Hello, friends –

 

Here's hoping the month of May has been a good one. It seems impossible that 2024 has almost reached the halfway point, but there you have it.

 

Inspired by a certain recent holiday (our favorite, ahem), we're chatting moms here at The Pour this month. First, there's Melinda French Gates's bold bet (and billion dollar investment) in women and girls. Then, a closer look at Mother Tongue, the magazine that captures the beauty and bewilderment of modern motherhood. Finally, we share our recent work for Mother Ventures, and speak with a hospitality leader (& mom) whose energy and clarity of vision are a true delight. 

 

Cheers,

Laura

 

PS - Cider's hopping the pond this summer! Stay tuned for details of our London residency from July 29th through August 7th. Do let us know if you're around for a coffee, and I daresay we will organize some sort of an event…

 

Please excuse us, Mary Wollstonecraft, for stealing the punchy headline. But the recent news of Melinda French Gates's landmark philanthropic act seems like a true embodiment of your cause from all those years ago.

 

For the uninitiated, it was recently announced that French Gates will donate $1 billion over the next two years to support women and families. This coincides with her departure from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in order to forge her own philanthropic path.

 

Perhaps what is so striking, and indeed so exciting, about this announcement is her willingness to speak so frankly and unapologetically about the importance of this work at home, as well as abroad. At a time when many parts of the US are morphing slowly into a terrifying dystopia for women, French Gates is directing meaningful swathes of cash to organizations dedicated to reproductive rights and choice, in addition to maternal health, gender inequality, female labor, and other worthwhile causes.

 

Because as any woman will tell you, the decision of whether and when to have children, is quite simply the most basic of our rights.

 

Brava, MFG. And thank you.

 

The biannual magazine Mother Tongue was born of the pandemic frustration, inspiration, and collaboration of Natalia Rachlin and Melissa Goldstein – veteran writers and editors with a keen eye and a shared sense that something was terribly, terribly wrong. As mothers of young children, they couldn't see themselves in any media brands that purported to be ‘for them’. There was content about parenting, but what about content for multidimensional women just living their lives…while also being parents?
 

So they set out to create a brand – it is so much more than a magazine – to do just that.

 

In their words, Mother Tongue "interrogates (and celebrates) modern motherhood through inclusive stories about art, sex, pop culture, politics, food and a few things in between."

 

Creative director Vanessa Saba established a vibrant visual style with a striking palette, strong typography, and wildly expressive art direction. From the look of the book itself (don't get us started on the paper stock), to their enviable merch and collaborations with groups like I Am A Voter and Mother Denim, suffice it to say Mother Tongue is giving modern motherhood a very good look indeed.