Meet The Writing Team
Here you can meet and find out a bit more about our brilliant Writing Team. These are the lovely people that regularly contribute great content to the site. You can also find out where to follow them and visit their own web sites.
Sarah is the Founder and Editor of 5WHYZ.com. Mum of two, master of none - she lives in Kent with her husband, children and three cats. She struggles with general, social and health anxiety plus an irritating compulsion to compensate for other peoples bad behaviours.
For a few years she wrote via her own sites Admissions Of A Mother/ Mum OverRun but found the Mummy Blog genre limiting and in the end exhausting.
When she was 8 years old she was an audience member on Live&Kicking where she met Steps and Jamie Theakston. Which was fucking awesome.
Clare is a mid-thirties mum raising three miniature versions of her husband (with his help) - Miss B (11), Miss C (4), and Little D (2) and lives just outside of Glasgow. As an HR Professional currently enjoying a career break she is passionate about maternity and pregnancy equality issues and is a big supporter of Flexible Working. As a mum she spends her days dealing with food allergies, tween and toddler tantrums, all whilst striving for perfect hair and trying not to chip her nails.
Favourite quote?
‘Secretly we're all a little more absurd than we make ourselves out to be. J. K. Rowling
Erin is 23 and is just starting her blogging adventures. She has a beautiful daughter, a bouncing baby boy on the way and one large hairy man child! She loves writing but her main aim is to make people stop and look at their life in a different way, a more positive way.
She thinks there is far too much negativity in the World and would like to change that quote by quote! She'll never be a superhero but believes if she can make one person smile a day, then she can change the World.
Gail aka Mumforce, is a Scottish lifestyle / parenting blogger and a mum of two, based in Edinburgh.
After giving birth to 2 little darlings Gail focussed some attention towards rediscovering/discovering herself. Being a daughter, sister, friend, wife and mother can take a lot out of the best of us. Whilst in amongst/ dealing with all the unpredictability’s in life it’s an easy thing to go into pilot mode/ forget to catch your breath and although bringing up another human being is arguably one of the most difficult challenges a human can be blessed with – “it can often be the case the we want more in respect to purpose, something that is just me”.
Gail is open about her mental health and hopes that through writing, honestly about her experiences she can allow others to open up and no longer feel alone. As well as talking/writing about her struggles with mental health, Gail blogs about daily life, women’s rights and issues that some are afraid to address. Throw in a few family outing reviews, product reviews and mum fashion and we have a very mixed bag which truly represents the addictive randomness that is Mumforce.
To begin with Gail found writing as a form of therapy and a hobby however through her literacy journey Gail’s lifelong pursuit of seeking acceptance has been redefined – “ I finally understood that it was self acceptance that was being sought and have since embraced every ounce of human emotion and solidified its presence through my words”. A unique character who we can all relate to who gives a fantastic reflection of the main battle we have in life, “the person staring back at me in the mirror”.
Hayley is a 36 year old Liverpudlian Mum of 3 boys aged 5 and under, currently living in Devon. She has wanted to be a writer since the age of 5 and stumbled into a career as a blogger in 2013 when on maternity leave with her first baby. Her proudest achievement (kids aside!) has been writing for Essentials magazine, and her dream is to figure out how the hell to become a "proper writer" one day. She fills her time starting books she'll never finish, watching too much Netflix and eating biscuits.
Jemma Anglesea is a 30-something mum of two young boys, James and Joseph. After the birth of her youngest son in 2016, Jemma started blogging as a way of relieving the struggles of parenthood and sharing her experience with others. Jemma has a passion for mental health and infant loss awareness. She is also passionate about cake (eating not baking) and her celebrity crushes, comedian Greg Davies and tv doctor, Xand Van Tulleken. Bryony Gordon, Katie Kirby, Sara Pascoe and Stevie Nicks make her 'girl crush' list. Jemma originally studied as a journalist, graduating for UCLAN in 2004 but currently juggles two job, by day working for a high street bank and by night, pulling pints at her local pub. Jemma lives in Liverpool with her children and her husband, Rob.
A 30-something mum of 3 and guardian of a 40-something geek living life in middle England, her parenting style is a little bit shouty, a little bit sweary, a whole lotta love and tends to rock it under the philosophy of ‘pick your battles’ - a kind of parenting on the fly. A semi-reformed wine o’clock mum who can still sometimes be found in the local beer garden, supping a beer and letting the kids run off their energy. She’s an old rock chick at heart, at home at gigs (so long as there’s seating!), a collector of piercings and tattoos. An ever-learning passionate intersectional feminist, a fierce and vocal ally. Most likely to rant about inclusivity and the state of the World; more likely to moan about school holidays and the state of her hips. Described by her family as weird, crazy, funny, bookish, kind when she wants to be (or wants something), girly alternative style with the compulsion to conform. She dreams of living the dream, but is still unsure of what that is. Living with mental illness, chronic pain and navigating the maze of medication; starting her own therapy journey (finally) and delving into assistance regarding her children’s mental health. Always trying to figure out how to love her plus-sized differently-baled body. Probably best known as painfully anxious with a badass edge. Looking forward to trying to make the perils of parenting a little easier.
Liam is a working class dad from a large town a bit to the east of Newcastle. He is a father to two beautiful girls called Olive (4) and Luna (2), who are simultaneously the loves and banes of his life. As a home educator, Liam is essentially the main care-giver to his children as his wife is studying to become a Children's Nurse. This means that a lot of his time is spent in the great outdoors looking for adventures with his kids, or otherwise sitting at home watching with distraught horror as said kids smash the place up!
He is a qualified primary teacher and is currently studying for a Masters in Education. Liam works part-time assisting students with additional needs in a college and (very) occasionally teaches English and Maths. His hobbies include camping, watching and analysing WWE and finding things to gross his kids out with (like bugs and slime and stuff). He is a raging lefty.
Lisa is a 30-ish mum of one from Kent in the UK. A lover of food, colouring, photography, walking and hater of clingfilm and coat hangers! As well as being a mum, she's a wife, pet owner, food lover and chronic illness sufferer – diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis in December 2017. She writes about her experiences with this as well as anxiety and mental illness.
Taylor is a 22-year-old, mum of 1 to her young son, living in Glasgow.
Filling notebooks with her stories since she was 10 years old, Taylor finally found her niche when she created her blog, Mums the Word, shortly after giving birth to her son, Arthur. Finding motherhood, an overwhelming, lonely and exhausting experience, she began spilling her views online and sharing motherhood from her own perspective discussing topics such as separation, mental health and the struggles she has encountered since becoming a young mum.
Her biggest aspiration is to figure out how you get that infamous book deal and to connect with and help other Mums who are finding the journey of parenthood a bit of a whirlwind.
She has an unhealthy tattoo addiction, excels at procrastinating and can be found binging the same Netflix shows repeatedly due a severe case of fictional character attachment disorder.