Iskra Lawrence on Motherhood Must-Haves, Boundaries and Setting Goals

When Saltair founder Iskra Lawrence says ‘every body is welcome here,’ she isn’t just quoting her company’s tagline—she’s talking about the inclusive, messy and deeply rewarding journey of parenting. Between running a beauty empire and navigating the fourth trimester twice over, Iskra has learned that motherhood is a lesson in letting go of control. In an exclusive interview with The Bump, the self-proclaimed “body-acceptance advocate” shares her essential registry must-haves, how she prioritizes self-care and the secrets for building a village that actually shows up.

The Bump: You’ve built a career on authenticity and self-acceptance. Since becoming a mom, how has your definition of authenticity changed, particularly concerning what you choose to share and what you choose to keep private about motherhood and about your life online?

Iskra Lawrence: I think your perspective completely shifts when you become a mother. For me, sharing has become 100 percent about community. Now I have to be more aware of how my children will perceive the things I talk about so openly and how I share, which brings a new level of overthinking… I have this new level of fear of cancellation or offending people, or that one day my kids will be like, “Why did you say that online?” So I do think it’s just given me a little pause—but maybe that’s not always a bad thing on the internet. I’ve always lived my life completely unfiltered, and I still do. I’m just now more aware that it doesn’t just impact me, it can impact my family… I just feel like I probably have healthier boundaries with it.

I’ve also found that I’ve shared certain things, like my second home birth. I felt compelled to show it in a really raw, honest way—really kind of showing as much visually as I could, because we don’t have enough images of home births in my opinion. I wasn’t sure if I would share much of that, but when there’s just something in you saying, “This was such a magical, empowering experience for me—I wish I’d seen more content like this.” I just felt like I had to listen to my heart and just share.

TB: As an advocate, do you feel now an added pressure to be the perfect body-positive mom? How do you handle moments when you have self-doubt or you struggle with your own mental health?

IL: I think I actually feel less pressure now to be a perfect role model or body-positive icon. I call myself a “body-acceptance advocate.” Before, it was such a public thing where I was named a role model by a big company—and that felt like a lot of pressure. I felt like people looked to me to establish their own thoughts and feelings about how they felt about themselves. And I’ve really tried to tell my audience that you have to be your own role model. So I feel like I did a lot of that groundwork leading up to becoming a mother … There’s no perfect way to advocate for body acceptance during this journey, but you just show up when you can… I never force it. And, in that sense, I think children give you the best perspective. You have to go with the flow. And that’s been a big transition for me in life, in general, as someone who likes to control situations. When you become a parent, you have to just go with the flow. And I think that I’ve just leaned into that as well as my advocacy.

TB: How does that translate in the postpartum stage? We know so many moms are struggling mentally and physically during the fourth trimester. What’s the one message you’d want to give to moms who are really having a hard time transitioning into motherhood?

IL: There’s so many things I’d want to tell them… “You are enough.” “Be gentle on yourself.” That kind of core affirmation is something that helped me through a lot of different phases of my life—through my eating disorder and body dysmorphia. And then when I felt postpartum depression with my first child, I had to refine that belief that I was enough, even when my milk dried up, even when my baby was colicky, even when my baby wasn’t sleeping … It’s so much pressure… “You are enough” is an affirmation that speaks to me. But find something that you can keep as your core pillar that’s affirming—that reminds you that you’re doing okay and just come back to that.

TB: Let’s talk about the “G” word: Guilt! What is something you’ve been able to let go of in terms of mom guilt, and what do you still hold onto that you’re struggling with?

IL: This time around, I said “I’m not feeling guilty for showering every day.” And I know you’re probably like, “Why would you feel guilty for that?” Well, my son was so colicky, I felt like I couldn’t put him down for even five minutes to take a shower. It was really intense those first three months with him, and he just wasn’t sleeping at all. He only could do 45 minutes at a time all through the day and night. It was all consuming. So I wouldn’t even take a shower and put real clothes on. I lived in a robe, my hair was greasy, I started to get acne. I just wasn’t looking after myself at all… So I’ve stopped feeling guilty… I feel no guilt now for doing the bare minimum of self-care, which is showering, smelling good, using my self-care products and getting dressed for the day.

TB: As an entrepreneur and the founder of Saltair, you know that moms are often an underserved audience. How have you prioritized this both internally as a company and externally as a brand?

IL: Our marketing belief is that our consumer is our influencer. One thing that we’ve been really committed to is keeping our prices at a place that they can be as affordable as possible, but still with high-quality skincare-forward ingredients. It’s been really interesting how people look at Saltair, because we haven’t tried to dictate who we’re speaking to. We’ve literally put on every product, “every body is welcome here.” And it’s kind of taken off.

