Claudia talks about how she set up her passion project — the website Woman Unclouded — a space inspired by her years in journalism and her drive to create honest, clear, and supportive content for women in Malta by combining expert insights with lived experiences that seek to inspire and ‘uncloud’ a range of issues women face:
I recently came across traces of the seed for Woman Unclouded in a journal entry I’d written back in 2018. My daughter was a toddler, and I was trying to make sense of it all.
Reading that page again felt like a trip inside my past mind. I had written down the simple idea that kept returning to me: I wanted a place to share my thoughts and to give other women a platform to share theirs.
Because thoughts are powerful — they can lift us or drag us down. They drive us forward or hold us back. And sharing them is the only way to feel, truly, not alone.
Years later, that idea I kept circling around became Woman Unclouded. I launched it as a passion project: a small website born of journalistic habits, a love for stories that matter, and a need to explain things in plain language. If the woman in me wants to share, the journalist in me wants to understand and explain. Those two impulses became the engine of this project.
It began here: pregnancy taught me one of the most important things I’ve ever learned about being human — I’m not special. And you know what? That was liberating. I don’t mean that in a self-denying way. I mean it as the moment I realised my most shameful, absurd, and frightening thoughts were not unique to me. They were common. Human.
To put you in the picture: during pregnancy, I had recurring images of disasters that made no rational sense. I’d walk under a crane and actually rehearse, in my head, the ninja-style manoeuvre I’d use to save my baby if the crane fell.
When I started saying these things out loud – to friends, to fellow mothers – I found echoes. The relief was immediate. Not only were others experiencing the same thoughts, but they’d also found their own ways through. I wasn’t falling apart – I was part of a pattern. That realisation didn’t make the feelings disappear, but it made them manageable.
Other revelations came, too. I’d long felt ashamed about petty jealousies, about not finishing projects I started, about never quite having the willpower I admired in others. Once again, conversation helped. Women I trusted told me how they navigated the same thoughts. Their experience was the map I needed.
This fed into what I wanted to create – a space where both kinds of help could exist: the emotional and the rational. A place that could lift the haze created by insecurity, overwhelm and that paralysing sense of “I don’t know how.” A platform where women could share experience, insight and practical information so we could uncloud each other’s hearts and minds.
And so, in 2023 – five years after that first journal entry – Woman Unclouded was born… with lots of support and guidance from a range of people I reached out to for help that included – getting a logo designed, learning how to actually set up a website, and so much more (you know who you are…. thank you, thank you, thank you).
Two years on, I’ve somehow built the website and kept it alive between life’s distractions. I’ve met inspiring women whose stories have taught me things I could never have learned alone. I’ve stumbled, adjusted, and learned to accept that growth is not a tidy, straight line. It can be slow. It might not happen at the pace you want it to and when you want it to – but you just have to hang in there.
These years have opened my eyes to new realities and issues that deserve to be unclouded. Among them: the challenges women face in building their own businesses – from finding time between family responsibilities, to securing bank loans, to resisting the pressure to conform and ‘do it all’. And then there are the physical, emotional, and psychological complexities of being a woman brought about by life, hormones and ageing amongst other things.
I’ve spoken to women who built big careers and those working quietly on their dreams. To mothers about their challenges, and to women who chose not to be mothers. Experts have helped make sense of everything from shopping impulses to the need to slow down. And there is so, so much more that can — and must — be said.
Now, in my mid-40s – I realise I stand in the middle of a wide conversation. On one side, younger women – some barely older than my daughter – are grappling with fresh challenges in a world that expects so much yet portrays unrealistic perfection. Around me, peers juggle careers, families – partners, children, ageing parents, friendships – and self-care. On the other side are older women – like my mother, my aunts – whose wisdom and stories matter deeply. Woman Unclouded, I hope, is a space where all these voices can meet.
If there’s anything I’ve learned from turning a private journal entry into a public project, it’s that small, honest conversations add up. They change the shape of our days. They turn private anxieties into shared human stories – and shared stories into tools for getting by, and for getting better.
I believe the magic happens when readers become contributors. That’s why I invite you to submit essays, pose questions, and offer “pearls of wisdom” for the next generation. Through every article and shared story Woman Unclouded continues to grow into what I envisioned: not just a website, but a space that honours vulnerability, champions authenticity, and strengthens the bonds between us all.
If you want to reach out – to suggest an idea, share your expertise, send in an article or be part of the journey – you can send an email on hello@womanunclouded.com You can also find Woman Unclouded on Facebook and Instagram.
Woman Unclouded, an exciting platform that seeks to uncloud women-related issues by sharing experiences and expertise. It’s packed with thoughts and truths, advice for our daughters and regular news round-ups. Enjoy all of Claudia’s advice and wisdom for women living in Malta (and beyond) today at www.womanunclouded.com.