Emily Buckley, editor in chief
Raising kids is no joke, but if you take a cue from Mendon mothers Lindsey Smith and Cassie Baxter who have become known locally and around the world in social media as the “Maverick Mamas,” you may be able to get a laugh or two out of the lighter side of the never-ended and exhausting job of motherhood.
The pair became fast friends after moving near each other about a year and a half ago. “When Lindsey invited me over for lunch and made a box of mac and cheese for us to share, I knew we were going to be good friends,” Cassie said.
“No fancy salads at my house,” Lindsey laughed. Their friendship blossomed as they made regular trips to the Maverik Country Store for a soda (which translated into girlfriends chats) to help them make it through their long days of mothering.
On one such “soda run” Cassie purposed that they start a YouTube Channel. Her first thought was to use the channel to help promote Baxbo Games, which are created by her husband Shawn. “That only lasted for one video,” Cassie said. “We quickly knew that wasn’t what this was going to be about.”
Instead the channel has become a place for them to promote the real and lighter sides of motherhood. Their “tagline,” so to speak, is “Just Be You.”
“There is so much garbage about perfection filling up our social media feeds,” Lindsey said. “It makes women feel badly. Our goal is to encourage women to be themselves. We want to spread joy and help women laugh at life instead of get down when things aren’t perfect, because the truth is, no one’s life is perfect – no matter what their Instagram account is telling you.”
Cassie explained, “It is about solidarity in motherhood.” The Maverick Mamas put a light spin on the daily challenges of raising kids (they have four children each), supporting entrepreneur husbands (both of their husbands are self employed), keeping house and all the other seemingly thankless, but absolutely necessary components of motherhood.
Whether they are sharing “beauty hack” spoofs, laughing about “mom jeans” or celebrating mom wins, their videos always include a lot of laughter and a lot of encouragement.
So, while they use social media to share their message, their goal is to be anything but what has come be considered the social media norm. “We want to go against the grain and boldly tell average mothers that they are doing just fine and that they can be real,” Cassie said. “Maybe we can make them laugh while we are at it.”
You can follow Maverick Mamas on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram by searching their tag @maverickmamas. They post new videos every Wednesday.
