Mum advocates: She created a community where mums can be vulnerable about their changing identities

SINGAPORE – A group of eight women sit on picnic mats at East Coast Park on a Saturday morning in February, deep in conversation.

Today’s Parkside Mum Circle session by The Mum Collective SG is themed “Our Shared Page”, to remind participants they are never alone, even during the messiest moments of motherhood.

After grounding and icebreaker activities, the mothers read a short 2024 essay from Vogue magazine titled Why Don’t We Talk About The Joys Of Motherhood Anymore? Their chat is guided by questions such as whether they feel safer to bond with others over struggles rather than joys, and why.

Over light refreshments, they discuss another literary excerpt and listen to one mum’s advice on how to raise a reader.

Then, each woman picks one of nine reflection prompts to expand on. She might talk about an “unsung hero moment” during the week when she handled a difficult situation with grace, or one quality she sees in another mum in the circle that she would like to channel.

Meanwhile, their children are busy painting, playing with toys or listening to a storytelling session.

As the 2½-hour session comes to a close, the women write down what they want to release from their mental load that day. They end with affirmations such as “I give myself permission to find joy in the mundane and grace in the messy”.

“Most of the time, the mums don’t want to leave. We see them at the playground nearby chatting and making their own connections,” says Ms Nurulhuda Mohamd Rasid, 35, The Mum Collective SG’s founder, who goes by the name Huda Rasid.

The Singaporean mother of two came up with the idea of bringing mothers together in an intentional way after her daughter’s third birthday party in a park in 2025.

“That whole energy was just really nice. I thought to myself: ‘How do I replicate this without it having to be an occasion?’,” she says, adding that mums crave time with other mothers, but in a space where their children can be meaningfully engaged, since childcare arrangements on weekends may be tricky.

She hosted the first event in April 2025: a play date for eight mums across different peer circles. The in-person gatherings were later called Parkside Mum Circles to reflect their intentional focus on mothers.

“What was surprising was how everyone was happy to share, even though they were meeting some of these mums for the first time. It wasn’t like they were ranting. It was a very open conversation where they shared their hopes, dreams and challenges in an honest, vulnerable way,” says Ms Huda, who gave up her career as a public servant in 2022 to be a stay-at-home mother.

That supportive vibe inspired her to provide guided reflection prompts for the subsequent five circles, held every two to three months, usually in East Coast Park.

She also started an Instagram page for the group (@themumcollective.sg), which has over 860 followers, to cast her net wider.

Mums pay $35 for the Parkside Mum Circle sessions, which include light refreshments, a goodie bag of sponsored products, free entry for their children and other caregivers, and activities for the little ones, such as sensory play, water or ice play, painting and crafts.

Each circle attracts between six and 13 participants, usually local mothers in their 30s, ranging from professionals to stay-at-home mums to entrepreneurs.

“Initially, I thought it would be quite advice-driven, but it hasn’t really turned out that way. It’s deeper; it’s always about identity,” Ms Huda says.

“For example, working mums ask if they’re selfish for pursuing their ambitions and wonder how to ensure they’re giving their best as a mother. It’s about the mothers themselves, not so much about the kids.

“Stay-at-home mums, on the other hand, have other concerns such as how they can stay true to themselves as individuals without getting lost in the daily routines of motherhood.”

She feels The Mum Collective SG taps the lifestyle shift of in-person events and third spaces as people crave physical connection, especially in an increasingly digital-focused world.

“When you have to physically show up and own whatever you’re saying in front of people, that vulnerability is scary. I applaud the introverted mums who come.

“But the rewards are equally huge, too. You get genuine connections, and they start exchanging numbers and, hopefully, meeting up on their own for a play date,” says Ms Huda, who is married to an analytics director in a media agency and expecting her third child later this year. Her two elder children are aged two and four.

When some could not make it for the in-person sessions on weekends, she started a podcast titled Mum, Interrupted on Spotify to keep them connected to the community and to explore topics more in depth.

Its 21 episodes since July 2025 have covered topics as diverse as postpartum challenges to a mother’s evolving identity, sometimes referred to as matrescence.

She has recently uploaded some of the video podcasts onto YouTube and started a Substack, both under the handle @themumcollectiveSG.

Sometimes, she tries to “connect the dots” between the platforms. For instance, she ran a poll about postpartum issues on the Instagram page, teased out certain themes in a podcast episode with a mother who had given birth six weeks ago, and themed a Parkside Mum Circle on the same topic.

She thinks there is a place for her community even in the crowded online spaces which abound with forums and chat groups for mothers.

“In some of the Facebook or WhatsApp groups, it can become a bit like mums venting. I understand why, but I don’t think it’s particularly helpful,” she says.

“So, I don’t just want to call The Mums Collective SG a safe space, but I also want it to be a safe, active space where you have a takeaway or something you can think about, and also curate your own friendships.”