We’ve almost let the product dictate who it speaks to. Obviously, as the founder, people are finding more about my story, but that was never meant to be the way people found out about the brand. I always said from day one—product first. I wanted people to be able to organically find the product because it looks beautiful, it’s bold, it’s unapologetic. Then use it and have this wonderful sensorial experience, feel the difference in the products and realize that it’s a luxury brand, but at a more affordable price point. And then they can find out that the founder was inspired because she wasn’t sharing herself and she needed this moment of luxury. We’ve kind of deconstructed it and gone backwards in that sense. We’ve never thrown money at tons of big influencers. We’ve never done big marketing campaigns … We’ve saved our budget for product development.

TB: We’re so excited that you’re partnering with The Bump to support moms on this new life chapter. Registering is a big part of the journey that first-time moms are embarking on. Share a little nugget of advice for them. What was the best item you registered for? Any other takeaways you’d want to share with moms who are experiencing overwhelm?

IL: Less is more. And I’d say quality over quantity. Also, don’t feel guilty. Don’t feel embarrassed to tell people what you really want. And that’s why I think a registry is so important, because I felt a bit apologetic for kind of saying, “I only really want these essentials,” or “I’d rather you all contributed to this one product that’s a little bit more expensive because I know I’m going to use it every single day.” … Also, the Doona! I can’t believe I didn’t have it for my first child. I don’t know how we survived without it. It’s a little bit more of a pricey product, but it’s the car seat and the stroller.

And then good quality bottles—we used Tommee Tippee. My son was colicky. That was the number one thing that helped him immediately. And so I always tell people, get the right set of bottles and figure out how you can help your child. And then, honestly, I’d say a good set of books. Books are something that we’ve passed down from our first child to our second … But I would say that the most important thing when you’re thinking about a registry is quality over quantity. Just don’t be apologetic. People want to support you—they want to give to you. They’re excited as well. Just help point them in the right direction.

TB: So you’ve talked about the importance of community. What does your support system look like, and how have you navigated setting clear boundaries with family or friends to ensure your parenting choices are respected?

IL: That’s tricky. I’d say we do some gentle parenting, but we also believe in—and I hate the word—discipline. I just think having boundaries and respect is important. And asking, “how do we build respect within our children?” It’s by respecting them, listening to them, hearing them out—but also letting them know when we say something, we mean it. So small little things like telling my parents, “This is bedtime. If you tell my son you can read two books, you read two books. If you tell him we’re going to read 20, read 20—that’s fine. But don’t let him push the boundaries.” So there are just things that are really important to communicate; sometimes they come up in the moment. Find the opportunity to have very honest, real conversations with your support and village.

TB: How do you and your partner approach communication and broach parenting disagreements?

IL: I’ll preface conversations like, “I’m going to try and communicate something. I don’t know if I have the energy to word it right or put it in a tone that’s going to be received in a positive way. I just want to let you know that I’m struggling and I don’t want to upset you, but I need to get this off my chest.” … You need to offload. I think that’s one thing about postpartum. It can feel like it’s just you going through this big shift, but it does shift for your partner too. Yes, it does shift for other people—but you’re the one where hormonally, everything’s changing. On a cellular level, your body is different. And your baby does need you in a different way and on a different level. So giving yourself grace to still feel valid for having those moments where you need to offload, that’s very important. I remember even just the other day having a conversation with Philip and saying, “This probably feels like I’m directing this at you because I’m frustrated, but I need to talk to someone about it and you are right here. I’m not targeting you. I just need to say it.”

TB: How do you suggest parents go about finding their own community—their own people?

IL: Go to the mom classes, go to your local library, make it a point to build some kind of village. And it doesn’t need to be huge. One mom friend is better than no mom friends. Just have a support system. Being able to just offload to them rather than your partner all the time can also ease that mental load.

TB: Thinking about the realities of burnout and parental exhaustion, besides the daily shower, what is one non-negotiable for you in terms of self-care, whether it’s mental or physical?

IL: My one non-negotiable will be that I have to have some solo time with both children. Doesn’t matter what that looks like—it could be picking my son up from school and going and getting a smoothie together and taking him to his little ninja class. I want a moment with each child alone every week. And then if I have a list of work stuff, I’ve got to get at least 50 percent of my list done. And so Philip knows that might require me to stay up really late one night, which means that maybe I’ll need a nap the next day or on the weekend.

TB: What’s your big goal for 2026?

IL: I think it’s very powerful when you go into a new year and you have a plan for it… You just have a clear vision of what you’re moving into. Because if you don’t set goals for yourself, you’ll just never achieve anything because the goals aren’t there for you to even be working toward. One thing I like to do is what I call “target practice.” It’s literally a bullseye in the middle and I put my core most important values in there: health and happiness. Then I build out my next rung…. And then I keep building out that system just so I can see that it always comes back to home health and happiness.

TB: Do you have a word in mind for the year?

IL: Last year, it was “intention.” And I don’t want to say I regret it, but, as an overthinker, the choice actually made me overthink everything even more. I was trying to be super intentional about everything I did. But this year’s word is going to be “abundance.” …[This year will be] very juicy for me. I just really want to be in it and take it all in. You don’t get to live these moments twice.