LJ Reyes: "As a parent, you can't do it alone. You can ask for help."
Discover what LJ Reyes' MApp is all about and how she manages her time on being a mom of an almost early adolescent boy and a baby girl.
The Asian Parent had a chance to talk to LJ Reyes last June 2, Sunday in the first installment of Ogalala x MApp Workshop Series. LJ happily shared about the relaunch of her app MApp and of course, how she is now that she's a mom-of-two.
What is MApp?
The Smart Mommy App or MApp is a mobile application and online community that pursues assistance to mothers and fathers too—in finding whatever they need right on their fingertips. Looking for child and family-oriented establishments and activities will be just a click away!
MApp truly believes in equipping mothers with the perfect tool whether for emergencies or just for creating a memorable time with family. Their website is a hub for sharing news, information and even personal stories, because they want to build a community that supports each other through the wonderful journey of motherhood.
LJ Reyes is very excited for MApp's relaunch on the 29th of June and she happily shared, "Well, we're relaunching MApp because we kinda figured that we want it to be a better experience for them. Kasi before the interface a little-like a website kind of interface so parang medyo folder-ish pa siya."
She continued, "But now we're revamping it into a more visual experience like when you open it the homepage is a map talaga. We've come up with better categories like mas specific ganyan and soon we'll be offering subscriptions with classes, ayan different classes for parents and also for kids, which will promote and encourage time with kids and family."
"So more of like the art infusion type wherein parents and kids will be spending and doing arts together ganyan. Tapos there are also badges there, parang the more you use the app, the more rewards you get," the Kapuso actress added.
MApp was first launched in September 2016 and it's the actress-turned-app-creator's been working on for quite some time.
How LJ Reyes manages her time
LJ Reyes admitted on having a hard time running MApp at first, because she was also busy working as an actress and being a Mom.
The actress-turned-app-creator expressed, "It's so difficult. I always tell nga people like as a parent also, you can't do it alone, di ba? You can ask for help."
"So I was so blessed that Trix nga e-mailed me so parang 'ding!' I think we need to do a partnership and just merge our apps together. It was a blessing actually na to know kasi before MApp and MommyLi are in competition so parang kaming dalawa why not just work together," she stated.
LJ said, "I need help running MApp and she knows very well my ideas, my vision, my mission in creating the app. She had the same when she created MommyLi so why not work together na lang, so we merged."
How is it to be a mom-of-two
LJ Reyes is now a mom-of-two, her son Aki to ex-boyfriend Paolo Avelino who's turning 9 and her daughter Summer to now-partner Paolo Contis who just turned 5 months. She believes her son and daughter have an ideal age gap.
She stated, "Ako naman very blessed kasi yung age gap nila okay. May pros and cons, pros siyempre he gets to help me. Sometimes when I really need to go to the bathroom and I need somebody to look after Summer siya na yung ano, kasi I don't have a yaya talaga."
"Ahm, I have household help who I bring along kapag kailangan ko lang ng help kunwari kapag mga events or working ganyan, but walang ibang nag-aalaga sa kanya kundi me and Paolo, so ayon. Ang disadvantage lang is parang it was too late for Aki lang to have a playmate talaga. Those two lang naman yung naisip ko talagang grabe, other than that wala namang difference," LJ added.
Also read: LJ Reyes on life as a single mom: “Parenting isn't parenting without struggles”