FOREST, Va. – When you walk into the Pink Flamingo Play Café, you walk into a village.
And we don’t just mean the play businesses lining the room.
“Sometimes all it takes to get that back, to feel like yourself again, is to get out of the house, connect with people in the same stage of life, and grab a really good cup of coffee,” Owner Rachel Queen said.
Rachel Queen is a mom of two young kids and knows the struggle of balancing motherhood and mental health.
“I had a miscarriage, and after that, I was in a dark place mentally, emotionally,” Queen said.
Her therapist suggested finding a community of other moms, and leaving the house once a day.
But that was easier said than done with a nine-month-old at home.
“Leaving the house with a baby was often like, ‘Well, where am I supposed to go?’” she said.
She noticed the gap, and that’s how the Pink Flamingo Café was born.
It’s a combined coffee shop and play space, but Queen tells 10 News it’s much more than that.
“This would have been the place that would have been perfect for me to come and meet other moms, who are going through the same things I am,” she said.
The name is more than just a fun bird.
“So there’s this thing with flamingos that when they become parents, both the mom and the dad actually lose their coloring for almost two to three years. They become white, sometimes a really pale pink. And that’s because they give so much of their nutrients to their chicks that they are quite literally depleted of their color,” Queen said.
Queen noticed this can happen with human parents too, and wants to give parents a space where they can ‘stay pink.’
“You lose a little bit of yourself in motherhood. Our hope is that we can be a spot from like the beginning of motherhood, right after you give birth, so you never actually lose that coloring. You just stay pink,” she said.
The grand opening of the café is July 13. You can reserve your spot here.