Mama Making Podcast

What happens when a therapist, a doula agency founder, and a community of perinatal providers decide that maternal mental health has been silent long enough? 

In this live recap, Jessica sits down with Liz Gray — therapist and founder of Maternal Trauma Support Network — and Anna Rodney — founder of Chicago Family Doulas and Birth and Baby University — to recap their second annual Maternal Mental Health Demystified panel. They cover the barriers families face in getting support, the providers most people don't know about, the gaps in how the medical system handles perinatal mental health, and what both organizations are building to change it. This one is for every mom who has ever felt alone in the hardest parts of pregnancy and postpartum — and every provider who wants to serve them better.

MAIN TOPICS COVERED

• The origin of the Maternal Mental Health Demystified panel and why Liz and Anna joined forces
• Why isolation breeds shame — and what happens when we create space to talk about it
• The unique value of combining a therapeutic lens with boots-on-the-ground doula support
• How doulas are trained (and often anxious) to recognize and address mental health concerns in the home
• The barriers to postpartum mental health support: financial access, provider shortages, and normalizing the harmful
• Why common doesn't mean there's no support — and what families deserve even in "normal" hard seasons
• The gap in pediatrician and physician training around lactation, tongue ties, and perinatal mental health screenings
• The providers most families don't know they need: IBCLC, pelvic floor PT, chiropractor, OT, therapist, psychiatrist, doula
• Searching for a PMHC-certified therapist through Postpartum Support International
• The Trauma Informed Maternal Health Directory — what it is, who it's for, and how to use it
• Chicago Family Doulas, Birth and Baby University, and the new Project Bold nonprofit
• How education empowers families to ask the right questions and advocate for themselves
• The power of lived experience alongside professional expertise on a panel
• What's coming next for both organizations

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Postpartum Support International (PSI) — directory for finding PMHC-certified perinatal therapists
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HOW TO CONNECT WITH LIZ GRAY

• Website: https://www.maternaltraumasupport.com/
• Instagram: @maternaltraumasupport https://www.instagram.com/maternaltraumasupport/
• Trauma Informed Maternal Health Directory — free to search at https://directory.maternaltraumasupport.com/search/

HOW TO CONNECT WITH ANNA RODNEY

• Chicago Family Doulas: https://chicagofamilydoulas.com/
• Birth and Baby University: https://birthandbabyuniversity.com/
• Quarterly events: Doctors & Doulas events and Meet the Doula events — https://chicagofamilydoulas.com/events/

This episode is sponsored by Collabs Creative - a boutique digital marketing company helping small business owners and creatives tell their story.

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What if you didn't have to choose between being a great mom and building a great business? 

Beth Mazza and Victoria Sivrais — co-founders of Female Mavericks and authors of Entrepreneur Like a Mother — are living proof that you don't. Together they've built and sold two services businesses, raised nine children across their combined entrepreneurial journeys, and built a 20,000-strong community of mompreneurs.

 In this episode they talk about the moment each of them took the leap, the power of a kitchen cabinet, why corporate America is not as safe as you think, and the practical roadmap in their book for getting from idea to scale without apologizing for being a mom while you do it. This one is for every woman who has been sitting on the sidelines waiting for permission to go.

MAIN TOPICS COVERED

• How Beth and Victoria met, built two services firms together, and sold both to large consulting firms
• Nine children between them — all born during their entrepreneurial years
• The green flags that told them they were on the right path
• Why corporate America is not as safe as we think — and why starting earlier has long-term benefits
• Building a business when your kids are young vs. when they're teenagers — and what each season actually requires
• The power of a kitchen cabinet: cheerleaders, executors, and the people who won't let you spiral
• Overcoming outside critics — including the people closest to you who think it's too risky
• The freedom number: how to calculate if you can actually make the leap
• Why they wrote Entrepreneur Like a Mother — and what made existing books fall short for moms
• Being mom forward in the boardroom — and refusing to hide it
• Female Mavericks: the community, the book, the course, and the mission to get 10,000 women to seven-figure businesses
• Entrepreneur Like a Mother — available for pre-order September 22nd

