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This week, we're sitting down with Lydia Fenet, the world's leading charity auctioneer who has raised over a billion dollars for nonprofits, founder of a talent agency for auctioneers, two-time author (her first book optioned by Hulu), and mom of three living in Tribeca. Lydia shares what it's like to spend 90 nights a year on stage, run a household where her day "starts at 7pm," and red-eye home from California just to make the morning school drop-off.

In this week’s conversation, Lydia opens up about leaving Christie's after 23 years to bet on herself, the partnership rules that keep her marriage and travel schedule from breaking, and learning to hold life together "with duct tape and Popsicle sticks." We talk about the hangover that changed her career, treating every work trip as a vacation, parenting three very different kids in the city, and why she's letting perfection drop on purpose.

What We Cover:

• How a brand-new puppy turned her whole life into "a 24-hour clock" — including the English Springer Spaniel who rides the NYC subway to school drop-off every morning
• The margarita-hangover night, eight years in, when she dropped the "strict British auctioneer" persona, just joked with the crowd, and realized "comedy is what makes people pay attention and bid"
• How she travels as a working mom — first flight out, red-eye home after night auctions, and treating every trip as a vacation so the beautiful hotel rooms never feel lonely
• The "big red X" calendar system that protects family dates years out, the trade offs that sometimes need to happen
• Why her day "starts at 7pm," and the rule that saved her marriage to her husband (also her company's CFO): "when I'm gone, I slide out" — no quarterbacking from afar
• Being Type A about work but refusing to be at home, holding things together "with duct tape and Popsicle sticks," and the one ball she's dropping on purpose: perfection
• The Greenlight allowance system (a dollar per year of age), why praise notes work on her youngest where punishment backfires, and why the kids pack their own bags — one sock and all
• Why she won't let her 13-year-old have social media even though she lives on Instagram, and how they’ve approached screens and devices for the family

Connect with Lydia:

• Instagram: @lydiafenet
• LinkedIn: Lydia Fenet

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Rachel Hochhauser was killing time on her phone in a hospital waiting room — her husband recovering from emergency brain surgery, her 18-month-old at home — when a meme of Cinderella's evil stepmother stopped her cold. "This isn't a villain. She's just trying to take care of her two daughters." That spark became "Lady Tremaine," her debut novel, a Reese's Book Club pick and instant New York Times bestseller. And that's only one of her jobs.

In this week's conversation, Rachel walks us through a day split between two full careers — novelist and founder of the design company Piecework (which just acquired Areaware) — all run inside the hours her childcare allows. She's refreshingly candid about the half-premade dinners, the outsourcing that's keeping the train on the tracks, and why she's stopped apologizing for any of it.

What We Cover:

• How a meme spotted during her husband's recovery became a New York Times bestselling novel
• How she runs two careers — author and design-company founder — entirely within childcare hours, and calls the system "designed so no one will thrive"
• Her honest take on dinner: Trader Joe's goat cheese ravioli, roast vegetables, and zero guilt
• Why lunch is non-negotiable, and what it means on the rare day she skips it
• Reframing outsourcing from "luxury" to "mental health" — the nanny who comes early, the cleaner, the handyman
• The analog notebook sorted by role, her inbox-zero system, and the $5 recipe app that holds it together
• Why "forced" creativity inside tight constraints is just as valuable as the lightning-strike kind
• Her most middle-aged joys: fancy grocery runs, pickled beans, and collecting 19th-century Blue Flow pottery

Connect with Rachel:

• Instagram: @hochhauser
• Piecework
• Substack: Great Fanfare
• Read her debut novel: Lady Tremaine

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Emilie Dayan Hill got her start in finance by pure luck — a phone call that came as she was literally climbing into a moving truck, leaving Mississippi for Atlanta with no job and no connections. A decade later, she's a partner and high net worth investment advisor at a major investment firm, and the writer behind Finance That Feels, where she's reshaping the way women relate to money.

In this week’s conversation, Emilie traces a wildly non-linear path — a violin scholarship, a theater-kid past, a dream grad program in Paris she walked away from — and the identity crisis that came with not having it all figured out. She's refreshingly open about the anxiety and postpartum depression she's lived with, the introversion most people never guess, and why she describes her days, only half-jokingly, as a "snowball."

