Mother’s Day is tomorrow and I have a special treat for you. My guest, Winona, is sharing her 7 jewels of a successful single mother. Winona defines a successful mom, which I know is you. Check out this episode to learn the 7 jewels that we all need to continue to be successful.
My hope is that you will be encouraged and inspired to rise above the adversity of being a single mom by finding the success, faith, and courage from within to raise your children in a healthy and stable home environment.
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About Winona
Winona is a single mother of a 22-year-old daughter and the author of several books including the e-book 7 Jewels of a Successful Single Mother.
Connect with Winona
Website: https://www.kiraspublishing.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/winonalthomas
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winona.thomas
Books by Winona on Amazon
Links Mentioned
- Website: https://www.kiraspublishing.com
- Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/winonalthomas
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winona.thomas
- Book: 7 Jewels of A Successful Single Mom
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Transcript of this episode
Toni-Ann Mayembe 0:04
You are listening to the real happy mom podcast, the weekly podcast for busy working moms to get inspiration, encouragement and practical tips for this journey called motherhood. My name is Tony and in you are listening to Episode 178. Well, hello there. And welcome back to another episode of The Real happy mom podcast. If this is your first time listening, welcome, welcome. If you are a returning listener, thank you so much for coming back for another episode. This we got something really exciting going on. And that is Mother’s Day. And this Mother’s Day, I decided to do something a little special for you. So I know it’s fairly quick that’s going on. But today I got a full episode with a friend of mine who is going to be sharing some jewels for a successful single mother. Now, even if you are not a single mother, I think these seven jewels apply to all moms, but in particular, she really did want to hit home with the single moms. So first, I wanted to say Happy Mother’s Day, and especially to the single moms out there. Happy Mother’s Day and this one is especially for you. Now, I hope you enjoy this episode and enjoy these seven jewels. It was really fun talking to my guests, and I know you’re gonna love it as much as I did. So let’s go ahead and jump on into this week’s episode. So I am super excited today to have my guest on Winona. Welcome to the podcast.
Winona 1:37
I Tony, thank you for having me. I’m so glad to be with the real happy mom podcast today.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 1:44
Oh, yes, definitely. Now you are going to be sharing some jewels and gems with us about being a successful single mom. But before we jump into our topic for today, I just want you to share a little bit about you and what you do.
Winona 1:58
All right, my name is Wynonna L. Thomas, I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. I am the single mother of a 22 year old daughter, who is now a nursing student at a well known College here in Michigan. I am also the author of several books, including the ebook, seven Jews have a successful single mother. And I live by three key action steps number one, make a decision. Number two, take the fear with you. And number three, fight to overcome.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 2:36
I love that oh fight to overcome see I’m taking notes. This is so good. So I know, you probably have a story that has led you to be able to write these books and to come up with these three action steps. So share with us your story on how you became passionate to help other single moms.
Winona 3:00
Well, my story as a single mom, you know, began from the birth of my daughter, and just through the years, the challenges that I had to deal with it the struggles that I had to deal with, and just the process of God building me as a mother. And so I remember one particular day, I had written a book, it was a new book. And I wanted to launch the book, I had a conference to launch the book. And so after the conference, I got a phone call from this woman who found me on social media and she wanted an information about the conference. Now mind you before right before she called during this period of time, I think it was around 2017 I was really, I had a lot of unstability in my life, a lot of uncertain tea because things were happening, not good things. And so I remember I was in my car crying. Because I was struggling. I didn’t have you know, I was lacking things that I needed, you know, for my household. And so I remember as I was sitting there crying and I said to my I was talking to God and I said, I cannot be the only mother going through the struggle of you know, not having enough trying to make ends meet. And so what I decided to do at that moment was I said I’m not just pray for other single mothers. So I started praying, just saying a prayer and asking God to supply their need. And I remember right after that prayer, I got a phone call from this lady asked me about the conference I had just did. And so as we’re talking she says So tell me about your foundation. So I’m thinking to myself, I have a foundation. So right then and there, I had an aha moment. And that’s when God had given me the successful single mom network and foundation. And so that’s what, that’s where my passion comes from just my story of what I have been through and, and instead of, you know, having a pity party and assaulting and what I’ve been through, but deciding to turn it around and be a blessing and pour into other single mothers that are dealing with some of the same challenges, and have some of the same lack that I need. And then I know there that there are some single mothers who, you know, they need resources in their home, they need teacher to help elevate them to the next level. So that’s where my passion comes just being a resource for these single moms.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 6:05
Awesome, awesome. And I love I love that you are definitely like you said, not having a pity party and just sitting there and feeling sorry for yourself, but actually helping other moms because I know that you can bring a lot of like clarity in, like you said, even some of the resources to help other moms. So you have used this time about being a successful single mom. So I want to know, how do you define a successful mom?