HOW TO CONNECT WITH BETH & VICTORIA

• Website: https://femalemavericks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/femalemavericks/
• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/femalemavericks
• Newsletter: Founders Files https://femalemavericks.com/founder-files/
• Entrepreneur Like a Mother — pre-order available at femalemavericks.com, launches September 22nd https://femalemavericks.com/entrepreneur-like-a-mother/

This episode is sponsored by Collabs Creative - a boutique digital marketing company helping small business owners and creatives tell their story.

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What do you do when you lose your entire immediate family four months after giving birth, in a country that isn't your home, with no roadmap for what comes next? 

If you're Renata Heringer, you grieve — and then you build. In this episode, Jessica sits down with Renata, a former physician from Brazil who immigrated to Canada, navigated unimaginable loss, and launched Tupi Açaí from her home kitchen while still on maternity leave. Today Tupi has four storefronts across Alberta and a community of Brazilians and Canadians who show up — rain, snow, or minus 40 — because what Renata built tastes like home. This is a story about grief and joy coexisting, about community as survival, and about what happens when you take the first step anyway.

MAIN TOPICS COVERED

• Renata's upbringing in Vila Velha, Brazil — daughter of a physician and pastor, raised by the ocean
• Immigrating to Canada alone in 2018 for a master's degree at the University of Alberta
• Becoming a mom for the first time during the pandemic — and what early postpartum felt like far from family
• The tragedy that changed everything: losing her mom, dad, and brother when her son was four months old
• What grief actually looks like — and why it doesn't work the way we're taught
• Joy and grief coexisting — and what that taught her about resilience and motherhood
• Building community as an immigrant from scratch — and why it requires intentional effort
• The Brazilian mom group that changed everything in her early motherhood years
• How a conversation with her husband planted the seed for Tupi Açaí
• Starting from her home kitchen and growing to a farmers market booth, then four storefronts
• Partnering with a Brazilian entrepreneur who found her on Instagram
• What it means to give immigrant workers their first job in a new country
• Her advice for moms afraid to reinvent themselves: start small, test your idea, take the first step
• The grocery business that failed — and why she's grateful for it anyway

HOW TO CONNECT WITH RENATA HERINGER

• Tupi Açaí Bowls Website: https://www.tupibowls.ca/
• Tupi Açaí Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tupibowlsca/?hl=en

This episode is sponsored by Collabs Creative - a boutique digital marketing company helping small business owners and creatives tell their story.

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What if the reason your fitness plan isn't working isn't your discipline — it's the plan? 

In this episode, Jessica sits down with Bronwyn Barry, founder of BU Fitness and Nutrition, a functional fitness and nutrition practice built for people the wellness industry forgets: new parents, women in life transition, and anyone over 35 who's tired of being sold results they never actually wanted. 

Bronwyn shares her journey from professional dancer and aerialist to nutrition scientist and fitness coach, what a broken toe taught her about taking care of herself, and the practical framework she uses to help busy moms and women in transition prioritize their health without perfect conditions, perfect schedules, or a plan that falls apart the second life gets in the way.

MAIN TOPICS COVERED

• Bronwyn's path from professional dancer and aerialist to cruise ships to nutrition science and personal training
• Disordered eating, body image pressure in the performing arts, and the mindset shift that finally got her hired
• How a broken toe changed everything — and became the foundation of her coaching philosophy
• Why the wellness industry's advice is designed for a version of you that no longer exists
• The "windows of opportunity" framework — and why flexibility is more powerful than a perfect schedule
• Decision fatigue and the mental load — why moms need fewer choices, not more
• Strength training as the anchor: why it works for 45 minutes three times a week or 10 minutes five times a week
• What to look for — and what to avoid — when choosing a fitness program or coach
• Taking up space: building pride in what your body can do, not what it looks like
• Functional fitness in action: a client caring for an elderly parent and finding sanity through strength training
• Fitness culture in Ireland vs. the US — and the power of sport as a lifelong community
• The Function program — a six-month periodized fitness plan for tired humans who want to function better

