The Download: Georgia Devon-Shelley On Affirmations, Algorithms & The Rise of Mother.fm

Georgia Devon-Shelley isn’t just building another wellness brand; she’s engineering a new category altogether. 

Her platform mother.fm sits at the intersection of neuroscience, community and the often-overlooked emotional architecture of early motherhood. “When I gave birth to my son last January,” she tells The Modems, “I realised that many of the coaching-techniques I’d shared in the years before… were actually most relevant to the postpartum period.”

It’s a familiar founder origin story – a personal gap turned business idea – but what sets Devon-Shelley apart is her ability to translate deeply human experiences into scalable, tech-enabled solutions. Where traditional meditation apps focus on stillness, mother.fm is built for movement: pram walks, 3am feeds, the quiet chaos of new motherhood. “There is a plethora of meditation and hypnosis resources focused on pregnancy and birth,” she explains, “but a significant gap in support for mothers once their baby has arrived.”

Before motherhood, Devon-Shelley cut her teeth in major record labels, mastering audience engagement long before “community” became a buzzword. That instinct now underpins mother.fm’s growth strategy: part platform, part ecosystem. “I started keeping a log of every ‘challenge’ I experienced,” she says, documenting the raw data of early motherhood before transforming it into bespoke affirmations – a technique rooted in performance psychology and, increasingly, neuroscience.

The result? A product that feels less like an app and more like infrastructure for the female mind. “The audios combine visualisation, breathwork, and simple pressure-point techniques that can be used in ordinary moments,” she notes – including exercises as tactile as “squeezing and releasing the bar of the pram while walking.”

And while Devon-Shelley has, so far, self-funded the business – recording audio “when my son was asleep” – her ambitions are anything but small. With plans to scale into a dedicated app, mother.fm signals a shift in how we think about both motherhood and mental health: not as passive states, but as systems that can be optimised, supported and, finally, designed for.

Or, as she puts it, “I call mother.fm ‘your pocket-sized pep talk for motherhood.’”

The Download with Georgia Devon-Shelley:

 

When I gave birth to my son last January…

I realised that many of the coaching-techniques I’d shared in the years before – both via my media and stage coaching for female artists and via workshops for women looking to tackle overwhelm – were actually most relevant to the postpartum period, I was shocked there was little to no attention to empower mothers with simple tips for their mental wellbeing during this time. There is a plethora of meditation and hypnosis resources focused on pregnancy and birth, but a significant gap in support for mothers once their baby has arrived, a time that is often the most emotionally intense and vulnerable. Motherhood is an important market and one that is rapidly strengthening – testament to a new culture of motherhood, more mothers are looking to invest in their own mental wellbeing.

I started keeping a log of every ‘challenge’ I experienced…

As I decided I would write bespoke affirmations for those topics. The musicians I worked with used bespoke affirmations (as do athletes) and they really work from a neuroscience perspective, and massively transform your negative self-talk. I had reached over 50 topics, and booked in time with a studio to record these affirmations and found a good producer to score them to calming music. I then trademarked the name, had a logo created, set up an instagram page and newsletter mailing list and started to grow the audience from there. In tandem to online, I also booked in an IRL event each month to host directly to mothers, word of mouth is incredibly powerful in the motherhood space.

I think the word “meditation” is often misunderstood…

Many people associate it with sitting cross-legged in silence, which can feel unrealistic for new mothers. With Mother.fm, the approach is much more practical and integrated into everyday life. The audios combine visualisation, breath-work, and simple pressure-point techniques that can be used in ordinary moments – for example, there’s an exercise for overwhelm that involves squeezing and releasing the bar of the pram while walking.

I have considered reframing it as “audio coaching for the first year of motherhood and beyond,” but for now the key is to be clearer in the marketing about what the audios actually include and what meditation can look like in real life. Interestingly, many of my subscribers are based outside the UK – in places like Sydney, Sweden, and Los Angeles – where culturally meditation tends to be more integrated into everyday life, which may influence how the content is received.

Operational costs so far have been…

Manageable – bar things like a press launch, digitally, I’ve been able to keep costs down. I was able to use 10 hours of studio time for free from a friend who owns the studio, I recorded the audios myself when my son was asleep and my husband was home from work – I self-funded the platform so far, using income from my self development coaching jobs – but for the next app stage – I am more open to investment. I wanted in the first instance – to really hone in on motherhood communities, get the branding, positioning and messaging correct, for it to feel like it’s been curated and created by a mother, which it has. That autonomy and mother-first focus was key in the first instance. I also, if i’m honest – wanted to test the waters and prove its value in a potential future-investment proposition, and by curating important communities around the product, make it less easy to replicate.

I think breaking into the corporate world…

With a major company buying bulk subscriptions for their employees was a great moment. Replicating this across multiple businesses and industries expands my market. To be part of an ‘employee benefits’ and have the co-sign of that, is really important to me, as i’m really glad workplaces are investing more in motherhood and in their employees when they are on their maternity leave, it’s a smart investment from them too.

I was told I was going to be featured in a big press ‘mothers list’….

I got excited – told everyone and then the piece never ran. I planned to reach out to certain businesses off the back of the piece as it was such a strong co-sign so early on, so it informed much of my outreach strategy. So the lesson is, just banking on the present, staying optimistic but keeping my forecasts on facts.