Winona 6:33
Well, let me I wanted to just start, this is something I always have to explain in the beginning. Because when I used the term success, I am not glorifying being a single mom, because it was my personal experience. It was a lot of challenges. It was a lot of struggles, I had good days I had when celebrations. But for me, a successful single mom is when I had to look within myself, to pull out things of value. To me, that will help me to grow as a mother my role as a mom, and also to help create a healthy, stable, loving home environment for my daughter. So for me that success means looking within yourself. And because I believe God has already equipped us giving us the tools, but I had to go within and find those tools, I had to establish my relationship or a relationship with God to know that there was something greater in me that I could pull out to help me to be a better mom to grow into the mom that would be pleasing to God.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 7:53
Okay, got it. Got it. Now you also use in addition to the term of successful single mom, you also talk about the seven jewels. So I wanted you to break down each of those jewels with us and how they can help a single and how you can actually help single moms with applying them to their own life.
Winona 8:16
Okay, awesome. So the seven Jews want to give you the Jews first. Not the first Jew is prayer. The second Jew is sacrifice. The third Jew is patience. The fourth Jew is meditation. The fifth Jew is gratitude. The six jus is inspiration. And joy. Number seven is family. And so I call these what I call as Jews are really the values that I embody, that I found myself and also what I put in place for my household in order to raise my daughter in a healthy home environment. And so these values they were so key for me and me being developed into a mom, you know, that I feel that was what pleases will be pleasing to God will also, you know, help me to raise my mother. These values, values were so important, I just call them Jews, because they were that valuable. They were that important to me that I that I implement embody these different types of values. And so I think it’s important to for mothers to be able to as they’re defining who they are, as they learned to become that Mother, you know, is to apply these Jews and you may mothers may You know, also have other values or important, you know, Jews that they want to implement into their own life to help them to become that better mother to help them with raising their children, you know, and then overall, creating us the stable home environment for their children.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 10:24
Nice, no, I love all of these. And I didn’t know if it was anything more that you wanted to add, in particular to either one of these tools, because I got the seven prayer sacrifice, patience, meditation, gratitude, inspiration and family. I don’t know if there was anything that you wanted to expound on with these different jewels, because they’re definitely great values to have. But I don’t know if there’s anything in particular that made you say, like, these particular values, versus some of the other ones that that we could potentially add to this list?
