Mom Curious

She's back! And this time with a book and a baby! Join Daniella as she catches up with her college buddy Alexandra Roxo. Alexandra's sophomore book, Dare to Feel, was just published by Sounds True and is out now! We unpack Alexandra's healing journey and beg the question: so, like, does it work? Spoiler alert… yeaaaa. And Daniella can tell you that honestly because she's watched the ebbs and the flows for the past 20 years. Here's some background on Alexandra:

With a career traversing genres, but with a through line of exploration of the female body and the intersection of sexuality and spirituality, Alexandra has been making art, writing, and sharing her heart publicly for nearly two decades about modern spirituality, the feminine faces of the divine, embodiment as healing and practice, and the path of the expression of the soul through art and writing as liberation.

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In this special episode, Daniella is interviewed by one of our favorite guests from Season One of the Mom Curious Podcast, Ariel Stein. The two talk in detail about their experiences as Jewish mothers post October 7, 2023 which was when Hamas infiltrated Israel slaughtering the peace loving Kibbutz communities of the south, raping and torturing civilians and taking over 200 men, women, children and the elderly from the homes and into captive where 136 still remain today. We thought it was important to get current and get honest about how it's been as a diaspora Jew. 

Some topics we cover is: Daniella’s family history, White-passing Jews, What is Zionism, Being pro-peace and more. A note that Daniella offers Standing Together as a grassroots organization to follow but after some further investigation has found them to be more divisive than unifying. The other organizations including The Tel Aviv Institute founded by Hen Mazzig and The Parents Circle remain impeccable resources. Daniella has an episode on The Parents Circle on The Mom Curious Podcast. 

Daniella also reveals that the show will publish once every two weeks for the foreseeable future so as to maintain a healthy work-life balance. 

About Ariel:

Named one of the New York Jewish Week's 36 Under 36 Jewish change makers (https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/ariel-scheer-stein-33-sharing-jewish-mothering-inspiration/) in 2021 and one of Tel Aviv Institute’s Jewish 100 in 2023, Ariel Stein is the founder of Jewish Family Magic (https://www.jewishfamilymagic.com/), an online platform designed to make Jewish living fun and accessible for the whole family. She is also the content creator behind the Jewish motherhood blog ArielLoves.com (http://arielloves.com/). Ariel’s work has been featured in Woman's Day Magazine, Parents Magazine and The Times of Israel. As a digital content creator, Ariel has worked with many brands to showcase modern Jewish life including HGTV, Michaels Stores, The Children's Place, Dyson and West Elm. 

Ariel developed her passion for Jewish education through over 15 years of experience teaching in the day school classroom, informal education on college campuses, Jewish camping and staffing youth programs. Ariel earned her BA in Judaic Studies and Organizational Psychology from the George Washington University and earned her MA in Jewish Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary. Ariel lives in New Jersey with her husband and two daughters. Keep up with Ariel on Instagram 

@Ariel.Loves (https://www.instagram.com/ariel.loves/) and @JewishFamilyMagic (https://www.instagram.com/jewishfamilymagic/).

Thank you so much for listening!

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Regena Thomashauer (a.k.a. “Mama Gena”) is a teacher and best-selling author, mother and media personality, and founder and CEO of the School of Womanly Arts, which began in her living room in 1998 and has since grown into a global movement. She believes that women are the greatest untapped natural resource on the planet, and that as people of all genders reclaim the magnificence of the feminine, the patriarchy will fall, liberating us all.

Thomashauer’s approach stems from decades of research in the social, cultural, and economic history of women. Her distinctive style — at once irreverent, unwavering, affirming, and swear-y — has engaged thousands from all over the world.

In addition to leading the School of Womanly Arts, Thomashauer has authored four popular books, including her newest New York Times Bestseller, Pussy: A Reclamation, and has been featured widely as a leading expert in modern feminism. She lives and works in New York City. Website: www.mamagenas.com

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In addition to being in the world's first director of vibe, Melissa founded IFP Communications in 2015. A true life style agency, IFP are rainmakers and work alongside emerging and established brands to make them household names. She's the mom to Sidney aka This Vibe Baby and lives in dumbo Brooklyn with her partner Robert and their dog Cybile the rescue.

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GRAMMY Winning, NYC based singer-songwriter Joanie Leeds is a National Touring recording artist, early childhood educator and activist. For her original children’s music, she has won a GRAMMY, 1st place in the USA Songwriting Competition, an Independent Music Award, International Songwriting Competition, several Gold Parents' Choice Awards, NAPPA Gold Awards, Family Choice Awards and is a John Lennon Songwriting Award Finalist. Joanie has played at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Clearwater Festival, The Kennedy Center & Lincoln Center, Wolftrap, Levitt Pavilion. Her music has been featured in The New York Times, People Magazine, Parents Magazine, Huffington Post, Billboard and The Washington Post. Joanie’s 9th children's album, All the Ladies is a female empowerment folk collection and earned a GRAMMY Award in 2021 for Best Children’s Album. Her recently released children's album titled "FREADOM," is a vibrant celebration of diverse literature and the freedom to read starring the multi-talented "Book Band" (Regina Carter, Divinity Roxx, SaulPaul, Oran Etkin and Cheryl B. Engelhardt.) Each song is inspired by a different children's picture book that has been removed from the shelves of libraries and schools in over 30 states nationwide.

Find more at www.joanieleeds.com

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Aishat Badmus is a Bristish Nigerian who moved to America in 2018 to be with her husband. Aishat has a full time career as a Certified Orthoptist but she found her passion in highlighting the beautiful and challenging moments in motherhood after her two daughters during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aishat felt felt the need to start sharing her experiences in the hopes of connecting with other mothers and building a community, a safe space for mothers without judgement. As a result, she started writing a blog and creating content to share with mothers around the world through her brand The Good Mutha.

