For years, Catherine Duncombe, a 26-year-old Bahamian digital creator, has cultivated a loyal online community by sharing radical authenticity around her core values: her devout Christian faith, her intentional choice to abstain from sex until marriage, and her search for rooted, purpose-driven love. What began as a platform centered on intentional living has now evolved into a space for raw, unfiltered transparency around one of life’s most challenging transitions: first-time pregnancy, mental health struggles, and the balancing act of preparing for motherhood while growing a small business.
Duncombe, a former journalist with the Bahamas Broadcasting Corporation (ZNS) who now owns and operates social media branding firm Creative Lens Marketing, has built a following of roughly 29,000 followers on TikTok. Her content spans personal updates on marriage, career milestones, spiritual growth, and practical advice for young women seeking to align their lives with their faith. In May 2023, thousands of her supporters joined in celebration when she married her husband Othniel Duncombe. After three years of marriage, the couple made the decision to start planning for their first child.
In a candid interview with The Tribune, Duncombe opened up about the unexpected turmoil of her first pregnancy. While the initial news of her pregnancy brought overwhelming joy, it also sparked deep uncertainty that left her frightened. She had gone into the first trimester expecting a mild, manageable experience, but instead found it to be one of the most physically and mentally draining periods of her life.
“It was so bad, where I couldn’t work. I could hardly do anything. I would just have to lay down all day,” she shared. “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.”
As Duncombe struggled with severe symptoms, her husband stepped into the role of full-time caregiver while also stepping up to help manage Creative Lens Marketing. Beyond her partner’s support, Duncombe received care from her broader community: her church, extended family, close friends, and medical team. Her obstetrician recommended therapy to help her process the persistent anxiety that had accompanied her pregnancy, a suggestion that transformed her experience.
“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 weren’t just coming from my hormones, but it was because I was really fearful,” Duncombe explained.
She traced much of that fear back to harmful content she had consumed on social media, where endless algorithms fed her stories of miscarriage, traumatic childbirth, and life-threatening pregnancy complications. “I had saturated my mind with so much of that type of content, it made me very scared,” she said. For Duncombe, who had long relied on social media as a space for connection and encouragement, the platform had unexpectedly become a source of harm to her mental health.
Now in her third trimester, Duncombe has experienced a significant improvement in her symptoms and has returned to leading her digital marketing company. She and her husband are in the final stages of preparing to welcome their baby boy, and Duncombe is ready to share the lessons she has learned with her online community.
Reflecting on her platform and the 29,000 followers who follow her journey, Duncombe emphasized that her work is never about chasing metrics or viral fame. “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,” she said.
Moving forward, Duncombe plans to expand her content to include more educational resources on pregnancy health, the realities of first-time motherhood, and strategies for balancing entrepreneurial ambition with family life. A core goal of her work remains encouraging young Christian women to embrace what she calls “Godly womanhood” instead of conforming to modern “baddie culture”. She also wants to push back against harmful narratives that pressure women into premarital sex, reminding young women that there are partners who will respect their choice to wait until marriage.
Her overarching message to young women navigating overlapping goals of career success, family building, and holding to personal values is clear: it is possible to build a meaningful career, raise a family, and stay committed to the passions and beliefs that give your life purpose.