HOW TO CONNECT WITH BRONWYN BARRY

• Website: beufitnessnandnutrition.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/be.ufitnessandnutrition/
• Start your fitness journey
• FUNCTION Foundation
• Be(ing)U Blog and Be(ing)U Pod

This episode is sponsored by Collabs Creative - a boutique digital marketing company helping small business owners and creatives tell their story.

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What if the voice you've been ignoring is the most important one you have?

In this episode, Jessica sits down with Julie Jancius — known as the Angel Medium, host of the top-ranked Angels and Awakening podcast, founder of Angel Reiki School, and author of the upcoming Angel Signs — for a conversation about intuition, divine guidance, and what it means to stop shrinking yourself and start living the life you're actually here for. Julie talks about leaving corporate life, building a thriving spiritual business, what angels actually are and how to connect with them, and the practical tools every busy mom can use to start trusting her gut again. This one will make you want to put down your to-do list and start daydreaming.

MAIN TOPICS COVERED

• How Julie went from corporate career to angel medium — through a breakdown and a breakthrough
• Life as chapters: why God moves you on even when you're succeeding
• What angels actually are — and why Julie believes everyone can connect with them
• Why spiritual teaching written by men often doesn't apply to moms doing everything at once
• The expansion and contraction method — using your body's energy as a yes or no
• Signs from God and the angels — what they mean and what they don't
• Joy as a form of intuition — and why tuning into your own desires opens the channel
• How motherhood turns on your intuition — and why we need to keep it on
• The last six months: hiding away after something painful and choosing to come back
• Practical tools for busy moms to start reconnecting with their intuition today
• Angels and Awakening podcast, Angel Reiki School, and the upcoming book Angel Signs

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren — referenced
• Eckhart Tolle's concept of being the observer of your thoughts — referenced
• Thomas More — referenced as a male spiritual teacher whose work resonates

HOW TO CONNECT WITH JULIE JANCIUS

• Website: http://theangelmedium.com
• Podcast: Angels and Awakening — available everywhere you listen to podcasts https://pod.link/1451424894
• Angel Reiki School: https://theangelmedium.com/get-certified
• Book: Angel Signs — coming spring 2027 - https://theangelmedium.com/buy-the-book

This episode is sponsored by Collabs Creative - a boutique digital marketing company helping small business owners and creatives tell their story.

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What happens when you do everything right — and still feel like a stranger in your own life? 

In this episode, Jessica sits down with Thomai Roi, former pharmacist, founder of Arguably Feral Women, and divorce doula, for one of the most honest conversations about identity, burnout, and rebuilding this podcast has ever had. Thomai navigated three burnouts, three shuttered businesses, postpartum depression, a first marriage that wasn't right, and a total reinvention — and built her most successful work on the other side of all of it. She talks about identity residue, the sunk cost of the checklist life, why financial independence is the foundation of everything, and what it actually means to build from a place that's yours. This one is for every woman who has ever looked up and thought: how did I get here?

MAIN TOPICS COVERED

• Growing up with an inherited vision of what life should look like — and following it without questioning it
• Going from pharmacist to stay-at-home mom to accidental entrepreneur to divorce to reinvention
• Postpartum depression, clinical obesity, inflammatory arthritis, and the body's way of screaming for attention
• What identity residue is and how it shapes the life we build without realizing it
• The sunk cost fallacy of the checklist life — college debt, early marriage, and decisions made at 18
• How divorce became the catalyst for the most profound version of herself
• Why she says there's no right or wrong — only who you're being in the moment
• Financial independence as the foundation of every woman's freedom
• The sunny day trap — the weight moms put on themselves to perform perfect motherhood
• What it actually takes to rebuild: accountability without shame, and presence without past-casting
• Arguably Feral Women, the podcast, and the free divorce support community on School
• What it means to be a divorce doula and who that work is for

