – such a classic and mainly because I love the feel of escapism of being transported to a different place and time in history during the pandemic. It’s the perfect book to read while having a destressing soak in the bath at the end of a long hard day. I’m also reading They Ask You Answer by Marcus Sheridan which is a book about Inbound Sales & Content Marketing with my professional head on – nerdy but I’m always looking to improve my knowledge in my field!
One final thought…
A fine wine leaves its legs in the glass. A good PR gives you legs to stand on.
