Brittany Bloomer says it takes a village to raise a group of mothers

Brittany, what is Villagehood?

Villagehood is a free community app focused on bringing the village back. We are currently active in a beta version, and this has been a really amazing way to tap into local mums and get their feedback on the app of what they want as a mum. At its heart, the app connects mums based on their location, and makes it simple to move from online to offline – whether that’s a spontaneous coffee, a pram walk, or a Pilates class they can join together. Villagehood is intentionally local, as well. It’s built on the idea that the most meaningful support often lives just around the corner.

It came from your personal experience?

Yes, I was a first-time mum overseas in Estonia, and I felt what it was like to experience extreme isolation and anxiety as a first-time mum without any family or friends, and in a foreign language as well. So as a result, I craved that support in the village. I sought out [mums] on Facebook groups, and I even messaged mums with profile pictures of them with a baby. I was desperate to find some mum friends because I just felt so alone in this huge life change.

That resulted in gathering around seven mums and we went out for coffee and I remember walking into the café feeling like very anxious and just very low. I'm not actually a low, depressed person, I'm very joyful about life, so this was a very low point for me in my life. But then I left that coffee meetup so excited and feeling so supported with a village of women who were all going through the same motherhood space. I grew this community in Estonia to 400 mums just by word of mouth, and then when I moved back home to Australia, I replicated that to 1,800 moms, and it showed how much mums are craving that community.

How did the Facebook group turn into the Villagehood app?

When I moved back to Sydney's eastern suburbs, I was having a conversation with my brother, saying I can’t keep creating Facebook groups every time I move – there’s got to be some way around this that is more accessible for mums to find their local support and community. My brother happens to be a very successful app developer (he’s a former tech lead at Shopify and Soho House London), which was super handy. He was like, okay, tell me all the sore points and what I can resolve, and then he built the app. He described it as “a platform that supports real life, not replaces it, scalable to the masses”. Essentially, mums just go on the app and they can see mums in their local neighborhood. It’s called Villagehood, because we’re bringing the village to the neighborhoods. Mums can post, like: “I’m going for a pram walk tomorrow at 10 am” and it’ll notify all the mums nearby. If they want to join, they can just catch up really casually.

I know you're only in beta, but have you been happy with the uptake so far?

Blown away. We have 1000 mums on the beta, which is incredible. And we have learned so much from them. We’re getting so much feedback. They’ve actually suggested ideas that we hadn’t already thought about, which was like sharing business events, such as baby sensory play or Pilates. Originally, it was just going to be a social hangout so mums can meet up for coffees or play dates. But now we’re listing all the local events that mums can visit with their kids. It’s been really great to get that feedback and we’re continuing to evolve based on mums’ feedback.

Do you see it as being a commercial business?

It is a free-to-use app, but if mums want to access more premium features, like concierge matchmaking, to find mums with similar interests or to search further radiuses, there is the option to upgrade. But as it is it’s a free community app. There’s the option for businesses if they want to pay to list, but we already list all free community events on the app, like mum walks and all that kind of stuff.

It feels like everybody is in a digital silo these days. People walk along the street wearing headphones and looking down at their phones. Your app is cutting clean across that.

Yes, our focus is to get mums, of course, connected on the app, but then meeting up in real life. That is the direction we want. We want to get as many mums as possible creating that beautiful sense of village, like in the old days, and that sense of community and support, which is only created in real-life settings and meetups.

Maybe in this age of AI and digital life, there will be a pushback from people wanting human connection.

Oh, for sure, and I’m noticing there's such an amazing trend of communities, like run clubs to book clubs to, you know, speed dating. People are craving community. It’s like a core belonging need of humankind. It’s really lovely that there are so many opportunities to create this for mums, or anyone, as a human. Villagehood is doing it for mums, but you know, run clubs are doing it for people who want to get active and I love to see it.

What about dads who are raising kids? Are they part of Villagehood’s plans?

There’s totally a need for that. I’m just going to make sure we nail the market for the mums first. I would love to consider that in the future because it’s just as important for dads to be able to find their support network, and I do think it’s a bit trickier for men because normally they bond over sport or the pub. It would be nice to create different avenues for them where they can easily meet up.

You said you identified the need for Villagehood from research that showed loneliness affects a huge percentage of new mothers. Is that true?

Yes, and also, I’ve experienced it firsthand myself, so I can totally relate to that. A lot of mums are suffering in silence as well. It’s such a life-changing experience and we’re just kind of forced to adapt to it. We have no other choice. And if there are amazing opportunities for mums to connect with each other and get support, that’s great but I think for a lot of mums, with the life change, it can come as a bit of a shock.

This isn’t the first time you’ve formed a community. You have a background in not-for-profit work?

I love communities! It’s just something that I have been naturally drawn towards. I’ve been running a charity, Pound Paws, for the past 10 years. I started it fresh out of high school, and its focus was to raise awareness about pet adoption, as well as reducing the number of pets on death row each year. We achieved that by hosting an online search engine, so you can search for whatever pet you want to adopt. But we took it a step further by hosting community events in different areas around Australia, and these community events would attract dog lovers. as well as dog rescue groups, pet businesses, local councils, all doing different activations to raise awareness about pet adoption and responsible pet ownership. We achieved this in a really fun, relaxed way, as opposed to protesting. It was really effective.

Brittany, what would you say to any new mums who are feeling that loneliness you’re experienced and that you’re trying to head off?

If any mums are feeling lonely, I’d say just to take that courageous step of reaching out and finding your village, as it transformed my own motherhood experience and I’m positive that will for theirs as well. They can feel a little bit overwhelmed or intimidated to take that first step, but it changes everything.

More information

To mark the launch of the Villagehood app on Mother’s Day, Villagehood plans to host a Mother’s Day picnic in Sydney’s Centennial Park on Monday May 4, bringing together over 100 local mothers for a morning of connection, support, and community.

The app will be available from Google Play and the App Store from May 4.
You can join the waitlist here: http://villagehood.app.