Over the past few months I’ve been receiving enquiries about the origin story behine Green Foot Mama.
I discovered that I created a mystery that has many folks curious. I have focused my energies for the last few years have on creating Green Foot Mama. And my life has been a crazy juggling act. I’ve had my head down in the trenches bringing my business to life while raising and supporting my family.
Who is Green Foot Mama?
‘Is she a brand or a person?’
‘Who are you and where the heck did you come from?’
It seems the time has come to share my personal story.
Not quite a fairytale, but it is my story nonetheless. And it has shaped me and made me the woman, the wife, the friend, the parent and the business woman I am today.
I am Olivia. A mama to 3 beautiful daughters, wife to a gorgeous-soul of a husband and creator of Green Foot Mama.
We are an ocean and nature loving family, located in the beautiful Byron Bay region of Australia.
Green Foot Mama began when I discovered my two daughters had skin and food sensitivities. This was the turning point that brought my products to fruition. But my awareness for health began some 30 years prior, when I was 9 years of age.
What’s Her Story?
Growing up, I was not gifted with the greatest level of health. I suffered from regular illness and was always undergoing tests . That or taking some form of medication for this and that.
When I turned 9, my childhood took a dramatic turn.
- Glandular fever reared its ugly head.
- My beautiful Gran passed away and
- I was gifted my very first period.
Little did I know that these ‘shocks’ to my system would result in some invaluable lessons in the future.
But I was born with a glass-half-full personality, and my natural curiosity led me to begin challenging the hand I had been dealt. And the seed of my connection to holistic wellbeing was planted.
Thirteen years later I was happy, healthy and just had my first daughter. I avoided most chemicals and shopped from local farmer’s markets. I was studying alternative health and life was great.
Until one year later when I started suffering migraines, hot flashes and other hormone-related symptoms. I discovered my hormones were in BIG trouble. Having come from a family of sugar cane farmers, growing up I had exposure to many very serious chemicals. After testing, I learned that heavy metals stored in my body were causing my health’s disarray.
I made some more lifestyle changes and did a heavy metal cleanse.
Slowly my physical health returned.
The Moment of Truth
Another ten years passed, and then the Universe came barging through my door once again. This time to really show me what I was made of.
My second and third daughters were born just over a year and a half apart. I suffered immense damage due to a traumatic birth and bungled surgeries.
And was left to face my wounds alone.
I was a single mother, with teeny tiny babies that weren’t fond of sleep. And whose reactions to both food and personal care products were escalating. Enter post-natal depression, PTSD and extreme sleep deprivation.
And like the story of Persephone, I was drawn into the dark underworld below to meet the core of my soul.
I had broken open on every level. And then a moment came that I will NEVER forget.
I was sitting on my kitchen floor, peeling some vegetables and rocking my unwell babies to comfort them.
I was down to my last dollar, a bee’s-eyelash away from homelessness. I remember feeling incredibly powerless as tasted salty tears streaming down my face. My soul was rubble, and I had entered the silent, black space that I now recognize as ‘ENOUGH’.
In that moment there was only one way out. I grabbed my one remaining speck of hope with all of my might, stood up and took a deep breath.
It was electrifying.
Like magnets, the fragments of my soul were whirling and connecting and coming back together inside of me. My fingers literally tingled and I embraced the urge to fight and claw my way out of the darkness.
I had found my light and my way out.
Start Where You Are, With What You Have…
And so I did.
I realized that the voice of hopelessness was simply fear. And on the other side of fear lay the answer to everything. To my freedom.
Those feelings of deep helplessness were just layers in the process of moving towards the light. Back to the happy, playful, creative woman I had once been.
There is real truth, beauty and wisdom in embracing the difficult moments of life alone.
I had to confront and take ownership of what was going on under the surface. Instead of distracting myself or blaming my state of being on people or circumstances. I realized that the disowned parts of me needed my unconditional love to survive. And I made it through. Everything was brighter, clearer and full of inspiration.
My brain changed gears and ideas poured out of me onto page after page after page. The answers I needed to help my daughters and to move us forward were arriving at lightening speed.
What I am now certain of is that when I ‘stepped aside’ to make room for my soul’s intelligence to guide me, my core values, knowledge and intentions aligned. Very real-life magic occurred. I started researching and creating and testing and sharing and connecting and expanding (on all levels). The rest is glorious history.
With the love and support of my friends, mentors, customers and family, Green Foot Mama grew wings of her own and is soaring.
Is Green Foot Mama a brand or a person?
Green Foot Mama is more than just a brand of organic, multi-tasking skincare.
It is a way of life.
We can all achieve wellness by treading a more eco-friendly path. By using products that nurture us without stealing our health, or that of the planet.
We give ourselves the best fighting chance to survive whatever life throws our way. by harnessing the power of nature and listening to our body’s innate intelligence. And in doing this we can go on to thrive and flourish into the best version of ourselves.
That is my philosophy, and it has proven true for me.
Green Foot Mama is inspired by
- the harmony of mother earth,
- the robust and unyielding power of mother ocean and
- the deep and infinite well of a mother’s unconditional and healing love.
My vision is for interconnectedness – with ourselves, one another, and with nature.
We are all Green Foot Mama.
With Warmth and Kindness,
Olivia xx
