Share Your Story: MunaMommy Fertility Diaries

Introducing the MunaMommy Fertility Diaries

In the U.S. over six million women struggle with infertility, which has various definitions.  TTC can take a toll on your mental and physical health, and is oftentimes financially draining. 

Enter The MunaMommy Fertility Diaries — a column featuring real stories told by you.  Your experiences, your fears, your hopes, and dreams.  Plus, interviews with fertility experts and MunaMommy readers.  

We’re here for you

Our mission is to erase the stigma associated with infertility and to help decrease the black maternal death rate by sharing your stories and interviews openly and honestly. 

jacqueline nwobu – munamommy founder/editor-in-chief

You don’t know what you don’t know. Sharing your story can bring awareness to healthcare disparities that new expectant moms may not be aware of. We want you to freely share your losses and your wins.

Become a MunaMommy Contributor

Do you have an interesting personal story on parenthood, blended families, pregnancy complications, infertility or anything related to motherhood that you’d like to share?  Are you an educator, researcher or expert in a particular field with knowledge to share?  We would love to share your perspective and advice.  Please use the form below to submit an application to submit your story or advice.  If selected, a MunaMommy contributor profile will be created for you on our website after two articles are approved.

We have three options for Contributors.

• Fertility Diaries (personal essays/stories on TTC.
• Life Unscripted (personal essays/stories on any aspect of motherhood or parenting).
• Expert Advice (research or evidence-based stories/articles from experts.

Fill out the form below. Scroll further for our Submissions Guidelines.

General Information:

Contributor articles are published on MunaMommy.com and may be shared on our social media channels.  We may not be able to respond to every submission, but here are some guidelines for success.

• If sharing a personal story, keep it in the first person and provide as much insight as possible for our readers.  We look for personal stories about childbirth, infertility struggles, trying to conceive, parenting, nursing, and truly any personal experience you feel will be of help to our audience.
• Include images to accompany your story.  These images do not have to be professional images, but if they were not taken by you, please let us know who the photographer/videographer is so we can properly credit him/her.
• Keep your story under 900 words. If longer than 900 words, you will need to submit it in parts.  If compelling, we are happy to share your story in installments on our website.
• For personal stories, keep them thoughtful, interesting, and conversational.  For expert advice, the same applies, but back the stories up with research, facts or personal anecdotes.

MunaMommy – Personal Essay Guidelines

MunaMommy is a lifestyle brand created by the founders of Munaluchi Bride, to amplify the voices, experiences and events of modern, multicultural moms through digital and print.

One of the best ways to inspire other multicultural moms is through real-life experiences.  We encourage you to share your experiences on motherhood or the journey to motherhood.  An approved Personal Essay will be featured on our blog, and potentially in an issue of our print magazine.

You don’t have to be an award-winning author, just tell your personal story in your own voice.  Personal essays should be anywhere from 400 – 1000 words and told in the first person.

The Title

Pick a catchy title that will let our readers know what the highlight of your essay will be.  Don’t worry, we will be able to edit it as well if we need to.

Personal Essays (Fertility Diaries, Birth Stories, Life Unscripted)

Your essay should read in your own words and your own voice.  Think of it like a personal essay that can be featured on a site like Medium.com. 

Our readers will want to know what your experience was like on the topic you choose to write about.  Here are some pointers:

• What do you want to get across to our audience? What’s your main takeaway or what are your main takeaways?
• Is there anything you learned in your experience that you wish someone told you about?

Types of Personal Essays

Your personal essay can be based on any aspect of motherhood including the journey to motherhood. Here are some examples of personal essay topics we would love to feature:

• Trying to conceive (TTC) – for our “Fertility Diaries”
• Miscarriage/Rainbow baby
• Breastfeeding
• Pregnant with twins/Raising multiples
• Maternal Health Awareness
• Birth stories
• Blended families
• Adoption
• Parenting
• Homeschooling
• Other (pitch an idea to us)

Helpful Tips for Birth Stories

• Tell us your name and age. (You have the option of including a pseudonym)
• What # pregnancy is this for you?
• Did you have any trouble getting pregnant with this baby? (fertility journey, etc)
• When did you find out you were pregnant? How did you feel?  Who did you tell?
• How did you feel throughout the pregnancy? Fears, sicknesses, etc
• Tell us about your care team. (OBGYN, doula, etc)
• Any complications during the pregnancy?
• What was your birth plan?
• Tell us about the labor experience. 
  • When did you go into labor? Did you water break and when? etc Provide details.
  • Where did you give birth?
  • Any delivery complications?
  • How many pounds was the baby or babies. Gender(s)?
  • Tell us any details you’d like about your beautiful baby. (Name(s), Characteristics, etc)
  • How did you feel afterwards?
  • How long were you in the hospital (if traditional hospital birth)
  • What was the experience like after you were discharged? The first 24 hours
  • Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would change about your birth experience?
  • Did you learn anything new about yourself, your partner?
  • Is there advice you’d like to give to an expectant mother?

Helpful Tips for Expert Articles

• Tell us your name expert credentials.
• Provide insight, education and/or inspiration for our Mommas.
• Make sure the articles you are submitting are evidence based and not based on opinion.  We may inquire on where you have gained your insight from.
• Provide expert advice that has not been featured word-for-word on another website or blog.  However. it’s ok if the advice is present on your own website or blog.

Helpful Tips for “Life Unscripted” column – (MunaMommy Stories on Motherhood)

• Write about any aspect of motherhood, in your own voice.  This column is a great place to share the things you’ve learned as a parent that you wish you were told – the good, bad, and ugly in motherhood and parenting.
• Stories should be under 900 words and shoud be told in the 1st person.
• You have the option of using a pseudonym if you’d like

General Editorial Guidelines

• Stay away from fluff. We’re looking for depth and want our readers to connect with you.
• Keep the ads. Don’t use your personal essay to advertise your services or products. Keep the focus on your personal story. 
• Keep it authentic, but don’t attempt to disempower, disparage, insult any other person or ethnic group.  No promotion of violence of any kind to any individual.

Photos

Feel free to include both personal photos/video and professional photos. If there is anything additional we require, we will be in touch.

We are excited to share your story and support our mothers through all stages of TTC and pregnancy.