By providing a space to grieve in an empowering and positive way, and offering support as they navigate life and it’s many milestones without mum - daughters and families alike can become stronger together.
Embracing women's lived experiences of mother loss is at the centre of our work. Bringing together women of all ages and backgrounds to comfort and support each other in a non-judgmental space, Motherless Daughters provides the platform to facilitate discussion that might otherwise not have been possible.
For us, it goes beyond care and support of daughters and families, it’s about raising awareness in the community of the often overlooked impacts of mother loss. The more aware families, friends and colleagues are of what to look out for, the more we can all support daughters in coping with the loss of one of life's most precious relationships.
Creating awareness - we’ll educate the community to equip them with the skills to support women and girls who have experienced mother loss. Present evidence - we’ll research and always remain curious about our community’s experiences to inform future activities and services, so they remain relevant and valuable to our members.
We deliver on these promises through a range of events and support programmes.
Everyone processes their grief in their own way, at their own pace. We respect how our community chooses to cope.
We strive to understand the emotions of our community and create a space to share and be open, together.
Every daughter's experience is different. We will foster an environment where experiences and emotions are shared without judgement.
Together we’re stronger, so we’re committed to working closely with our community to provide the best possible support.
As a registered charity, we’ll provide you, our community and stakeholders, with transparency in all we do.
We’re on this journey ourselves, so we’re committed to being authentic and sharing our own journey with you.
As Danielle had such a close and special relationship with her mum, she felt as though her whole world had fallen apart and found it difficult to contemplate the finality associated with death. Not knowing anyone her own age that had also experienced the loss of a mother left Danielle feeling misunderstood and lonely.
Danielle longed to connect with another woman who was in the same shoes, but there was no support specific to losing a mother.
While riding the waves of grief, Danielle decided to invest her time and channel her energy into creating the support network she would have liked available and to change the path for future motherless daughters. In 2013, she reached out on an American Mother Loss Facebook page with the hopes of finding a Victorian-based woman in the same shoes and who might share her vision to connect girls and women whose mothers have died.
Eloise Baker responded and the two met where they discussed all things mother loss. It was here the idea of Motherless Daughters was born.
Eloise grew up living with her dad, step mum, two older brothers and step brother in Melbourne. As a teenager, Eloise often longed to have her motherless life understood and supported by her fellow peers at an all girls school and also in the wider community.
A chance online connection with Danielle made for an instant friendship and special connection In 2014, in fact, Danielle was a bridesmaid in Eloise's wedding. The opportunity to help create and establish Motherless Daughters Australia was an absolute dream come true for Eloise as its vision and ideas spoke strongly to her heart.
Eloise has faced many of life's milestones without her mum, but was fortunate enough to have had her maternal grandmother by her side supporting her for most of these milestones until 2020 when she passed away. In 2020, Eloise became a first time mum to daughter, Matilda.
Mark connected with Motherless Daughters through his wife’s experience; “both my wife and mother had amazing close relationships with their mothers who they talked to just about every day. The bond between them was incredible and I wish MDA had existed then so that there had been an opportunity to engage with other daughters when their mothers passed.”
Over the course of his career, Mark has been part of executive leadership teams and led professional service teams. Mark brings expertise in developing national capabilities and competencies.
Sally is an Australia Day Ambassador and serves on a number of committees and boards. She is also involved with philanthropic activities through her Charitable Foundations. Sally’s mum died of Motor Neurone Disease when Sally was a young mother herself.
Over a decade ago she started a group for young women who had lost their mothers, sweetly known as ‘Girls without Mummies’. She has always had a real soft spot for young women who lose their mums and is honoured to be involved with Motherless Daughters Australia.
With a national reputation for helping to deliver innovative brand strategies and advertising solutions for health care professionals and organisations, Brad uses evidence-based marketing science and consumer behaviour research to design competitive advantage.
As a marketing researcher and academic, Brad has expertise in consumer psychology, practice led research, service innovation, consumer anthropology, digital marketing and emerging digital technologies.
Acknowledging the critical shortage of specialised grief support for Australian daughters who have lost their mothers, Brad is committed to helping raise awareness and understanding of the social and psychological effects of this unique type of loss.
Kellie recently spent six years living in the Middle East. Her move to expat life came when she was 42, a year after losing her mother Pamela to breast cancer, who was 71. For the self-confessed 'home body', leaving Australia and her close network of family and friends was a big step, but no bigger than the prospect of life without her mum who had been her best friend and part of her day, everyday.
Life in the sands provided an opportunity to heal and to write the book she didn't know she had in her. 'What will I wear to your funeral?' is a memoir about final conversations before dying. It's raw, funny, heart breaking and depicts the unique bond between mother and daughter.
Kellie is currently a consultant for Breast Cancer Network Australia and an ambassador for Advanced Care Planning Australia.
Bringing a wide range of financial and risk experience to Motherless Daughters Australia, Christina’s specialist skills include risk and corporate governance, audit, finance and strategy. Christina has been providing Enterprise Risk Management support to Wealth Projects and Services to a large Wealth mangers and industry funds in the past ten years.
Prior to that, Christina has enjoyed many years experience managing stakeholders namely- regulatory relationships from a Risk perspective with the regulators APRA and ASIC. Christina has worked as a CFO supporting Audit & Risk Committees, Risk Committees and Boards to develop appropriate financial systems, Risk Frameworks and reporting to suit the risk profile of the organisation.
Christina is passionate about helping young girls and women reach their full potential and sees the work and support provided by MDA as critical for those women who have experienced the overwhelming impact of mother loss, especially as important life milestones approach
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