Godmothers Gather: Libby Ward & Samantha Rose

“An unvarnished story of mothering in a culture not fashioned to support women and families.”

Writer, speaker, and advocate Libby Ward joins us to discuss “Honest Motherhood: On Losing My Mind and Finding Myself,” an unflinchingly honest and disarmingly funny memoir from an exhausted mom who broke under the pressure to do it all, faced her past, found herself—and learned to let go of perfection and just serve the dang chicken nuggets. She’ll be joined in conversation by New York Times–bestselling ghostwriter Samantha Rose, who most recently tried to unravel the mystery surrounding her mother’s suicide in “Giving Up the Ghost,” which was named the best memoir at the San Francisco Book Festival.

When Libby became a mother at twenty-six, she thought she was prepared. Determined to give her kids a childhood different from her own, she clung to the world’s “shoulds” like her children's future depended on it. That was her first mistake.

A couple of years later, with a toddler around her ankle, a needy baby in her arms, and silent rage coursing through her veins, Libby began to unravel. Struggling to manage the unrelenting and often unspoken expectations of mothering, she did what any overfunctioning people-pleaser would do—she wallowed in shame. Then, she tried harder. Self-care! Boundaries! Sleep when the baby sleeps! But as Libby’s body and mind began to push back, Libby wondered: Why, with so much information and advice at our fingertips, is motherhood still so impossibly hard?

In “Honest Motherhood,” Libby candidly shares her journey of unlearning the myth of the ideal mother. She dives headfirst into the experiences many mothers have but few feel safe enough to say out loud—the lack of support, the guilt, the invisibility, the cycles they’re breaking, and the fantasies about a hospital stay just to get a flippin’ break. Libby untangles her social conditioning from learned trauma responses and discovers that letting go of unrealistic standards, asking for help, and prioritizing herself aren’t failures—they’re necessities.

This event will be hosted in our third-floor loft space, which is only accessible by stairs.