Mom Life Unfiltered by THE CÆP

We're ending Season 2 with someone who has genuinely done it all and has the perspective to prove it.

Jodie Patterson is an author, activist, entrepreneur, and mother of five kids. Her career has taken about fifteen different shapes: circus acrobat, book editor, music manager, fashion director at Vibe, head of PR for Zac Posen, beauty founder. She never followed a ladder. She followed her interests and treated every stop as data and now, as a mother, she's using all of it.

In this conversation with Malliha and Corinna, Jodie talks about the thing that anchors her parenting: long-form conversation. She doesn't sugarcoat the world for her kids. She talks about the hard things, carefully, in the right dose, at the right moment. Usually over dinner. Sometimes in the car. And she's built a family where people can disagree, deeply, and still come back to the table.

She also gets into the reframe that changed everything for her. She was tired of mothering as martyrdom, the fixing, the task management, the being everything for everyone. So she stopped. Now she thinks of herself as a builder. An architect. Someone with a bird's-eye view who focuses on the structural things and lets the rest go.

And then there's everything else: how she defines wealth at 55, why she doesn't use the words excellence or perfectionism, why she's not ambitious anymore and is genuinely at peace with that, her ongoing negotiation with time, and the worst piece of advice she ever received — which shaped exactly the kind of parent she refused to become.

A big, generous, wide-ranging conversation to close out the season.

Topics covered:

• Fifteen careers and following interest over hierarchy
• Long-form conversation as the foundation of her parenting
• Talking to kids about hard things — dose, timing, and environment
• Martyrdom vs building: the reframe that changed her mothering
• Seeing your family as a city, not a chaos to manage
• Excellence, perfectionism, and the sweet spot she's actually chasing
• What wealth means to her now
• Her relationship with time, and why she stopped fighting it
• Fear, safety, and doing hard things alone on purpose
• The worst advice she ever got — and what she built from it

About Jodie: @jodiepatterson — author, activist, entrepreneur, mother of five, and someone building a family the way you'd build a city.

Pamela Adewoyin James was answering business emails from her hospital bed after giving birth. Her warehouse had just been set on fire during the riots. Forty thousand people had hit her website in under 24 hours after a Cosmo feature she wasn't prepared for. She had a full-time job as a lawyer. And a newborn.

She kept going anyway.

Today Pamela is the founder of Lola Day, a fine jewelry brand with a mission that goes beyond the product. She just completed a water tower in Niger providing clean water to up to 20,000 residents. She's building custom pieces with responsibly sourced materials. And she's on a mission to become the nation's fastest growing African owned fine jewelry business — because she couldn't name five African fine jewelers herself, and she refused to let that stay true.

In this conversation with hosts Malliha and Corinna, Pamela gets real about what it actually feels like to be a small operation when big opportunities come knocking. The retailer who wanted 30,000 units by Friday. The payment that couldn't be released because her CFO and CEO were the same person — her. The opportunities she had prayed for that she had to say no to because she simply couldn't handle them yet.

And underneath all of it, two kids who can't say it yet but are counting on her. And a woman learning to give herself grace while building something bigger than herself.

Topics covered:

• Going from hobby to Cosmo feature overnight — and the chaos that followed
• Why she made the leap from fashion jewelry to fine jewelry
• What the legal definition of conflict-free actually means — and why it bothered her as a lawyer
• Building a water tower in Niger and what social impact really looks like
• The big retailer experience that made her feel like a small fish in a very big pond
• Saying no to opportunities she had prayed for
• What she needs more of: grace, sleep, and less worrying
• The sewing machine still in the box — and what it says about mompreneur burnout
• Delegation as a survival strategy — not a luxury
• Building systems before life forces you to

About Pamela: @pamazonwarrior | @shoplolaade — lawyer, fine jeweler, founder of Lola Day, mom of two, and someone building a legacy one custom piece at a time.

