Today we’d like to introduce you to Wendy Rose.
Hi Wendy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Meeting of the Moms really started long before I knew that was what I was creating.
Years ago, when my daughter was in junior high school, I started a group called Girlz Talk. Like many moms raising a teenage daughter, I wanted to stay connected and have a better understanding of the young girls she was spending time with and the things they were experiencing. My idea was simple. I wanted to create a comfortable place where my daughter and her friends could come together, talk, and know that there was an adult who cared and was willing to listen.
What I thought I was doing for my daughter turned out to have a much bigger purpose. Looking back now, I believe God was planting a seed in me. Girlz Talk continued for about three years, and I had the opportunity to create a space where young girls could openly talk about life, relationships, self esteem, growing up, and the things they were navigating.
Something I began to notice during Girlz Talk was that the girls were open to the conversations. They were willing to listen, learn, and even make changes. But sometimes I would hear what they were experiencing at home or see patterns that made me realize the girls weren’t the only ones who could benefit from these conversations. Some of us moms needed a safe space to talk too.
I remember thinking and even saying, “I need to have a meeting with the moms.”
I had no idea at the time how significant those words would become.
Years later, I found myself in a very different season of my own life. I was recently divorced, navigating life as a single mom, working, putting my daughter through college, and trying to hold everything together. I was doing what so many women do. I kept showing up, taking care of my responsibilities, and making sure everyone else was okay.
But I remember having a conversation with God and asking, “Does anybody see me?”
It wasn’t that I didn’t have people who loved me. It was that I had spent so much time being everything everyone else needed that I realized there was a woman underneath all of those responsibilities who needed to be poured into too.
And what I felt God saying to me was, “Become what you need for other women.”
That stayed with me.
In 2018, I hosted Sister Circle and later Queen & Me, bringing women together for connection, conversation, and encouragement. Then in 2019, I began creating baskets for women. Those baskets came directly from that conversation with God. I knew what it felt like to need someone to say, “I see you.” So I decided to become that person for another woman.
The baskets were never really about what was inside of them. They were about making a woman feel seen, appreciated, celebrated, and reminded that she mattered. In many ways, I became what I needed for other women.
All of those experiences eventually came together as Meeting of the Moms.
Meeting of the Moms became a space where women could have honest conversations about motherhood and womanhood. We celebrate the beautiful parts, but we also make room for the things that aren’t always talked about. Motherhood changes as we change. There is pregnancy and postpartum, raising children, relationships, friendships, divorce, finding yourself again, watching your children become adults, the biological clock, and eventually, for some of us, learning who we are when the nest becomes empty.
One thing I have learned through all of these seasons is that women spend so much of their lives taking care of everyone else. We are mothers, daughters, friends, caregivers, professionals, partners, and so many other things that sometimes we can lose sight of the woman underneath all of those roles.
Today, Meeting of the Moms continues to evolve, but the heart of it has remained the same. It is women encouraging women and reminding one another that we deserve to be seen, supported, celebrated, and cared for too.
That same message has now grown into my newest project, A Moment for Me: Meeting of the Moms, a self care coloring and reflection book created for women. For me, it feels like another piece of the purpose coming together. Something that began years ago with a mom simply wanting to stay connected to her daughter has grown into a mission of creating spaces where girls and women know that they matter.
When I look back at Girlz Talk now, I realize I thought I was just keeping an eye on my daughter. God knew I was being introduced to my purpose.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it definitely has not been a smooth road.
One of the biggest challenges was navigating divorce and suddenly realizing that so many of life’s responsibilities were solely on me. I was working, putting my daughter through college, managing a household, and trying to make the best decisions for our lives while also trying to figure out who I was in this new season.
There was a point when I remember looking in the mirror and honestly not recognizing the woman looking back at me. I had spent so much time being a mom, a wife, a provider, and everything everyone else needed that somewhere along the way, I had lost touch with me.
I remember when my daughter first went away to college, I would go into the grocery store and turn around and walk back out. I did that for months. I knew what everybody else liked. I knew what they ate and what to buy for them, but standing in that grocery store, I realized I had no idea what I liked. It seems like such a small thing, but for me, it represented something much bigger. I had to learn myself again.
I was also an overthinker. I wanted to make the right choice and the best decision about everything because it felt like there wasn’t much room to get it wrong. I would think about what could happen, what might happen, whether I was making the right decision, and what I should do next. Eventually, I realized that overthinking was robbing me of my life. I was spending so much time thinking about yesterday or trying to prepare for tomorrow that I wasn’t fully living in today.
Navigating a completely new life was scary, and I put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself.
