Conversations with Kat

Join me in conversation with Jackie Hefter as we chat about parenthood, motherhood, postpartum recovery, the need for a modern day village and her journey of creating "Mama's Maven". 

About Jackie and Mama's Maven:

I created Mama’s Maven because I truly needed Mama’s Maven. Before becoming a mother, my world was driven by ambition and creativity. I worked in marketing for global brands like Playboy and Michael Kors, then launched my own social media business and later co-founded a fashion brand with my twin sister that was sold in major retailers like Winners and TJ Maxx.

But motherhood changed everything. When my children were born, it cracked open old wounds and brought buried trauma to the surface. After years of living in survival mode, I was diagnosed with CPTSD and began to understand just how deeply generational trauma had shaped my nervous system.

That realization became a turning point. Instead of chasing perfection or performance, I stepped into a new purpose: breaking cycles, healing my body, and reclaiming my true self — not just for my children, but for the lineage of women who came before me.

Mama’s Maven was born from that transformation. It’s a platform and a community for women who are learning to slow down, regulate their nervous systems, and reconnect with their truth. It’s a space where women can be met exactly where they are, supported by specialists, stories, and shared experience.

To get in touch and learn more:

https://mamasmaven.com/
IG: mamas_maven

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Mira Katz is an entrepreneur with a background in the scientific method. She blends creativity with a systematic approach and is obsessed with problem-solving, business, and aesthetics.

She works with small to enterprise-sized businesses as a strategic consultant and fractional COO. Her expertise is in financial modelling, pricing, organizational structures, and brand messaging.

In 2018, she Co-Founded Maison d'Étude, a boutique tutoring company in Montreal Quebec. It has gained local recognition as one of the city's top educational institutions, known for its holistic approach to learning.

Mira now works with companies across Canada, the US, and Mexico. She is especially interested in supporting creative female founders who are looking to scale sustainable businesses and develop disruptive global brands.

www.mirakatz.com

@lookitsmirakatz

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About Nikki Myers:

A highly accomplished speaker and educator, Nikki’s rich background includes an MBA, E-RYT500 certification, expertise in Yoga Therapy, proficiency in Somatic Experiencing, specialization in Addictions Recovery, and comprehensive knowledge of Ayurveda. Her pursuit of these qualifications is deeply intertwined with her own journey through addiction, which serves as the bedrock of her approach to teaching and healing.

Drawing upon her profound experiences, rigorous study, and work with countless students, Nikki stands as the visionary behind Y12, a groundbreaking initiative dedicated to catalyzing the healing of all addiction. This approach skillfully integrates the principles of Yoga, Vedanta, neuroscience, and trauma healing with effective strategies from 12-step, cognitive behavioral, and harm reduction programs.

The cornerstone of Y12 is its flagship program, Yoga of 12-Step Recovery (Y12SR), founded on the principle that "the issues live in the tissues." 

Nikki’s work goes beyond individual recovery, recognizing that addiction is deeply rooted in societal structures, histories, and the disconnection fostered by modern life. Her vision of healing addiction extends to addressing the broader patterns of harm created by coloniality, consumerism, and the fractured relationships between humans, the Earth, and Spirit. Her work with Y12 is a holistic, transformative pathway that nurtures recovery, integration, and wholeness for individuals, families, communities, and even the systems that shape our world.

To Get In Touch:

@y12sr

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Join me in conversation with Allison as she shares her personal transformation story and the power of healing your gut.

About Allison:

Allison Jade is a wellness mentor, regenerative farmer, and passionate advocate for gut health and holistic healing. After experiencing severe postpartum mental health challenges, she began a deep journey of self-healing, reclaiming her light through nutrition and the Ultimate Lifestyle Transformation. Along the way, she healed eczema, IBS, and got off all psychiatric medications, awakening a powerful calling to help others do the same. Today, she empowers thousands through the Purium lifestyle, artful education, and conscious leadership. Her story is a living testament to the body’s ability to heal when we create the right environment and to the beauty of rising from the dark with purpose.

Curious about Purium, the health products that helped heal Allison’s gut? Use code Kat108 to get $50 off when you spend over $75, or 25% off when you spend over $250!

https://ishoppurium.com/homepage

To get in touch:

@allisonjadelight

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Musings on her spiritual journey, life and offerings to the world that are deeply healing and powerful. A very uplifting and inspiring conversation not to be missed!

About:

Kimiko Tao Fujimoto is a flower essence naturalist and earth-based ritualist with over 20 years of experience in the fields of yoga, mysticism, and spiritual development. As a community activator and entrepreneurial leader, she guides large-scale and intimate gatherings where nature teaches, flowers heal, and the body becomes a sacred vessel of transformation. As the creator of Lands Essences, she crafts potent flower remedies from holy sites and wild landscapes all over the world, offering retreats, healings, and pilgrimages through 1:1 mentorship and group-led excursions. Her work invites authenticity, soulful remembrance, energetic alignment, and connection to the spirit of ecology. 
Kimiko Tao Fujimoto

lush-lands.com

@lush_lands

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Join me in conversation with Gregg Champion as we hear his story of recovery and how he lives life on life's terms today with so much grace, inspiration and trust.

 About Gregg Champion:

Gregg Champion, a TEDx speaker and former branding expert, has worked with top consumer brands (Gap, Mattel, Doritos, Pokemon, NIKE), major television networks (NBC, FOX, and Fox Sports), and professional sports teams during the first 15 years of his career.  He now focuses his energy on selective start-up ventures as an entrepreneur, advisor, educator, and start-up coach.

