Lashann Dearcy Hall for Mater Mea.
The narrative around Black motherhood is often a negative one. The media, politicians, and our own community often blames us for everything from poverty and incarceration rates to crime and failing schools. But while women across the diaspora are raising the next generation of leaders, politicians, and artists, often times the full story of our humanity does not get told.
Thankfully, we are speaking up for ourselves. Sites like MyBrownbaby and Mater Mea aim to shift the narrative about mothers of color from one that is fraught with negativity, to one that is hopeful, beautiful, and real.
And I’m so here for it.
Mater Mea launched in 2012 and brought with it a breath of fresh air. The website, which clocks an impressive 1-million pageviews per month, is a labor of love for its founder Anthonia Akitunde. Her goal? To showcase the complexity, diversity, and brilliance of mothers of color to the world.
To help the site continue it’s work—which includes bi-monthly video, photo, and interview features with mothers—Akitunde is hoping to raise $55,000 to keep Mater Mea running and tell even more stories.
According to Mater Mea’s Indiegog Campaign, the money will go directly to producing more high-quality content:
Right now mater mea’s biggest expense is the gorgeous photography taken by a number of talented photographers around the country. mater mea runs two times a month, not for a lack of amazing women to profile, but due to a lack of funds to pay these top-notch artists to capture each woman at home with her family more frequently.
Your donations will help pay for great photographers and writers who can help us go from two issues a month to four for an entire year. We’ll also be able to do more special issues, such as our well-received Father’s Day Issue.
The money you give mater mea will also go toward paying a web developer to relaunch the website with a responsive and mobile-friendly design and a back-end system to support a daily blog. Our new daily content will provide the type of stories our readers want to see: well-curated news pieces featuring families of color, great photography, and original pieces focusing on career, style, health and wellness, and parenting.