Work became another challenge. When you feel like everything depends on you, it can be difficult to give yourself permission to stop. I worked hard, and eventually I experienced burnout because I felt like I always had to keep going. I couldn’t just say, “I need a break,” because in my mind there were too many things depending on me. It felt like I was constantly spinning plates and trying not to let any of them fall.
But those difficult seasons also taught me something that has become central to Meeting of the Moms. Sometimes a woman can look like she is handling everything and still be exhausted underneath it all. She can be showing up for work, taking care of her children, paying the bills, helping everyone else, and quietly wondering, “But what about me?”
A lot of my journey has been learning that taking care of myself doesn’t mean I’m neglecting everything else. It means I matter too. I had to rediscover the woman underneath all of those roles. I had to learn to be present in my own life instead of constantly worrying about what came next.
And that journey continues to shape the way I show up for other women today.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Meeting of the Moms?
Meeting of the Moms is a community centered around women encouraging women. At the heart of everything we do is a very simple message: I see you.
We create spaces where women can have honest conversations about motherhood, womanhood, relationships, friendships, postpartum experiences, the biological clock, divorce, empty nesting, rediscovering yourself, and all of the transitions that happen in between. These are conversations women are often having privately with themselves, and Meeting of the Moms gives them a safe space to have those conversations with other women.
One thing that sets Meeting of the Moms apart is that we recognize the woman outside of her titles. Before she is somebody’s mother, wife, daughter, employee, caregiver, or friend, she is a woman with her own needs, dreams, fears, and desires. Sometimes women need permission to put themselves back on their own list, and I want Meeting of the Moms to be one of the places that reminds them to do that.
I often describe myself as a “midwife to women.” Just as a midwife helps bring forth what is already there, I believe part of my purpose is creating spaces that help women rediscover themselves, give themselves permission to evolve, and bring forward parts of themselves that may have gotten lost underneath motherhood, relationships, careers, and simply taking care of everyone else. Meeting of the Moms isn’t about telling women who they should be. It’s about giving women room to remember who they are.
We are also known for our Phenomenal Woman baskets. Women are nominated by people who recognize that they have been pouring into others and deserve to have someone pour into them. The items in the basket are beautiful, but the heart of it is not the basket itself. It is the experience of being seen. Each recipient gets to know why someone nominated her and why someone believes she deserves to be celebrated. That part means so much to me because Meeting of the Moms was born from my own season of wondering, “Does anybody see me?”
I’m incredibly proud that Meeting of the Moms has continued to grow while staying true to that purpose. Our newest extension is A Moment for Me: Meeting of the Moms, a self care coloring and reflection book created to encourage women to slow down, breathe, reflect, laugh, rest, set boundaries, and intentionally make room for themselves. It isn’t about adding another thing to a woman’s to do list. It is about reminding her that she belongs on that list.
As Meeting of the Moms continues to grow, I want it to become more than a brand. I want it to be a reminder. Whether a woman attends one of our gatherings, receives a basket, opens A Moment for Me, or simply comes across something we’ve shared, I want her to walk away feeling a little more seen, a little more encouraged, and a little more connected to herself.
If readers remember anything about Meeting of the Moms, I hope they remember this: you don’t have to wait until you’re exhausted, overwhelmed, or completely empty to choose yourself. You are allowed to care for yourself while you are caring for everyone else.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I would say empathy. I have always had the ability to see beyond what someone is showing on the surface and wonder what they may be carrying underneath.
I think a lot of that comes from my own experiences. I know what it feels like to be the woman who is showing up, getting things done, taking care of everyone else, and still quietly needing someone to ask, “Are you okay?” I know what it feels like to look like you have everything together while privately trying to figure things out.
Because of that, when I see another woman, I don’t just see her titles, her trauma, her accomplishments, or even her smile. Sometimes a smile doesn’t tell the whole story. I try to see the woman underneath all of it. I see the person she is, not just what she’s been through, what she does for others, what she has achieved, or what she chooses to show the world.
I also believe empathy requires listening. I don’t always have to have the answer, fix the problem, or tell another woman what she should do. I try to be a safe place for women to land. A place where they can take off the cape for a moment, be honest about what they’re carrying, and know they won’t be judged. Sometimes we don’t need someone to solve anything. We just need somewhere safe to exhale.
That has shaped everything I have created through Meeting of the Moms. Even the Phenomenal Woman baskets came from recognizing a need I once had myself and deciding to become what I needed for other women.
I believe my ability to turn my own experiences into compassion for someone else’s journey has been one of the most important qualities in my success. I don’t want women to leave an interaction with me feeling like I changed them. I want them to leave feeling seen, encouraged, and reminded of something that was already inside of them.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @meetingofthemom
