Mia Freedman

Mia Freedman, also known as Mia Lavigne,[1] (born 1 October 1971[2]) is the co-founder of women’s digital media company Mamamia. She was the youngest editor of the Australian edition of Cosmopolitan in 1996, aged 24.

Mia Freedman
Born (1971-10-01) 1 October 1971
EducationAscham School
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • Editor
  • Television personality
  • Writer
  • Internet entrepreneur
Spouse
Jason Lavigne
​
(m. 1998)​
Children3
Parents
  • Laurence Freedman AM (father)
  • Kathy Freedman (mother)

Career

Freedman began her career at Cleo, doing work experience at the age of 19. Her first paid job in media was as Cleo's beauty editor and she stayed at Cleo for five years working her way up to the position of features editor. She left Cleo in 1995 and spent several months as a freelance features writer for magazines including Marie Claire, New Weekly and Who Weekly. In 1996, aged 24 years, she became editor of Australian Cosmopolitan magazine, the youngest editor of Cosmopolitan's 58 international editions.[3]

Freedman is also the founder, publisher and editorial director of Australian women’s website Mamamia.[4] In 2012, Freedman also launched an Australian edition of parenting website iVillage.[5] This was rebranded as The Motherish in June 2015.[6] All content for The Motherish was folded into Mamamia by November 2015.[7]

Freedman has appeared regularly as a commentator on Today[8] on the Nine Network and Ten's The Project.[9] In 2009 Freedman was appointed Chair of the Australian Government's National Body Image Advisory Group by Minister for Sport and Youth, Kate Ellis.[10] In 2015 Freedman disclosed in an interview that she suffers from an anxiety disorder.[8]

Freedman has written four books, including Work Strife Balance, where Luca, her 19-year-old son, contributed a chapter describing his mother as having "no filter".[11][12]

Personal life

Freedman is the only daughter of Laurence Freedman AM, a funds manager and chairman of The Freedman Foundation, and his wife, Kathy, a psychologist and art gallery owner. Freedman was raised Jewish and grew up in Sydney. She attended the Ascham School.[13]

In 1998, Freedman married Jason Lavigne, with whom she has three children. In 1999, Freedman had a miscarriage and spent two years in therapy, separated from Lavigne.[8] In 2020 it was reported that Freedman and Lavigne purchased an A$12.75 million house in Point Piper.[14]

Published works
  • The new black. Pymble, NSW: HarperCollins Publishers. 2005. ISBN 0732281881.
  • Mama Mia: a memoir of mistakes, magazines and motherhood. Pymble, NSW: HarperCollins Publishers. 2009. ISBN 9780732281892.
  • Mia culpa. Camberwell, Victoria: Penguin Group Australia. 2011. ISBN 9780670075515.
  • Work strife balance. Sydney, NSW: Pan Macmillan Australia. 2017. ISBN 9781925479935.

References
  1. Macken, Lucy (10 July 2015). "Mamamia's Mia Freedman to buy Bellevue Hill house for about $12 million". Domain. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  2. Archived 4 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Mia Freedman" (streaming audio). Conversations with Richard Fidler (Interview). Interviewed by Richard Fidler. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 February 2010.
  4. "The Mamamia Team". Mamamia. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  5. "Alana House to edit iVillage weeks after getting sack for protesting Woman's Day story". mUmBRELLA. 31 January 2013.
  6. "Mamamia rebrands iVillage, takes full ownership of the site". Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  7. "'Mummy blogs are almost over': Mamamia scraps network approach and launches Instagram-style app and consultancy business". Mumbrella. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
  8. Cadzow, Jane (24 June 2015). "There's something about Mia Freedman". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  9. Jabour, Birdie (17 October 2014). "Mia Freedman apologises after making gay-paedophile analogy". Guardian Australia. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  10. "New code to promote positive body image". Courier-Mail. Brisbane. Australian Associated Press. 27 October 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  11. Hooten, Amanda (26 April 2017). "Mia Freedman: 'I have inadvertently shared too much'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  12. "Why Mia Freedman doesn't strive for balance". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. 31 May 2017. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
  13. Landsman, Lexi (5 November 2009). "Mia Freedman's revealing new book". Australian Jewish News. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  14. Macken, Lucy (13 October 2020). "Mamamia's Mia Freedman buys $12.75 million Point Piper house". Domain. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
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