March is Women’s Herstory Month with the Annual International MoM Conference at USF & the MoM Art Auction in partnership with OXH Gallery – Join Us!

March is Women’s History Month with the Annual International MoM Conference at USF and the MoM Art Auction in partnership with OXH Gallery in Tampa Bay and Online. Women’s Herstory is every person’s story: We hope you will celebrate, learn, play and activate with us during this extraordinary time starting with starting with 03/04 Tuesday’s FREE Workshop celebrating local she-roes with Sierra Clark onsite 6PM. See our Events Page here. JOIN US! We can’t wait to meet you.

St. Pete Coffee Connections at MoM with Working Women of Tampa Bay hosted by Mary Havlock and Little House Non Profit

When: 05 Mar 2025 9:00 AM, EST
Where: Museum of Motherhood

EVENT DETAILS: Come join us for a morning of meaningful networking with Working Women of Tampa Bay! Meet like-minded professionals at our St. Pete Coffee Connections. This monthly event is your opportunity to connect and grow your business in an intimate and relaxed atmosphere. Guests will receive a complimentary cup of coffee and baked goods. Directions are here. Open to members of Working Women of Tampa Bay: Join Us -More information and online registration: St. Pete Coffee Connections.

The 20th Anniversary International MoM Conference is sponsored by two generous grants from USF taking place at MoM and on campus at USF March 14-16th. Huge gratitude to Michelle Hughes Miller; MoM Academic Board member and Caryn Nesmith, USF for sponsoring the space onsite at the USF St Pete campus! Brittany DeNucci and Meagan Welch have done a fantastic and rock-steady job of communicating with conference presenters and organizing the schedule! Schedule  is HERE. (There will be a family lactation room onsite).

USF Students and Faculty are FREE to attend and the conference is OPEN to the PUBLIC – advance registration only: Registration CLICK HERE in advance please.

The MoM Art Auction takes place on March 18th 6-8PM in partnership with Odeta Xheka and OXH Gallery at the Spiral Staircase. This fundraising event is made possible by a generous underwriting partnership with Odeta Xheka and OXH. (If you have not been to Ybor City to see Odeta’s gallery – run, don’t walk! It’s beautiful!). Register NOW for participation online and in person for this event happening at The Spiral Staircase in Tampa, FL. Also thanks to Courtney Kessel for artist’s submissions and Barbara Lynch for collating exhibits & Mary Havlock for expertise. RSVP & REGISTER FOR THE EVENT HERE.

You Are Invited

MaMaPaLooZa Sign Up is Open for Artists, Sponsors and Activity-Makers

Mamapalooza 2025
Mamapalooza 2025

Hold the date – Sunday May 4th, 2025 for Mamapalooza™ in partnership with FloridaRAMA in Tampa Bay, Florida. Fun, Free Family activities with a music stage, samplings, and activity tables. All those interesting in participating as sponsor-partners or performers please SIGN UP NOW online. We will be in touch about time slots, stage options, discounted tickets to FloridaRAMA and more. We look forward to having an awesome and informative time. Mamapalooza™ Together we focus on Women-Empowered, Mom-Branded, Entertainment, Education, Business & Activism. Mamapalooza is a steady supplier of varied and exciting programs that have led to innovative activities positively impacting families, amplifying the voices of women and revolutionizing the ways in which we understand the nuanced and varied multicultural experience of families- inclusive of all.

Access to Healthcare and Embodiment Education at MoM

The Museum of Motherhood (MoM) approaches reproductive justice by focusing on the intersection of motherhood, reproductive rights, and social justice. It recognizes that reproductive justice extends beyond simply access to healthcare. Instead, it emphasizes a broader framework that includes the right to have children, the right to not have children, and the right to parent in safe and supportive environments. We call this ‘Embodiment Education’ and we do it onsite everyday. MoM fosters dialogue and education about issues like race, class, and gender, which heavily influence reproductive rights and experiences. It also highlights the voices of marginalized groups, advocating for the empowerment of women, particularly women of color, in all aspects of reproductive health, from pregnancy and birthing experiences to parenting.

Through exhibitions, community events, and The Escape Womb with it’s educational programming, the Museum of Motherhood underscores the importance of inclusive, equitable policies and practices that support reproductive health and justice for all individuals and families. See our work in this area through our projects and people at Big Human Family.

