Motherhood has a way of cracking you open - and for Anna, it did just that.
Anna’s journey into motherhood began in 2021 when her daughter Olive arrived more than a month early following an acute placental haemorrhage. The early days of motherhood were filled with love, but also deep anxiety. Living far from family and close friends, Anna found herself navigating those fragile newborn weeks feeling incredibly alone.
When she reached out for help, she was told she was “doing really well” because her baby was gaining weight. But inside, Anna was struggling. She wasn’t sleeping. Her intrusive thoughts were frightening. What she needed most was to feel seen and supported. Years later she would finally receive a diagnosis of postnatal anxiety - something many mothers experience but so often carry silently.
As a defence wife, Anna moved to Canberra the week before the ACT COVID lockdown in 2021. Suddenly she was in a new city, isolated again, and desperate to find connection with other mums walking the same road.
Then something small but powerful happened.
While out walking one day, she met another mum who lived just a street away. That simple chance meeting grew into a deep friendship and showed Anna the extraordinary power of mum-to-mum connection - someone to laugh with, cry with, vent to, and sit beside when motherhood feels overwhelming.
Because while partners can be incredible supports, there is something uniquely sacred about the understanding shared between mothers.
After the birth of her second daughter Harper in 2024, Anna discovered The Little Capsule Co and Mamma Mingle - a community built around the same belief she had come to understand so deeply: motherhood was never meant to be done alone.
Today, Anna runs the TLCco Mamma Mingle program - creating spaces where mums can come exactly as they are. Mum bun, baby spit-up, sleep deprivation and all. No pressure. No judgement. Just connection.
When she’s not hosting Mamma Mingle events, Anna can be found juggling life as a mum to Olive and Harper, working part-time as a nurse, helping out in the TLCco store, or navigating glitter-filled craft projects with her girls.
An old soul at heart, Anna loves reading, sewing and knitting. Her perfect catch-up involves lounge clothes or pyjamas, a coffee or cheese board, and long chats with the women who make motherhood feel a little lighter.
Because if Anna has learned one thing through her journey, it’s this:
Motherhood is always easier when you have a village.