In this conversation, Cat and Malliha get into the territory most mom content won't touch. The grief that comes with every developmental stage your child moves through. The way presence feels almost impossible in a world that is, as Cat puts it, designed for dysregulation. The difference between saying no from fear and saying no from power. And what happened the day her nine-year-old brought her a glass of water and said "Mom, you need something" a small moment that revealed something enormous about the home they'd built together.

Cat also talks about joy not as a reward you earn after everything else is handled, but as a radical, necessary, non-negotiable act. And why she's centering it for herself so her daughter learns to center it too.

This one is for the mom who is always on, always producing, always giving and is starting to wonder what it might feel like to just stop.

Topics covered:

• Letting go as the central practice of motherhood
• Grieving every developmental stage and why we don't talk about it
• Presence as a practice in a world built to pull you out of the moment
• Why Cat thinks her career choice is connected to her anxiety
• Saying no from fear vs saying no from power
• Partnering with your child instead of leading them
• Joy as a radical act and why it belongs at the center of your life
• Raising a digitally native kid and the social media question she's not rushing to answer
• What rest actually looks like for someone who is always producing
• Becoming a lifelong student as the only real parenting strategy

About Cat: @catjimenez — entrepreneur, producer, creative, single mom, Radical Monarchs troop mom, WNBA Valkyries fan, and someone learning to make space for the questions she doesn't have answers to yet.

Kalee Isbell started her video editing company in 2019 with no business plan, two kids under two, and a single Instagram DM she almost didn't send. Seven years later she runs a team of nine editors all moms and has built a business around one simple idea: the videos sitting on your phone deserve to actually be watched.

But this conversation goes way deeper than the business origin story.

Kalee gets honest about what it actually looked like to build something in the margins of motherhood editing videos from the hallway while her kids took a bath, trying to work through COVID with zero childcare, and the year her revenue dipped and she told her husband it was all over. She talks about the moment she stopped measuring success by growth and started measuring it by whether she still enjoyed what she was doing. And she talks about surrender not as giving up, but as the quiet practice that made her a better mom and a steadier business owner.

She also gets into something that doesn't come up enough: the question of whether we're over-documenting childhood, who gets to decide, and why asking your kids for permission before you press record matters more than you think.

This one is for every mom who's tired of chasing balance and just needs someone to tell her that building something messy and imperfect is still building something.

Topics covered:

• Starting a business from a DM with no plan — and what year 7 actually looks like
• Why every editor on her team is a mom and why it makes all the difference
• The balance myth and why chasing it is making us feel worse
• Working through COVID with two kids and no childcare
• Surrender as practice and what those hard moments are building in you
• What kids teach us about forgiveness and starting over
• Over-documenting vs under-documenting childhood — where's the line?
• The mom she thought she'd be vs who she actually became
• How to start when your creative idea scares you

About Kalee: @kaleeisbell | @isbellfamilyfilms — video editing entrepreneur, former teacher, mom of 2 (soon 3), and founder of a company built entirely in the in-between moments of motherhood.

Pumping in a Courthouse Bathroom: A Lawyer, Mom of 2 & Firm Owner Gets Real About Ambition, Mom Guilt & Refusing to Choose

Mona Tash is an employment lawyer, co-founder of her own firm, and mom of two boys under seven. Four months after having her first son, she had a trial. She pumped in the bathroom between sessions. She brought him to an arbitration in Palm Springs when she had no other option. She didn't get maternity leave — because there was no one to pass her cases to.

And she kept going.

In this episode, Corinna, Malliha, and Mona get into the conversations most working moms are having in their heads but rarely say out loud — the guilt that shows up even when you know you're doing the right thing, the mental load that follows you on vacation, and the moment Mona's six-year-old told her she needed a break and she realized he actually gets it.

They also talk about what it looks like to hold onto yourself through motherhood — the board seat Mona has kept for nine years, the 8am Saturday workout class she doesn't apologize for, and why she's actively trying to let her kids fail a little more so they can actually grow.

And for any mom sitting on a dream right now? Mona's closing advice is the push you didn't know you needed.

