For this week’s Deep Dive Series we are interviewing a super mom and creator: @Clarissemartin.
This mother of three is giving us an inside look into the real struggles and battles of motherhood, and on top of that, finding time to be a relentless creator on Clapper. As the founder of two popular hashtags #Packagewars and #shittymomadvice, we found out more about the origins of this movement and process it involved to make it.
Keep reading to find out more about this creator’s amazing story.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. What does a day look like in your life?
Oh, that’s a funny question. A day in my life starts with my three kids. My oldest is about to be six in October. He is currently going to school so I have to get up on the weekdays by 7 alarms, it’s really sad. I am out of bed by 7:30 am to leave at 8 am, which is impressive. I have two other kids who are 3 and 2, so it involves a lot of diapers and constant reminders to get moving and to try to get the kids out the door. And if I am lucky I get coffee on the meantime.
Let’s talk about Package wars. How did you come up with one of the most popular hashtags on Clapper, who was involved? tell us the whole story.
Package wars were supposed to be a joke between friends. It was beaus there was a video that was stuck on everyone “for you” page about a guy who received a glitter bomb and we were live on Zoom one night talking about getting to know people to the point where you could get their address and surprise them with glitter bombs and pranks. It was a joke but then I and @Just_Jonathan talked about it in more detail, and we notice that many creators had post offices addresses in their bios. We realized that big creators and small creators regardless of their following base could still get to know each other. You could open gifts on lives together and you could make somebody’s day. The awesome part too was that we could support small businesses here on Clapper, buy buying their products and gifting them to other creators.
What has been the craziest gift you have gotten from a Clapper creator?
Probably, the funniest gift I got was perch from @IgnatiousRiley because the first piece of merchandise was his face with a gun pointing and the way is positioned is right over my bra. First of all, I am in Canada and our gun restrictions are harder than in the west. So, I wore it to the park and my husband was like “everybody is staring at you” and I was like, “why?” and he said “there is a guy pointing a gun from your bra”. I thought that was awesome, so I texted ignatious and told him all about it.
What has been the most emotional gift you have received?
Hands down, it would be the letters that I received with the packages. I have gotten some great gifts, but it was the notes that came with them. That’s when I was so happy Clapper Pen Pals came out. @Dr.Kenny and @Momma.C7 did such a great job with it. I got a note from @anothertattoedblonde where she took the time to send and to say what she said and it was heartwarming to me. Some people were having a really bad day and getting a package from someone on the app would cheer them up.
Okay. We are so curious about #ShittyMomsAdvice. Tell us why did you create this hashtag and what it means for other moms in the app?
Again, it was a joke. I was in red_headed_rebel’s live and I was talking about how I felt so shitty as a mom and asking who tells people to have kids, just joking around in the comments. And then someone said the words: shitty mom advice. I wasn’t sure about it at first because when you first hear it, it sounds negative. I’ve gotten that response too. You could take it two ways, as crappy advice or a mom who is feeling shitty and is giving you advice.
Now, you tell us what has been the shitties advice you have gotten as a mom? and the best advice anyone has ever given you about being a mom?
For me, it’s “nap when the toddler naps”. It sounds bad and counterproductive because I complain about not being able to sleep all the time. But for me, my kids don’t nap long enough and it takes me some time to fall asleep. So, it really doesn’t work for me.
And the best advice I’ve ever gotten about motherhood is “accept the little things as well as the big things as they happen”. By that I mean, you can decide everything for your child and in some ways, I am a helicopter parent, but you can’t control everything. You can’t control what your kid is going to do or how your house it’s going to be. You have to accept things as they go. If you worry about every little thing, you are going to go bonkers.
Let’s talk about your beginnings as a creator. How did your journey as a creator begin? Or even your journey on social media?
I first started out on Facebook. When I first became a mom and started creating videos it was because I saw someone on a Facebook post about her mom’s life. She would have people giving her advice and she would still do her thing and I thought that was so good. I was in that place where I thought everything I did was wrong as a mom. So I started doing videos and lives on Facebook, Instagram, then tried it on TikTok and then went to Clapper. I didn’t intend to post that here but it just happened.
What do you enjoy most about Clapper?
It’s definitely the community aspect, the people. I had four amazing creators show up for me the day I joined Clapper on March 10th. And they all kept me here just from the words they were speaking. They all had strong messages that really drew me in because they were so real.
In what ways do you feel like Clapper needs improvement
I do wish that the blog was more visible to people, I totally believe that should be more visible. Also, making videos more visible would be great. Lastly, the videos that get stuck on my “for you” page will get stuck there for days.
What advice would you give new users that want to be successful on Clapper?
When you come to Clapper drop the skin that you have on every other social media app. What I mean is come here and act like you are literally going to a brand new town and got invited to a community event, how would you get to know people? Would you go in there and dance right away? I feel like Clapper would be the most eye-opening place. Its the most scary idea in the world to just be yourself without the persona that you’ve built everywhere else. I think when you first start is also good to just sit and listen, to observe your surroundings and see what its like, rather than just posting and getting mad because it didn’t work our for you right away.
Little sneak peak of the bonus questions…
We had an amazing live interview with Clarisse on our new radio show called Clapper interviews. Make sure to tune in every Friday at 4pm CT on our @Clappertalks account, to listen to the bonus questions that will only be available on the live radio show.