What We Cover:

• The 5:00 AM "nook" — a converted-attic nest with a lamp and a rocking chair — where she writes before her daughter arrives "fully dressed in sequins and sparkly boots" to announce the day has started
• How a single phone call, mid-move from Oxford to Atlanta, turned a 24-year-old executive assistant into a CFA charterholder and firm partner
• The dream Paris grad program she dropped out of — "one of the lowest points in my life" — and why she trusted her gut anyway
• Why she started Finance That Feels: women weren't showing up to their own money meetings, and the statistics on who outlives whom
• Her case that money is "just a tool" — and why the finance industry is completely unprepared for how personal and psychological the work really is
• The standing Monday-night babysitter, BeltLine bike rides, and bar-hopping that brought "so much lightness" back to her marriage
• Her anti-snowball toolkit: hot yoga twice a week, a 45-minute infrared sauna, tennis, and 15 rose bushes that drop her cortisol on contact
• Her take-every-day PTO philosophy — she refuses to roll over vacation — and how it mirrors the way she thinks about money

Connect with Emilie:

• Substack: Finance That Feels
• Instagram: @emiliedayanhill
• Website: https://www.emiliedayanhill.com/

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Melissa Hines never planned to own a business. She just refused to compromise on care — and that single non-negotiable turned a one-woman practice into Wellest Integrative Health, a Back Bay pelvic floor PT clinic with seven practitioners and an expansion already underway. In this episode, Melissa pulls back the curtain on building what she calls her "third baby" while raising two actual ones just outside Boston.

In this week’s conversation, Melissa shares the hard transition into motherhood — her daughter was born in June 2020, at the height of the pandemic, when she had to close her clinic and struggled to bond — and how it took two years to feel balanced. She talks about the bout of pneumonia that finally forced her to put her own body first, the clarity of deciding two kids is enough, and what it actually looks like to build a business around the life you want.

What We Cover:

• What pelvic floor PT actually treats — and the 18-year-old patient who'd seen 15 specialists before everything changed for Melissa
• The non-negotiable that "forced" her to start her own practice, and the five years she spent just treating patients before letting herself become a CEO
• Why she calls her growing business her "third baby"
• The honest truth about not bonding with her newborn during a pandemic — and why she now normalizes it for her own patients
• How she decided two kids was her number, including a refreshingly candid take on the finances
• The winter pneumonia that made her stop "running ragged" — and the healer-trade economy of acupuncture and myofascial release she's built
• Her family-as-nanny setup: parents two days, in-laws two days, a babysitter two doors down
• The unicorns that pop up in Asana, the shared Google calendar her husband "has no idea" about, and the quarterly women's retreats to Portugal, Vegas, and Savannah
• What her shy, rule-following younger self would never believe about the risk-taking CEO she became

Connect with Melissa:

• Website: wellesthealth.com
• Instagram: @wellesthealth
• LinkedIn: Melissa Hines

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Francesca Cervero has been a full-time yoga teacher for 21 years — and she will tell you, this is her passion. Francesca has evolved her teaching from 40-50hr weeks in person in New York, to now teaching exactly when her son is in school virtually.

In this week’s conversation, Francesca shares how a serious hip injury at 23 (she was walking with a cane while teaching full-time in New York City) redirected her from dance to yoga permanently, why she deliberately compressed her career after becoming a mom, and what she means when she says movement should be "nutrient-dense" — tailored to each person's specific asymmetries, not performed for an audience.

What We Cover:

• How a hip injury at 23 — that happened in a yoga class — ended her dance career and launched a 21-year teaching career (and why she'd never describe yoga as having simply "healed" her)
• The morning routine she protects fiercely before 7:00am: bone broth before coffee, reading, and a 10-to-15-minute meditation practice
• What she means when she calls movement "nutrient-dense" — and why she believes yoga cannot be both a healing practice and a performative one at the same time
• Teaching yoga virtually since March 13, 2020, and why the transition worked so well she never looked back (even when the world reopened)
• Why she keeps dinner so simple you "could hardly call it cooking" (Whole Foods grilled chicken, Trader Joe's orange chicken, sous vide Costco steak) — and the intentional decision behind it
• Finding her people after moving to the suburbs eight months pregnant: the PACE new mom group, a neighborhood WhatsApp with 25 families under four, and what it actually takes to make new friends in your 30s
• The activism chapter she didn't see coming — going to Capitol Hill with Chamber of Mothers, co-founding a local Singing Resistance chapter, and having to buy pants that weren't leggings for the first time in years
• What her 22-year-old NYC self — who was climbing walls at 3:00am on a Tuesday — would think of dinner at 5:30 every single night and lights out before 10

Connect with Francesca:

• Instagram: @francescaservero
• Website: francescaservero.com
• Virtual Studio: stillnessandmovement.com

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Jennifer Cook wakes up at five every morning — not because she has to, but because she's wired that way. A fashion buyer for a multi-brand store in Soho, a hot yoga teacher, and the writer behind the Mom Friend Substack, she's built a life in Brooklyn that holds a two-and-a-half-year-old, three jobs, a musician husband, and a self-imposed 8:45pm bedtime. The key, she'll tell you, is knowing which balls you're allowed to let drop.

