Siobhan Freegard OBE (born 17 July 1967) is an entrepreneur and parenting commentator. She founded her first business,

Netmums Netmums is a website for parents in the United Kingdom, established in 2000. It operates as a network of local sites, and offers information to both mothers and fathers about parenting. The Coffee House web forum launched in 2004 for mothers to ...

, in 2000 and grew it to become the biggest parenting website in the UK with a unique network of 151 local websites and 300 national groups for mums to meet offline, alongside 2,300 parent

bloggers A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

and over 8 million unique users each month. She is the author of the book ''How to be a Happy Mum'', published by

Headline The headline or heading is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents. The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th centur ...

. Headline published six other Netmums parenting books under Freegard's guidance. In 2011 Freegard and her co-founders sold Netmums to

Axel Springer Axel Cäsar Springer (2 May 1912 – 22 September 1985) was a German publisher and founder of what is now Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe. By the early 1960s his print titles dominated the West German daily press ma ...

-owned French women’s publisher Aufeminin but she remained as Managing Director. In March 2014 Freegard estimated that the business was worth £50 million. In September 2014 Freegard stepped down as Managing Director to start a new content company for mothers, called Channel Mum. She was awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the 2013 New Years Honours List for services to families, which was presented to her in March 2014 at Buckingham Palace by

Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educa ...

Personal life

Freegard has spoken publicly about the

postnatal depression Postpartum depression (PPD), also called postnatal depression, is a type of mood disorder associated with childbirth, which can affect both sexes. Symptoms may include extreme sadness, low energy, anxiety, crying episodes, irritability, and cha ...

that she experienced after the birth of her first child, and has campaigned publicly for better support and understanding for mums with postnatal depression.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freegard, Siobhan Living people 1967 births English women in business Officers of the Order of the British Empire