Mary Beth Ferrante is the mom of 2 and founder of WRK/360. Her company positions organizations to break the work culture cycle that perpetuates burnout and caregiver stigma, costing organizations millions of dollars in turnover, lost productivity, and unused benefits.

What we talked about

• Figuring out how to grow your family and your career at the same time 
• The mass exodus of women in the workforce due to COVID
• Asking for flexibility 
  • Is it just you asking your manager, or is it a bigger conversation about the policies themselves 
  • Position it as a trial run 
  • When you make it temporary, it doesn’t make it as hard for them to say yes 
  • If it is a trial run, check in along the way so you can adapt and create something that works for you both
  • If your employer/manager says no to a trial, it’s a red flag
• For people who work in fields that don’t have the option to be remote, etc.:
  • Letting people swap hours if possible, or work with your scheduler to make sure your hours work for you 
    • How can you have a policy with some flexibility within it 
    • Ask the employees for the ideas that they have and want, and co-create policies that work for both 
• There are systemic issues with flexibility
  • The idea that men play a role in care and parenting and being allies of women in the workplace - that wasn’t the case as much 10 years ago
  • We all play a role in evolving
• Glorifying long hours and always "being on," and how we can change that 
• If you’re in a position of leadership, you need to model the behavior for employees 
• Looking for a job that has flexibility
  • Glassdoor - research a company
  • Look on LinkedIn - check the profiles, see if you have any connections so you can reach out and ask about dynamic/culture
  • Look at their benefits, what they're saying on their website, and ask about that in the interview

Thank you to ChildLife Essentials for sponsoring this episode! ChildLife Essentials has been a trusted children supplements brand for over 20 years and they are offering 20% off with the code IHEARTCL on Amazon.com. Offer valid until 6/30/2021, valid in the U.S. only.

*Talk to your healthcare provider about what supplements are right for your family. 

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Kim McLeod lives outside of Toronto with her husband and 2 kids. She runs the website, The Best Ideas for Kids. She has a book called, Fun and Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials, and she recently released activity kits for sale at Michaels. 

What we talked about

• Having a traumatic birth and postpartum recovery 
  • Took over a year before she felt normal again and could even start thinking about a 2nd child
• Mourning the stages as kids grow up, but being excited for what's to come
• Deciding 2 kids was it after realizing her body couldn’t do anymore, but always still feeling like she would love one more baby
• Setting up a blog to share her parenting experiences when her son was 5 months
  • Getting into Pinterest and creating and sharing her own crafts, and having some go viral 
• After her 2nd, wondering if she could make her site be a full-time job
• Didn’t sleep for the first couple years of starting the blog
• Being approached by a publisher to come up with book ideas
  • Deciding to do a book on recycled crafts and writing it in 6 months
• Being approached to develop a line for Michaels
  • Going through her website to find the most tried and true crafts to develop a kit that parents can just pick up and go 
  • Excited about the kits because the value is incredible 
• Getting your kids involved in the set-up of the craft so it extends their participation, but also gets them excited about doing it 
• Her fluffy slime recipe being the most popular on her site 
  • Vinegar getting slime out of everything - it dissolves it!
• Starting a journey focusing more on herself and her well-being 
  • Increasing her exercise 
  • Focusing on what she’s eating 
  • Having her mental health be positively affected by working out more 

Thank you to ChildLife Essentials for sponsoring this depisode! ChildLife Essentials has been a trusted children supplements brand for over 20 years and they are offering 10% off with the code CHILDLIFE10 at iHerb.com.  ChildLife Essentials can also be found at Whole Foods & Amazon. 

*Talk to your healthcare provider about what supplements are right for your family. 

Follow Kim on Instagram or her website.

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Lori Oberbroeckling is the mom of 4 kiddos, a corporate executive, and recently released a book - Secrets of Supermom. 

