The Woman Behind the Brand

Navigating Mental Health, Motherhood & Media Pressure

There was a young woman with a vision and a quiet battle no one could see. Before Imana TV Productions existed, before the cameras, before Mind Over Matter became a platform for real conversations. That woman is me.

I walked into university with a notebook full of dreams and a heart set on becoming a journalist. English had always been my first love which are; words, stories, the power of truth. I was passionate about storytelling and determined to graduate, build a career in media, and create something meaningful with my voice.

But life rewrote my story in my first year.

I found out I was pregnant.

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

I was young, uncertain, and afraid. University was supposed to be about lectures, deadlines, and chasing ambition, not antenatal appointments and morning sickness. I remember sitting alone with my thoughts, torn between who I was becoming and who I was about to become. I felt confused, overwhelmed, and deeply aware that my path was shifting.

Yet beneath the fear was something stronger: attachment. A connection to the life growing inside me. I knew, with every doubt that crossed my mind, that I was already a mother.

So I made a decision that would define me.

I would continue the pregnancy.
And I would continue my studies.

It was not easy. There were days I carried more than just books to lectures. I carried exhaustion. I carried judgment. I carried silent questions from people who did not understand how a young woman could balance ambition and motherhood at the same time. But I also carried my daughter, sometimes physically, sometimes in spirit, as I walked across campus determined to finish what I started.

And I did.

I graduated, not alone, but with my daughter beside me. That moment was not just about earning a degree; it was about proving to myself that becoming a mother did not mean abandoning my dreams. It meant redefining them.

Photo by MD Duran on Unsplash

After university, I began working for the NHS as an administrator. It was stable and respectable, but it felt limiting. A 9-to-5, with someone else deciding my worth and controlling my schedule, was not the life I envisioned. I wanted more. I wanted freedom. I wanted to be my own boss and create something that reflected my vision, my voice, and my values.

So I took a leap. I left the security of a steady paycheck behind. I took the lessons I had learned from motherhood, from surviving abuse, and from chasing my dreams through university, and I poured them into building something that was entirely my own. Today, I am proud to say I own my own TV company and host my own talk show, a platform that is not only a career but a legacy. A place where conversations about mental health are normalised, where stories like mine can be told, and where the next generation can see that it is possible to rise, despite everything life throws at you.

Behind the public success, however, I am still navigating deeply personal battles. I suffer from depression and anxiety, struggles that deepened after enduring domestic abuse in a former relationship. Abuse does not just leave physical scars; it reshapes your confidence, your sense of safety, and your voice. It triggers insecurities, magnifies anxiety, and makes even the smallest tasks feel overwhelming.

Leaving that toxic relationship was one of the hardest and bravest decisions of my life. It broke me, but it also built me. In the silence that followed, I made another defining choice. I would transform my pain into purpose.

Mental health became deeply personal to me. I knew what it felt like to smile in public while battling storms in private. I understood how isolating depression can be, how suffocating anxiety feels, and how invisible the wounds of domestic abuse often are. And I realised there were not enough safe spaces where these conversations were held honestly.

So I created one

I built a mental health talk show, not just as a brand, but as a legacy. A platform where difficult conversations are welcomed, where vulnerability is strength, and where people feel seen. I wanted to create something that would outlive me, something my children could inherit. A show that carries not just my name, but my resilience, passed down through generations as proof that pain can be transformed into power.

Photo by Ivan Radulovich on Unsplash

Building a brand while raising children and managing mental health is no small task. Motherhood is relentless and beautiful all at once. It demands presence, patience, and strength even on days when you feel empty. Media is equally demanding, with expectations for performance, consistency, and visibility. And then there is the internal battle: maintaining stability, protecting your peace, and staying mentally grounded while the world expects you to keep producing.

There are days when the weight feels heavy. Days when anxiety whispers doubt. Days when exhaustion tests my optimism. But I have learned that strength is not the absence of struggle; it is the decision to keep going despite it.

I choose positivity not because life is easy, but because I refuse to let hardship define my narrative. I choose resilience because my children are watching. I choose to speak about mental health because silence nearly consumed me once.

Behind the brand is a woman who has cried, rebuilt, fallen, and risen again.

A woman who carried her baby to lectures.
A woman who survived abuse and found her voice again.
A woman navigating motherhood, media pressure, and mental health, all at once.

This is not just a story about success. It is a story about survival, determination, and redefining what strength looks like.

Photo by Nong on Unsplash

And if there is one thing I know for certain, it is this: I am not just building a show.

I am building a legacy of healing.

Main – Photo by Billy Williams on Unsplash