Motherhood and Creativity Interview #11 - Lucy Werner

Lucy Werner is the founder of HypeYourself.com, an education platform for building your brand. She’s the author of two bestselling books, Hype Yourself and Brand Yourself.

Welcome to Motherhood and Creativity, an interview series where I share the words of creative mums who inspire me here on Substack and beyond.

I share words of joy, strength, creativity and community in motherhood.

I feel like when we read the words of mums who speak so honestly about motherhood - the good parts, the hard parts and everything in between - this can really help give us some comfort and feel less alone.

I find so much inspiration from reading about mums who are all weaving their work and creativity around their kids too, as this is the situation I’m currently in. Knowing that there are other mums out there with creative dreams and careers and they are making it work around the edges of motherhood, that is so encouraging.

I hope you enjoy reading the words from these wonderful mums over the next few months, and that you find comfort and inspiration in their words too.

You can read all 10 of the previous Motherhood and Creativity interviews here.

Motherhood and Creativity Interview #11 - Lucy Werner

Lucy Werner

is the founder of HypeYourself.com, an education platform for building your brand.

With over 20 years of communications experience, she has taught hundreds of entrepreneurs through workshops and courses for creative spaces like The Futur, Bayes Business School, and the University of Arts London.

She’s the author of two bestselling books, Hype Yourself and Brand Yourself, and has been featured in the Alt Marketing Power 100, The Dots Rising Stars, and Start Up Magazine’s Female Founders to Watch.

Follow Lucy on Instagram and LinkedIn.

How old are your kids?

7,5,1 (and 3 for the dog if he counts).

When your children are older, what do you hope that they remember about the kind of mum that you were?

Silly. Dancing & creative play.

When you think about the tough parts of your motherhood journey, which of your qualities/strengths have got you through these tough times?

My second child was born with a rare combination of several congenital heart defects. He went through open-heart surgery at 6-days old, 2-weeks old and 7-months old.

Now that we are all a bit older and wiser, with another open-surgery on the horizon there is a lot to think about in terms of now how it affects him and his story but also the impact on my other children.

The small business community has always rallied around me in the darkest days and I've been really carried by other mums in business.

I can really stew on something someone said to me 10-years ago but extremely pragmatic in the face of traumatic situations. I'm really good at putting practical solutions into place when the drama hits which I think partly is also an entrepreneurial trait.

What brings you joy in motherhood?

Dancing with my children. We love an impromptu disco in our household and I can see the energy shift in us all when we dance.

I love seeing all their different personalities come to life and finding the threads of their different interests to pull on and explore.

I had a moment when my third child was born completely healthy and when we got home, I was so grateful to be straight out of the hospital and sat all together as a family, I remember thinking, I will never be happier then I was in that moment as we swayed around to the Sing 2 soundtrack.

How important is creativity to you?

100% essential component of my everyday life.

A lot of my creative outlets don't see the light of day (read: social media) and I love keeping this geeky creative practices all for myself.

Tell us more about your favourite ways to be creative.

For me creativity comes in so many micro-habits rather than a specific hobby.

Quotes I read and store in notes on my phone, shelves of notebooks where I cram thoughts and reflections from things I watch, see and read, I often get a lot of creative spark from documentaries, reading non-fiction and bits of business promotion I see out and above. I love experiential events and take a lot of inspiration from pop-ups.

Me and my children make visual journals together and always do a collage vision board for the year.

Since becoming a mum, have you experienced a creative surge? What did that look like for you?

Actually, I found turning 40 whilst pregnant with my third child and then taking a 3-month hiatus from social media my creative surge. Combined with moving to rural France, I got the physical and digital space to really think about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.

What does honouring your creativity look like for you in this season of your mothering?

Writing.

What’s been your experience of finding a community in motherhood?

I didn't find my motherhood community in the spaces that a lot of others told me I would like NCT groups or parents at creche. For me the online solopreneur community has definitely helped me form some incredible friendships.

What words of encouragement would you offer to a mum who might be struggling at the moment?

Take it one day at a time, what can you do to take the pressure of yourself today. Always take a walk and have another glass of water.

You can find out more about

Lucy Werner

here:

• Lucy’s Substack -

  Hype Yourself

• Website

• Instagram

• Linkedin

Thank you for your wonderful words Lucy! I enjoyed so many parts of this interview, such as:

• how Lucy’s business has helped her in motherhood - from the small business community rallying around her in her darkest days, to feeling carried by other mums in business and how Lucy’s entrepreneurial skills have helped her with the really tough experiences she’s had as a mum too.

• when Lucy describes, “I had a moment when my third child was born completely healthy and when we got home, I was so grateful to be straight out of the hospital and sat all together as a family, I remember thinking, I will never be happier then I was in that moment as we swayed around to the Sing 2 soundtrack.” - those moments that catch us when we are so present and grateful makes us realise what is really important to us, those small moments of togetherness and fun as a family.

• when Lucy talks about how her creativity comes in lots of micro-habits, I love this way of looking at creativity and it fits in so well with motherhood, where we are so stretched for time.

• this advice that Lucy would give to another mum is such a great reminder if you are feeling overwhelmed, “take it one day at a time, what can you do to take the pressure of yourself today.”

I hope you enjoyed this interview in the ‘Motherhood and Creativity’ interview series - I’ll be publishing these interviews every fortnight for as long as the interviews keep coming through.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments:

• Which of Lucy’s words resonated with you?

• How have your skills from your job helped you in motherhood?

• When Lucy described: “I had a moment when my third child was born completely healthy and when we got home, I was so grateful to be straight out of the hospital and sat all together as a family, I remember thinking, I will never be happier then I was in that moment as we swayed around to the Sing 2 soundtrack.” - what have those moments of overwhelming gratitude looked like for you?