‘Mommy Mafia’ Has Lowdown on Events

By URIAH KISER

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — There’s a group of made moms who gather for dinner at an Italian restaurant in Old Town Manassas.

Known as the “mommy mafia,” these women are wise girls when it comes to what activities to take their children to, and how to share information about those events with other moms.

Kristina Schnack Kotlus, who founded and writes the popular website Prince William County Moms is one of the women at the dinner table. While there, she meets other women who are writers, who work on social media campaigns directed at moms, and some who work to improve sleep habits for mothers with military families. They come to Carmellos Little Portugal restaurant to swap stories over martinis, relishing in mom time.

“We don’t really have a better option than that, does it get any better? You can’t have a mafia dinner at Olive Garden,” said Kotlus.

It’s a group open to anyone who wants to network and, most importantly, sympathizes with the plight of other moms. 

Kotlus’ website, PWCMoms.com, was recognized as Northern Virginia Magazine’s Blog of the Year. She didn’t think she had enough readers of her own to be voted by the magazines’ readers as Blog of the Year. When she got the message that she’d won, she replied back and asked if they were joking.

Kotlus’ site is chocked full of ideas and event listings targeted to families, all designed to keep mothers and, more importantly, their children busy. Through her own website and a dedicated following on Facebook, PWCMoms.com has become a destination for many. When promoting it, Kotlus says she uses a playground pitch vs. an elevator pitch, one she gives to other moms while out in the community.

“I look at a woman who may be looking up at rain clouds wondering what she’s going to find for her kids to do indoors, and I’ll be like ‘hey, I’ve got this website and it’s full of stuff for you and your kids to do. I do reviews, I do giveaways…’ it’s really designed to make your life a little bit easier,” said Kotlus.

Kotlus is also a mother of three, and along with her husband, lives with her family in Lake Ridge. In addition to maintaining her site, she also keeps sports commitments for her children, homeschools them, keeps church commitments for the family, and has done freelance work for this website, PotomacLocal.com. It’s a life with little sleep, and lots of juggling between family activities and updating her website.

“I always joke that it’s the hobby that got away from me,” she said.