About SlowMama

Hi. I’m Zoe Saint-Paul.

That’s Zoe, as in, rhymes with Joey. It’s the Greek word for life.

I’m a quarter Scottish, a quarter Irish, and half French, Latvian, and Russian. Something in me feels a wee bit Italian, I have a fascination with Mexico, my husband’s never met an Asian dish he doesn’t like, and our hearts are in Africa. So between us we’ve pretty much got the world covered.

That said, I’m all about the local…. food, community, economy. I learned this at the knee of my agrarian-anarchist mother while growing up the eldest of a large brood near the ocean in rural Nova Scotia. Eventually, I became a city girl, and lost myself in busyness and speed. Getting involved with Slow Food and the burgeoning Slow movement brought me back to my original values.

I moved to the United States from Toronto in my mid-20s for graduate school and after making my way around the country, I’m still here. I have two bachelor’s degrees — one in public relations, the other in psychology. My master’s degree is in counseling and I studied theology at the graduate level. Five years ago I became a certified life coach through the Coaches Training Institute. I coach clients — mostly by phone — in my private practice.

My professional background includes stage acting, radio production, public relations, development, fundraising, event planning, and consulting for non-profits, as well as freelance writing. I’ve been published in places like: Baltimore Eats, Urbanite, Catholic Digest, Godspy, and On Purpose Woman; and featured or quoted in: The Washington Post, Village Voice, The Washington Times, Baltimore Magazine, Catholic News Service, SheKnows.com, and YourTango.com. At the moment, I’m writing my first book, which explores the ways we can live “slower” in a world gone fast.

Zoe Saint-Paul My husband and I met while working together on a short-lived radio show. I thought he was smart and funny, but not my type. He thought I was cute and kind, but a little boring. Turns out it was a perfect match and four years later we were married. I was the ripe young age of 34. We now live in a historic row house in Baltimore, Maryland. Here on the blog, I call my husband, “B.”

I’m an expectant mom… but gestating like an elephant because we’re adopting two children from Ethiopia and have been waiting a long time. The call could come any day. A mixture of excited and terrified sums up how we feel about it.

I launched SlowMama to write about my efforts to live “slower,” and to create an online community of people who desire the same. Slow living doesn’t mean going at a snail’s pace all the time, but doing every thing at the best pace and refusing to rush all the time. To “live slow” is to simplify your life, and stay connected to what matters most. It’s not easy in today’s world, but I think it’s the secret to quality of life.

Slow living is about connectedness, beauty, simplicity, quality, a sense of place, sustainability, craftsmanship, tradition, and community. Applying these principles to our everyday life and decisions in such a fast-paced world requires intentionality: We can’t change anything or build new habits without an awareness and understanding of the choices facing us. This is at the foundation of much of what we talk about here at SlowMama — in (hopefully) a fun, interesting, and inspiring way.

You’ll read posts here about food, home, parenting, design, arts and crafts, adoption, health, travel, sustainability, spirituality, current affairs, and every day life. You’ll also find tips, reflections, advice, and information, because I can’t help it — I’m a coach.

By the way, you don’t need to be a mother to hang out here.

I don’t have the corner market on being a SlowMama… I’m really just a wanna-be who’s learning as I go. I’m also a little bit crazy — the good kind, I think. I won’t be able to hide it so I wanted to let you know.

I have some fabulous contributors who enrich my site — you can read more about them here. Thanks for visiting. I love to hear from readers so feel free to contact me.