#MUMOFTHEWEEK

We are glad to present you our new #mumoftheweek - a successful businesswoman and mother of two kids Maria Bergelson! Maria is a founder of such projects as Sunday Up Market (first chain of multibrand markets for Russian fashion designers) and Random Showroom (showroom platform for Israeli designers). At the moment Maria is on maternity leave and is taking care of two sons with two unusual ancient Jewish names: Ariel (4 years old) and Amitai (2 years old). Maria gave birth to both of the children in Tel-Aviv, where the family lived for three years. Ariel is the older son, soon he will be 4 years old, the meaning of his name is “the divine lion” or “the lion of God”. “He is the biggest gift to me, my first-born! He himself thinks that he is a lion, loves big African animals, he is very fascinated by dinosaurs and plans on becoming a famous paleontologist.” Little Amitai turned 2 years old last week. His name translates “my truth”. “He thinks that he is a real tiger, he knows exactly what he wants like a very stubborn and determined man! Prior to my maternity leave I was a businesswoman, startupper and doing PR. I closed the market project and the chain of shops, at this moment I deliberately chose motherhood. Officially I’m not married, we still can’t find time for this stuff!”

The questions are answered by the older son Ariel:

1. What is the meaning of life?
I give up! I know nothing about this yet…

2. When was the first time you realised what love was?

When-when?! When my mum said to me “You are my love!”

3. What is your favourite colour and why?

Black! Because I like colouring everything in. Because you can’t see anything in it. Because in the darkness the eyes beam like fire. Because I really love the night.

4. What do you think brogues are?

I haven’t seen them yet! But it sounds like a “brooch”.

5. What is your favourite piece in your wardrobe?

The cap, because it has a giant tongue - visor!

Motherhood life hacks by Maria Bergelson:

1. Maria, do you have a special recipe?

When we lived in sunny Tel-Aviv the ‘breakfast of the dream’ was the heavenly buffalo yoghurt, chopped mango, banana or pear with a drizzle of extremely healthy date honey. Each one of us could eat a bucket of this vitamin delight. I’ve lived in Moscow for a year already, yet I keep asking my friends that travel back and forth to bring me those rare ingredients - the buffalo yoghurt and date syrup.

2. Do you have some motherhood tricks?

I know a unique way of getting your child ready for school in just 3 minutes in the morning. Listen carefully: all you have to do is thoughtfully pick everything out the evening before and in the morning you’ll only need a few minutes to help your baby put everything on!

3. Can you tell us about how you spend time with your kids?

In Moscow it always depends on the season and weather. We live on Frunzenskaya and with two little kids we do our best to combine fresh-air active leisure with some kind of cultural programme. In our area we have a few favourite playgrounds, where we go around in strollers, scooters or bicycles. Among our close favourites - Trubetskih Park. During the summertime in Luzhniki you can go for nice strolls, lay on the grass, arrange quiet picnics, you can sunbathe in the open-air pool complex. We love Gorky Park for exhibitions at Garage, open-air cinema screenings at Pioneer and petank at La Boule while the boys rip their pants on the huge octopus. We love the ‘wooden city’ and ‘construction site’ playgrounds in Neskuchniy Garden, where we also go to cafes in the middle of the woods, or to the stables to pet and feed some horses. And when it was really hot this summer we adored the dancing and bicycle rides at Muzeon Park. It’s of course hard in winter, we go to the dacha for weekends, sometimes we travel or just find something fun to do all together at home!

4. Maria, what would you pick for your boys at FIVE KIDS?

I’m a huge fan of Japanese minimalist yet eco-friendly style in good execution. Most of all we liked the shirt, sweatshirts and transformer jacket by Arch&Line. The shirt is simply an eye-candy! And the sweatshirt made of organic cotton, of a neutral colour with a fun thesis on it, what more can you ask for? The transformer jacket of a very basic design with a cool twist is a multifunctional purchase for at least three seasons - spring, autumn and the cold winter. We also really loved the #mumofsix sweatshirts with fun phrases about school, that could actually be a great gift in my opinion!

Other publications

  CARREMENT BEAU SS'19   Les Coyotes se Paris SS'19 "A FRENCH HOLIDAY"   Basta daughters Masha and Vasilisa in MUMofSIX for HELLO!   Caution! Kids zone! MUMofSIX AW'18/19