PRO F I LE
Zen Mamas WORDS — Cassandra Kerr PHOTOS — Gemma Pranita
Well-known actresses, businesswomen and founders of YourZenMama.com, Teresa Palmer and Sarah Wright Olsen have written a book; Zen Mamas - an extremely candid and practical guide on remaining zen(ish!) whilst embracing motherhood. We sat down with these beautiful mamas to chat about their new book and motherhood.
Zen Mamas is such a beautiful, honest, well-rounded look at conception, pregnancy, motherhood and everything in-between. Why was it important for you to put it out in the world, and to be so candid and honest throughout?
Who is in your beautiful family? TP: My family consists of Mark, my hubs, Bodhi our 6 year old son, Forest our 3 year old son and Poet our 11 month old daughter! I also have a “bonus kid”, my beautiful 11 year old stepson Isaac. SWO: Eric and I met 15 years ago on a Tv show on Fox. We married in 2012 and have two babies; Wyatt, 6 and Esmé, 3. / 16
TP: We wanted to be as open and vulnerable as it gets. I think without real transparency we wouldn’t have been able to write a book that would be both insightful and helpful to new and existing parents. We utilised so much of what we have learnt from our YZM community and mentors alike. We wanted to write the book that felt like chatting to a friend about her personal experiences with pregnancy, birth and beyond. We didn’t have the intention of creating a detailed how-to guide but more a reflective look on all the aspects of bringing a baby into the world and the journey that unfolds before you once you’ve made that decision. Embracing all the ebbs and flows of parenting. SWO: Thank you so much for the kind words. When we started Yourzenmama.com it was important for us to always be raw and honest about our struggles, mishaps, little victories
"We wanted to write the book that felt like chatting to a friend about her personal experiences with pregnancy, birth and beyond." and things we learned along the way about this journey. It does feel sometimes like some people have it all figured out but truly we are all just learning and trying to navigate pregnancy and parenthood. The beauty of our site is that it feels like here you have community to reach out to and to learn from. Teresa and I share our stories on the site and in the book as well as stories from our friends, folks in the YZM community and professionals that we look up to. This book states very clearly that we are not professionals and we do not have it all figured out, we are trying to learn and grow alongside all the other mothers and caregivers out there and it is comforting to do this in a community that feels supportive.