I stay motivated because…

I think the freedom of time that the success of the business affords me at the moment, I want to continue to have that flexibility while my son is small, so the half-panic of ‘not having a Plan B’, is motivating. I also was raised by a single mother who is incredibly successful in business – so my work ethic has always been strong.

Advice I’d give to aspiring entrepreneurs is…

Read Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, the mindset tips are so powerful for founders, and it’s a classic but: solve a real problem – then start small and test quickly. I stay very close to my subscribers – they will email me requesting certain ‘pep talks’ and I’ll upload them to the platform within the week. The ‘pep talk for nursery drop-off’ was the most requested – this way I’m reacting quickly and solving evolving problems, in real time. I call mother.fm ‘your pocket-sized pep talk for motherhood,’ and increase its value through constantly serving the audience with what they may need. I would also say be careful sharing your ideas with people who are known to ‘play safe’, people can project their fears and we can take on subconscious, limiting beliefs from those who are risk-averse: I like to say the greater the risk, the greater the reward.

The platforms I use to enhance my productivity…

I used to use Grace Beverley’s The Productivity Planner via Notion, which basically time blocks your day – but now if I’m honest my son’s sleep schedule is ‘my productivity planner’, with having a finite amount of time to get certain tasks done, it makes me incredibly productive. If you want something doing, ask a mother – that’s why I think they make the best hires!

My number one founder tip is…

Lots of people put in video calls without an agenda or clear objective. I think it’s important to build relationships and ‘seeing each other’ can be important – but after Covid, I think everyone became a bit zoom-mad, for me, a voice-note or quick audio call can be far more productive. I’m really upfront with suggesting this as an alternative.

I stay updated with the latest tech trends…

I follow The Modems on Instagram! Following key companies & people on LinkedIn and reading the Big Technology by Alex Kantrowitz’s Substack.

The emerging technologies I’m excited about are…

I’m particularly interested in how technology can deepen and support the meditative state. From a somatic perspective, I find tools like the Sensate vibrating device fascinating, as they use physical feedback to help regulate the nervous system.I often used the Somadome during pregnancy, at Re:place in Notting Hill – it’s essentially a pod that delivers meditations, I one day want to do a takeover using Somadomes using my own mother.fm meditations. the idea of using technology to give people greater autonomy over their own calm and mental state feels incredibly powerful.

The one tech trend I wish people would stop is..

I think there can be a hyper focus sometimes with people and their health tech. I remember being a bit obsessive with my Oura ring and I think at times it became a self-fulling prophecy, if it said my sleep score was bad – I’d feel more tired. Having said that, when I gave birth my doctor asked if I knew what my normal heart rate was – as mine was high – and they wanted to know if that was ‘my normal’ and I could literally hand over my phone and give them my health data. It is a balance, but we mustn’t forget to trust our own intuition and to listen to our own bodies.

 

My go-to books, podcasts & resources are…

Atomic Habits by James Clear – Practical but powerful in showing how small behavioural changes compound over time.
Meditations for Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

The Venture Room on YouTube

Marisa Peer’s work and meditations – Really informed me looking into self-talk as a way to help my clients and then ultimately build mother.fm

The fashion-tech I’m loving at the moment is…

ByRotation – I have recouped on many of my clothes, I could also rent a temporary wardrobe during maternityamd postpartum, funded by my old clothes that were being rented out. It is genius.

The beauty-tech I’m loving at the moment…

The Lyma Laser – I also love scrolling through Healf to see all the gadgets they’re adding!

Modems Byte-Sized Questions:

💻 iOS or Android?

iOS! Though my stepdad who loves tech says Android is ‘technically’ better in lots of ways – they usually experiment with newer technology earlier! 

🎧 Earbuds or over-ear headphones?

Wired headphones! They’re easier to find. 

📱 Text or voice notes?

Voice notes – the tone and nuance can be conveyed. I went through a phase in early motherhood dictating messages and I just came across as very blunt and serious! 

📸 Phone Selfie or Proper Digi camera?

Proper digital camera, I took this recently to Sri Lanka and the photos are so lovely. It makes me far more intentional and they’ll look better printed. 

💡 Dark mode or light mode?

Light mode! But I don’t have my phone in my bedroom ever. I protect the first hour of the day and the final two hours of the day, I sleep far better and feel I can reflect and assimilate information better. Our brain needs that time. 

💄 Filters or no filter?

No filters! One of my affirmations is: “I am enough, just as I am” and that speaks to that. 

💳 Apple Pay or designer wallet?

Apple pay, I can’t remember the last time I used my physical card! 

📺 Netflix marathon or TikTok scroll?

Netflix marathon, I love Bridgerton, I think having time to decompress and watch something joyful is so important.

📖 E-book or Audiobook?

Audiobook when I’m on a pram-walk. There’s the idea that mothers if not in the office aren’t using their brains, and I massively disagree. We can curate our information really selectively and I’m currently enjoying The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Feriss (re-reading) and Flesh by Charli Howard. 

🎶 Spotify playlists or YouTube deep dives?

Youtube deep dives, I love interior design programmes.

🖥️ Desktop setup or laptop on-the-go?

Laptop – on the go! But I do dream of curating a gorgeous office set-up when we move house.

😀 Most used emoji?

🪄 Waving my magic wand!