Meet the Contributors
New in 2022
LUCY BECKLEY - UK
LUCY is a writer, wanderer and wonderer. She writes poetry, essays, fiction and nonfiction. Her writing explores the beauty and joy in the unseen and seemingly ordinary. Originally from Londong, she's lived and worked in the UK, Germany and Portugal and has recently moved back to the UK to the middle of the Cornish countryside. Her writing and poetry has appeared in a range of independent magazines and books. She is currently working on a novel and her first collection of poetry. Connect with her at lucybeckley.com and on Instagram at @lucyabeckley.
CHRISTINE CARPENTER - NY, USA
CHRISTINE is a mother and storyteller from New York. She is passionate about composing and sharing her journey through non-fiction stories, poetry, and an iPhone camera roll with over 70,000 images. She approaches her craft with a strong intent to make women feel less alone in motherhood, anxiety, and creative living. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys knitting, asking too many questions, reading, and most of all, quality time with her family.
MELISSA FACE - VA, USA
MELISSA is the author of I Love You More Than Coffee: Essays on Parenthood and a 25-time contributor to the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. She writes regularly for Tidewater Family Magazine and Richmond Family Magazine and teaches English at the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School for the Arts and Technology. Follow Melissa on Facebook and Instagram @melissafacewrites.
JESIKA FEATHER - OR, USA
JESIKA lives with her family of eight (including four adolescents) in a small, intentional community in Eugene, OR. She is a writer and a substitute teacher. With a tempestuous brood of teenagers forging their diverse paths toward adulthood, her family dynamic (currently) feels ever-changing. She manages this uncertainty by conversing with herself on long walks up steep hills. She uses writing to find novelty in the mundane, and humor in the sadness. She’s also just a compulsive over-communicator. She generally writes about parenting, family, and beautiful-yet-quirky social interactions. Her writing can be found in Communities Magazine and on her blog: jesmamasmusings.blogspot.com.
KARLA FILIBECK - GUAM
KARLA is a wife, mother of two, and writer living in Guam. Although born and raised in Minnesota, Karla has spent most of her adult life living on an island. She and her family recently relocated to Guam after spending more than 13 years in Hawaii. Karla holds a Bachelor’s degree in Family Resources and Master’s degree in Urban Planning and worked in public health for eight years before deciding to stay home to mother and write. In her free time she enjoys walking the beach, hiking with friends, and indulging in uninterrupted conversation.
JACQUELINE HERNANDEZ LEWIS - NY, USA
JACQUELINE is a former attorney turned work-from-home communications leader. She has dedicated her career thus far to working in public service. She is also a lifestyle and parenting writer, as well as the founder and owner of Moments of Musing, a creative communications brand focused on womanhood and motherhood. Of all her roles, being a wife and a mom to her three children are her favorite.
MADDY HILL - UK
MADDY lives in the West Midlands, United Kingdom with her husband, son and cat, and puts to page her experiences of a traumatic birth and her awkward first attempt at motherhood. The first time she read a poem about someone’s traumatic birth, it made her cry with the overwhelming relief that she wasn’t alone in her experiences and thoughts. She hopes more than anything that she can return the favor to someone else who may be feeling isolated by how they feel.
CRYSTAL JAMES - MI, USA
CRYSTAL is a mother of two young children. She is writing from Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is a writer, poet, and artist. She believes in the power of being vulnerable with an open heart. This honest approach to writing helps her heal and grow with the hope of helping others along the way. She has been published in Kindred Voice, Journal of Expressive Writing, and has upcoming publishing with Motherscope, and Women’s Writing Circle Anthology. She actively posts poetry on her Instagram account at wordsbycrystaljames. She’s been featured on several IG poetry communities (Poetic Reveries, Streetwriters, the Writers Turf).
LEENA LEMOS - NJ, USA
As a leading millennial voice in spirituality, LEENA is on a mission to help others remember the sacred light within. Leena is an intuitive healer and channel, podcast host, author of “Dear Luna Wilde…” and the Founder of House of Enlightenedhood, a global cooperative helping to make spirituality more accessible to all. Leena lives in Northern New Jersey with her husband, 3-year-old daughter Luna, and polka dotted pup. To connect with Leena or learn more about her work, visit houseofenlightenedhood.com and leenalemos.com or @IAmLeenaLemos on Instagram.
LEESHA MONY - WA, USA
LEESHA is a mother, writer, and somatic therapist who recently arrived to Seattle, WA from the Bay Area. Leesha specializes in perinatal mental health and supports survivors navigating the intersectionality of trauma and birth. For Leesha, writing has always served as a way to more deeply explore and understand her world, and the worlds of others, while also mending past wounds. Leesha’s writing holds the intentions to try and give voice to the often unnamed experiences that mothers navigate, in hopes that other people will find pieces of themselves and their truths reflected in her words.