Aishat hopes to continue building The Good Mutha to a point that it is able to give women and mothers real help and support through the challenging journeys they may go through. Having daughters of her own is a big inspiration in helping women find their power in a world telling them they should have none. By sharing her experiences, Aishat hopes to create something she struggled to find after having her own children - solidarity.

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Sari is a registered dietitian and founder of Fun with Food where she helps parents build a toolkit to raise confident, competent eaters. She studied theater in undergrad and worked in theater and then a brief stint in PR before finding a home in nutrition and dietetics. She holds a Master's Degree in nutrition science from NYU. She's also a native New Yorker and certified city kid who is raising two certified city kids with her husband (and their dog Raisin) in NYC.

In today’s episode of Mom Curious, we are joined by Sari Imberman, a dietitian and founder of “Fun with Food” where she helps parents build a toolkit to raise confident, competent eaters. This episode starts with an interesting conversation around their personal stories with their children’s eating habits. They talk about exposing children to trying new things and why it is important (17:00). Daniella and Sari also bring up the struggles of parenting and reaching out for help (26:25). Sari shares with us how she got into her work and what it means to her (32:33) as well as how it has influenced her so far in her ten year long career (41:52). We hope you enjoyed this episode. See you next time!

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Jeanelle is a transformational leader on a mission to empower women and parents in the workplace. As the General Manager of Bugaboo, Jeanelle leads a fully remote team across the US and Canada —80% women and 60% mothers, and was a nominee in Inc. Magazine’s Best Places to Work in America 2023. Before joining Bugaboo, Jeanelle had a decade-long career in leadership roles at Nike, first in the Netherlands and then in New York City. At Nike, she launched new product categories celebrating sports across all body types, including Nike’s first dance and yoga line for plus-size and pregnant women. She resides with her husband and two young children.

In today’s episode of Mom Curious, we are joined by Jeanelle Teves, a transformational leader on a mission to empower women and parents in the workplace. We start the episode talking with Jeanelle about stay at home parents and their responsibilities, (4:00) and she shares with us her appreciation for her support network. (9:37) Jeanelle also shares with us her daily routine as a working mom in corporate (20:20) and her big ambitions (27:37). Our guest opens up about her parents and how much they have influenced and supported her. (39:32) To end today’s episode, Jeanelle shares advice to fellow working mothers. We hope you enjoy it! See you next week!

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Liz Glazer is a Jewish, lesbian comedian, actor, and writer who used to be a tenured law professor, a job she was very funny at. Liz is a recent first place winner of the Boston Comedy Festival and Ladies of Laughter Competition, and has opened and opens for Myq Kaplan and Maria Bamford. Her recent debut album A VERY PARTICULAR EXPERIENCE — recorded at two sold out headlining shows at New York Comedy Festival — debuted at #1 on the iTunes comedy charts where it stayed for 6 days, and was featured in the New York Times. Liz has also been profiled for her comedy by the Wall Street Journal, a premier publication for comedy. As an actor Liz has appeared on NBC’s The Blacklist, ABC’s For Life, and CBS’s BULL. And as a writer, Liz has written and is writing pilots about her life as a former lawyer and law professor, rabbi’s wife, and new mother. In May of 2024, Liz will record her next hour tentatively entitled VERIFIED FRAUD, on the Main Stage of the South Orange Performing Arts Center, a 439 seat venue. Between now and then, Liz will be working on that hour as well as making 439 friends.

In today’s episode of Mom Curious we are joined by Liz Glazer, a successful stand-up comedian, and mom–amongst many other things–as she shares her experience. She begins by explaining her journey to comedy, that she started as a law professor at Hofstra, and how this impacted her relationship with her father (3:28). Liz opens up about recording her debut comedy album about the stillbirth of her and her wife’s first daughter, Leo, and ruminates on loss, and using comedy as a form to convey hope and healing (8:28). Daniella and Liz talk about their connection to Judaism and its relation to grief, and how this led to curating a comedy show meets shiva (mourning period), on the year anniversary of the stillbirth (14:25). Liz further talks about her pivot from professor to comedian at 27, after teaching for 9 years (25:31). Liz shares the story of her first ever comedy set, and what led to her opening a package from her mother for the first time on stage (32:36). The episode concludes with the two discussing career changes and motherhood, and Liz now has a four month old she anticipates seeing how she will change (43:01).

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In today's episode of Mom Curious we are joined by Pamela Watson, a celebrity fashion stylist, costume designer, and mother to two sons; aged 20 and 11. She talks about the process of getting an opair (1:40) and compares it to the selective process of dating apps like Tinder. Watson talks about the challanges (and beauty) of raising boys, and how women are often blamed (whether parentally, or societally) for men's mistakes (9:25). She opens up about dealing with 'mom guilt' from being a working mother, raising a son with special needs, and staying resiliant when facing the board of education - she even had to sue the school district (11:40). After delving further into her experience advocating for students with learning disailities, Pamela talks about the challenge of learing balance with her 20 year old, as he gets ready for the real world (22:30). She opens up about being herself at 50, divorce, and difficult conversations she had with her children (and herself) regarding sepreation (27:30). Pamela opens up about the difficulties of motherhood including post-partum depression, and feeling like there should be more conversations about it before women give birth (31:40). The episode concludes with ruminations on career pivots (due to the strike), in which Watson plans to create a fashion program for school, and her hopes for how the fashion industry could improve for costume designers in the future.

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