Creating Culture Beyond the Bridges: Black History Month

Museums make America great and people make museums ~ MJ Rose

According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, no one has played a greater role in helping all people understand Black American’s history than Carter G. Woodson.” Carter Woodson championed Black History month because of his singular devotion to “Negro Life and Culture,” and the formation of an organization whose goal was to make Black history accessible to an audience beyond college campuses and academic texts. Woodson was a “man whose only passion was history, and he expected everyone to share his passion.” This passion resulted in the formation of  Negro History Week in 1926, which eventually came be what we now know as ‘Black History Month‘.

We are so lucky to have our very own Woodson African American Museum in St Petersburg, Florida. With big plans underway for future development, we are encouraged and lifted by their successes. Here at MoM, we celebrate and honor our one Big Human Family. We are all different and we are the same… With love as our guiding principle, we encourage all people to put aside the divide and recognize that together we rise! See or listen to Maya Angelou’s poem titled Human Family and stay inspired!

Woodson African American Museum in St Petersburg, FL

What’s Next at MoM in February?

Since 2023, Sierra Clark has spearheaded programing that reaches into the he(ART) of the St. Pete community with a message of inspiration and love. As MoM’s champion of Health, Wellness and Education Outreach as a funded partner with Foundation for a Health St Pete, Sierra has organized two February gatherings that highlight Black History month as a time for self-care, story telling, and culture.

Health Wellness and Education at the Museum of Motherhood

“Know that you hold the power to change your whole narrative. The only thing between you and living the life you deserve is the way you see these things and the meaning you give them. Be the lighthouse that leads you to your power. Finding Sierra’…. the journey to finding oneself is about removing the paradigms, especially the ones we see ourselves through. Letting go of all the ( M. U. S ) made up stuff we believe and subscribe to that stops us from living the life,. Instead, WE SAY WE WANT!! D.A.R.E 2 B a better you” Sierra Clark SIERRA SPEAKS.

February 4 6-7pm with Tresalynn Morris -Founder & Community Health Advocate Inspiring Health’s Collective Advocacy Alliance. 

Event Title: “Heart Beats for Wellness: Health & Love Fest”. Observance: American Heart Month & Valentine’s Day. Theme & Description: Promote heart health, self-love, and community wellness with a festival that merges health education and fun activities. Attendees can participate in wellness screenings, fitness classes, and workshops on building healthy relationships. RSVP INFO@MOMmuseum.org 877-711-6667

February 25th 6-7:30 Angela. Observance: 

Black History MonthEvent Title: “Bridging Our Stories: Black History & Resilience.” Description: Honor the resilience and achievements of Black individuals and families through storytelling, historical panels, and wellness workshops that focus on community strength. More info: 727-906-7542 or INFO@MOMmuseum.org. The Factory 2606 Fairfield Ave S. Gallery Row Building 7 Door B. 

RSVP please. 877-711-6667

Events at MoM

Don’t Forget the Playdates, Lactation Groups and Escape Womb Experience: Escape Womb Tickets Here

Playdates at the Museum of Motherhood
Mothers Group with infants and toddlers at the Museum of Motherhood

March Preview: MoM Art Auction with OXH Gallery

Save the date! MoM Conference 2025 in partnership with USF St Pete. Open to the public March 14-16 followed by the MoM Art Auction Fundraiser with OXH Gallery in Tampa Bay at The Spiral Staircase. Pre-event press is here in ArtNet. “Not shying away from the complexities of women working in the visual arts, OXH Gallery embraces the influence of motherhood and herstory on contemporary women artists.”

MoM Art Auction with OXH Gallery: We Build Tampa Bay March 18, 2025

Thank You St Pete Chamber of Commerce for the Awesome Ribbon Cutting Ceremony!

Ribbon Cutting St Pete Chamber of Commerce

Ribbon Cutting Museum of Motherhood St Pete Chamber of Commerce

Ribbon Cutting

ST. PETE, Fla. (January 17 2025) — The Museum of Motherhood has taken a new residence inside Gallery Row at the Factory, St. Pete located at 2606 Fairfield Avenue South in Building 7, Door 2 B (to the left of the FloridaRama & DaddyKool entrance next to Florida Wildlife Corridor).

