Just in time for Mother’s Day, Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (BSSP) has created a video project that celebrates all kinds of moms. Often, women end up feeling left out on Mother’s Day or triggered with memories of motherhood that was missed out on, or just simply looked different than everyone else’s experience. Now, in this video, all types of moms are acknowledged. Featuring images and videos from the personal archives of BSSP staffers and set to a voiceover from BSSP’s Cierra Moore, whose personal story with motherhood inspired pieces of the narrative, the video pays homage to all types of moms.
“To every mom who couldn’t, and the ones who decided they shouldn’t,” the narrator Moore begins as pictures of different women flash across the screen. “To every mom who chose to, chose not to or didn’t get to choose at all,” she continues.
“To every mom who was told they were too old, or too young, moms who weren’t wholly ready or had been ready their whole lives. To the mom who kept trying, kept waiting and kept wanting,” she says as pics of more women and a sonogram comes into view.
The video goes on to call out “every ‘dad mom,’ dog mom, and mom who’s lost their own mom…”
The project is part of a new innovation program BSSP introduced at the start of the year: Break Out Briefs, which asked staffers to break societal norms and pitch a creative solution to five areas of culture that need some rethinking.
“I was inspired to write and create this for many reasons,” says BSSP’s Creative Director Robyn Tenenbaum. “This idea first began after the passing of my grandmother in 2019. I started learning more and more about bits and pieces of her life and really began thinking about the intricacies of motherhood. She hailed from an era where women were expected to become mothers above all else, no matter their drive for education or career paths. I started to see my Nana not just in her role as my grandmother, but as a woman. This new perspective applied to how I viewed my mother’s life too. After seeing so many friends become mothers, or struggle to become mothers and witnessing my mom experience her first Mother’s Day without her own mother, really fueled me to write something in honor of all the different shades of motherhood. BSSP immediately jumped on board to support — so many different wonderful women from the agency felt this resonated in some way, and most importantly, wanted to stand behind something that was a different take on how Mother’s Day usually appears out in the world.”
The poignant video ends with the sentence: “To every mom who may not always get to be celebrated.”
