ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Wednesday kicks off the first day of Women’s History Month, with a theme of “celebrating women who tell our stories.”


What You Need To Know

  • Martha Joy Rose opens Museum of Motherhood in St. Petersburg

  • Along with art, the museum also tells a historical tale of domestic labor

  • She hopes to expand the museum in the future

  • March is Women's History Month

Spectrum Bay News 9’s Cait McVey met a woman with a unique and empowering story of her own and a museum of motherhood she’s opened that gives a voice to the plight of all mothers.

Martha Joy Rose — or Joy as she goes — talked about the days when her career as a musician merged with her new role as a mother.

“There’s my living room. We rehearsed in my living room,” she said.

“I had no place to go. My friends who were musicians were like, ‘Oh, well she’s not serious anymore’ even though I had a couple records on the dance charts and I was serious. So I had to figure out how I was going to push back.”

It’s something many women grapple with — balancing career and family. 

Joy was not going to fade off into the sunset. Far from it. 

Instead she formed the band “Housewives on Prozac,” weaving her now two careers into one.

They toured the country, graced the pages of magazines, and Joy even took it a step further by launching Mama-Palooza. It’s a festival that still takes place in New York City to this day.

Her new venture for the City of St. Pete is the Museum of Motherhood, carefully curated with all things mother.

Along with art, the museum also tells a historical tale of domestic labor.

“These irons, if you were really lucky as a bride, you might get two irons,” she said of one display. “One to keep in the fireplace while you use the other to iron your clothes.”

One exhibit in particular offers an artistic analysis of all the jobs mothers do that go unpaid.

“The mother bookkeeper, the professional bookkeeper, the short order cook, the mother short order cook,” she said.

She says the museum of motherhood is a space for that dialogue.

“This is the place to come and see that stuff and get engaged with that.”

She is also a published author and taught motherhood studies at Manhattan College in New York City. She said the museum in is technically an annex and hopes to expand.