Why Your Mammy always knows best
Mammy entrepreneurs and best friends Evelyn McGlynn and Meg O’Gara only met a year ago on International Women’s Day up in the hills of Donegal and have teamed up together with mothers from all over the globe to create The Mammy Handbook.
Meg from Glencolmcille is a mother of two young boys, with another baby due this year, a graphic designer, illustrator and owner of her own website, Megnificent Creative. She believes there is something magical in being innovative. “I love anything creative, I have been creating since all my life,” says Meg. “I remember sewing Barbie clothes under the table of my grandmother’s kitchen while she was embroidering real clothes for me so I always loved the idea of doing something visual and creative and that’s the dream I’m following.” Evelyn Mc Glynn is a marketing entrepreneur and the original founder of the website, Donegal Mammy and states that when her children left home to embark on their adult lives she didn’t know who she was outside the home. “When my children grew up I decided I needed to figure out who on earth I was,” says Evelyn. “I was 47 years of age and I have been always honest in the fact I have no qualifications, no degree, but as Richard Branson once said, ‘If someone asks you to do something and you don’t know how – say yes and learn it,’ and that’s what I did.”
McGlynn received her big break back in 2013. Greenes Shoes in Letterkenny needed someone to help with their editorials and Evelyn jumped at the chance.
“I got a lucky break in March with a company, Greenes, who wanted someone to write editorials and by December I had produced the book Greens Shoes Save Christmas. I remember my first payment and looking at my bank account with tears of joy that my work quite literally paid off. My husband saw me crying and asked frantically, ‘What’s wrong?’ I replied with, ‘Brian, I got paid.’ He laughed and hugged me but it was a huge moment for me.”
Donegal Mammy was a website created by Evelyn that originally started as a hobby but later, with the help of Meg, became a community for all mothers in the area and abroad.
“In my previous life before being a Mammy, I was a psychologist,” says Meg. “Evelyn and I are passionate about supporting people and helping them as much as we can. I live in a beautiful and remote little place with beautiful scenery but during my pregnancies I had met loads of other mums online who were also expecting the same time as me. We all keep in touch and I loved the idea of the community we created in Donegal Mammy so Evelyn and I thought one night, why not create a book?”
The Mammy Handbook was created in December, a book with advice for mums at all stages written by the Donegal Mammy community.
“It’s a book for mums of all ages and stages and it’s the things you wish you had of known before you hit that speed bump,” says Meg.
“There is advice for mums by mums right from pregnancy, the first months, school days to fleeing the nest. There are funny and serious bits, its really a light-hearted empowering read.” The ladies wanted to make it clear that this book is for mums globally.
“Whether you are [in] Australia, France, Italy, Ireland the universal theme is motherhood,” says Evelyn. “The minute you are pregnant until the day you die, you as a mother are filled with many universal emotions of love, worry, fear, proud, confusion to a sore head of early night feeds to then early nights hearing waiting for them to return to bed after a night out.”
From the idea, production and launch it took the ladies only 30 days to make their vision come to life.
“The message we wanted to say to anyone reading this is that anything is possible, go out there and create it,” says Evelyn.
Of course, there were a few hiccups along the way with both mothers having sons in hospitals and printers failing to deliver on time, but what made everything run smoothly was the two ladies’ friendship.
“My greatest concern throughout the whole process really was Meg,” says Evelyn “As a friend first and business partner second I knew Meg personally had a lot going on so I suggested we waited to launch the book until Mother’s Day but I got a snappy response.” Meg went red when I asked what the response was.
“I remember one day sitting in the hospital bed with my son and Evelyn texted me saying,‘That’s it, we are pulling the plug on this launch so you can look after yourself and family,’” says Meg. “Normally me and Evelyn’s relationship is quite polite but I sent her back a very abrupt response saying, ‘Please shut your mouth, we are going ahead with this.’ I got no response for ages. I got a message hours later going, ‘Okay sorry was super busy, love you, let’s do this.’”
It’s quite clear from the two ladies that friendship comes first in their partnership.
“I am old enough to be Meg’s mother so the practical, caring and worrying side of me kicks in. I thought, ‘Okay, this girl is pregnant, and her son isn’t well, she has another boy at home. I didn’t want her then sick so I had to be responsible and act as friend first,” says Evelyn.
The book response has been great as the ladies are set to launch their second batch of books just in time for Mother’s Day.
“At the minute I am incredibly proud of us, we have taken this small idea that was created in just one night to now this,” says Evelyn.
“If you SEO [search online] The Donegal Mammy Handbook we are the first thing to come and that for me is just overwhelming. If you get the right collaboration of people and right connection amazing things can happen.”
Later on in the year they hope to launch the book in the United States.
“Deirdre McGlone is a special friend of Meg and I’s and she is the lead entrepreneur back in Donegal of ACORNS and has been helping us get a few contacts from the States,” says Evelyn.
“However we don’t know yet,” says Meg. “It really depends on the costing of flights, production and, of course, family life but we are grateful to have our local connections.”
Lastly, I asked Evelyn what advice would she give to those wanting to start a company later in life to which she replied: “Go for it honestly. Sometimes we can be scared and we shouldn’t let that stop us chasing our dreams... I want my grandchildren to see this book, I want my daughter to look at this book and seek comfort in my writing...” To which the lovely Meg summed up perfectly: “Dream big. It’s your life at the end of the day you have to start that chapter today.”
The Mammy Handbook is available to order here www. themammyhandbook.com
Have a small business and want your story told? Contact Niamh at nshields@harmonia.ie