A Splash More

In this episode of A Splash More, Hayley and Bailey sit down with Phaith Montoya — creator, speaker, and advocate for expanding representation within the plus-size community.

Known for her beauty, fashion, and lifestyle content, Phaith has built a platform rooted in authenticity, using her voice to challenge outdated beauty standards while encouraging more open conversations around body confidence and mental health. A former educator, NAMI brand ambassador, and participant in CBS’s Survivor Influencer Experience, she brings both insight and lived experience to the conversation.

Together, Hayley, Bailey, and Phaith explore the generational shift happening around body image — including the long-standing pressure many women grew up with to “chase skinny,” and how younger generations are beginning to question that narrative entirely.

Throughout the conversation, Phaith reflects on what she hopes people take away from her work: the reminder that our joy and sense of worth were never meant to be measured by numbers — whether it’s the number on a scale, the balance in a bank account, the likes on a post, or the grade on a test.

It’s an honest conversation about identity, confidence, and the evolving relationship women are building with their bodies — and themselves.

In this episode of A Splash More, Hayley sits down with actress and dear friend Melissa Ordway Gaston for a deeply personal conversation about adoption, motherhood, and the love that shapes how families are formed.

Melissa shares the story of welcoming her first daughter through adoption before later becoming a biological mother — a journey that gave her a unique perspective on what it means to build a family. Together, Hayley and Melissa talk openly about the realities of adoption: the emotional complexity, the courage involved for both adoptive families and birth families, and the extraordinary amount of love behind the decision.

At the center of the conversation is a powerful reframing. Melissa shares the message she hopes her daughter — and anyone listening — carries with them: a child’s story is not that they were adopted. Their story is that their life is deeply valuable and meant to be here.

This episode also explores the responsibility adoptive parents carry to honor the full story of adoption — acknowledging both the beauty and the challenges — while ensuring that adopted children grow up knowing they are loved, chosen, and exactly where they are meant to be.

Together, Hayley and Melissa discuss:

What adoption really means for both adoptive and birth families

This conversation is honest, thoughtful, and rooted in compassion — a reminder that families are created in many different ways, and every story deserves to be honored.

When the world feels heavy and the stakes feel high, it’s easy to feel paralyzed. In this episode of A Splash More, Hayley and Bailey sit down with editor, stylist, and community voice Tanya Monaghan to explore what it really takes to move from frustration to action.

A former Fashion Editor of Glamour Magazine South Africa and current Deputy Editor of Southbay Magazine, Tanya has long shaped stories that spotlight culture and community. In 2026, she helped organize Southbay Takes a Stand, a movement that led to a 5,000-person walk responding to policies many feel are harmful and unjust.

This conversation dives into:

Breaking through the fear of “starting”

The myth that impact has to begin big

How small actions create lasting ripple effect

Standing firm in your values while managing everyday life

This episode is about what happens when conviction turns into courage — and the power of choosing not to stay silent.

What if women were taught to understand their bodies before crisis forced the conversation?

In this episode, we sit down with fertility specialist Dr. Roohi Jeelani for a deeply personal conversation about women’s health, timelines, and the invisible pressure surrounding motherhood.

They explore what it means to truly understand your body — from cycle awareness to whole-body health — and how often women are taught to ignore their signals until fertility becomes urgent. The conversation also challenges a cultural narrative many women quietly carry: the assumption that every woman is destined to become a mother. For some, that path is complicated. For others, it isn’t the right path at all. Both realities deserve language, respect, and space.

Together, they discuss the emotional landscape of reproductive health: the grief that can accompany fertility struggles, the stress of a biological clock, and the reality that some journeys end differently than expected. Dr. Jeelani brings both clinical expertise and lived experience, offering insight into how women can care for themselves across decades, not just when trying to conceive.

This episode isn’t only about parenthood. It’s about honoring your body, releasing the myth of a single correct timeline, and giving voice to experiences women are often expected to navigate silently.

In this episode of A Splash More, we sit down with digital culture expert Shira Lazar and Google executive Stephanie Shim for a candid conversation about the version of “the plan” women are taught to follow and what happens when life doesn’t align with that timeline.

