Unabashedly, Diversified: Joy Rose
Joy Rose
Joy Rose, founder of Mamapalooza says she is engulfed in Mamapalooza 24-7. “Mamapalooza as in large scale events that reach people in communities across America and Mamapalooza as it relates to our online presence.” She still manages to find time for her other efforts as Executive Director and Founder of the Museum of Motherhood and lead singer of “Housewives on Prozac.” She’s also editing a film about “The Motherhood Movement,” “capturing the voices of feminist mothers of the 21st century.” In the midst of all this she was awarded the Susan B. Anthony Award from NOW NYC 2009. Did I forget to mention she is Mom to four kids? The diversity does not end in the number of her efforts.
Rose is determined to redefine modern motherhood. After the end of a marriage to a powerful, successful husband and a diagnosis of Lupus, which resulted in a kidney transplant, Rose realized she had not only lost track of the money but she had lost her way. “I realized motherhood and wifedom hadn’t changed that much since my mother’s era in the 1950’s which is ridiculous because I was born during the women’s lib movement.”
Rose has a BFA in Theatre from Denison University and before she was married her accomplishments included opening and running Betsey Johnson’s Soho store and being a Billboard Chart topping performer. She got lost in the joys of marriage and popping out babies. “After I woke up I had no landing strip, so I built one so other women would.”
Rose says her goal is to reach women before they become moms. “So when they are 20,000 feet in the air with their endorphins and their new baby they can see the ground and they can see a place, an organization, a community that’s going to embrace them and embrace the fact that we all look different and we all talk different, we all have different parenting experiences. We celebrate diversity.”
“We know every situation is different but our core values: caring for women, caring for families, making sure people get financially educated and making sure people have health care. That those issues in our lives are taken care of and at the same time we’re nurturing the creative, soulful individual that lives within the role of Mother.”
She says people who come to Mamapalooza events come from a variety of worlds. They come from the business world, the music world and they come from a world near you. “Everything about my organizations is extremely diverse,” says Rose.
The one thing you won’t find at Mamapalooza is how to be a better parent. Rose says there is plenty of that out there. She is “more interested in supporting individual voices and what happens when individuals reach out to each other.”
In celebration of diversity, Rose hopes that women will log onto the museumofmotherhood.org and share their stories. These stories inspired the work to build a physical location to honor the work of motherhood and promote studies in the field of motherhood.
Mamapalooza’s online presence includes a blog but Rose is working towards a more collective format for the blog. She also had a blogging engagement with firstwivesworld.com and is oftentimes a guest blogger on momsrising.com
Rose is working on another mamapalooza addition, MamaZtv. Which is somewhat of a video blog that relates media at events or the experiences of individuals that have had a relationship with Mamapalooza. “Like everything else it’s a real palooza.”
Rose has her hand in many pots but strives for the depth of human connection through her diversity. “There is nothing that substitutes for the human experience and that’s why I’m committed to the Internet and blogging but also the real life human experience.
Post by Dawn Miller
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Graduated Cum Laude from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in spring of 2008. While there, as nonfiction editor of The Sheepshead Review, she was able to secure an interview with nationally-acclaimed author, Aimee Bender. She's been honored with the "Rising Phoenix Award" for her nonfiction piece, "Heel Story" and the opportunity to read at the 32nd Annual UW-System Women's Conference. As a new mom, she's excited to explore topics considering moms active in social media. Dawn.Miller@momswhoblog.com |
