Non Profit ID card: present your project/organisation/campaign
Questions answered by Maria Luisa Sacchi, Co-Founder&Editor WhyMum.
– Where are you based? Milan, Italy.
– What are you called? WhyMum.
– What are you doing and why? I own a website, created two years ago, named WhyMum.it. It is a free website where mums (but also dads, grandparents, etc.) can ask questions and give answers on what concerns growing a child. They can also write products and hotels reviews, write their own personal posts, and share information related to the infancy world. Many experts are also available to help with their answers.
– Do you have a website/email? www.whymum.it, info@whymum.it.
– Do you have a Twitter/facebook link/name? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/wwwwhymumit/91862047255
– What makes you so special? WhyMum is a place where mums can feel at home, share their doubts, find help for the most difficult job: being a parent. Each mum can have a space to express her feelings, it’s not like reading a blog where you can just make a comment. At WhyMum each member can be protagonist. Every contribution is moderated and I personally handle the internal WhyMum blog. WhyMum members are people who particularly care about educational problems. That is why among our experts we have many psychologists and pedagogists specialized in infancy problems.
The turning point
– How did you start? Becoming a mother changes your life, and in Italy sometimes you also need to change job to conciliate family with professional life. After having worked for 10 years in a big company as research engineer first and as strategic marketer then, a challenging experience as an Executive Master in Business Administration (during the first 2 years of my son’s life) made me aware that I was going in a direction that was completely different from the idea I had of being a good mum. I didn’t want to only stay at home but I also didn’t want to see my children half an hour per day. That is why I decided to abandon my job and to start something on my own, following an old passion, writing, and a big dream, creating something that could be useful to other mums like me facing the difficulties and the joy of being a mother.
– What keeps you going every day? Passion and enthusiasm. Sometimes I think that I am doing something completely different from what I studied so hard, but I am very happy anyway. A change is possible at every age.
– Who is your target? Mums, dads, grandparents, babysitters, everyone who takes care of children.
– How are you financed? It is a “family project”. I worked hard with my husband to develop this quite complicated website. He is a very good developer, and it was nice to share with him this big change in my working experience. Thanks to our children now I am much more happy and satisfied.
The challenge
– A proud moment? When more than one mum wrote on my website that she found so much help from the WhyMum community in solving her problems (personal or related to her child). One big challenge of neo-mums today is loneliness. Having good virtual friends can help a lot.
– A problem you face? I have a lot of new ideas but I still can’t invest a lot (even in collaborators). In Italy it is still not so easy to be financed and in general I would like to go on with a self-financed model.
– Your personal motto when things get hard? “Keep your eyes straight forward to the goal”. Sometimes I feel so crazy to put so much effort in something so risky (in terms of revenues) but I always remind myself that I made this choice to gain a good work-life balance. That’s why I’m so lucky to do something that I love and that also allows me to stay with my children after school.
– Another cool project/organisation/campaign you would like to recommend? The organization Pangea Onlus with all their important projects for women all around the world.
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Cosa fa VITA?
Da 30 anni VITA è la testata di riferimento dell’innovazione sociale, dell’attivismo civico e del Terzo settore. Siamo un’impresa sociale senza scopo di lucro: raccontiamo storie, promuoviamo campagne, interpelliamo le imprese, la politica e le istituzioni per promuovere i valori dell’interesse generale e del bene comune. Se riusciamo a farlo è grazie a chi decide di sostenerci.