What we talked about:

• Getting pregnant as quickly as they possibly could with the first 3 
  • Her husband wanting 3 kids and her wanting 4 - agreed on 3, but he was in charge of birth control and the 4th happened
• A traumatic 1st pregnant with an ectopic pregnancy and losing a tube 
  • Being on a business trip when it happened and struggling with having to tell her co-workers she was pregnant and having a miscarriage 
• Normalizing telling people that you’re pregnant before 12 weeks so you don’t have to go through things alone 
• Having other people share their miscarriage stories and feeling comforted by their support and stories
• Going off of birth control after her third, and telling her husband he was in charge on protection - he did a good job for a couple years and then she got pregnant with their 4th
• Working at a residential substance abuse program for moms and moms-to-be after she graduated 
• Always wanting to write a book, but wasn’t sure what she would write about 
• Interviewing over 200 moms and hearing about what they were struggling with, and where they were thriving 
  • Goal was to write the book in 30 days and it took her 34
  • Wanted to structure it to be incredibly easy to read - fast, easy, and takeaways that are really going to help 
• Hearing from many moms that they didn’t feel like a “supermom” because it was too much pressure 
  • Time and balance were the big struggles of motherhood that were identified 
  • Feeling like even if they’re getting things done, they don’t think they are doing it well or are balanced about it
  • For her being a supermom means that you feel engaged and doing enough 
• Instead of falling into the "comparison trap" with other moms, look at what they're doing that you want, & use this to help decide your goals

 Thank you to ChildLife Essentials for sponsoring this episode! ChildLife Essentials has been a trusted children supplements brand for over 20 years and they are offering 10% off with the code CHILDLIFE10 at iHerb.com.  ChildLife Essentials can also be found at Whole Foods & Amazon. 

*Talk to your healthcare provider about what supplements are right for your family. 

Follow Lori on Instagram or her website.

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Thanks so much for listening and for supporting our podcast! Please rate the show, leave a review if you liked what you heard and make sure to subscribe on Amazon Music, iHeartRADIO,  iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or TuneIn!

Lis Thomas is an entrepreneur working in marketing and social media management. She is also the creator of the Entreprenista Mama blog, which shares raw, real and authentic stories, interviews and essays about motherhood, and working mothers

What we talked about 

• Discovering that she enjoyed working for herself the most 
• The challenges a baby brings to a marriage 
• Waiting several years to have a baby after getting married 
• Starting her social media business and having it explode quickly in 2013
  • Becoming busier than she had been when working for a company because she could never punch out 
  • Having to own the good and the bad that happens when you own a company 
• Companies now needing to have a background and a story
  • Helping brands establish their personalities
  • Seeing the "light bulb" moment when companies establish their identities 
• Learning to make things work during the pandemic 
  • Relocating during COVID to get more space
  • Appreciating the outdoors and having access to activities 
• No system being in place for moms when they go back to work and how hard it is 
• The rarity of working for companies that provide a great maternity leave 
• The crazy places women have to pump 
• COVID proving that workers can be productive at home and we can keep this going
• Having to learn flexibility as a mom
• The positive impact of care providers on kids 
• Watching the impact of being home during COVID on her daughter and how hard it was to not be around other kids 
• Loving being able to work for herself because she can have flexibility and choose her hours so she can be the one to pick her kids up 
• The challenge of bringing in new business 
• Choose a career where the things you hate are ones you can tolerate the most 
• Having to remind ourselves that we do annoying things too and it’s not just our spouses annoying us 
• Companies trying to do too much and spreading themselves too thin 
  • Do less well and you’ll succeed more 
• Would love to see there be more equity for women in the workplace and respect/equity in the future for her kids 
• Would love to see women helping and supporting each-other 
• Getting in a workout to help her mental health
• Motherhood being the most challenging and rewarding thing she has ever done 

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Thanks so much for listening and for supporting our podcast! Please rate the show, leave a review if you liked what you heard and make sure to subscribe on Amazon Music, iHeartRADIO,  iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or TuneIn!

Elizabeth Presta is a birth doula and mom of a six-month old. Her favorite part of being a doula is partnering with women to make sure they feel validated and heard throughout their birthing experience. Elizabeth is passionate about women’s healthcare and is continually learning. 