CHELSY MEYER - ID, USA
CHELSY is a University of Montana journalism graduate who is now a copywriter living in Boise, Idaho. She is passionate about finding peace in parenthood through hearing raw stories from other mothers. Her poetry and writing has been featured in various books, blogs, and magazines. Writing is her passion, motherhood is her muse, and her hair is a mess. Read more of her poetry on Instagram @chelsywrites.
ALLISON PRINE - CA, USA
ALLISON is a mother, human, lover, therapist, and writer living in the Bay Area in California. She spends her days floating between the magic of her spitfire four-year-old daughter’s world and holding space for parents as they explore the mystery and darkness of transformation in parenthood. With a BS in Neuroscience, an MA in Counseling Psychology, a specialization in perinatal mental health, and a lifelong love of reading and writing, she approaches motherhood with a bottomless well of curiosity and passion. She aims to parent with unconditional love, share stories with authenticity, and find wonder and meaning everywhere.
DEBORAH PRITCHETT - TX, USA
DEBORAH is a stay-at-home mom who lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. She has a daughter, Penelope, is married to a really cool guy named Derek, and is expecting another baby girl this Spring. She entered motherhood at a young age, one month before a global pandemic shocked the world. Now, two years into mothering, those circumstances are still defining her unique parenting experiences and inspiring much of her writing.
MONA RAY - CROSS-COUNTRY, USA
MONA is a Filipino-American professional dancer, artist, and new writer. She has been working as a creative/visual director for over 10 years—from set design, to professional photography, she moves to tell stories centered around diversity and self-expression through various artistic mediums. She enjoys comedy, gaming, cooking, gardening and hanging out with her husband and children. They live the RV life, homeschooling and traveling across the country full-time.
KAILYN RHINEHART - MO, USA
KAILYN is a wife and mama to two wild blond babes, currently living in Missouri. She is an avid list-maker, freelance writer, and consumer of coffee in any form. With a degree in Early Childhood Education and Psychology, she is a kindergarten teacher turned mama-writer. A New Englander at heart, she and her family live wherever the military sends them.
MARY ROTHERY - UK
MARY is a writer of stories about women. She writes with a focus on motherhood and infertility and loss, trauma, hope and love. She is currently working on her first novel and has recently had a short story published in the Friendship Anthology by Pure Slush Books. A mother of one and a Content Manager by day, Mary writes from her home on the Sussex Coast of England, where she lives with her daughter, her husband and her dog.
ADEOLA SHEEHY - UK
ADEOLA is an Irish/Nigerian Londoner now living in the New Forest, with her four home educated children. Writing from the crossroads of race, womanhood, and creativity she uses prose to tackle the questions her mind ponders most and poetry to express the feelings closest to her heart. Her experience as a yoga teacher and reiki master are at the root of her goal to encourage others through her words to live a fuller, more aligned life. She is a columnist for The Green Parent magazine and has her own publication on Medium.
MELISSA SONICO - CA, USA
MELISSA SONICO is a mother, a writer, and English professor, a jewelry designer, a content creator. She lives in Southern California with her husband and two children. Her fiction and nonfiction can be found in the Pacific Review, Darling Magazine, and others. Find her on Instagram @melissasonico.
JILL YANCEY - SC, USA
As full-time mother to four kids, a published writer, and Community Manager for Tell(h)er Co, JILL has learned to combine passion with parenthood. Most early mornings or late nights, she can be found writing in the fleeting quiet of her crowded-but-joyful South Carolina, USA home.
Her first novel, a careful examination of the mother-daughter relationships that have always captured her curiosity, is currently in production. She invites you to subscribe to Dear Writer, a monthly love letter to her fellow writers, and join in her #dailymemoir practice on Instagram at @jillwritesabook. Subscribe to Dear Writer at jillyanceyauthor.com.
LESLIE YEARY - OH, USA
LESLIE is a writer, boy mom, and preschool teacher from Cincinnati, Ohio. A lover of the great outdoors, she draws inspiration from the many adventures she has with her two young sons. In her poetry and prose, Leslie explores the joy that can be found in simple mothering and in taking life gently one day at a time. Leslie is published in Motherscope’s Issue 4: Generations, The Mum Poem Press Anthology, Songs of Love and Strength, and she has self-published her first collaborative poetry collection Dear Sister.
Returning Contributors
KATE BAILEY - GA, USA
Born and raised in a small town in Georgia, KATE is a wife and a mother of two girls, Jane and April. She works in the field of personalized learning in secondary education. Her mission is to find the beauty in the ordinary, wonderful, and difficult moments of parenthood as a way to connect us all and validate each of our journeys.