Winona 11:01
Well, one of the jewels that I felt was very important was very key. For me, as a mom is sacrifice June number two, I just believe, personally, that is, is very important that when you become a mother, that you understand the sacrifice, that takes place, you know, there’s some before you can became that Mother, you know, there may be some, you know, things that you were, that were part of your life where now as a mother, you are responsible for somebody else or taking care of somebody else. So you may have to sacrifice different things that that you were doing in order to focus more on raising your children to focus more on spinning time and pour into that child focus more on creating that home environment. And when I think about sacrifice, I think about the Proverbs 31 mother from the Bible. And this woman, she, she was a business owner, she sacrifice like sleep, in order to provide to make sure that our household we have food, clothing, and shelter. And so during my journey as a single mother, there were a lot of things that I did, I had to give up. But there were things that I did, that I knew that were important to me that I’ve wanted to put in place because I believe that it will help me to, to have to create a better lifestyle for me and my daughter. But with sacrifice. Also, what I found out is as your child gets older, I know this was my case, as my daughter got older, she began to see mommy sacrifice. And she actually acknowledged it. And let me know that she appreciated the fact the sacrifices that I did to make sure you know that I spent the quality time with her, you know, I was there to help her with homework. Or if she just had a bad day at school, I was there to listen to her. So, you know, she appreciated your children, I believe, they will begin to acknowledge they will begin to see the sacrifices as a mother that we put on hold in order for us to raise our children. So for me sacrifice that would be that’s like one of the top values that I just believe it’s so important as a mother, if you’re not personal opinion, if you are not willing to sacrifice then you may need to rethink about becoming a mother. That’s just my personal belief.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 14:12
Can I take gotcha and one of the other jewels that you and you have that really I kind of lit up when when you said it was was inspiration because I feel like a lot of times as moms we we kind of forget, like some of the things actually light us up because we get so focused on taking care of our kids and especially as a single mom, I see how easy it can be because you’re like, Oh no, I don’t have this support. Like I have to do everything you know myself. Or you do have support but you know, a lot of times you find yourself doing things alone, like it’s easy to not have the inspiration that you once had before. So talk to us a little bit more about this inspiration value because this one is It’s a big one that I know, we can definitely lose that one.
Winona 15:03
Yes, yes, inspiration was very important. And really not just for me as a mom, but also for my daughter. But for me, as a mom, that inspirate finding that inspiration was key in helping me to stay motivated, it helped me to stay on task, as a mother, because, you know, with that, when you go through adversity or challenges, you know, depending on what you’re going through, it can just cause you really to shut down. And so part of my inspiration was, you know, connecting with people that encouraged that were very encouraging. That was very, very key for me, surrounding myself with the right people, to help encourage me, other mothers, that were very encouraging for me. So it just helped me to stay motivated and stay focused, and my tears as a mother, because I believe what you don’t want to do is shut down because when mom begins to shut down, the whole household starts to shut down. So that inspiration, finding what inspires you, whether it’s going to a park, or going on a walk, you know, being around other people, or just even taking some time for yourself, but find out what inspires you because it will definitely keep you motivated. And I think it opens up the door for creativity, as well, because on my journey, because I didn’t, I was not a I didn’t have any books published before I became a mother. So it was during that journey as a single mother that I started to write. And so that helped me to put a lot of my emotions of no struggle as a single mother that helped me to put all of that on paper and to start to create books. And then I also wanted to touch on the inspiration for your children. Because sometimes our children, they, they need inspiration, you know, they go through their dry spots where, you know, they may be sluggish or you know, they’re just not motivated. And so I remember there was a time when I had took my daughter, she wanted to go to a concert, it was like an all boy band, it was one direction. That’s what it was. So I got the tickets to the conference. I mean to the concert, she was so excited. And one thing she said to me at the concert was she thanked me for taking her to the concert, because it really inspired her. So it gave her like, new excitement, a new motivation. So I think it’s important that, you know, as moms, we find our place of inspiration, but we also, you know, help our children to find their inspiration to keep them motivated, and keep them focused and on task as well.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 18:24
Yes, no, I definitely agree with all of that. I love the inspiration, Joel, that you have. And I’m and I’m so glad that you brought up. Not haven’t inspiration just for yourself, but also for your children too. Because, yes, they needed to for sure, yeah. Now, lastly, before we get ready to wrap things up here, I know that there are moms that are listening that may be going through some challenging times, or just really just needing some inspiration or encouragement. So I wanted you to encourage the single mom that may be listening right now. And let her know, like, you know, especially coming from someone that’s going through it like you know that they got it and that they can get through it and be successful single mother that you’ve described here today.
