A New Sweet Spot For African-American Moms, Plus: Win A New--FREE--Nursery!

About a year before I got pregnant with my first daughter, I interviewed the author of the book, “Having Your Baby,” for a Mother’s Day profile I was writing for The Daily News—one Hilda Hutcherson. She was a fantastic interview—smart, funny, down-to-earth, and a fantastic mother who was passionate about her children and her job. When she found out I hadn’t seen an ob-gyn in, um, er, years, she demanded I come to her office and get checked out. A little over a year later, Hilda delivered my first born—one of the last babies she “caught” before leaving the baby business and refocusing her energies on writing books about sexual pleasure. “Having Your Baby” was my bible while I was pregnant—one of only a handful of pregnancy books geared toward moms of color. Though my baby-making shop is closed, I still keep my well-worn copy of Hilda’s book on my shelf.

Next to it is "The Mocha Manual To A Fabulous Pregnancy", a young, hip pregnancy guide for moms of color, written by Kimberly Allers. Kim, too, is a writer whom I had the pleasure of working with during my days at Honey; she was the magazine’s financial columnist, and I was her editor. I knew she was passionate about black women and finance, but I hadn’t a clue that she was so very passionate about motherhood, too. Her "Mocha Manual To A Fabulous Pregnancy" has become quite the hit, selling tons of copies and even being turned into a DVD. And now, Kim’s put all her writer’s know-how into a fantastic new website, Mocha Manual: A Mom’s Guide To Life. On it, moms can find everything from pregnancy and new mom advice to stories on health, relationships, sex, and finances, and even channels for single moms and dads. Real talk? Her site is the fire.

I’m so very proud of her.

To celebrate her new venture, Kim is running a Mocha Manual Nursery Makeover GiveAway with New Arrivals, Inc., the website of celebrity nursery stylist, Tori Swaim, who’s styled baby rooms for P. Diddy, Christina Aguilera, Julia Roberts and more. The nurseries up for grabs are delicious; almost makes we want to have Nick rethink the whole “we’re done” thing. Er, almost.

So go not now, but right now, to check out Mocha Manual: A Mom’s Guide To Life—and come back here and tell MyBrownBaby’s readers what you think. And if you’re in the running for a new FREE nursery, go ahead and register for her contest here.

Congrats, Kim!