Interview with Erum Saeed

The word “Mom” evokes a multitude of emotions in everyone.

We are privileged to be in conversation with Ms. Erum Saeed, who is the Founder of a platform that connects lakhs of moms across India.

About Erum Saeed

Erum Saeed is a dynamic and multifaceted woman. She is a renowned social media influencer, lecturer turned entrepreneur, a humanitarian, Meta certified community manager and a Community Builder.

A young and loving mom of twin girls, Erum is the winner of Facebook Accelerator Program. She is also the winner of XIOMI Women Achievers Award, Karnataka Women Achievers Award & various such recognitions.

About MOI:

Her innovative Facebook community “Moms of India” is India’s one of the top most groups to be followed that she founded in 2016 to inspire mothers with new age parenting and for dispelling the myths of motherhood in a positive manner.

Her networking community, Moms of India, is also known as Mom’s Google. MOI works for the all round support & growth of the mothers focussing on the 5Cs – Compassion, Communication, Connection, Counselling and Career. MOI is an organic, inclusive, collaborative, positive digital medium for mothers to network both offline and online. Due to its unmatched content and support ‘MOI–The MommyVerse’ is now half-a-million (500K) member strong community!

Vandana: How has MOI contributed to your growth as a person, as a woman and as a mother?

Erum Saeed: MOI has been a kind of revolution for all. Personally, it has helped me grow as an individual. While working with MOI, I come across hundreds of stories everyday about what women face, what women want, and what women have to go through. Their struggles, challenges, sacrifices and success teach me a lot. I learn a lot through these real life stories and experiences which have contributed to my personal growth. These nuggets of wisdom have made me more mindful, considerate, empathetic, aware and intellectual.

As a mother, I have become more patient and as a woman, I have realized my worth to inspire and influence others for good.

It’s still an ongoing process as the motivation I get from MOI is helping me both in my personal as well as professional journey. It has also turned me from being a carefree person to a humanitarian.

Vandana: MOI page mentions that its primary motive is to give some “Me” time to women; what kind of support, discussions, events or activities does MOI undertake to ensure that its members gain valuable insights or feel accompanied while traversing the challenging journey of motherhood?

Erum Saeed: Well, being a mother is the most hardworking and time-consuming job in the world. We have to be on duty 24×7 for family and eventually we forget that we, as individuals, have an identity of our own.

MOI gives you that much needed ‘Me’ time, in the comfort of your home. We promise you complete support. We make sure that anything & everything a woman needs, is available at a single click on MOI.

Whenever a member needs help or puts up a query on our group, hundreds of experienced moms come up with suggestions and ideas. Also the local moms from neighborhood physically go and support the person in need, in whatever way possible.

We discuss everything from books to business, from Children to Czechoslovakia, from kitchen to Krypto, from romance to recession 😉

Jokes apart, we have days dedicated to various topics, like Monday is for Jobs and Matrimony, Tuesday is for Health & Wellness, Sunday is for Mental Health & Anonymous postings and so on.

Also I would like to add, that through our charity wing “MOI Cares – Hope in Motion,” we work for the underprivileged and less fortunate people of the society and try our best to help the needy.

Vandana: Every woman, whether she is married or single, whether a mom or not, whether working or homemaker, has her own social group / support system of friends and relatives, then how does an online community assist a woman in guiding her or helping her to take significant decisions? How easy or difficult it is to open up or share with virtual identities?

Erum Saeed: I understand it’s not easy to open up with unknown people or virtual identities but here at MOI, the first thing is that we check the authenticity of these virtual people before letting them in, and make sure about the safety of the community.

Secondly, we are all mothers here, women who have similar experience with life. So, it’s safe to share things here. When women share their issues with their friends or families, there is always a fear of being judged or to be misunderstood and that’s the reason they don’t open up in their own circle, but at MOI this hindrance disappears as here everyone can share and open up.

Our networking meets in various cities and virtual discussions and activities help moms to create a strong bond with each other.

Vandana: Erum you have been associated with numerous women since the inception of your group MOI and you must have encountered countless stories of joy, pain, grief, loss, hurt, challenges, exhilaration and success. How do you deal with your emotions in such situations? Does it not overwhelm you?

Erum Saeed: It does. It certainly affects me a lot; their pain, joys, sorrows, achievements, everything matters to me. When our members share with me, I can relate to their emotions as I am so much connected to them.

Not only me, the whole community celebrates each milestone of every woman, whether personal or professional. MOI is one huge family of women and here we love to support, uplift and empower each one.

We come across women with first hand experiences on gender discrimination or domestic violence or infidelity, more closely. And with all kind of intellects, lawyers, motivational speakers, counselors, teachers etc present on the group, we get the right answer to all such queries/ issues.

There are numerous instances where MOI has come as a savior and support for its members. There was one incident where a young mother lost her husband and she was unable to support her children’s convent education at that moment because she had spent her savings on her husband’s medical bills. MOI members not only supported her emotionally but financially too. We collected funds and deposited school fee for her kids.

Once there was a member who delivered and went into critical state and her newborn was in need of breast milk. Through our Whatsapp groups, our members came to know about her condition and another mom went to nurse & feed her baby as milk donor.

Vandana: What is the biggest learning you’ve had in your role as a mom entrepreneur and what advice would you like to give to other women who aspire to assert their identity as an individual in addition to being a mother?

Erum Saeed: I want everyone to know that motherhood should not be a comma & never a full stop to any woman’s life & career.

Hey girl, don’t let your dreams or your personality take a back seat. Realize your worth, “You” are important. Believe in yourself. If “You” believe in yourself and your ideas, only then others will do the same.

God has given us the power to create and nurture lives, so nothing is impossible for us.

Also, would like to add, do make a tribe of supportive women around you as great things happen when women support each other.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MOI.momsofindia

https://www.facebook.com/MomsOfIndia