Moms on moms: How one generation of N.L. mothers inspires the next

Reflecting on Mothers' Day, a group of prominent Newfoundland and Labrador women say they have learned valuable lessons from their moms, which helped to make them who they are today.

Constanza Safatle, the founder of Newbornlander, a social enterprise in St. John's that sells baby clothes, says she has always loved her mother, but has grown to admire her in recent years.

The two women were almost opposites. Safatle says she was always entrepreneurial and chasing financial independence, while her mother Maria was content staying at home. However, this changed when Maria, at 52 and following a divorce, was able to reinvent herself.

Now, Maria is the head of a non-profit, and Safatle said her mother's story is an inspiration to her and to other women. It's never too late to change the trajectory of one's life, she said. It's a lesson she shares with her own daughter, Victoria, and her son, Mateo.

"We talk the same language and we support each other," Safatle said.

"I always loved her, but today I admire her as a woman, not just my mom."

Blanche Winters, an artist in Makkovik, is the daughter of Nellie Winters, an influential seamstress in Nunatsiavut who received an honorary doctorate from Memorial University for her contributions to Inuit art and culture.

Blanche remembers how she would watch and learn from her mother as a child. Nellie would embroider beautiful flower patterns that stretched from one end of a coat to the other.

"She's a wonderful teacher and she's a role model," Winters said.

Not only did her mother teach her to sew, forming the foundation of her current art, but she also taught her to fish, cook and pick berries. Nellie was her teacher in life and at school.

"I'm very proud of her," said Blanche.

"Other people here in Makkovik, go down [to her house] for storytelling of her home and how she got into sewing and how to make things."

Blanche said her daughter, Jessica, is also an artist.