As many of you already know, International Woman’s Day is coming up on 8 March. This global day is important to me, as I hope for you, because it celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political success of women's past, present and future.

This day in 2021 seems extra special to me because all the recent and powerful advances women have made when it comes to sharing personal experiences in the public arena, which in the past may have been kept quiet.

These experiences may have not been shared publically because they are not necessarily showcasing successes. These experiences are more about disappointments that can affect women from all walks of life. And the sharing of not only successes, but also disappointments that only women can experience, I believe certainly helps women universally to find strength to share and support one another.

Do many of you recall Meaghan Markle and Chrissy Teigen speaking to the media about their personal and deep sadness in losing babies? Or did anyone read the article in Insider.com featuring high-profile women talking about their postpartum depression? This is what I mean by sharing ups and downs in the public arena. This kind of brave action by celebrities can help all women gain the courage to also open-up and share their own disappointments with their friends and families. As writer T.A Webb said ‘a burden shared is a burden halved', right?

So, in this timely blog space I wanted to share something personal with you about my own experience with post-natal depression. I wanted to share so I too can help women who have experienced something similar, to open up and reach out.

Ever since I remember, I absolutely loved children. I’d always imagined having a big family, but as an adult both my pregnancies for my two children were unplanned during a time that I felt I was just not ready to be a mother. My first pregnancy came around a time that I still wanted to do so many things like develop my career, travel overseas to meet the children I have been sponsoring, and just enjoy being a newlywed.

It was soon after the birth of my first child, that I found myself collapsing under the pressure of being a good mum. It was then that I started suffering from anxiety attacks and depression. When I analyse that time, I feel like the main reason for my suffering was that too quickly I was expected to do so many things for my baby all at once. I had to be responsible for someone else all at once, and this responsibility seemed huge to me because it was 24/7, for the rest of my life, and at the time that was hard to accept.

How I realised, I had completely lost it were the days where I could not look in the mirror because I didn't even recognise the person looking back at me. I hated how I looked, I hated how I felt, and I hated that I was no longer the person who took good care of myself. So, I found that strength I knew I’d always had, to realise that the only way I was going to end the pain was to take better care of myself again. 

One thing that always made me feel good about myself was fashion. I had always been drawn to clothes and dressing up since I was little. But more than just fashion, I was drawn to lingerie because I’d always believed beautiful lingerie was never for anyone else but for me. I always thought that when you put on lingerie it’s a mystery to everyone else; you and only you know what you have on.

Be it draped in soft intricate lace or showered in brilliant colors or various stunning lingerie designs, all of it, I believe is made to empower women to feel beautiful on inside. This is why my love for lingerie grew as I grew up, especially when it came to collecting, buying and wearing lingerie, I can honestly say that this hobby was always about me and for me.

So, when the dark depression days became too much I made myself wear beautiful lingerie again. Even though most of the time, I didn't feel like I deserved to wear anything beautiful, I forced myself to wear a different lingerie set every day. Eventually, I began to like it again, and I would layer it with a nice dress on top. That’s when it all started to happen. I wanted to go out again, see my friends more and even my partner noticed I was more myself. 

Then came the beginning of my exciting Dear Eve lingerie business. Through the development of this business, came the want to invite other women to also share in my love for lingerie. I wanted women to be able to feel better about themselves, especially on the days when things were just not going so great. Because I knew first-hand that it's the little things that can change how you feel about yourself, they change your vibrational energy, and in turn change how others vibrate back to you. I knew that changing your personal environment can change everything!

Through Dear Eve Lingerie, I hope my lingerie brings you love, brings you confidence, and brings you happiness, because that is exactly what it did for me. Creating this business has allowed me to share what I love with other women and give women strength.

Through Dear Eve, if I can make your day a little better in the tiniest way, that for me gives meaning to my life. Happy International Woman’s Day everyone, may you all feel beautiful inside and outside.

Dear Eve Lingerie supports Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia (PANDA) with 1% of profits going to this important cause.

Please use this code PANDA for extra 10% savings at on our beautiful range of lingerie.