Event: The Worldremit Divas Of Colour International Women’s Festival
Date: 23rd October 2021.
Time; From 12noon.
Venue; Hilton Hotel Canary Wharf, London.
Capacity: 100 – 200 delegates.
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IVANA POKU is an award-winning motherhood coach, founder of Mumsjourney, maternal mental health advocate, motivational speaker, author of Motherhood – The Unspoken, postnatal depression survivor, mother of twin boys, wife to an amazing husband, and a believer in every mother’s power to achieve anything they want.
Originally from Slovakia, Ivana moved to England at the age of 29. After becoming a mother, she suffered from major postnatal depression.
She hated being a mum and even had suicidal feelings on a couple of occasions. Thanks to the support of her husband Yaw, Ivana eventually managed to pull through but she soon understood that she wasn’t the only mum who was struggling.
She is convinced that one of the main reasons mothers suffer in silence – even if it doesn’t go as far as depression – is unrealistic expectations about motherhood. A (new) mum is automatically expected to be happy. However, this is often not the case so if the feelings of pure joy & happiness, often leads to feelings of self-doubt, failure, or severe mental health issues.
With her work, Ivana is on a passionate mission to break the stigma around maternal mental health and make it general knowledge that motherhood is not all a bed of roses as it’s often presented in the media so that no new mother ever has to feel like a failure again.
Her book Motherhood – The Unspoken has been a significant step on this mission.
It offers realistic insights into the life of a new mother, reveals the untold secrets about motherhood people don’t talk about and helps new parents lower the risks of postnatal depression.
It shows 10 hard-hitting real stories of 10 different first-time mums (including mine) while describing their experiences in a raw and honest way. Every mum also shares her message to her old self and a supportive message to other new mothers who struggle in silence.
All in all, the book is everything she would have needed when Ivana became a mum herself. It closes the gap between expectations and reality, shows what feelings are totally normal to experience in the early stages (and why), and offers practical tips & advice on how to get through the first year of motherhood with ease.
The book enjoys great success amongst new mums. Many have messaged her saying it has saved them in many ways which are beyond rewarding.
Ivana can proudly say, that over the last few years, she’s grown to a strong, empowered, and confident mum, an award-winning business owner; built a wonderful community of amazing mums who too refuse to stay stuck and choose to be empowered and happy, and guided many mums worldwide to become the best mums for themselves and their children.
It is her goal to make it general knowledge what motherhood can be really about so no new mum ever has to feel like she did.
Ivana believes that in order to break the stigma and achieve this goal, we need to start being more open and honest with each other. We need to admit that we struggle, that we cry, that we don’t enjoy being mums 100% of the time, that we can’t cope at times… It’s only natural after all.
She is convinced that talking openly about it is the only way we can make a real difference.
Together.
Ivana is also a parenting contributor for BBC London Radio and you could see her on several media outlets including Forbes, The Guardian, Telegraph, Huffington Post, NBC, Today, TALKradio, and others.