Topics covered:

• The real cost of having no maternity leave when you own your firm
• Mom guilt — where it actually comes from and what to do with it
• Building your village and why the support system isn't optional
• Letting kids fail as an act of love
• Self-care that goes deeper than a spa day
• Holding onto your pre-mom identity on purpose
• Why women wait to be ready — and men just start
• Taking the first step even when you don't have all the answers

About Mona: @monatash — lawyer, firm co-founder, mom of two, and someone who has built her life around helping others fight for what they deserve.

You know how some guests just say the thing you didn't know you needed to hear? This is that episode.

Dr. Lisa Upshaw is an acupuncturist, holistic wellness practitioner, and mom of a 14-year-old — and she's been running her own practice since 2006. She's also someone who figured out early on that you have to become two different people to survive this whole mompreneur life. Not fake. Not split. Just intentional about who you're being and when.

In this conversation, Malliha and Dr. Lisa get into the real stuff: Yin and Yang energy in business (and why mompreneurs are almost always stuck in Yang), what it actually means to listen to your body, and why so many of us stopped playing long before we had a reason to. They also talk about the "car moment" that five minutes in the driveway before you walk into the house as the unofficial therapy session most moms don't realize they're already having.

Dr. Lisa doesn't believe in perfectionism. She doesn't believe in hitting a ceiling someone else set for her. And she's finally, at this point in her life, starting to define what success actually feels like, not what it looks like.

Topics covered:

• The two-names trick for separating work-you from home-you
• Yin vs. Yang energy and where mompreneurs get stuck
• Listening to your body's actual cues (not the caffeine or the sugar)
• What softness looks like when you're always "on"
• The car moment and why it counts as space
• Play: what it was, where it went, and how to find it again
• Entrepreneurship as liberation
• Defining success without anyone else's blueprint

About Dr. Lisa: @drlisaupshaw — acupuncturist, TCM practitioner, holistic wellness expert, dancer, astrology student, and mom doing it all on her own terms since 2006.

Who Am I Now That I'm a Mom? Finding Yourself After Motherhood + Teaching Your Daughter Beauty Is Felt, Not Seen

Have you ever stood in front of your closet feeling like nothing fits—not just your body, but your life? Do you look in the mirror and wonder where "you" went? You're not alone.

In this powerful 56-minute conversation, @wearingyourworth founder Sarah Gale (30 years in fashion, Project Runway Australia judge, and personal development expert) reveals why so many moms experience identity loss—and how your wardrobe is actually a metaphor for your life.

What you'll discover:

✨ Why moms lose themselves at specific pivot points (ages 9-11, teen years, empty nest—and sometimes as early as ages 2-5)
✨ The comfort addiction trap: Why always reaching for oversized clothes might mean you're stuck in a comfort zone in your business, relationships, and parenting
✨ How your clothing patterns mirror your life patterns: Hiding, playing small, seeking external validation
✨ The 3 Style Essences you were born with (and why your third essence is the one you're most resistant to—but need most)
✨ The ONE question that will change how your daughter sees herself forever: "How do you feel in that outfit?" (not "how do you look?")
✨ Why postpartum body recovery takes 18+ months (not the "fourth trimester" myth)
✨ How to teach your daughter that beauty is something she feels before it's something she sees

This episode is for you if:

• You feel lost in motherhood and don't know who you are anymore
• Nothing in your closet feels like "you"
• You're addicted to comfort clothes and can't remember the last time you felt alive in what you're wearing
• You have a daughter and want to raise her differently—teaching her to trust how she feels instead of seeking external validation
• You've hit a glass ceiling in your business or life and can't figure out why
• You're tired of the broken beauty industry profiting off your insecurity

Guest: Sarah Gale (@wearingyourworth)
Sarah Gale is the founder of Wearing Your Worth, a business that explores the psychological relationship we have with clothes. With 30 years in the Australian fashion industry (including senior executive roles and judging Project Runway Australia) and 25 years in personal development, Sarah helps women break free from unconscious programming and discover their true style essences—the key to feeling congruent from the inside out.

