There's just something about Amy.
Chances are if you're a mum and you're on Instagram, you would have heard of this very funny woman. With a social following of 138,000 fans, her reach is as impressive as her pragmatically witty posts.
Think of Sutherland Shire's version of Aussie comedian Celeste Barber with a splash of Cameron Diaz's bubbly blonde pizzazz thrown into the mix, and you might get a pretty accurate picture of Amy Gerard.
The successful podcast presenter of Beyond the Likes and Beyond the Chaos, brand ambassador, and mother to three children Charli, 8, Bobby, 6, and Kobe, 4, is known for her raw and hilarious parenting experiences. Few may also know she's a long time, proud shire resident who calls Alfords Point home.
Amy, 36, has launched her first book Strap Yourself In, a memoir of "motherhood, dance floors and all the mayhem in between". The chaotic experience of parenting is not sugar-coated - from boyfriends to birth, friendship to family, Amy delves into the real and the relatable of life as she knows it.
Dedicated to her kids, the open book lifts the lid off a shiny filter of any inch of glamour, and chucks a wad of realism into the four-walls of home life. It aims to uplift, deny judgement and simply celebrate mothers and their micro-surrounds.
A preview of her book tells us a little about what readers can expect. "It's not going to be a self-help book, nor a life coaching one," Amy says. "What I hope this book does, is make you feel seen." "I want this book to take weight, guilt and shame off your shoulders," Amy writes. "I want you to know that we are all individual humans with our own flaws and none of us get it right all the time, but most hardships come with growth and strength, and a resilience that sometimes lies dormant."
It's a timely reminder for her Sydney audience. A glance at the book takes a step back into "smelling the roses...appreciating what we've got," Amy writes. "That's where the metaphor of the book title comes in - it's riding through the high and lows of the roller coaster that is life and being grateful for what you have," Amy said.
Her appreciation of all things past, came at a cost. During the 1994 shire bush fires, Amy's childhood home burnt down. Her parents have battled cancer. Yet having a laugh and not thinking about things you can't control, was a symbolic life raft. "There has been sadness and dark times but with every bit of shade there is always light," Amy writes.
That ray illuminates moments of hilarity (evacuating her burning house with a precious packet of chips instead of grandma's sentimental jewellery) - yet it's these flashes of innocence of a then eight-year-old that narrow in on some much needed laughter.
While momentarily leaving the shire, Amy returned - to Sutherland, Bangor and most recently, Alfords Point, buying her childhood home (rebuilt on the same block of land) from her parents with her husband Rhian, and together they create new, cherished scenes around the same backyard fireplace overlooking bush land where she once roamed.
"It's classified as part of the Sutherland Shire but it is literally the ass end of it," Amy writes. "When most people think of the shire, they think of the coastal beaches of Cronulla but we are in fact about thirty minutes inland. Instead of the ocean, we back onto the bush and there are trees as far as the eye can see."
With natural flair for delving into the simplicity of humanity and all the aired laundry in between, Amy has wanted to write a book for as long as she can remember. "I've always enjoyed writing. I had a diary. But I'm not overly descriptive or fancy," Amy said. "Mum and Dad always said I was a good storyteller. The book wasn't easy. The only time I could get any writing done was when the kids went to bed at night. I'd pour myself a glass of wine and stare at the computer screen. But I kept getting words on the paper. I got to 80,000 words. I'd look back and thing, God was I drunk?"
Amy writes about her teenage years, being "at loggerheads with my dad, a strict police prosecutor," to their eventual closeness. She references ex-boyfriends, (politely requesting Mum and Dad "skip the sex chapters" during a draft read), and gets the loving nod of approval from hubby - the one who became 'the one'.
The memoir is one she also hopes her children will one day look back on with pride. "I thought this is a book they will eventually read," Amy said. "I didn't want to write about them at the current age they're at. I wanted to make sure it would be something my children and husband would be proud of."
Self-confessed sop aside, Amy ensures her familiar tone of self deprecation remains present across each page. "I've always been an open book, filter free, honest and upfront about things," she said. "I don't feel like there are a lot of people who put as much out there as I do and normalise things. That's what I think so many mums resonate with and they they felt less alone.
"I lean quite heavily on the women who follow me. It's like being in an online mother's group. You can get enveloped in some incredibly warm hugs by women who just offer you advice and a place where you can vent, nod along in agreement, or just listen. Just as much as I do that for a lot of women, so many do that for me."
Strap Yourself In, $34.99, Allen & Unwin publishers.
