by Alison | Jul 21, 2011 | Being Thankful, Bilingual, Family, International, Kids, Language, Malaysia, Motherhood, Multicultural, Parenting, Technology, World Moms Blog, Writing
Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
I live in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. I was born and raised in Ipoh, a smaller city about 135 miles north of KL (as it is affectionately known to locals).
What language(s) do you speak?
I speak English, Malay and Cantonese. I understand a smattering of Arabic, courtesy of my in laws who are originally from Libya.
When did you first become a mother?
In 2009, when I was 33.
Are you a stay-at-home mom or do you work?
I stay at home with my two sons, after a 10 year career in public relations, events management and marketing. (more…)
Alison is a former PR professional turned stay-at-home mother to two boys. Growing up in a small city of Ipoh, Malaysia, Alison left home at 17 to pursue her studies in the big city of Kuala Lumpur. At 19, she headed to University of Leeds in England and graduated with a degree in Communications. Returning home to Malaysia in 1999, she began a 10-year career in public relations, event planning, and marketing, working for various PR agencies and one of the world's biggest sports brands. After a decade of launch parties and product launches, concerts and award shows, international press junkets and world travel, Alison traded all that in for a life as a first time mother in 2009, and has not looked back since. Aside from writing for her blog, Writing, Wishing, Alison is the Founder and chief social media strategist for Little Love Media.
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by World Moms Blog | Jul 17, 2011 | Canada, International, Malaysia, USA, World Moms Blog Itinerary
On Monday, we start the week in Minnesota with Galit Breen. Galit discusses a topic that was touched on here a couple of weeks ago that many people are all too afraid to open a dialogue about: race relations. Specifically, she talks about ways to educate our children about the differences between people.
On Tuesday, we will have our first post from Dr. Jeanelle Marshawn of Arizona. This busy mom of teenagers has lots of interesting stories to tell. She is fluent in American Sign Language, and she is endeavouring to make the world a better place through her non-profit teen foundation.
On Wednesday, we head on over to Massachusetts to hear from Courtney Cappallo. Courtney talks about a question that moms have agonized over since the dawn of time: how do you know when you’re done having kids?
And on Thursday, we will visit Amy Hillis in Ohio. It has been a while since we had a post from Amy because she’s had some very heavy loads to deal with in her life, and we are very happy to welcome her back. Last week she reintroduced herself in her writer’s interview. This week she will dive back in with a regular post. Welcome back, Amy!
On Friday Eva Fannon leads us in the Friday Question. Be sure to check it out and chime in with your answers!
While our regular posts this week are all-America, our writer interviews are international. On Tuesday we will profile scheduling editor Kirsten Doyle from Toronto, Canada. On Thursday we will get to know Alison Lee from Malaysia.
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World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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by Jennifer Burden | Jul 16, 2011 | International, Motherhood, Third Eye Mom, WMB Saturday Layover
This morning started out with my baby waking up at 6:30am. She was up quite a bit in the night because of teething, so I’ve been on call all night.
I got her up, fed her, got her dressed and plopped her into our bed with my husband. I had showered the night before in preparation of a busy morning, so I was quickly able to get ready.
Then, my four-year old came into our room, and jumped into our bed, too. I joined them all for cuddles, and then made my way to the kitchen to get the girls ready to go out the door.
My husband was planning to work from home today, and he was planning on giving me a little break by helping me with the kids this morning. I was looking forward to this!
So, I was downstairs toasting toast, filling up water bottles, getting raspberries washed and getting my four-year old fed, while my baby played in her exersaucer.
Time was ticking. I was steamrolling straight ahead, and figured something had come up at my husband’s work because when we last left him he was checking work e-mails. I had only a few last things left to do, was already late and ran back into our bedroom to get my phone, which I almost forgot.
And, what did I find? (more…)
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India.
She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls.
Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
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by Nicole Melancon (USA) | Jul 12, 2011 | International, Motherhood, Post Partum Depression, Third Eye Mom
It wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to me. Yet, two agonizing days after the birth of my first child I knew that things weren’t right. It had nothing to do with my brand new baby boy, Max. He was perfect.
The beautiful, full-head of dark brown hair and angelic dark blue-eyed newborn was healthy. No, he was everything I’d ever imagined him to be and more. Instead, it was me. There was something wrong. Terribly wrong.
