The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

FOR years, Catherine Duncombe built an online following by speaking openly about her Christian faith, her commitment to waiting until marriage for sex and her desire for pure love.

Now, the 26-year-old Bahamian content creator is taking her audience through a more difficult chapter: pregnancy, anxiety and the demands of preparing for motherhood while running a business.

Mrs Duncombe, a former ZNS reporter who now owns Creative Lens Marketing, has amassed about 29,000 followers on TikTok through videos about her life, career, marriage and faith.

In May 2023, thousands of supporters celebrated online when she married her husband, Othniel Duncombe. Three years into their marriage, the couple began planning for their first child.

Mrs Duncombe said learning she was pregnant was joyful, but also frightening as she considered the uncertainty ahead.

In an interview with The Tribune, she said she expected her first trimester to be manageable. Instead, she described it as one of the most punishing periods of her life, physically and mentally.

"It was so bad, where I couldn't work. I could hardly do anything. I would just have to lay down all day," she said. "I didn't know a lot about pregnancy going into it. I never really learnt anything about pregnancy apart from what I've seen on TV."

Her husband became her full-time caretaker while also helping manage Creative Lens Marketing, her social media branding company.

Mrs Duncombe said she received support from her church, family, friends and doctors. Her OBGYN also suggested therapy to help her manage anxiety.

"I went to that therapist, and she has been so great on my journey. I've had her during the whole pregnancy. Basically, what she made me realise is that a lot of my symptoms we’re coming from not just my hormones, but it was because I was really fearful."

She said many of her fears came from social media content about miscarriages and traumatic labour experiences.

"I had saturated my mind with so much of that type of content, it made me very scared," she emphasised.

For much of her life, social media was a space where Mrs Duncombe connected with supporters. During pregnancy, however, it became a source of fear that damaged her mental health.

Now in her third trimester, Mrs Duncombe said she is feeling much better and has returned to managing her digital media company. She and her husband are preparing to welcome a baby boy.

Asked about having a TikTok platform with 29,000 followers, she said: "I see each follower really as a friend, somebody a part of my community. With my platform, it's really not about the followers and the viewers. But more so about a ministry of inspiring them, educating them on different things in life and showing them, most importantly, what it looks like when we dedicate our lives to God."

Mrs Duncombe said she expects her platform to continue featuring educational videos about pregnancy health, motherhood and balancing family life with entrepreneurship.

She said she hopes her content encourages young women to walk in Christian faith rather than embrace what she described as "baddie culture". She also wants to promote "Godly womanhood" and remind young women that some men are willing to wait until marriage instead of pressuring them into sex.

Her message to other young women is that they can build a career, have a family and remain committed to the passions that fulfil them.