EUNICE BROWNLEE - CO, USA
EUNICE has spent her career finding the balance between her left and right brains. She is a writer, speaker, and activist who is passionate about educating the general population around mental health, trauma, and abuse. A solo mother to a teenage daughter, Eunice has entered the phase of really enjoying a close mother-daughter relationship. Eunice’s work has been published in The Kindred Voice, Motherscope and Spoken Black Girl. Eunice’s current project is a book about the trauma of navigating the justice system as a victim of a crime. When she’s not doing any of the above, she can be found seeking her next passport stamp and drinking wine. Eunice and her daughter currently reside in Denver, CO.
KELSEY CICHOSKI - ID, USA
KELSEY is a mom to a baby boy in heaven and a little girl on earth. She's a former teacher, former foster parent, and is navigating life after cancer and the many other twists of life that keep on coming. She currently resides in Idaho.
LACI HOYT - NY, USA
LACI is a sensitive, creative person who is driven by a desire to make the world a little softer through her writing and creative projects. She writes from her home near Ithaca, NY where she lives with her family. She writes both essays and poetry about living with chronic illness, love, relationships, and all the other things she can’t stop thinking about. Her essays and poetry have been published in The Kindred Voice and Motherscope. When she’s not writing, she can be found making various projects with fabric or yarn. You can find her on Instagram at @liviatree.
MICAH KLASSEN - CANADA
MICAH KLASSEN was raised in New Zealand and homeschooled by her mum, who was the first to spark a love for creative writing in her during primary school. That spark quickly morphed into flame — writing is such a cathartic expression for Micah and has helped her through some very difficult seasons. In 2010, she moved to Australia, fell in love and married her Canadian sweetheart — They now have two babies and Micah is doing her best not to fall off the wild rollercoaster ride that is Motherhood! Currently writing from Vancouver, Canada.
ALYSSA NUTILE - PA, USA
ALYSSA NUTILE is an artist, writer, mother of two, and advocate living on the shores of Lake Erie in Erie, Pennsylvania. Her daughter Gemma has a debilitating genetic disease, and Alyssa’s work focuses on the emotional, mental, and physical realities of loving, parenting, and advocating for a medically complex child. She’s currently writing a graphic memoir about her pregnancy and first year of life with Gemma. You can see more of her writing and artwork at AlyssaNutile.com and follow our daily life on Instagram at @alyssanewt.
HOLLY RUSKIN - UK
HOLLY is a mama and lover of women’s words. A freelance writer and Film lecturer, her work includes editing books and screenplays, writing essays and poetry. Holly co-founded blood moon POETRY, a small press that publishes poetry written by women @bloodmoonpoetrypress. Her words can be found in various publications; a collection of her poems on motherhood have been featured in the Amazon bestseller Not The Only One. She writes for Motherscope and Sunday Mornings at the River. Connect with her on Instagram at @hollyruskin_.
KAITLIN SOLIMINE - CA, USA
KAITLIN is mother to Calliope, Rafael, and Lyra, author of award-winning novel Empire of Glass, cofounder of Hippo Reads and Hippo Thinks, and a childbirth and lactation activist. Her writing has been featured in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, Guernica Magazine, LitHub, and more. She lives in San Francisco where she is at work on a second novel, The Blue Lobster, which explores themes of midwifery, climate change, and New England Native American history, as well as a book of essays on home and motherhood.
COLLEEN TIRTIRIAN - NJ, USA
COLLEEN is a mother, writer, editor, and New Jersey native, currently writing from her home office in Hoboken. She believes that sharing the journey of motherhood, especially taboo topics, can help to normalize the difficult moments we all feel from time to time. When she’s not writing and juggling mom-duty, Colleen enjoys playing guitar and crafting (specifically, miniatures). Some may say she’s a bit quirky, but she chooses to embrace her eccentricities and channels them into her creative endeavors.
MEGAN VOS - CO, USA
MEGAN lives in Boulder, CO with her partner and two daughters. She is currently editing her first middle grade novel and disproving her story that she doesn’t write fiction. She produces Listen to Your Mother, a live show featuring local writers’ stories about motherhood. Megan is also the Community Coordinator for Motherscope’s online community. Megan’s writing has been published in the Birth Stories, Radical Mama, and Generations issues of Motherscope, Kindred, Motherwell, and Journal of Expressive Writing. Follow Megan on Instagram at @meganvoswrites.
MELAINA WILLIAMS - CA, USA
MELAINA is a poet, playwright, singer/songwriter from Inglewood California. She finds great joy in connecting with people of all backgrounds through creative arts, especially creative writing. Melaina studied Creative Writing and Theatre at USC. Her book of poetry, Bless Your Sweet Bones was published by the historical World Stage Press in Leimert Park. She also penned, The Humble Commode a chapbook. She currently lives in Los Angeles and spends her days writing and binge-watching Baby Shark with her “two under two.”