When Work Meets Wonder: Mums Who Make

Anak Ketjil has always been more than clothes. It’s a brand founded, designed, and brought to life by mums. We work with women who know firsthand the messy, magical balance of building a career while raising little ones.

Motherhood doesn’t dim creativity. If anything, it sharpens it. It gives us new ways of seeing and a deeper understanding of comfort, confidence, and self-expression for our kids and for ourselves.

We’re handing over the mic to some of the incredible mums who help make Anak Ketjil what it is, to share their reflections on work, motherhood and what it means to create with both hands and heart.

When Motherhood Becomes The Muse

For Michelle, a proud Gamilaraay woman, mother and creative director, becoming a mum unlocked a feeling she’d never had before.“The only real way I could ever describe motherhood was feeling like my heart started beating for the first time. I simply had never felt so much love, so much life, so much purpose,” she says.

After a long career in fashion editorial, the birth of her daughter Oakie brought about a beautiful shift and energy that she channelled into creating her own studio. “I felt a brand new creative flow; a new light running through me. But this time, the focus of that flow was creating for me, for my family and for my heart.”

With palettes inspired by Country and free-flowing designs drawn from Mother Earth, La Terre Press’ creations live proudly in people’s homes. It’s a creative endeavour that co-exists with her most important role—being a mother.

“My girls are my priority, my centre, my inspiration, my everything. I’m extremely, extremely fortunate to be able to work within an industry I love, find new tenets and branches, all while nurturing and spending my days with the lights of my entire life: my two beautiful daughters.”

 

Building Dreams, Not Just Websites

For Anais, co-founder of Milky Studio, mum of two and designer by trade, motherhood was the push she needed to dream bigger. “When I gave birth to my first daughter, I had this urge of doing something bigger than going back to work for someone else. I wanted to be able to build my dream job alongside being a mum.”

That dream became Milky Studio: a contemporary creative studio based in Sydney and Wollongong, founded with her “work wifey”, Sam.

“It’s been hard, messy, tiring,” Anais admits, “but also so rewarding, magical and I don’t regret it in any way.” Now with two daughters by her side, the juggle is real, but so is the joy. “I get to spend so much time with them and build the cutest little business with another mum, working for other mums.”

The days aren’t always seamless : “Don’t get me wrong, some days I pull my hair out so badly”. But for Anais, the big picture is bright. “I know in the long run, this was the best decision ever.”

A Catalyst For Clarity, Creativity And Community

For Bree, motherhood wasn’t an identity crisis; it was clarity. “Becoming a mum comes with no shortage of warnings, most of them starting with ‘just you wait…’ or hinting at some inevitable identity crisis. When you’re pregnant or fresh in those hazy newborn days, it’s honestly the last thing you need to hear. And if you let it sink in, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Instead, Bree found motherhood to be a kind of invisible thread, one that tied together her passions, crystalised her focus, and made space for what mattered most. “It sharpens what matters and what really doesn’t. That can be a bit confronting, sure, but it’s also wildly freeing.”

It was during this chapter, while on maternity leave with her sister Kate, that Duo was born. What started as a creative side quest grew into a postpartum and parenting platform filled with the stories, inspo and advice they went looking for as new mums.

Through the community they’ve built with Duo, Bree and Kate have connected with countless like-minded mums, each one inspiring them to explore new ideas and fresh avenues. “We’ve always been in awe of the mums we’ve worked alongside; women who somehow juggle a million things and still get sh*t done. If we’ve absorbed even a fraction of those superpowers, we’re pouring them straight into our own passion projects and career paths.”

At Anak Ketjil, every sketch, stitch, and story carries the fingerprints of mothers who are creating alongside their children; building businesses, finding new flows of creativity, and proving that purpose doesn’t pause when parenthood begins. It only grows.

So mums, who can relate?