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Episode 21: Lauren Smith Brody

As a new mom, Lauren Smith Brody started having candid conversations with her co-workers at Glamour Magazine about how hard it was to parent an infant and succeed at work. Her book, The Fifth Trimester, was born out of these conversations and her ensuing research.

How soon after your baby was born did you feel ready to go back to work? Really ready, not “they gave me 12 weeks off, so I guess I’m ready.”  In Lauren’s research, she discovered that most women didn’t start to feel like themselves again for at least 24 weeks. 

These days, she helps companies and organizations attract and retain working mothers. We had a fascinating conversation that spanned from how we’re coping with the current Covid environment, to ideas for talking with employers about what you need in order to be successful at work. 

One key piece of advice Lauren offered was simple: Vote. Our country will only advance if women have more representation across the board. 

“Vote for more people to work in politics at every single level who support the needs that you have,” she said.

We also need women at all levels to be involved in the conversations at work. If the decision-makers are all executives, it’s impossible to know how the decisions impact entry-level or hourly employees. Whether you’re in your fifth trimester or 62nd trimester, she has a wealth of information about getting back to work in an environment that works for you.

More About Lauren

Lauren Smith Brody is the author of the bestselling book The Fifth Trimester and the founder of The Fifth Trimester consulting, which advances parents’ equity in the workforce. As a leading voice on gender, business, parenting (and now, pandemic parenting), Brody, a mom of two boys and former executive editor of Glamour magazine, is featured frequently as a writer and expert in media including The New York Times, Good Morning America, Slate, Parents, CNN, and network news. 

Using her ongoing research, she gives webinars, speaking engagements, and 1:1 coaching to nonprofit and corporate clients including Amazon, Liberty Mutual, BakerHostetler, Blackstone, PwC, Paycom, Rackspace, Sony, Fried Frank, Girl Scouts of America, and dozens more organizations seeking progress for working parents.

Topics, People, Etc. That Come Up in This Episode

* Dr. Harvey Karp* Liuba Grechen Shirley, Vote Mama* Annie’s List* Kristin van Ogtrop*

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Episode 20: Lisa LevineLisa Levine had a non-crisis midlife crisis (if you’re going to have one, that sounds like the way to do it). She found herself sitting in meetings, thinking,”This is not what I want to talk about.” A longtime fan of Martha Beck, Oprah’s life coach, Lisa realized coaching training was the path for her. Ultimately, she wrote the book on the no-crisis way to embrace this phase of life, Midlife No Crisis: An Audacious Guide to Embracing 50 and Beyond.NOTE: Lisa was kind enough to create a landing page just for Mom &… Podcast listeners, where you can find Lisa’s Top 7 Tips for Living Audaciously. We didn’t want the link to get buried, so here it is!Okay, back to show notes…We had an inspiring, meaningful conversation about making self discovery a manageable process. It doesn’t have to be a nebulous impossibility. Instead, Lisa has great tips for breaking down the process. One of our favorite takeaways was that we have to recognize and acknowledge our lizard voice/lizard brain for what it is, and learn how to move forward in spite of that lizard tendency. We are currently working on naming our lizards. Listen to the episode… we promise it makes sense.If you’re ready to get in touch with your whole self, this episode is for you. Lisa teaches us about the Body Compass. It takes practice, but good news: you can start today (we love a process that doesn’t require hours of instruction before you can launch into it). More About LisaLisa is a Certified Life and Health Coach at Audacious Health and Wellness. She helps women who are approaching midlife to create new and healthy habits in the way they think, eat, sleep and move, empowering them to live their lives fully and audaciously. Originally from the East Coast, she currently resides in Seattle spending much of her time writing, drinking matcha, overusing emojis, parentheses and punctuation, enjoying the beauty of the Pacific NorthWest and playing in the kitchen, creating healthy fare for her family and friends. Topics, People, Etc. That Come Up in This Episode* Martha Beck* Eat Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert* The Big Leap, by Gay Hendricks* The Woolfer Community* Nancy Davis Kho and The Thank-You ProjectOur Looks, Listens, and Learns Lisa:* The Huberman Lab Podcast* Geneen Roth: retreats and books (find them all at Geneen’s website)* Mare of Easttown on HBO* Lisa’s recipe for asparagus soupSusanne:*

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Episode 19: Suzanne Brown

When her son was born 10 weeks premature, Suzanne Brown was still working a full-time corporate job. The plan was to continue in that role, but she quickly realized that things needed to change. 

