Your Social Guide

June 1, 2021

When we shelved in-person events at the start of the pandemic, we leaned into social media, launching Helping Mamas' weekly "Moms Helping Moms" Instagram Live series featuring real conversations with real moms.

Helping Mamas is Georgia's only baby supply bank started by a social worker who saw the women she served washing disposable diapers and set out to make a difference.

We intended to use the "Moms Helping Moms" social media platform to shine a light on the struggles that so many women were experiencing. If it's hard for moms of means, imagine what the pandemic was like for the one-in-three families that experience diaper insecurity.

Instagram Live offered a way to connect with our audience and share the impact of Helping Mamas, which had increased its output of diapers, baby supplies and period products exponentially.

Week after week, I was struck by how raw the conversations were. These influential moms opened up about their struggle to balance work, family and self-care, yet to look at their social media feeds you got a very different story. Their lives on Insta looked so aspirational.

But, of course, that's the rub of social media -- nothing is ever as it seems.

Social media kept us connected through the pandemic when all eyes were on screens. Sure, we got FOMO as our friends and neighbors channeled their inner Martha Stewarts mastering sourdough and Marie Kondos organizing their homes.

But we all know that no one posts pics of bread baking fails.

Yet, as I sometimes find myself in a love/hate relationship with social media, when I marked another trip around the sun this past weekend, it made me feel downright giddy. The steady stream of shout-outs from hundreds of friends, neighbors, colleagues and acquaintances filled my newsfeed and my heart.

Thanks for the well-wishes, folks!! This past year has been a wild ride, and it felt good to celebrate on social media. But it felt even better to enjoy a mask-free dinner with friends and family in real life!