Today we are thrilled to have Chaneen Saliee on The Mag. Chaneen is an artist, designer, author of the newly released book '“Solidarity: poetry and prose" and mother of two young daughters. Read more about her below!

Tell us your story! We’d love to hear a little bit about yourself, your book and your clothing brand.

Hi, hello, hello, hello, I am Chaneen mum of two beautiful girlies and we’re based in London, UK. I recently was voted Number #1 mum influencer 2020, which was an absolute honour. I am also an author of a five star reviewed book Solidarity: poetry and prose, a poet, a teacher, a designer and an illustrator/ artist. I love to be creative and having chats in my DMs.

I wrote Solidarity: poetry and prose to support and empower other women and mothers with a dose of audacious reality. Solidarity encourages new mothers to open up difficult conversations, about how they are feeling, with loved ones. Solidarity resets perspectives on society’s norms, smashes it up with beauty and motivates women to explore their own ideas about parenting. New mothers can share portions of poetry, with their loved ones, as a means of expressing themselves. It will help mothers-to-be understand what can be expected with the fluctuation of hormones once they have had a baby. Most importantly, it will help to raise awareness about the normality of fluctuating emotions and the diversity of experiences that mothers may face - thus, making women everywhere feel more confident and empowered to talk about how they are feeling and potentially, save lives.

I started Chic and Discreet breastfeeding wear because breastfeeding can be tricky and a little bit scary for new mums. New mothers often want extra support and privacy as they develop their confidence to breastfeed freely. I really struggled with breastfeeding in the early days, I felt awkward with positioning, not showing my belly and finding something breastfeeding friendly that didn’t expose my whole boob. It was a real difficult time and so I took to learning how to sew and then making my own clothes. Other women saw my designs and realised that there was nothing like them, with their built in nursing covers, and so asked me to make them some too. I love it!

How many kids do you have, what ages?

I have two girls, Jasmine who is two and a half and Ocean who just turned One in April.

As a mom, content creator, maternity fashion line designer and author, what are three tips/wise words you have for parents feeling under pressure of juggling jobs under quarantine?

1. I would have to say that taking the pressure off is the most important thing generally, and especially important under the conditions in which we find ourselves.

By taking the pressure off I mean, don’t worry about anything - ever. If the little ones watch TV for a few hours ‘too long’ or if you don’t clean the house for the third day in a row, it really doesn’t matter. There’s a saying I try to live by, ‘if it won’t matter five years from now, don’t let it affect you now.’ And I promise you, your house not being clean from May 1st to May 12th 2020, won’t even be a distant memory in five years.

2. You can do it, even when it feels hard and everyone ends up in tears. Remember that you’ve gotten through 100% of your hard days and you can get through this time.

3. Reach out to loved ones, friends, and people online. This is the first time we are all, no matter our age, gender, race, income... really going through it and it’s nice to know you’re not alone in your feelings.

What are three breastfeeding benefits you can share (from your perspective) for moms considering breastfeeding?

1. It’s free, which I love.

2. Breast milk is a live substance which means that it changes in its make up to adapt to what your child needs. For example if you or baby has a cold your breastmilk will change to produce and provide antibodies against that cold. Google it, it’s impressive.

3. I’ve found that there is a great great bond between siblings when they are both breastfed together. My girls cuddle and stroke (and sometimes - a lot of the time - poke) each other. It’s sweet.

4. One for luck? The breastfeeding community online is phenomenal women who have never met each other rally together to support and affirm one another regularly. It’s very motivating.

And finally, where can we find you?