Motherhood and Creativity Interview #27 - Dina Hassan
Dina is a graphic designer and nutritionist. Her British-Iraqi heritage and disability influence her alternative approach to nutrition.
If you are new here, welcome! I’m so happy to have you here as part of this lovely, supportive community of mums. I’m Jenna, a mum of 3, a Coach for Mums and I live by the sea in South Wales.
Here on The Motherhood Connection, I love writing about:
ways to ease your overwhelm and cultivate self-compassion as a mum
tips on how to take imperfect action and live a life that feels good to you
the small moments of family life that bring me joy
honest reflections on motherhood
Every fortnight, I also publish a Motherhood and Creativity interview, where I share the words of creative mums who inspire me here on Substack and beyond.
I’d love for you to be part of The Motherhood Connection community, all you need to do is subscribe below and you’ll receive my weekly (ish) posts.
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, and that you find comfort and inspiration in their words too.
The final interview
This interview with
is actually the final interview in this Motherhood and Creativity interview series.I published the first Motherhood & Creativity interview with
on 31st March 2024 and I’m publishing this last interview with on 30th March 2025, almost exactly a year later, and on Mother’s Day too!I’m so grateful for all of the wonderful mums who have shared their wisdom with us all about how they balance motherhood and creativity. I’ve been so inspired by all of their words, and they’ve helped me see creativity from a completely different perspective.
Thank you to all of the mums who have been a part of this Motherhood and Creativity interview series!
You can read all 26 of the previous Motherhood and Creativity interviews here.
Motherhood and Creativity Interview #27 - Dina Hassan
Dina is a graphic designer and nutritionist. Her British-Iraqi heritage and disability influence her alternative approach to nutrition. She uses creative problem-solving to simplify and diversify wellness with realistic advice for real life.
How old are your kids?
My son is 3 years old
When your children are older, what do you hope that they remember about the kind of mum that you were?
I hope my son remembers a happy childhood, filled with love and laughter, where he felt safe to express himself, knowing that his feelings were heard and respected.
When you think about the tough parts of your motherhood journey, which of your qualities/strengths have got you through these tough times?
As a disabled person, navigating obstacles is what I do best, and why I do what I do now. Creative problem-solving is part of every stage of parenting. Whether it’s figuring out how to feed my family when I’m exhausted or entertaining an energetic toddler with reduced mobility.
Parenting is hard - with or without a disability. The world is just as inaccessible to new parents as it is to people with disabilities. When other mums were experiencing the lack of access, struggling with stairs and buggies, or carrying a ton weight baby with pelvic pain, I was already there. We were in it together.
What brings you joy in motherhood?
Cuddles with my son are magical little moments when he becomes part of me again. They energise me, like I'm being plugged in for a recharge. He is on board with what I need, so he’ll cleverly say ‘cuddoo’ with open arms, in my busiest moments, as he knows I will never say no.
How important is creativity to you?
It is not just part of my job, it keeps me sane in a life stage that is not my own. Taking tiny moments of creativity for myself when I can get them, helps me remember who I am and makes me more engaged and present for toddler play, which is the ultimate creative activity!
Tell us more about your favourite ways to be creative.
I’m happiest when I’m combining art and food - my two loves. As an introvert, I find comfort in communicating through pictures, which offer a layer of interpretation that feels safer than the directness of words. Words are scary, they are my actual thoughts, there is nothing to hide behind.
While I’m enjoying exploring words here, they do come with a newfound anxiety and self-doubt, which I could do without, but I’m slowly learning to embrace the vulnerability.
Since becoming a mum, have you experienced a creative surge? What did that look like for you?
My son has given me new life, a new version of myself, with a new perspective and new ideas. Unfortunately, my creative surge happens in the middle of the night, my brain springs into action during my only quiet time. Lots of ideas get added to a list on my phone in the dark, that rarely see the light of day.
I’m currently cooking up ways to combine my design skills with my nutrition knowledge, which I’m excited about, but there’s no time to bring them to life just yet.
What does honouring your creativity look like for you in this season of your mothering?
Tuning in to what I need and what I’m excited to do with my precious pockets of time and energy. Forced creativity and the pressure to commit to ‘consistency’ can feel like a heavy weight and overwhelms me. Which is not the point.
I know I can never achieve balance in this early stage of motherhood, so I remind myself to be patient and flexible, nothing is more important than my son right now, he is my world and I am his. This deliciously cute phase won’t last forever.