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💬 Comment below: What's the dialogue you tell yourself when you get dressed?
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We sat down with @lacycounts - mompreneur, accidental developer, special needs mama, and the most real person you'll meet on the internet.

In This Episode:

• Why Lacy calls herself an "accidental developer" (and an accidental influencer)
• Life with a 9-year-old special needs son who's been sleeping like a newborn for almost a decade
• Running multiple businesses (BBQ restaurant, coffee shop, hair salon, 20,000 sq ft mixed-use development) while raising a nonverbal autistic child
• Why chaos is actually her self-care
• The truth about work-life balance: "If I'm crushing it as a mom, I'm a horrible wife"
• Moving next door to her parents and creating a quasi-compound
• Marriage advice that doesn't involve date nights (spoiler: it involves foot tickles)
• Why leaning in is a lie and you literally cannot give everybody everything all the time

Follow Lacy: Instagram: @lacycounts

Follow Us: Instagram: @momlifeunfiltered_by_thecaep Shop THE CÆP: thecaep.com | @thecaep

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Join hosts Malliha Ahmad and Corinna Emery for one of our most raw and honest conversations yet with Makeba Lindsay (IG @ynotkeeb), a single mom who’s breaking down every myth about “natural” motherhood. From the brutal reality of hating breastfeeding to literally feeling her brain shrink and return, Makeba shares the unfiltered truth about postpartum recovery, single motherhood, and why your partner can make or break your entire experience.

Key Topics Covered:

The Breastfeeding Reality Check

• Why “the best nutrients on the planet” can still feel impossible

• Hating something you’re “supposed” to love and what that means

• The commitment that carried her through: “just do it like a zombie”

• Finding flow at 6 months when everything finally clicked

Your Brain is Literally Different

• The science behind mom brain: why your brain actually shrinks during pregnancy

• What it feels like when your brain “comes back” after 2 years

• Why you can’t handle challenges the same way you used to

• The “stuckness” that isn’t your fault - it’s biology

C-Section Recovery Reality

• Feeling “everything” while choosing no medication during breastfeeding

• The 12-week clearance myth: “I was in no place to be working out”

• Creating a home gym with baby as “little coach”

• Why movement looks completely different after becoming a mom

Postpartum and Partnership

• The direct correlation between your partner and your postpartum experience

• Why abusive relationships make postpartum depression “10 times worse”

• How partners can literally help bring you out of that space

• The myth that postpartum is something that happens TO partners, not WITH them

Single Mom Doubt and Determination

• “I don’t know if I can do this” - the honest internal dialogue

• Recovering from damage while trying to be present

• The belief that children need two-parent households vs. single mom reality

• Changing your mindset to change everything else

The Celebration We’re Missing

• “Two things can exist” - loving your kids while hating tantrums

• Why we need to celebrate showing up despite feeling unqualified

• The reality: nobody wants to deal with tantrums, and that’s okay

• Recognizing people who abandon their parenting roles vs. those who keep showing up

Connect with Makeba:

Instagram: @ynotkeeb

Join Our Mama Village:

• Instagram: @momlifeunfiltered_by_thecaep

• Website: thecaep.com

What happens when cultural expectations collide with modern motherhood? German mom Janina’s story will break your heart and open your eyes to the impossible standards moms face, no matter where they live.

From being brutally shamed for her “chunky” exclusively breastfed baby (with suggestions to give a 7-month-old TEA instead of milk) to discovering the shocking differences between European and American food regulations, Janina’s experience reveals how judgment follows moms across continents. Her honest admission about her own screen time judgment - before finding herself in that exact situation - offers a powerful lesson about empathy and assumptions.

This conversation dives deep into the cultural pressures that make parents feel like failures, the society that creates problems it then blames parents for, and why we need to normalize children being children in public spaces. Whether you’re navigating cross-cultural parenting, struggling with judgment, or trying to build your identity beyond motherhood, Janina’s wisdom and vulnerability will resonate deeply.

Perfect for moms who are tired of impossible standards and ready for honest conversations about the realities of raising children in a world full of opinions.

Guest: Janina Reimann (@janina_reimann23)