I brought my new son home less than two days after a long, exhausting induced labor and was scared beyond belief to leave the hospital. I had never been around babies before.
I was almost thirty-three years old and had no idea how to even change a dirty diaper let alone breast-fed a baby. I was afraid to hold him, panicked when I heard him cry and felt unbelievably exhausted, sore, anxious and scared. (more…)
Third Eye Mom is a stay-at-home mom living in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her two children Max (6) and Sophia (4). Her children keep her continually busy and she is constantly amazed by the imagination, energy and joy of life that they possess! A world wanderer at heart, she has also been fortunate to have visited over 30 countries by either traveling, working, studying or volunteering and she continues to keep on the traveling path.
A graduate of French and International Relations from the University of Wisconsin Madison, where she met her husband Paul, she has always been a Midwest gal living in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Chicago. This adventurous mom loves to be outside doing anything athletic (hiking, running, biking, skiing, snowshoeing or simply enjoying nature), to travel and volunteer abroad, to write, and to spend time with her beloved family and friends.
Her latest venture involves her dream to raise enough money on her own to build and open a brand-new school in rural Nepal, and to teach her children to live compassionately, open-minded lives that understand different cultures and the importance of giving back to those in need. Third Eye Mom believes strongly in the value of making a difference in the world, no matter how small it may be. If there is a will, there is a way, and that anything is possible (as long as you set your heart and mind to it!).
Visit her on her blog, Thirdeyemom, where she writes about her travels and experiences in other lands!
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by Mama B (Saudi Arabia) | Jul 11, 2011 | International, Motherhood, Parenting, Saudi Arabia, World Moms Blog
I just read an article on the first real-time study to be done on spanking. Researcher George Holden originally set out to study how often parents shout at their children. He asked the parents to tape their interactions with their children and was surprised to hear how often they spanked or slapped their children and even more surprised at the reasons.
One parent slapped her child for turning the pages of the story book she was reading him. Another mother spanked her child for approaching the stove (which was not on). And yet, another one slapped her child 11 times in a row because the child was fighting with his sister. (You’d think she would realize it’s not really working!)
The study spanned people from different backgrounds and races, so as not to be bias in one way or another. The parents were told that it was about their interactions with the children, and they were asked to roll the tape from when the children came home from day care or school until bed time. (more…)
Mama B’s a young mother of four beautiful children who leave her speechless in both, good ways and bad. She has been married for 9 years and has lived in London twice in her life. The first time was before marriage (for 4 years) and then again after marriage and kid number 2 (for almost 2 years). She is settled now in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (or as settled as one can be while renovating a house).
Mama B loves writing and has been doing it since she could pick up a crayon. Then, for reasons beyond her comprehension, she did not study to become a writer, but instead took graphic design courses. Mama B writes about the challenges of raising children in this world, as it is, who are happy, confident, self reliant and productive without driving them (or herself) insane in the process.
Mama B also sheds some light on the life of Saudi, Muslim children but does not claim to be the voice of all mothers or children in Saudi. Just her little "tribe." She has a huge, beautiful, loving family of brothers and sisters that make her feel like she wants to give her kids a huge, loving family of brothers and sisters, but then is snapped out of it by one of her three monkeys screaming “Ya Maamaa” (Ya being the arabic word for ‘hey’). You can find Mama B writing at her blog, Ya Maamaa . She's also on Twitter @YaMaamaa.
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by Jennifer Burden | Jul 9, 2011 | Culture, International, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Parenting, Tara B., WMB Saturday Layover, World Moms Blog
The name of the Saturday column is now…“Saturday Layover”!
This name was inspired by Mama Robin J of Canada who said, “Or something along the lines of After the Trip – to relate to the travel itinerary that starts the week off.”
She gave us the idea to tie the name into the theme of our weekly travel itinerary, where Kirsten Doyle announces our schedule for the week to come.
We had over 20 suggestions for the column name, and they were narrowed down to the four below. Twenty World Moms Blog writers participated in the voting and here is how it went:
- After Hours 30%
- Afterthoughts 20%
- Saturday Layover 35%
- Midnight Feed 15%
It was close! Thank you to everyone who participated!
So, last week I mentioned that I had written a little something on my personal experience with race relations. As promised, here goes… (more…)
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India.
She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls.
Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
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Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?