HOW TO CONNECT WITH THOMAI ROI

• Website: www.thomairoi.com
• Podcast: Arguably Feral Women
• Instagram: @thomairoiofficial
• TikTik: https://tiktok.com/thomai.roi
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomairoi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomairoi 
• Threads: https://www.threads.com/@thomairoi
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ArguablyFeralWomen
• Free divorce community on Skool

This episode is sponsored by Collabs Creative - a boutique digital marketing company helping small business owners and creatives tell their story.

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Most of us walk into our first OB appointment with an arm out for blood work — and no idea what we're actually being tested for. 

In this episode, Jessica sits down with Ushta Canteenwalla, board-certified genetic counselor and founder of Find Genetics, to demystify prenatal and reproductive genetic testing from the ground up. From carrier screening before pregnancy to NIPT during, from IVF embryo selection to donor health profiles, Ushta walks through what's available, what it means, and how to make the decisions that are actually right for you — not your friend, not your OB's standard protocol, but you. This is the conversation every person planning a pregnancy deserves to have before they're sitting in that waiting room.

MAIN TOPICS COVERED

• Why Ushta left a high-powered clinical role to build a telemedicine genetic counseling practice
• The gap in genetic counseling access — and why so many people never get offered testing they could have had
• The difference between carrier screening before pregnancy and testing done during pregnancy
• What NIPT (noninvasive prenatal testing) actually is — what it looks at, what it misses, and what false positives mean
• Amniocentesis and CVS — what they are, when they're done, and what risks they carry
• The 20-week anatomy scan and what genetics has to do with what they're looking for
• In utero therapy — conditions where treatment is possible before birth
• IVF, embryo testing, and selecting against serious genetic conditions
• Donor egg and donor sperm — what genetic counselors look for in donor health histories
• The designer baby misconception — and what people are actually selecting for
• Personal values, religious beliefs, and the role they play in genetic decision making
• What a session with Ushta looks like — and what she's building next at Find Genetics

HOW TO CONNECT WITH USHTA CANTEENWALLA

• Website: findgenetics.com
• Instagram: @findgenetics
• LinkedIn: Find Genetics or Ushta Canteenwalla

This episode is sponsored by Collabs Creative - a boutique digital marketing company helping small business owners and creatives tell their story.

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What if being a little "selfish" actually made you a better mom? 

In this episode, Jessica sits down with Paulina Roe — Chicago radio personality, podcast host, and founder of the Mami Collective — for a candid, energetic, and deeply relatable conversation about ambitious motherhood, identity after baby, and why community changes everything. From her decade on Chicago radio to building a nationwide platform for moms who want more, Paulina shares her unfiltered take on postpartum identity, the myth of the selfless mom, and what it looks like to build the community you couldn't find. This one is for every mom who still wants it all — and knows she can have it.

MAIN TOPICS COVERED

• Paulina's path from cassette tapes and UIC radio to the Fred Show and syndication across the country
• Starting her first podcast in 2018 before podcasting was mainstream — and why she built the one she was looking for
• How becoming a mom changed and elevated everything — without erasing who she was
• The fear of losing her identity in motherhood — and how she made sure that didn't happen
• Why being called "selfish" at nine months pregnant became her philosophy
• The connection between self-prioritization and a genuinely great postpartum experience
• What the Mami Collective is — and how it evolved from brunches to summits, dinner series, grants, and media opportunities
• The directory, the private newsletter, and how Paulina connects moms to real opportunities
• The annual summit — what it is, what's coming in October, and who it's for
• Where she wants to take the Mami Collective next — and why she's putting it into existence out loud

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Create and Cultivate — referenced as a summit model Paulina admires
• Brio Skin — success story from the Mami Collective directory
• Grief Magazine — featured Mami Collective member

HOW TO CONNECT WITH PAULINA ROE

• Website: themamicollective.com
• Instagram: @paulinaroe (personal) | @Mamicollective (community)
• Annual Summit: October 1st — tickets at themamicollective.com
• Newsletter: sign up at themamicollective.com

This episode is sponsored by Collabs Creative - a boutique digital marketing company helping small business owners and creatives tell their story.