After negotiating her role down to part-time, Suzanne started getting questions from other women about how she worked out that deal… and Mompowerment was born. (You have to listen to the episode for the full story. What do you think we’re doing around here, just giving away information for free? Well, yeah, that’s totally what we’re doing. But still. Listen to the episode.)

We had a great conversation about women in the workforce, including the impact of Covid. According to Lareina Yee, McKinsey Senior Partner and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, a speaker at the Mother’s Monday event that we, and Suzanne, attended just before our taping, “Working mothers were one of our more resilient and tested groups during Covid.” We dove into why this is and what it may look like going forward.

Values came up again this week, as knowing what you value helps you determine what matters for you and your family when making career decisions. Or household decisions. All the decisions.

One of our favorite takeaways was this: Managing work-life balance is often as straightforward as talking to the people in your life. Talk to spouses, partners, co-workers, employers – anyone involved in your day-to-day life. Have the conversation. Talk about what’s working and what’s not. Ask for what you need. Sounds simple, but it’s revolutionary.

We also covered some nuts and bolts of staying relevant, so you’re prepared when it’s time to re-enter the workforce or advance in your career. It’s good stuff, and we hope you enjoy listening to all Suzanne had to offer.

More About Suzanne

Suzanne is a strategic marketing and business consultant. She’s a work-life balance speaker, consultant, and bestselling, 4-time award-winning author. 

She empowers company leaders and working moms to think differently about balance and take action. She shares her own experience and extensive research as well as practical tips, insights, and advice from interviews with more than 110 working moms. Find out more at www.mompowerment.com. 

In her downtime, you can find Suzanne, her husband, and her two young boys on a nearby hiking trail or faraway adventure.  

Topics, People, Etc. That Come Up in This Episode

Texas Conference for Women

Mother’s Monday event

Lareina Yee

Our Looks,

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Episode 18: Justine Sones

Boundaries. Got any? We don’t. Well, sometimes we have boundaries, and sometimes we feel bad about enforcing them. We’re learning.

Enter: Justine Sones. If you have the time, we recommend pausing after everything Justine says, and just letting it… Simmer. Soak. Absorb into your brain and your soul. We lost count of the number of times we said, “That should be on a shirt!” “Please make a thought of the day calendar!” and the like.

Justine had thoughtful, helpful things to say about setting boundaries, and taking care of ourselves in this bizarre sort-of-post-pandemic world. We talked about growing into your boundaries with your kids. One of Justine’s specialties is helping people learn to sit in the discomfort of doing things that hurt a little, like saying now when your auto-response is yes.

Managing the expectations of our circles, from ourselves, to our immediate household, to our co-workers, takes practice. We talked about ways to start understanding where we fit within each circle, and how to honor our value system in relation to each one. There’s that values word again. It comes up so often in our discussions that we’re starting to think it’s pretty important. (<—- We jest. We KNOW understanding our values is crucial to our overall health.)

Do we say this every week? We do, but we’re saying it again: we could have talked to Justine all day long. In fact, we thought we were wrapping the episode, and then we just kept on talking. Hang in until the very end, after the Look, Listen, Learn segment and Justine drops some serious knowledge on us.

We learned so much (SO. MUCH.) in our short time with Justine, and we vowed to have her back again. Have specific questions for Justine? Call or write us, and we’ll ask her next time.

More About Justine

Justine Sones is a writer and stress management coach who loves drinking coffee, helping burnt-out humans set boundaries, and talking about things that hurt. During her career as a massage therapist, Justine’s practice was dedicated to exploring the roles that stress, pain, and relaxation play in healing the physical body. She came to realize that the support her clients needed required more than a massage, and made it her mission to help them. 

Justine now spends her time writing about feelings and coaching other over-functioning humans develop healthy boundaries and practice sustainable self-care as they navigate the messy intersections of partnering, parenting, -preneuring, and pandemicking. 

Topics, People, Etc. That Come Up in This Episode

* The Good Place* The Song Exploder, podcast and show *(NOT The Unloader.

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Welcome to our May Tipsy Ellipses episode. On the first of every month, we (Susanne & Missy) do a Facebook Live bonus episode. The show is (mostly) unedited and non-bleeped, so keep those earbuds in if you’re around the littles. To watch the live version, be sure to follow our Mom & … Facebook Page and join our private Mom & …. Community group. You can also watch the episode on our YouTube channel which features lots of bonus photos added in post-production.