Mothers Unleashed

What we do…

Mothers Unleashed helps women voice their experiences. We make space for women to process their stories while forming community with other mothers/fathers/aunts/uncles/friends/loved ones on their own journey.

Parenthood is filled with unexpected bumps. We love our families and our children so much, it’s true. But women are more comfortable plowing forward as caretakers than we are in taking much needed time and energy to hash out our thoughts. Let’s do this together.

We’re for everyone who is a mother or who has a mother. Which means, we’re for everyone!

Get your free tickets for our January 26th event, now!

Our Process

You write your story. You send us your story. You read your story.

(For submission guidelines, please scroll down.)

We believe everyone has a story and anyone can tell one, so don’t be shy if you don’t fancy yourself a writer. You are.

We’ll work together. First, we get together in person over snacks and coffee and listen to your words. You read your story to the group. Then, we provide supportive, constructive feedback. We talk about things like theme, structure, and the root of your story. It’s an enlightening and insightful process for all.

After the in-person meeting, we go our separate ways for a few weeks, but we don’t stop working together. We’ll work remotely, sharing drafts and notes, helping you to hone your thoughts.

At the end of the process, you’ll be ready for the storytelling event. We call it an “event” because we don’t want you to think of it as a performance. These are honest, raw stories, and we want you to feel pressure-free, like you’re talking to your friends – because you are.

Reading our stories together for the first time, with Melissa Gurel, Kristin Wallace, and Rachel Bausch Pretorius.

Rachel Bausch Pretorius at the October, 2019 Storytelling Event at The Blending Lab in Los Angeles

Amelia Phillips and Gemma Bishop, Mothers Unleashed co-founders.

About Us

Gemma and Amelia met at a Baby Boogie class – a highly sophisticated music class run by the city of West Hollywood featuring a 1995 boom box and a rug – in May, 2019. There, Gemma and Amelia discovered that not only did their children have the same due date, but both Gemma and Amelia share similar feelings on the lack of maternal mental health support.

Prior to Mothers Unleashed, Gemma worked as a singer and actress, moving from Australia to LA about ten years ago. She is mother to Brooks and an almost-qualified therapist, determined to work in the area of maternal mental health. Her passion about this subject matter lead her to Mothers Unleashed.

Amelia has been working in Los Angeles for over ten years as a screenwriter and actress. After telling her own birth story about Lana, her daughter, in Northwestern’s alumni storytelling series, she was inspired to work with other women on their stories. Amelia is also proud to be part of the inaugural group of writers with the Jewish Writers Initiative.

Videos

Still not sure what we do? Check out our videos to see stories from our founders, Gemma and Amelia, at our storytelling events.

TW/CW: Gemma’s story contains talk of pregnancy loss and Amelia’s story hints at the “baby blues.” Both deal with possible health issues and newborns.

Submission Guidelines

Tell a Story

A story has a beginning, middle, and end. Keep that in mind when you’re brainstorming for your own story.

Once you’ve found your structure, let us relive the experience with you. Take us through the events. Include details, like how you were feeling and what you were thinking. SHOW us, try not to tell us.

The Specs

We have a 1500 submission word limit. This keeps our stories to a time limit of 10 minutes, a sweet spot for live events.

We do not disqualify stories that go over the word limit, but we will work with you to cut it down.

Email it in!

Send your stories to mothersunleashedla@gmail.com.

We have rolling submissions, meaning we accept stories at any time, though we do have cutoffs for each event. Once you submit, we will let you know when we will have a slot for you.

That means that, yes, everyone gets a chance to tell their story and no one is turned away.

Also, if you’re a dad – we want to hear from you, too. Send in your story and we’ll find a space for you!