Mum of the Year Nominee - Derry Girl

Serena Terry chats to Niamh O’Reilly about finding her niche on TikTok and why being honest about motherhood has made her a hero to millions of women.

When Derry native Serena Terry first posted a humorous video on social media platform TikTok in lockdown 2020, her videos immediately struck a chord with millions of mums around the globe, who saw themselves reflected back for the first time. She became a bestselling author, had a cameo in Derry Girls and most recently did a set at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

But for Serena, it didn’t start out as anything other than a bit of escapism, from the realities of working from home as Chief Operating Officer of a software company.

“It was lockdown, and it was the madness of working from home, with kids and homeschooling and we’d all gone a wee bit do-lally at the time, and I found my mental health was dipping. I was going on Instagram and comparing myself to perfect mums with their Pinterest charts for home-schooling and banana bread and I thought ‘oh my God I am really failing here; my kids are going to go back to school stupider’,” she laughs.

She took a break from social media, but finding herself bored she, like millions, downloaded TikTok, created an account called MammyBanter and soon had a video go viral.

“Everyone was in the same boat, we were done with what society said we should be as women and as mums and it was okay to talk about the bad things, but add a bit of humour to it,” she recalls. “Reading the comments with people saying they were going through the same thing or saying that could be my house, or my kids, that was therapy in itself for me.”  Serena soon raked up millions of followers and quit her high-powered job.

Her first book Mammy Banter - The Secret Life of an Uncool Mum became a best-seller and a second one, entitled The Sh!te Before Christmas is on the way. But for the mum of two, it’s about much more than book deals and stand up tours, for her it’s about helping other mums with their mental health.

Serena set up a community called Waves for Mental Health after discovering the benefits of cold-water therapy. “We’ve hundreds of members; people go to the beach, we dip every day, we do couch-to-5ks, we've walking clubs, we’ve healthy eating clubs,” she beams.  “It shows you how talking and just being honest can open the opportunity for a community. It’s the best thing that’s come from all of this for me,” she smiles. “You can have so many opportunities, you can sell your soul for a fortune but that’s not what I’m about.”

Serena has undoubtedly helped hoards of mums with their mental health over a really tough time, but it’s also changed her life too. “I’m 36, I’m gona ride this until the wheels fall off,” she giggles. “Life’s too short.”

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