I took a 3-month hibernation from Substack when life got too much. No one noticed and no one was harmed, but I returned feeling more energised and inspired.
What’s been your experience of finding a community in motherhood?
I threw myself into the social side of maternity leave, even though it was terrifying, as I was determined not to isolate myself in an already lonely and challenging time.
I now co-host a monthly parents coffee morning in east London to support new parents. I've found a local community who share the same joys and struggles, but the special ones are those who can laugh with me about the messy stuff.
What words of encouragement would you offer to a mum who might be struggling at the moment?
There is so much judgement and unrealistic expectations of new mums. Everyone’s journey is unique, there is no right or wrong way. Let go of the pressure to be perfect and remember that you are already perfect to your child. You are everything they need right now.
You can find out more about
here:Substack:
Thank you Dina for being part of the Motherhood and Creativity interview series.
I loved reading this interview and enjoyed these parts especially:
how Dina’s strength of creative problem-solving has helped her through the tough times in her motherhood journey.
when Dina describes how much joy cuddles with her son give her:
“Cuddles with my son are magical little moments when he becomes part of me again. They energise me, like I'm being plugged in for a recharge.”
This made me think of cuddles with my 2 year old - the other day after a particular enthusiastic bout of screaming in the buggy on the way home of the school run, we got home and just sat on the sofa and cuddled. No talking, just cuddles. It gave both of us comfort and a reset.
how creativity keeps Dina sane in amongst motherhood and helps her remember who she is
when Dina describes how she loves combining art and food and finds comfort in communicating through pictures, as well as learning to embrace the vulnerability she feels through writing.
how Dina’s son has given her a “…new life, a new version of myself, with a new perspective and new ideas…” and with this comes a lot of ideas but no time to bring these ideas to life just yet.
how Dina sees there being a difference between tuning into creativity and forced creativity:
“Tuning in to what I need and what I’m excited to do with my precious pockets of time and energy. Forced creativity and the pressure to commit to ‘consistency’ can feel like a heavy weight and overwhelms me. Which is not the point.”
This perspective helps us to keep the enjoyment and escape that creativity brings us in motherhood, instead of feeling like we ‘should’ do creativity in a certain way.
how after throwing herself into the social side of maternity leave, Dina has found a “…local community who share the same joys and struggles, but the special ones are those who can laugh with me about the messy stuff.”
I hope you enjoyed this interview in the ‘Motherhood and Creativity’ series - it is actually the final interview in this series!
I’ve loved being able to share these interviews with you, every fortnight for over a year. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them and they’ve given you some comfort and inspiration.
You can read all 26 of the previous Motherhood and Creativity interviews here.
I’d love to hear which of Dina’s words resonated with you - let me know in the comments.
I’d love to hear your feedback…
I’d be so grateful if you took 5 minutes to complete my feedback survey all about my Substack posts and coaching offers.
Your answers will help me to shape my work going forward to make sure that I'm writing posts and creating offers that you'll find helpful - thank you so much!
Work with Jenna in 2025
If you’d like to start 2025 by setting feel-good goals, taking small (totally do-able) steps, that create long-lasting change then just think of me as your personal cheerleader who is going to support you in making those changes!
I’ll boost your confidence by reminding you of your strengths, of all the times when you’ve done hard things before and how amazing you already are - let’s get started and make incredible things happen for you!!
I’ve got space for 2 mums to work with me in my Rediscover YOU 12 week one to one coaching experience, and also space for 2 mums to work with me to create their very own 12 week Bespoke Self Care Plan - you can find all the details for both of these here or book a 30 min chat with me to find out more:
You might also like some of my most recent posts/podcast episodes:
Motherhood and Creativity Interview - Laura from This Wild Mama
PODCAST - Taking imperfect action
A decade of reclaiming motherhood and changing the narrative of my life
If you'd like to support this free newsletter, here are a few ways:
👍 Comment and like this post here on Substack
☕ Consider buying me a coffee
📲 Restack your favourite part and share it as a Note on Substack
📧 Forward this email to a friend
📸 Come and say hi over on Instagram - @jennafolarin
 | A guest post by
|
This was a beautiful interview, thank you Jenna and Dina. Ah yes the cuddles!! It’s wonderful to hear that Dina is now hosting coffee mornings for parents, things like that make such a difference. Thank you for this brilliant series Jenna, it was an honour to be a part of xx