I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Katherine (Kat) Murray-Troy, owner and publisher of Binghamton Macaroni Kid. Binghamton Macaroni Kid is a website and newsletter that takes the stress out of trying to find local family-friendly events. In addition to the site, Kat builds community by bringing families together through events while highlighting local businesses.

Kat has quickly grown her business to a team of three and over 3k subscribers in only a year by adding value and hosting events such as Trunk or Treat and the Golden Daisy Awards, among others.

What chatted about parenting: expectation versus reality, connecting with your child(ren) and exploring their world, learning to focus on the process rather than the end result, and trusting yourself.

I really enjoyed chatting with Donna Geetter during this episode: she’s insightful, self-reflective, warm, and so relatable.

Donna is super impressive, juggling many hats: she’s a wife, mother, English teacher at Johnson City High School, a doctoral student in the Teaching, Learning, and Educational Leadership Program at Binghamton University, and an adjust professor.

Donna chats about falling into her profession, which she absolutely loves and is passionate about. She shares the common feeling of looking around to see that everyone else has it together or knows something she doesn’t. We discuss labels and how we label ourselves, in particular, which isn’t always helpful.

Enjoy!

This week’s guest is Mara Stillman! Mara is one of my strongest friends - literally and figuratively. She’s really fought to become the person she is today.

During the episode, Mara shares her health and wellness journey from being diagnosed with fibromyalgia and celiac disease to using food and exercise to help heal her body. It hasn’t been easy, Mara has overcome devastating injuries by shifting her perspective and mindset to focus on the things her body can do and how far she’s come.

Mara provides inspiration and support to others living with chronic illness, those overcoming injuries, and people trying to get in shape and live a healthy lifestyle through her Instagram account AMaranatedLife. She shares the lessons she’s learned over the past five years and discusses her successes and her struggles.

Check out her Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/amaranatedlife/.

My guest this week Jeanie Kumpon has dedicated her career to empowering and lifting others up by helping them achieve their goals. She’s incredibly caring, warm, and personable. Jeanie and I cover a range of topics, from her experience working full-time to staying at home with her kids and reentering the workforce to her move from Colorado to New York. She talks about meeting her husband, Pete, and how they keep not only their relationship healthy and strong, but their relationship with their kids, extended family, and friends.

A few highlights from our conversation include Jeanie’s experience at the Women’s March in Washington D.C. two years ago, her Annual Binghamton Scavenger Hunt, and the wildly successful mommy group she formed in Colorado.

I was getting my hair cut about a month ago when my stylist asked me what was new as she often does during my appointments. I clumsily told her about this podcast and she told me she wanted to be a guest!

Jenn Purtell is the owner of Beautopia Salon, she’s super creative, non-judgy, and always makes me laugh. I’ve been going to Jenn for two or three years and she’s legit my favorite stylist because I feel like I’m visiting a friend.

During this episode we chat about short hair, confidence, awkwardness, social anxiety, drunk alter egos, and peeing our pants. Jenn also talks about risk-taking and facing her fears (including being a guest on this podcast!).

If you live in the Greater Binghamton area Google ‘Beautopia Salon Vestal NY.’ Unfortunately, Jenn isn’t taking any new clients but she works with a handful of great stylists that have openings.

I hope you enjoy our laughter filled discussion!

I was getting my hair cut about a month ago when my stylist asked me what was new as she often does during my appointments. I clumsily told her about this podcast and she told me she wanted to be a guest!

Jenn Purtell is the owner of Beautopia Salon, she’s super creative, non-judgy, and always makes me laugh. I’ve been going to Jenn for two or three years and she’s legit my favorite stylist because I feel like I’m visiting a friend.

During this episode we chat about short hair, confidence, awkwardness, social anxiety, drunk alter egos, and peeing our pants. Jenn also talks about risk-taking and facing her fears (including being a guest on this podcast!).

If you live in the Greater Binghamton area Google ‘Beautopia Salon Vestal NY.’ Unfortunately, Jenn isn’t taking any new clients but she works with a handful of great stylists that have openings.

I hope you enjoy our laughter filled discussion!

Episode nine features Stan Wanglund, you may recognize the last name because I had the opportunity to interview his son Jonathan in episode four!

Stan has his own podcast, Talking about Mind, Body & Spirit, which is described as "a place where we get to think critically together about life’s issues, big and small." He draws on his own experience as a practicing clinical psychologist.

We had an in-depth conversation about podcasting, his analysis of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, the ability to change, his extensive work history working with vulnerable populations, the death of his daughter, and so much more. Stan has some unique views of the world, which are quite thought-provoking: I hope you enjoy our discussion!

My interview with Colleen Barton was so long it needed two parts!

During part two, Colleen chats about how she met her husband, being a working mom, gender, fertility, and infertility. In addition, Colleen discusses her strategy and mindset for dealing with comments from both well-intentioned and ill-intentioned friends, family members, acquaintances, and strangers.

When I became serious about getting this blog and podcast off the ground, Colleen Barton was at the top of my list for people I wanted to interview, and I’m so glad she agreed!

I’ve known Colleen for six or so years now. We met when Colleen was first the Education & Social Media Coordinator and then the Community Education Coordinator at Visions Federal Credit Union. Colleen taught financial education to my participants at the Center for Employment Opportunities, and we became friends in the process.

The reason I wanted to interview Colleen was to chat with her about working with so many diverse groups of individuals (formerly incarcerated to college-age students and everything in between) and also because she is the mom to five kids and works full time (she was actually recently promoted to Business Development Officer), which, in my opinion, is pretty damn impressive.

This is a two-part episode with part one released on January 19th and part two released on January 26th. We cover a ton: from her relationship with her husband to working full time with five kids at home, from fertility to stereotypes, identity, and so much more! I hope you enjoy listening to Colleen as much as I enjoyed chatting with her.

Dr. Matthew McConn is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership (TLEL) at Binghamton University (BU). 

I first met Matt through our 6:30am CrossFit class a few years ago, which is where he earned the nickname Professor Matt (there was another Matt in the class). Matt is thoughtful, intelligent, and a stand-up guy. He has been and continues to be super supportive of my husband who recently earned his education doctorate through TLEL at BU.

Matt shares with me how he met his wife, his journey to teaching secondary English (it wasn't what I thought!), moving his family from Texas to upstate New York, his teaching philosophy, and much more. I hope you take a listen: Matt is a great conversationalist and I really enjoyed chatting with him!