After suffering physical and emotional pain from a traumatic pregnancy and birth, and while supporting her partner through severe depression, Megan de Gee was inspired to help others dealing with similar struggles. She wrote her self-help book ‘Motherhood – In the Raw‘ to provide support and advice to new mums and dads, through pregnancy, childbirth and beyond.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
It was roughly three months after I had given birth to my beautiful daughter, my partner had become severely depressed and I had sustained many physical injuries that were trying to heal from a traumatic pregnancy and childbirth. A new baby, three dogs, bills to pay, food to cook and a house to clean – at that point I realised I had two roads I could walk. One was postnatal depression and the other was to write a self-help book for anyone feeling the way I did in that very moment, yet had no voice to speak up and no support system they felt they could turn to. I knew there were many books out there based on what to expect when you’re expecting and also many on how to be a parent but I wanted to create something raw, true and real.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I am currently still at the beginning stage of my journey, so at the moment I am focusing on building a network on social media. I blog on my Facebook page daily, reaching out to new mums and dads, but also for anyone battling mental illnesses or experiencing a traumatic pregnancy/childbirth. The majority of my posts are useful in all areas; however, I also provide the odd entertainer post every so often just to make people smile. The final touches for my self-help book are in the process of being complete and the book is to be published within the next month or so, which I have also been advertising on my social media pages and will sell online.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
The biggest breakthrough has been to be asked to be part of the Natural Parent Magazine. It’s been pretty tough to be honest trying to get my book out there and trying to get the bigger book stores to stock my book, allowing my story to be exposed in order to help as many as possible. But as the story goes, everyone wants a commission and wants to be rewarded for what I feel I’ve worked hard for, so I would rather do the rest of the work myself and succeed on my own merit.