 Gregg has helped, supported, and career coached over a 100 Millennials and Gen Z’s helping them successfully land their first job or internship in the "real world." Through his vast experiences working with Fortune 500 brands, running his own companies, and fostering relationships with young people at colleges and universities across the nation, he has developed a purpose driven playbook on how to land, keep, and thrive at your dream job. In June 2015, Gregg was named Mentor in Residence at USC's Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurship after serving as a co-teacher for a 400-level undergraduate course on Venture Management within the Marshall School of Business.

Sensing a shift in the economy and the media industry, Gregg’s intuition told him he needed to pivot. He came up with a mantra that he said to his wife and the universe every day…

 “I want to get paid for being me.” 

 What came of that daily prayer, and the patience of his loving wife… was the opportunity to go into drug treatment facilities, sober living centers, and intensive outpatient programs and “facilitate” / “teach” / “coach” others in Gregg’s version of recovery. You see, Gregg has 30 years in recovery.

What Gregg was bringing the clients were “chapters of life experience” that he had already lived through and was on the other side with a lesson ready to be bestowed. Over time, his role grew bigger and bigger, he was “getting paid to be Gregg,” and then it was time for Gregg to take “his curriculum” and do his own thing. Gregg brings unequivocal expertise, visibility, and acumen to recovery coaching. Policy makers, media personalities, and addiction experts recognize Gregg as a highly valued and trusted member of the recovery community.

Along with his friend & business partner Jeffrey Vann, in the fall of 2017, START UP RECOVERY & WELLNESS turned into one of a kind Transformational Living Center in Pacific Palisades when it opened its doors with Gregg's vision of “Shifting Addiction to Passion” as a mission statement for the company. And this curriculum that had helped so many, now had a name, The Recovery Playbook, and today is used with every client within START UP’s system, within workshops people pay to attend, and even has a certification process for those who want to use it in their practices or businesses. Gregg continues to run high-end/high-energy groups, panels, recovery retreats, as a facilitator/recovery coach, and families call upon him as an interventionist too. 

Gregg, his wife Jennifer and their three daughters Elysse, Annabelle, and Charlise reside in Manhattan Beach now, after they lost their Pacific Palisades house in the Palisades Fire.

 Get In Touch:

www.startupwellness.com

@greggchampion

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Join me on this months podcast episode as we chat with my dear friend, Jace Malz, and learn more about their journey of recovery, entrepreneurship, life and more! A very inspiring conversation  not to be missed! 

About Jace Malz:

Jace Malz is a facilitator, leadership coach, and systems thinker helping people and organizations adapt, connect, and thrive in complexity.

He is the founder of Inbo, a creative studio for learning and leadership, and the heart behind Misfits, a coaching and community for folks who don't fit the mold.

With over a decade of experience designing and facilitating transformative programs, Jace has worked with organizations across sectors from the World Bank to grassroots nonprofits, tech companies to government teams, to reimagine how we lead, collaborate, and grow. Their approach is deeply relational, trauma-informed, and rooted in equity, creativity, and play.

Known for creating brave, reflective spaces that feel both grounded and generative, Jess blends tools from design thinking, adult development, coaching, and change management to help individuals and teams move through uncertainty with more ease, clarity, and confidence.

They’re especially passionate about helping people reconnect to their own voice and vision by holding space for people to show up more fully as themselves.

When not holding space, you can find Jace playing with his dogs, walking in the woods, crafting wild ideas, or dreaming up new ways to build more just, joyful futures.

Get In Touch:

www.inbo.ca

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 Join Andrea and I as we hear her personal story and experience with postpartum depression along with her healing journey. This is an incredibly candid, sincere and honest conversation around this very important topic. Please have a listen and share with your loved ones so that we can help educate and promote awareness.

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Join me in conversation with psychologist, Dr. Emily Kerner, as we chat about her private practice, starting up "Reunion Sante" a health collective for clinicians and other health practitioners, and on being a mom, parenting + balancing it all! 

More about Dr. Kerner:

Dr. Emily Kerner is a licensed psychologist, clinical supervisor, and psychological consultant from Montreal, QC. She holds masters and doctoral degrees in Counselling Psychology from McGill University and is a Certified Clinical Trauma Specialist through the Trauma Institute International. Emily has been practicing psychotherapy with adolescents and adults for over 13 years and specializes in working with people who have experienced developmental and complex trauma (e.g., childhood sexual abuse, neglect, adult children of alcoholic parents), as well as addictive behaviors, adult ADHD, interpersonal difficulties, depression, anxiety, and workplace stress/burnout. Emily also works as a consultant to the Disability Programs and Specialized Services team at the Cree Health Board, where she provides expert knowledge to other professionals and travels to northern Quebec to share her knowledge with members of the Cree community. In 2022, Emily and her fearless business partner, Dr. Shakib Nasrullah, started Reunion Sante, a professional community that offers support and resources to make the practice of healthcare more sustainable for the practitioners who provide it. In everything she does, Emily is passionate about helping people live authentically, boldly, and without apology. She lives in the West Island of Montreal with her husband, 11 year old daughter, and two-year-old cockapoo, Caramel.

To get in touch, please visit:

www.emilykernerphd.com

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Join me in this episode as we chat with Nurse Practitioner and Yoga Teacher, Beca Salmon as we dive into the topic of kundalini yoga and it's incredibly powerful and healing benefits. 

About Beca:

Beca is a nomad, an oncology nurse practitioner and a former special education teacher. She has been a practitioner of many types of yoga for over 20 years, studying in the Bay Area, NYC and India, but it wasn’t until 2019 when she found kundalini yoga that she was able to finally create a lasting daily practice. She completed her teacher training with Guru Singh and Bret Larkin, as well as studying with her first teacher Guru Jagat. Beca is a new writer with a forthcoming memoir, The Third Option, coming out in Fall 2025. 

Get In Touch:

www.becasalmonwriter.com

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