In this week’s conversation, Jennifer talks about the two hours of quiet she guards every morning before her daughter wakes up, how yoga teacher training was the reset she didn't know she needed, and why she started Mom Friend when she couldn't find anything on the internet that actually resonated.

What We Cover:

• The 5–7am window Jennifer protects every single morning — what she's actually doing in those two hours before her daughter wakes up, and why having time before the rest of the house stirs is non-negotiable
• What prompted her to sign up for yoga teacher training in 2016, and how a twelve-weekend commitment rewired her relationship with herself, her body, and her social life
• What 14 years in fashion wholesale actually taught her, and why a new baby, a move back to the city, and a career pivot to buying all happened at the same time
• The Monday rituals she never skips: reviewing every dollar she spent the week before, cleaning the bathroom after yoga, and why front-loading everything she can makes the rest of her week work
• How she started Mom Friend when she couldn't find content that resonated with her as a working mom — and the unexpected way the Substack has become her primary vehicle for making real adult friends in New York
• What it actually costs to have a night out in Brooklyn (the concert math, the $30-an-hour babysitter, the Uber home) and how that shapes when they choose to leave the house
• The balls she's consciously letting drop right now — and why she's made peace with the laundry pile on the couch, the unanswered texts, and the creative play she'll never quite be good at (same, Jennifer)

Connect with Jennifer:

• Instagram: @jennifersandra
• Substack: Mom Friend
• Website: jennifersandra.com

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Alison Hall doesn't know where her day will take her — and that's the point. As a correspondent for Inside Edition, she might get a call at 7am sending her to Long Island for a court hearing, spend the afternoon at the FaceTime set doing virtual interviews with sources in California, or hop on a flight to London. Her workday ends with show tape between 3 and 5pm, then she bikes home in the same blazer she wore on camera.

In this week’s conversation, Alison shares how her mom's breast cancer diagnosis when she was 14 planted the seed for journalism, how an on-camera interview about Olivia Munn led to her own early-stage breast cancer diagnosis and double mastectomy, and how she protects the rhythms that keep her grounded — 5:30am oat milk lattes, Citi Bike commutes, and the exact same Monday-through-Friday dinner she's eaten for six years.

What We Cover:

• The path from story coordinator to on-camera correspondent at Inside Edition over 12 years
• Her 5:30am mornings, oat milk latte on the couch, and "the brick" — the device that finally got her off Instagram at night
• How interviewing a doctor about Olivia Munn's diagnosis led her to her own early-stage breast cancer (and the double mastectomy that followed)
• Why she bikes to work in a dress and blazer and feels like the 10-year-old version of herself every time
• The exact Monday-through-Friday dinner rotation she and her husband James have eaten unchanged for six years
• Pizza Friday from Gelso & Grand in Little Italy, the wine-shop ritual, and how she completely eliminated FOMO from her life
• The practice of noticing "glimmers" — tiny moments of joy that's reshaped how she moves through New York
• Why Saturday mornings alone in Central Park with her Bernese Mountain Dog are non-negotiable

Connect with Alison:

• Instagram: @alisonhallreporting
• TikTok: @alisonhallreporting
• Substack: Between Headlines with Alison Hall
• Watch: Inside Edition weeknights and weekends

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Kathryn Humphries turned down a buying position at Bergdorf Goodman to bet on a one-woman PR agency run by someone she'd just met — and that gut instinct shaped everything. From interning in Ralph Lauren's celebrity dressing department to running social media at Gap, she built a career across New York's fashion world before moving home to Houston, meeting her husband, and co-founding All You Need Method with her former boss Carla — a PR membership that teaches small business owners how to land their own press.

In this honest conversation, Kathryn shares what her days look like working from home with a four-year-old in school and an eighteen-month-old with a nanny downstairs, how she structures her work around her circadian rhythms and childcare around her workload, and the weekly routines that keep her family moving.

