Fertility Journeys

On this episode of Fertility Journeys, Dr. Shala Salem, M.D.  speaks with Rima Chahbar .  Rima shares her personal fertility journey, her diagnosis of endometriosis,  recurrent pregnancy losses and how she is managing the grief of infertility and loss. Rima is a second generation Lebanese-Canadian secondary school teacher, and staunch infertility, loss and human rights advocate. She firmly believes in the importance of representation and inclusion in all avenues and works hard to break the stigma associated with infertility in racialized communities. 

Dr. Cohen lives on a farm in New Jersey with her husband, two sons, and lots of furry friends.

On this episode of Fertility Journeys, Dr. Shala Salem, M.D., speaks with Sayeda Abbas, a racial justice lawyer living in New York City. She is an infertility advocate and the face behind Brown Girl Infertility, a social media platform to raise awareness and create a space for women of color in the infertility community. She started the page to diversify the conversation around infertility and to break the stigma on this topic in her community. She shares her own journey through IVF cycles and raises awareness around the topic. She has also created a private Facebook support group called “Brown Girl Infertility and Loss,” for women to have a safe space and feel that they are a part of a community on their fertility journey.

On this episode of Fertility Journeys, Dr. Shala Salem M.D., interviews Kezia Okafor, a Fertility Mindset Coach and infertility counselor, working with women struggling with the emotional distress of infertility.  She helps them take charge of their emotions and mindset, so they feel in control of their infertility journey and life, which maximizes their chances for a successful and healthy pregnancy.

Kezia's own experience with infertility and experiencing the lack of emotional support has spurred her to plug the gap on mental and emotional health knowledge within the fertility community.  Kezia is also author of the book "Flipping the Script on Infertility- Taking Back Control of Life and Purpose."     

Today's guest on this episode of Fertility Journeys with Dr. Shala Salem, M.D., is Jennifer Robertson, a fertility coach who has helped women all over the world transform their mindset and take back control of their life in the midst of infertility. 

She is also author of "The Injustice of Infertility," a deeply inspiring and raw account of her own seven-year fertility journey.

Throughout her own fertility journey, Jen discovered that her old ways of pushing and working hard weren’t serving her. She is now using the lessons learned along the way to develop programs and support women throughout their journey to motherhood - from the moment they start trying to conceive, until they hold their baby in their arms. 

You can follow Jennifer on Instagram @msjenniferrobertson or @yourpregnancyhaven

Or via her website www.jenniferrobertson.co or www.yourpregnancyhaven.co 

On this episode of Fertility Journeys, Dr. Shala Salem, talks with nutritionist, mother, researcher and educator, Nimisha Gandhi who is well-known for her work and life passion for women’s health issues.

Nimisha Gandhi is a functional medicine nutritionist, Ayurvedic counselor, Yoga Nidra/meditation teacher, and former tech founder. She holds a B.S. in pre-med Psychobiology from UCLA and has years of additional education in her field.

In Nimisha’s private practice, Moon Cycle Nutrition, she specializes in fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum care with an emphasis on the mind, body, and soul. Nimisha combines functional medicine nutrition with ancient Ayurvedic principles to help her clients find deeply personalized eating and lifestyle plans.

Her clients learn to awaken their untapped healer and empower themselves about their own health journey. She also uses the innate wisdom of changing hormones and cycles of nature to help her clients flow with their body. Moon Cycle Nutrition is a conscious evolution practice that draws on deep inner inquiry, food as medicine, meditation, sleep, rituals, lab work, movement, and insight that she has picked up along the journey.

Nimisha serves as a board member of several health and wellness companies and organizations, including FemTech Collective and Conscious Kitchen. She speaks regularly at conferences, retreats, and private events. You can also find Nimisha teaching workshops and classes in-person and virtually. Her work is research-based, intuitive, and from the soul.

Website: www.mooncyclenutrition.com

Instagram: @mooncyclenutrition

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mooncyclenutrition/

This episode of Fertility Journeys features Dr. Shala Salem,M.D.,  interviewing Dr. Jenna Hua, RD, MPH, Ph.D. An environmental health scientist and dietitian by training, Jenna is passionate about the environment, public health and everything food.

Frustrated by the lack of data for how harmful chemicals (like BPA, phthalates and parabens) from plastics and everyday products affect our health and clinical outcomes, and the absence of personalized approach to mitigate harmful chemical exposures, Jenna is set out on a mission to change these. From there, she founded Million Marker, a health-tech startup dedicated to empower everyone with the data and tools to determine how the products they use, the food they eat, and the water they drink negatively or positively influence their health. Million Marker helps people understand what chemicals are inside of them—and then provides simple solutions for quickly reducing harmful chemicals through mail-in test kits, lifestyle audits, product recommendations, and counseling.

"Our mission is to get one million people to take our test—building the first ever dataset on how environmental exposures like microplastics impact our bodies. Starting with a few markers of harmful exposures, our vision is to discover over a MILLION MARKERS to inform and improve individual health and to advance precision medicine." Jenna holds a BS in Nutrition and an MPH and PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley. Jenna also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in chronic disease prevention at Stanford Medicine. 

Japanese claypot mentioned in the interview:  Toiro. 

Website : www.millionmarker.com

IG @million_marker

In this episode of Fertility Journeys with Dr. Shala Salem; Aisha Balesaria shares her fertility journey – where a late diagnosis of stage IV endometriosis revealed the primary cause of Aisha’s infertility. Over 11 unsuccessful IVF attempts and many miscarriages later,  Aisha and her husband Billahl decided to embrace their childfree-after-infertility life. With real courage and determination, they eventually got to a place of healing and acceptance. Aisha shares her infertility journey in the hope that it will inspire others without children - she is living proof you can have a happy life beyond being a parent, even if it’s not the one you planned. 

Instagram : mindbodyrevival_coach 

www.mindbodyrevivalcoach.com

On this episode of Fertility Journeys, Dr. Shala Salem, MD, sits down with Faiza Shireen. Faiza shares her experience and decision to freeze her eggs.

Faiza is a corporate philanthropy professional in New York City. A second generation Pakistani American, Faiza shares her experience navigating her hyphenated identity, as well as coping with anxiety and grief through personal essays and poetry which she shares on her blog faizashireen.com. She also co-hosts a podcast, The Femmedamentalists, with her friend Mehak Jamil, where they break down taboos in the South Asian community and dissect desi culture across the diaspora.

You can follow along her journey @faiza_shireen on Instagram.

On this episode of the Fertility Journeys Podcast, Dr. Shala Salem, M.D., speaks with Allison Schaaf, founder of Miscarriage Hope Desk, which she created as the resource she wanted during her years long struggle with recurrent pregnancy loss.

Miscarriage Hope Desk provides evidence-based research articles, stories of hope and community for those struggling with recurrent loss. 

Allison has a background as a chef and dietitian and is also a serial entrepreneur. She founded the meal planning website, PrepDish.com which helps busy moms get healthy, delicious meals on the table!

Allison currently lives in the Texas Hill Country outside of Austin, TX with her husband, 2 sons, 2 cats, 2 pups, lots of chickens and a few bee hives.

Instagram: @miscarriagehopedesk

www.miscarriagehopedesk.com