THE FINE LINE | with Marika Frumes

The Fine Line | with MARIKA FRUMES

Marika Frumes is a connector, facilitator, and the founder of Mysha Pods — a reimagined mom group for women who never thought they’d join one. Passionate about building engaged communities, Marika created Mysha to support women in their transition to motherhood, offering intimate connections and meaningful experiences. A modern-day village.

In December 2019, as an entrepreneur and soon-to-be mom, Marika found herself feeling isolated. As the first in her friend group to become pregnant, she struggled to find a supportive community. A late-night Google search for relatable voices left her empty-handed, leading her to create the very space she needed. Within a week, she connected 18 women in a WhatsApp group — the first Mysha Pod. What started as a small virtual gathering quickly grew into a thriving network of like-valued and like-minded moms across the country. Recognizing the power of in-person connection, Mysha expanded into local pods and IRL meetups, continuing to support women beyond early motherhood and into their professional journeys.

In this conversation of The Fine Line, Marika shares how modern infrastructure needs to do better in supporting women and mothers, how to tune out external pressures to find your unique balance of paid work and mothering, and how to redefine success on your own terms. She challenges the myth of ‘doing it all’ alone and emphasizes the importance of rebuilding the village of support that mothers need today.

What messages do you have for women - or working women specifically - during early motherhood?

In the early years, no choice is ever going to feel like the ‘exactly right’ choice when it comes to choosing your mix of career or paid work, and motherhood.

There are so many messages out there, explicit and implicit, about the choices we ‘should’ make when it comes to finding the balance between paid work and mothering, but ultimately, the most important decision is to tune into your intuition and marry that with your unique personal circumstances. Then ‘tune out’ the noise of messages that don't feel supportive of your current choices.  

Understand that there's a lot about our society that is not set up to support mothers in the early years. Use that understanding to be more kind and more compassionate with yourself, and to give yourself grace in making the choices that will best suit both your needs and your family's needs.

When navigating your career and early motherhood, sometimes the biggest conflict is the inner narrative we are telling ourselves about how we're not ‘measuring up’ to some standard we previously set for ourselves. Working through that internally can be some of the most foundational work that will set you up for navigating all the different seasons of career and mothering that lie ahead. 

How do you see the connection between supporting mothers in their personal lives and empowering them professionally?

Given the blurred lines between modern-day careers and motherhood, when you support any part of a mother's life — whether with her professional network, her social and emotional well-being, or her financial well-being — it's all connected. 

When the various parts of our identities and responsibilities are supported, we can show up better in all areas. It's a mistake to think we can completely separate the challenges going on in one part of our lives, and expect to show up as our best selves in another part. 

When in doubt, let's make the choice to support mothers more.

Supporting mothers through the transition of early motherhood has a profound impact on the well-being of the next generation we're raising. We need to start there.

What do you believe is the biggest misconception about modern motherhood, and how does Mysha help challenge or redefine it?

That just because we can do it all, doesn't mean we should do it all.

That, and this toxic narrative that we are these ‘superwomen’ who can handle motherhood, careers, and all of our other societal responsibilities on our own, not needing to rely on others, not needing to ask for help. 

The myth of toxic self-reliance and independence.

One way that Mysha is redefining this experience of motherhood is by putting community front and center as one of the most important things you need to thrive in the transition to motherhood. We exist because we know that we can't — and shouldn't — do this alone. We are bringing back the ‘village’ that used to surround new mothers to care for children and raise families.

Today, we've added careers and many overwhelming expectations about how we should parent, but we haven't kept pace by adding societal support. Having a community of women going through the same journey that you are is not a new idea. It's not rocket science — however, it's become increasingly hard to find this village of like-minded women who want to give and receive in a community in our modern world. That’s why Mysha is here. Whether in our platform or outside of it, we want moms to feel empowered to seek — and find — the community they need to thrive.

FOLLOW ALONG

Follow Marika at @marikafrumes.

Follow Mysha Pods at @myshapods and find your village today.

Follow Brigade Events and stay tuned for the next iteration of The Fine Line at @brigadeevents.

We’d be honored to include you — or a woman you admire — in this series. If you or someone you know has a story to share, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us at carly@ingoodcompanypr.com. Together, we can uplift, support, and redefine leadership for the next generation.

#TheFineLine #WomenWhoLead #BrigadeEvents

Justine Converse