Winona 19:16
Well, so the little bit of encouragement that I would have for that single mom is prayer was very important for me without prayer without having a relationship with God. I don’t really know how I would have gotten through some of the events that I’ve gotten through as a single mother. Also, connecting with encouraging people, particularly other mothers. And so just being willing to make those encouraging connections because I One thing I remember, there were a lot of women in my church, they were mothers, and they just adopted my daughter. So that helped me out, they were able to provide support wherever they could. So just having just encouraging connections, encouraging support, and also the three action keys that I gave earlier, make a decision, take the fear with you and fight to overcome, because they’re sometimes a single moms we can go through so much. And so when I talked about, you know, not shutting down, because when that adversity comes, come may come in, you want to be able to rise above that adversity to keep going to keep you move into really keep your sanity when you know, challenges and adversity comes. So you want to be able to applies some action steps on like, what are you going to do when this adversity comes? Or this circumstance comes? How are you going to handle that? So having a plan, thinking about a plan, and as far as for your children keep the lines of communication open? That was so important for me, I will hear the horror stories about other mothers that had children older than my daughter, and how what happened in their teenage years. And I was just praying that that would not be our story. And it wasn’t the line, I kept the lines of communication open, like, no topic was off the table, we could talk about any and everything, and being present with your children spending that quality time with them, hearing them listening to them. And when they say that, you know, they had a bad day, don’t just brush it off, like, oh, you know, you’re just a kid, you know, it couldn’t have been that bad. But sometimes I you will be surprised what our children go through, and then take time for you. At the end of the day, it was very important that I spend time, you know, just writing something I’m thankful for just praying, or just spending time with in meditation, reflecting back on my day on what happened, what I could have did differently and how you know, what I can do to make it better. So those would be the tips that I would have for single, that single mother that may be really going through and struggling right
Toni-Ann Mayembe 22:53
now. Some and I loved all of those tips that she gave, especially about the lines of communication, keeping those open with our kids. Yes, that is something that I think that we don’t always think about. And it’s easy for it to get shut down and for our kids to feel like oh, well I can’t talk to my mom because she didn’t even listen. So thank you for that reminder, because that is a big one. Yes, you’re
Winona 23:20
welcome. Yeah.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 23:21
Now you shared a lot of really great tips. You shared these jewels that are just definitely some that I’m gonna keep very close to me. So I know that they are moms that are listening that either want to either learn more about you or more about those books that you’re talking about. So tell us where we can find you online if we want to connect with you learn more about you and get some more information that you have.
Winona 23:46
Sure so they can go to my website, www dot Karis, Ki R A s publishing.com where you will find all of my books you will be able to find us the ebook seven Jews have a successful single mother and the link to Amazon to is a free book so you can go right to Amazon and download the eBook. And there’s also a free mini course based on the book as well. You can also find me on Instagram instagram.com For slash Winona w i n o n a dot Thomas and you can also find me on Facebook facebook.com Winona ale Thomas
Toni-Ann Mayembe 24:41
perfect and I’ll make sure to include all of those links in the show notes. So if you’re listening and you didn’t catch any of those, make sure you go to shownotes and check those out there. Now Winona, thank you again for coming on the podcast you have been super helpful and I really enjoyed hearing in learning from you today.
Winona 24:59
Though Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate being on your podcast. I really enjoyed it.
Toni-Ann Mayembe 25:10
Now that does it for this episode of The Real happy mom podcast, head on over to Real happy mom.com/ 178 to get the show notes and find all the links that were mentioned here. And I hope that you have a fantastic rest of your day and awesome Mother’s Day and make sure you stay tuned for Tuesday for a full episode as well especially for mommy tech Thursday and Saturday for a quick tip. Now that is it for today. Have a great rest of your day and we’ll talk to you again soon. Take care and with lots of love
