Mariama Goodman: Delivering babies is more fulfilling than singing
Mariama Goodman, 35, is a member of newly reformed 1990s girl group Honeyz. She tells Andrew Williams how her mum inspired her to follow another career path.
My mum was a single parent. I went to a normal primary school and a lovely man saw me dancing in a summer show and decided to pay for me to go to a ballet school. Going from a council estate to a posh ballet school took a lot of adjusting to. My mum had lots of different jobs; she ran a fruit stall at one point. The school had a specific uniform, which was only available from one shop and was very expensive. My mum had to work hard to make sure I didn’t stand out at school.
My mum was always at the gigs when I joined Solid Harmonie and then later joined Honeyz.She’d be backstage at things such as CD:UK. She was fully aware of the problems I was having in Honeyz. She’s one of the most straightforward, honest people you’ll meet. I’m a bit of a softie and she’d be saying: ‘You need to be a bit stronger’, which I really needed to hear. The dynamic in Honeyz then was very different to how it is now and I’d be crying on my way into work. My mum said: ‘You need to be happy in your life, otherwise what’s the point?’ These were words I had in the back of my mind when I decided to leave the group.
Having gone to ballet school and then been in two pop groups, I couldn’t see myself doing a 9 to 5 job if there was no emotional reward from me. I loved the idea of being a midwife. I hadn’t been to school since doing my GCSEs, so going to an interview for university was a bizarre change of pace. I felt I had to prove myself, so I worked really hard and graduated top of my class in my midwifery degree – I think that was my mum’s proudest moment. I could hear her cheering from the stage.
I have a two-year-old daughter. Being a midwife was a double-edged sword during my pregnancy. I knew not to worry about some things, such as the size of the bump, but then panicked too much about other things because I knew what could go wrong. During my labour, I noticed the baby’s heart rate dropped. It was just a normal drop in heart rate but I read too much into it.
The vast majority of the time, pregnancies go well and end with parents taking home a bundle of joy but that doesn’t happen in every case and it can be hard to deal with. Some midwives deal with it by being very professional but when I’ve been in that situation I’ve shown my emotions. Obviously I don’t stand there wailing but I do acknowledge that it’s a devastating situation for the parents.
I work in a clinic, do deliveries and then do home visits, so I get to know the women quite well. I make new connections with people every day and it’s always different. It’s amazing and I wouldn’t give the job up for anything.
Honeyz can be seen on the Big Reunion tour in December.