What We Cover:

• Her morning rhythm: programmed coffee at 6:00am, couch snuggles with both girls fighting over space, and getting a four-year-old dressed and out the door by 7:15
• The daily smoothie she never skips — Kelly LeVeque's protein-fat-fiber-greens formula with "a lot of peanut butter"
• How a Canyon Coffee blog post about circadian rhythms changed the way she structures every workday (mornings for writing, noon to 2:00 for calls, done by 3:00)
• The career path from Ralph Lauren's celebrity dressing department to Teen Vogue to Gap to starting her own PR consultancy in Houston
• A secret love of acting — complete with an agent in Austin, NYU student films, and classes she still takes as a parent
• Her nanny Miss Lucy's game-changing move: cooking dinner during the baby's nap a couple days a week and how she flexes her childcare based on her workload.
• Reading Harry Potter to her four-year-old with some creative editing of the scary parts — and a chamomile tea ritual her daughter now mimics with hot water, honey, and milk
• Sunday mornings at Central Market — the Texas grocery store experience with balloons, fresh fruit, a great playlist, and the whole family strolling the aisles

Connect with Kathryn:

• Instagram: @kathrynwhumphries
• Company: @allyouneedmethod
• Substack: Open Book

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Chassity Evans woke up one morning with a fully formed novel in her head. She hadn’t taken a single writing class, had never planned to write a book, and was about to board a flight to the Bahamas — but by January 6th she was writing chapter one, and a little over a year later, her debut rom-com Pink Sand Summer was finished. Now the Charleston-based content creator (formerly behind Look Linger Love) is balancing a 16-year career in blogging with a brand-new identity as a novelist — all while raising two teenagers and keeping her evenings wide open for whenever they actually want to hang out with mom.

In this honest conversation, Chassity shares what her unstructured days look like as a content creator who deliberately avoids schedules, how she wrote four to five days a week (sometimes eight-hour stretches on Friday nights) while keeping it feeling fun, and why she’s traded evening socializing for the daytime. She also opens up about the surprising shift of parenting older kids — how she went from counting down the days until she wouldn’t need a babysitter to realizing she wants to be home more than ever. I loved hearing from Chassity what her days look like as mom of older kids!

What We Cover:

• How Chassity’s debut novel arrived as a “dream download” one morning — and the year-long writing journey from chapter one to final edits (January 2025 to January 2026)
• Her deliberately unscheduled work routine — and how she keeps everything feeling fun
• The unexpected parenting flip: going from needing babysitters for date nights to wanting to be home in case the kids feel like talking
• Navigating year-round travel lacrosse with her 14-year-old son Fletcher (and watching for signs of burnout)
• How writing changed the way she reads — from “pure candy” to paying attention to the rhythm of every sentence
• Her self-care staples: Peloton strength classes with Callie, walking the treadmill while watching Netflix, and reheating yesterday’s leftovers at 10:30am
• Building Pink Sand Summer into a multi-book universe set on Harbor Island, a place she discovered on Pinterest in 2012

Connect with Chassity:

• Instagram: @chassityevans
• Website: chassityevans.com
• Substack: Chassity Evans
• Book: Pink Sand Summer (out May 12th)

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Rebecca Matchett co-founded Alice and Olivia at 23 with zero fashion experience, now she's building Synchrony, a social platform for neurodivergent adults, and navigating life as a mom of three in downtown Manhattan — including sending her oldest to college in California this fall.

In this honest conversation, Rebecca opens up about the pattern that's defined her career: jumping into industries she knows little about and figuring it out as she goes. She talks about what it's really like to run a startup while managing three kids' travel hockey schedules (they're apart most weekends), why she sets five alarms every morning just to remember to check her calendar, and the bittersweet reality of watching her firstborn choose a school 3,000 miles away.

What We Cover:

• How a dinner with a fellow mom turned into a tech startup addressing the gap in social services for neurodivergent adults
• The Alice and Olivia origin story — and what happens when you make pants out of upholstery fabric (spoiler: they chafe)
• Why Rebecca deliberately chose sports-heavy childhoods to push back against the "Manhattan private school kid" stereotype
• Running a three-founder startup where communication happens across text, Slack, and email at all hours (there is no end time)
• The college application process with a Division I-level hockey player — and why visiting schools changed everything
• Her 13-year nanny who's transitioned from childcare to home management (and why they'll never let her go)
• Using AI to plan a last-minute Portugal trip, review legal documents, and pressure-test business partnerships
• The joy of watching three kids speak fluent Chinese to each other — while their parents have zero idea what they're saying

Connect with Rebecca:

• LinkedIn: Rebecca Matchett
• Website: joinsynchrony.com
• Instagram: @joinsynchrony

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