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What does it mean to raise globally conscious children in a world full of noise, misinformation, and borders — both literal and cultural? 

In this episode, Jessica sits down with Maria Ahmad, humanitarian, multilingual professional, journalist, and mom of two, whose life has spanned Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Latin America. Maria shares her journey from BBC radio journalist covering terrorism and elections to leading migration work for the United Nations, the realities of immigration that mainstream media gets wrong, what it looks like to raise sons who understand the female experience, and how moms everywhere — regardless of geography — can build the alliances that change the world. One of the most expansive and important conversations this podcast has ever had.

MAIN TOPICS COVERED

• Maria's upbringing in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East — and how questioning gender restrictions shaped her worldview
• From BBC radio journalist to UN migration expert — the career path she never planned
• Covering terrorism, the Obama election, and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto
• How becoming a mom transformed the way she experienced the world
• Motherhood across continents — what she observed about family, community, and village across cultures
• Raising sons to understand and advocate for women — the conversation we're not having enough
• The cycle of abuse that gets passed down — and why the work starts with men, not just women
• What migration actually is — and why everything in mainstream media is misinformation
• Women and children in the migration system — why mothers flee, and what happens when they're separated from their children
• How privileged moms can build alliances and take action for migrant families
• Media literacy for busy moms — how to navigate the noise and find trustworthy sources
• Community protection, child safety, and what grandmothers can do
• The global unpaid care labor crisis — and why it's a policy issue, not a personal one

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• NPR and PBS — recommended as starting points for trustworthy news
• The Daily Show — referenced for accessible political commentary
• International Organization for Migration (IOM) — UN body on migration
• UN Women — referenced for care labor advocacy
• Baby Voyage — company founded for traveling parents

This episode is sponsored by Collabs Creative - a boutique digital marketing company helping small business owners and creatives tell their story.

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WELCOME TO SEASON 5: Moms Making Impact  🎉

What if the hardest parts of postpartum aren't a sign that something is wrong with you — but a sign that something is finally waking up? 

In this episode, Jessica sits down with Jenny Tucker, founder of Centerline Community, a support space for new and expecting moms navigating postpartum and matrescence. Jenny brings her background in mental health counseling and yoga to a conversation about the good mother myth, the portal of postpartum, generational healing, and why building a village isn't just nice to have — it's biologically necessary. 

This one is for every mom who has ever felt alone in the hardest season of her life.

MAIN TOPICS COVERED

• How Centerline Community started as a prenatal yoga Zoom call in March 2020 — and grew to 500+ moms
• Why existing postpartum support is mostly baby-focused — and what moms actually need instead
• The portal of postpartum — what gets unearthed when a baby is born
• The good mother myth and the facade of perfect mom life
• Matrescence as an opportunity for generational healing
• Why moms are biologically not designed to be alone with their babies all day
• The people-pleasing conditioning that makes postpartum harder than it has to be
• Running a business from a feminine energy framework
• How to find your village when you're new, isolated, or introverted
• What it looks like to stop outsourcing your own wisdom
• The Centerline Community membership — weekly Zoom groups, in-person meetups, and the Mothership

HOW TO CONNECT WITH JENNY TUCKER

• Website: centerlinecommunity.com
• Instagram: @centerlinecommunity
• Free month trial code: welcomemama

This episode is sponsored by Collabs Creative - a boutique digital marketing company helping small business owners and creatives tell their story.

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