Together, they unpack hustle culture, ambition, and the pressure to measure success by outdated milestones. Stephanie shares what it looks like to build an extraordinary career while stepping into a new personal chapter in her 40s, and Shira offers insight into reinvention, visibility, and evolving without apology.

This episode is about releasing rigid expectations and redefining success on your own terms.

Healing doesn’t mean blaming the past — it means understanding it.

In this episode of A Splash More, we’re joined by Bryana Kappadakunnel, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, founder of Conscious Mommy, and author of Parent Yourself First, for a thoughtful conversation about how our childhood experiences shape the parents we become.

Together, we explore how to reflect on family dynamics with honesty and compassion, how to acknowledge emotional wounds without resentment, and how awareness can help us break cycles gently and intentionally. This episode offers reassurance for anyone navigating the balance between honoring their parents’ humanity and tending to their own healing.

A meaningful listen for parents committed to growth, connection, and doing the best they can — with what they know now.

In this special mini episode of A Splash More, Hayley sits down with Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist Bryana Kappadakunnel, founder of Conscious Mommy and author of Parent Yourself First, for an honest conversation about grief during the holidays.

Together, they explore what it means to hold space for both joy and sadness in a season that often expects constant happiness. Bry offers gentle insight into why grief can resurface this time of year, how to navigate complicated emotions without judgment, and why allowing yourself to feel it all can actually create deeper connection and healing.

This episode is for anyone moving through the holidays with a full heart — whether you’re grieving a loss, honoring old memories, or simply learning how to make room for emotions that don’t fit neatly into the season.

In this episode of A Splash More, Bailey and Hayley sit down with Shira Lazar — Emmy-nominated digital culture expert, founder of What’s Trending, and longtime voice in the creator economy — for a candid conversation about rejection, resilience, and staying true to yourself when the path forward isn’t clear.

Shira opens up about navigating years of “not yet” moments, career pivots, and the emotional toll of putting yourself out there in highly visible spaces. Together, they unpack what it really means to persevere without burning out, how to celebrate the wins you do receive, and why gratitude and alignment matter just as much as ambition.

This episode explores the quiet strength it takes to keep going, the importance of honoring your North Star, and how trusting the process can create momentum even when outcomes feel uncertain. Honest, grounding, and deeply motivating, this conversation is a reminder that success isn’t built overnight — it’s built by showing up, staying open, and believing that what’s meant for you will meet you where you are.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Whitney Burrell of Southbay Plastic Surgeons, whose expertise and care guided Bailey through her breast reduction. Together, we explore the emotional and psychological realities of navigating the healthcare system as a patient, particularly as women.

Hayley shares her lifelong fear of medical procedures and how her anxiety around surgery and death quietly shapes her daily life and holds her back from feeling fully free.

Bailey opens up about a different kind of fear: not the procedure, but the experience of being seen in a body that has evolved through intentional choices, including her breast reduction. Having built a deeply connected community around her plus-size identity, she’s now exploring what it means to show up authentically, embrace her growth, and hold space for all versions of herself.

Dr. Burrell helps unpack the emotional complexity behind body changes, identity shifts, and what compassionate care really looks like.

This conversation is grounding, eye-opening, and deeply human.

This week on A Splash More, Bailey and Hayley sit down with Phylicia Pearl Mpasi — actress, writer, manifestation coach, and daughter of Congolese immigrants whose breakout role as “Young Celie” in The Color Purple earned her the NAACP Image Award for Best Breakout Performance. You’ve seen her on screen, you’ve heard her words on Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, and right now you can catch her on Broadway in The Lion King.

But today, Phylicia joins us for a conversation that goes far deeper than credits.

In this episode, we explore the realities of race, identity, and the expectations placed on Black women — and the fear many white women feel around “saying the wrong thing.” What starts with humor (“Wait… I’m Black?!”) opens the door to an honest, grounded, and deeply human conversation that encouraged us to move past the kind of uncomfortable caution that keeps people from really showing up.

We also talk about the inner magic that shaped Phylicia’s path — her childhood obsession with Raven Symoné, the joy of making people laugh, and how she now helps others step into their power as a manifestation coach.

It’s vulnerable, it’s real, it’s unexpectedly light in all the right moments — and it’s a conversation that matters.