The museum’s (re)opening celebration will highlight its newest visitor experience, an escape room adventure with Ribbon Cutting celebration in partnership with the St Pete Chamber of Commerce.

Museum of Motherhood Ribbon Cutting with the St Pete Chamber of Commerce
St Pete Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting Museum of Motherhood
MoM Executive Board member Barbara Lynch and Emanuel 15th St Farm at the Museum of Motherhood

Navigating life’s intricate fabric, choices unfold paths to the extraordinary, demanding creativity, curiosity, and courage for a truly fulfilling journey.

Museum of Motherhood Ribbon Cutting with the St Pete Chamber of Commerce
St Pete Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting Museum of Motherhood
MoM Director Martha Joy Rose at the Museum of Motherhood with Chris Steinocher

Navigating life’s intricate fabric, choices unfold paths to the extraordinary, demanding creativity, curiosity, and courage for a truly fulfilling journey.

We Are Grateful For Your Support!

St Pete Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting Museum of Motherhood

Press From The Event – St Pete Catalyst

Ribbon Cutting at MoM – You Are Invited!

See our funding partner’s Year-End newsletter FHSP with a feature on MoM. The museum’s reopening celebration will highlight its newest visitor experience, an escape room adventure aptly named MoM’s Escape Womb. Designed to delight visitors age 18 and above (younger with an accompanying parent or guardian), with clues and puzzles about the secrets of life while visitors explore the nuances of conception, gestation and birth. This 60-75-minute Escape Womb health and wellness journey is educational and fun.  Read our Press Release here.

Ribbon Cutting

Join us tomorrow, Friday January 17th for a Ribbon Cutting with the St Pete Chamber of Commerce at our new space in The Factory at Noon. Peek at the Escape Womb. Play with us. See you soon. Directions are now here online.

Enjoy CAKE and sparkling water. Thanks to Emmanuel and 15th St Farms – another funded partner of Foundation for a Health St Pete.

Playdate for youngins at 10:30 AM and then Ribbon Cutting at Noon. See you soon!

The MoM Team X O X O

What’s Happening at MoM

Sunday: Amanda Bartles of Lactation Loop– Join us to socialize with other moms and families & take advantage of on the spot breastfeeding education and lactation support available to infants and toddlers. January 19th at noon with MoM. We’d love to make this a regular gathering so please do consider bringing conversations and hangouts w/mothers and others a regular part of our offerings. Please register in advance using this link

January 21st 6-7pm in observation of mentoring month. Jim Oliver (The Village Mentor) Co- Author in Repair of The Black Family Anthology. Event Title: “Guiding Hands: Mentorship for Mothers and Families.” Description: Explore how mentorship can empower mothers and families by providing guidance, support, and tools for success. This event highlights the power of shared experiences and community connections to navigate the challenges of parenting. INFO@MOMmuseum.org. RSVP please: INFO@MOMmuseum.org 877-711-6667.

Health, Wellness and Education events are commencing with Sierra Clark, Amanda Bartles and Courtney West empowered by our funding partner Foundation for a Health St. Pete. Events.

Thanks to Josh Naaman and Naaman Creative for helping with web updates!

 Money, money, money – we need it now. We need it bad. We need it to continue paying our rent. If you have access to some, or know someone we are now in emergency mode for the remainder of the year. I know prices are high and people are suffering. All the more reason for just the right match or miracle!

Donate Now

Why MoM Manifesto?

Why MoM? Read My Manifesto Online & More Here: Empowering All Women, Inclusive of All Reproductive Identities.

Thank YOU – See you soon, we hope.

Martha Joy Rose and MoM Team

xoxox <3

Year End Giving & MoM Gratitude!

Click That Button!

CALLING ALL FRIENDS – YEAR-END FUNDRAISING BY DEC 30th! Last Call! Thank you to all of the amazing people who made MoM great in 2024 at The Factory in St Pete! It’s because of you that we made it through. Shout out to everyone who is reading this – If you haven’t joined our year end fundraiser – there is still time. We need to fill the gaps in dollars. Every donation goes towards our keeping the doors open and the lights on. We are volunteer run and free and open to the public. Thanks to all those who have given and gratitude notes coming to each of you! Special shout out to Aleks M. & Scott Rosen and Joseph T for joining our Founders Circle this year. Please consider giving in the name of someone you love. MoM is here for YOU and has been for over 20 years.

