On this week's episode, teen mom turned Ivy League grad Jessica Rockowitz not only shares her motherhood journey with us, but covers a wide range of topics including: talking to your children about sex starting as young as five, teaching our children about self-respect, feelings about postpartum bodies, the dreaded social media comparison, postpartum anxiety, and finding what makes you happy.

Andra Liemandt is a visionary and brings her energy to all her passions, particularly The Kindness Campaign. When her friend's 12-year-old daughter, a bullying victim, committed suicide, Liemandt discovered a shocking dearth of educational resources. Motivated to make a difference, she founded The Kindness Campaign, which now proactively addresses bullying via powerful curriculum, meaningful activations and events at schools and organizations, teaching the foundational message "I am enough." This message is also the focus of her band, The Mrs, an all-female pop-rock band that has been featured on Good Morning America, BuzzFeed, grammy.com, The Queen Latifah Show, and in Billboard and People magazine. Liemandt's knack for empowering audiences toward inner and outer kindness has positioned her as a coveted keynote speaker, a philanthropist and an influencer. At the heart of it all, she is a mother of two daughters and is continuously looking to spearhead social change that creates a kinder future for the next generation.

Alex here! When I heard Marti Bledsoe Post on the stage at Mother: The Summit talking about the history of motherhood, I immediately knew we needed to bring this conversation to our community. This episode is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I found myself often speechless as Marti discusses the "intensive parenting" era we are experiencing today, the fact that the U.S. is ranked 41st out of 41 developed countries in terms of family-friendly policies by UNICEF, and how the gender gap begins at home. In Marti's book Retrofit, she shares that The New York Times recently reported that girls do more chores than boys at home, girls make less allowance than boys, and girls are paid less for chores than boys. When learning this, are you surprised that research has found that women spend less time relaxing than men and that 65% of child care responsibilities are shouldered by working mothers compared to 35% by working fathers? We discuss solutions on how to make working motherhood work better for moms, their families, and their employers.

You can find more about Marti and her book here: https://a-parently.com/

Celebrated therapist, professor, author, and mom-expert Molly Millwood examines the link between women’s well-being as new mothers and the well-being of their relationships. In our longest podcast episode ever, Molly explains the "whys" behind our most common marital struggles, and offers guidance to help us reclaim our identities, overcome our guilt and shame, and repair our relationships. If you haven't read her book To Have and To Hold yet, this is an excellent introduction.

References:

Molly's Vermont therapy practice: www.mollymillwood.com

To Have and to Hold book: www.harpercollins.com/9780062838681/…e-and-to-hold/

"I'm so thrilled with how beautiful our progress has come, but it has been painstaking and everything amazing in life is tough and you have to fight for it. It's not handed to us. Building this brand and connecting with people has been really an uphill battle. There's no other way to get here and we haven't even really begun in my eyes. I'm ready for the challenge ahead." Ariane Goldman, founder of Hatch, opens up about the decade she has poured into building the leading maternity (and beyond) brand. The mom-guilt, the challenges of building and managing an all woman team, the company evolution, saying goodbye to self-care as she knew it, fundraising as a woman and a mother...Alex and Ariane cover it all. Hatch today includes ready-to-wear, intimates, accessories and beauty, and three brick and mortar community spaces in New York and Los Angeles.

Growing up on both sides of the border in Tijuana and San Diego, Elsa Collins has an important and unique perspective. Elsa shares what life was like on the border during her childhood and the misconceptions today about the area and how media plays a part into the humanitarian crisis. As co-founder of This is About Humanity, Elsa is an advocate for refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. who are stuck in Tijuana. For these individuals fleeing and now in shelters in Tijuana, it's a choice between possible death and certain death. What would you choose for your family? Elsa also discusses the importance of teaching empathy, as well how to talk about race with our children.

On this week's episode, Ashley Melone joins Alex to share the idea behind Madri Collection and what it's like launching this business as a side hustle and with her childhood best friend Danielle Walish. Madri Collection is a ready-to-mother line that empowers women to breastfeed everywhere. This week's episode is an inspiring one that shares a different side to launching a business than we often hear.

Megan Harper joins Alex for a candid conversation, chatting about motherhood and career, and taking the summer off through her maternity leave to adventure around New York City with all three of her children. "I enjoy work. As much as I love my kids, its not beneficial for anyone in this family for me to be a mom 100% of the time. I'm not great at it 100% of the time. And I think I'm a better mom to them when I can take a step back for a minute." Megan is known for her humorous take on parenthood, and she does not disappoint on this week's episode as she shares more about "where to bang your husband when co-sleeping."

At 32 years old and with young twins at home, Hillary Peterson was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. This experience led Hillary to find her purpose, educating people on the impacts of toxins in skincare and providing superior skincare products without sacrificing efficacy. Hillary shares with Alex the moment she connected that what goes on your skin goes into your body and about her eight years studying botanicals and their healing powers that eventually led to the launch of her skincare company True Botanicals. True Botanics has banned 5,000 beauty ingredients in their products, compared to 11 banned by the U.S. and 1,328 banned by Europe. Hillary also shares how she has balanced her career and her journey as an entrepreneur with motherhood, and how this has impacted her children. As promised in this week's episode, here are a few of Hillary's favorite non-toxic products:

Skincare/body care: https://truebotanicals.com

Home cleaning supplies: https://branchbasics.com/

Mascara: https://iliabeauty.com

Lipstick: https://kosas.com/

Tinted moisturizer: https://www.beautycounter.com

Sunscreen: https://burnoutsun.com/

Karalyn Holden’s bio used to proudly read that she is a Los Angeles-based model and Yoga teacher, however those careers seem in the distant past, as she has been navigating her role as mother for the last 3.5 years to her daughter, Kennady, all while being a college student on a long pursuit of a degree. This week, Alex and Karalyn chat about identity shifts, relationships, sacrifice, postpartum depletion, societal pressure to have more than one child, and action steps to reclaiming our lives.