Make a donation

Thank You to Our 2024 Team Members!

Our team of experts and volunteers are all incredible. They are pictured on our ‘Team‘ page and in our banner here. We could not do what we do without each and everyone of them! SO MUCH LOVE <3

We Are Now A Funded Partner with Foundation For A Healthy St Pete

Thank you FHSP: Foundation funded partner the Museum of Motherhood (MoM) is devoted to the art, science, and herstory of women, m/others, and families inclusive of all reproductive identities. They strive to redefine how we talk about motherhood, celebrate and make visible the work of moms, and provide a safe and inclusive space for learning and community.

“This idea came organically after my own experiences, being an artist and a mother and seeing that there weren’t really institutions that recognized our creativity and our labor,” said founder Marth Joy Rose, who goes by Joy. Read Full Article.

MoM Manifesto – A Year End Message

You’re here. Maybe you are pregnant and looking forward to the birth of your child? Or, perhaps you’re contemplating getting pregnant? You have a lot of mixed feelings. Maybe you hope you never have to be pregnant. Or, you could even be living with regret, loss, trauma or ongoing pain. In every case the process of nurturing your one precious and extraordinary life in addition to another new life is an exciting, unpredictable and fraught adventure that no one can completely prepare for.

That being said, everyone can, and should do as much educating, planning and spiritual/emotional preparation as possible. This journey takes guts, grit and a group of supportive souls. No one should have to be pregnant, give birth, or raise a child alone. That includes having a child via fostering, adoption, or surrogacy.

That’s why we’re here for you. In a country where social isolation is rampant and high expectations are the norm, we believe that a connection to a collective that values your experiences and perspective can be as important as expert advice, classes, and reading materials.

The Museum of Motherhood (MoM) is an institution that champions you; the mothers, care-workers and creators as well as the lived experiences of offspring (of which we are all part). MoM is also invested in an interdisciplinary postmodern critical field that identifies a nexus of m/otherness as a determining force of action and expression. We call this mother studies.

While many academic interpretations including (psychology and sociology) acknowledge the relational status of human beings, mother studies focuses on each and every aspect of these interpretations within a variety of intersectional, multicultural perspectives. Our attention is on the procreative, creative, and long-term experience of this connected (and sometimes disconnected) status and its transformative nature.

It is our deeply held belief that the important work of birthing and raising future generations, which has historically been the domain of women, requires reverence, respect and genuine compassion.

While not all mothers have the capacity to care well or responsibly for others, the fact remains: every person present on the planet is of womb-born. Also, every person to some degree or other has physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects that connect them both to their birth humans and the humans who raised them.

Therefore, we believe in holding space- in real time- to cherish the embodiment of the life force and all that it entails, which is vast, magnificent and truly awe-inspiring.

MoM is not here to serve you the latest parenting advice. There are zillions of published blogs, videos and books on that subject. Rather, we are here to hold you in communion with the women who have gone before, their art, science and herstory and the creators who have made our whole human family.

We pause here in hallowed halls to process the miracle of our lives and the lives yet to come. We realize that the uniqueness of each of us is reflected in the experiences, stories, and truths we hold, and that those truths can evolve, change and have the potential to be healed. We believe that in healing ourselves we heal the planet and that translates to a more deeply held conviction about the sacred complexity of each and every living being. ~Martha Joy Rose, Founder & Director

Martha JOY Rose is an award-winning artist and activist. Her pursuits have included academia, large-scale community gatherings, music, media, and Mother Studies. As the founder of the Museum of Motherhood (NYC & FL), and the MOM Art Annex 501c3 nonprofit in St. Petersburg, FL, she has organized International conferences, hosted students, as well as interns, from a wide selection of universities, developed curriculum on motherhood and feminism, and overseen the evolution of a modern m/other’s movement. She is also the founder of MaMaPaLooZa and the Journal of Mother Studies. Current pursuits include scholarship, art-making, and publishing her writing. [More about Joy] Read More.

Second Saturday in January, Tours and Special Events

Health Education and Wellness Events, the Escape Womb is OPEN, Ribbon Cutting with St Pete Chamber of Commerce, Second Saturday Art Walk and more. See what we have going at MoM here on our ‘Events‘ page.