What we talked about

• Doulas increasing the rate of satisfaction with the birthing experience
• Helping educate women  to feel informed and part of the process, so it doesn’t feel like something that happened to you, but something you were a part of
• Hearing story after story of women saying, “they didn’t believe me” as part of their birth story and wanting to be there to help them feel heard and empowered
• Death rates actually increased when midwifery became illegal in some places 
• Statistics show when a doula is present you are more likely to have a positive birth experience 
• Doulas help you create a birth plan/guide so you can learn about your options in labor/delivery - provide a lot of physical/emotional support
• You are the only person who lives in your body and knows when something isn’t right - you are the best person to ask questions and advocate for yourself 
• Knowing when to switch doctors when you aren’t receiving appropriate care or having doctors who aren’t listening to you 
• Working as a doula is emotionally and physically draining 
• Being on call for 4-5 weeks for each patient
  • Not being able to travel or have a drink when you’re on call 
• Having a hard time connecting with her daughter especially since she was in the NICU
  • She had fluid in her lungs and was in the NICU for a week 
  • Going home without the baby
  • Taking 2 months to connect, but loving her 
  • Wanting to take some time to heal from that birth before having another 
• Becoming confident and sure about herself and who she is
• Never experiencing anxiety attacks until becoming a parent 

 Thank you to ChildLife Essentials for sponsoring this episode! ChildLife Essentials has been a trusted children supplements brand for over 20 years and they are offering 10% off with the code CHILDLIFE10 at iHerb.com.  ChildLife Essentials can also be found at Whole Foods & Amazon. 

*Talk to your healthcare provider about what supplements are right for your family. 

Follow Elizabeth on Instagram.

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Thanks so much for listening and for supporting our podcast! Please rate the show, leave a review if you liked what you heard and make sure to subscribe on Amazon Music, iHeartRADIO,  iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or TuneIn!

Lauren Bercuson is a mom of 2 boys who lives in Miami. She is a former lawyer who changed paths and started blogging on her site, Happily Ever Elephants about reading children’s books with intention. The blog led her to become a children’s librarian!

What we talked about

• Sometimes feeling so out of her element with 2 boys and wanting to talk about something girly on occasion 
• Co-parenting and being very lucky that they do a good job together, get along really well - put kids first and maintain a healthy relationship 
• Her youngest son being a stroke survivor
  • Had a stroke at 10 days old
  • Led to her changing her career
• Being a lawyer wasn’t fulfilling and when her little one was born she needed something to ground herself 
• People always asked her for book recommendations for kids
  • Starting a Facebook group because she was being asked the same questions, it grew incredibly quickly to include her Instagram and blog
• Felt like she was asking so much of her little one and wanted to push herself too
• Finally filling her passion and becoming a media specialist at her sons’ school 
• If you are intentional about the books you select for your children, you can empower them with such great skills and enrich their lives 
• Lists on her site include nearly every topic you can think of
  • Include diverse authors and perspective
  • Books are bridge builders 
• Tweens are an underserved market
  • Reading Daniel Steel books at that age because she was reading so much and at a high level 
• Mirror books and window books 
  • Mirror: they see themselves and their reflections
  • Window books: they get a peek into someone else’s life 
  • Finding yourself in a book can be a lifesaver, but it’s also so important to learn about different cultures and ideas 
• Books highlight so well that we have differences, but also highlight our similarities as humans!

Thank you to ChildLife Essentials for sponsoring this episode! ChildLife Essentials has been a trusted children supplements brand for over 20 years and they are offering 10% off with the code CHILDLIFE10 at iHerb.com.  ChildLife Essentials can also be found at Whole Foods & Amazon. 

*Talk to your healthcare provider about what supplements are right for your family. 

Follow Lauren on Instagram or her website.

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Thanks so much for listening and for supporting our podcast! Please rate the show, leave a review if you liked what you heard and make sure to subscribe on Amazon Music, iHeartRADIO,  iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or TuneIn!

Dr. Cara Goodwin is a clinical psychologist and mother to 3 young children. She's the woman behind Parenting Translator, where she breaks down scientific research that is helpful to parents. 

What we talked about 

• Going into labor on her babymoon, having her baby a month early 
• Becoming a stay-at-home mom, but missing an intellectual outlet 
• Provided therapy and assessments for childhood anxiety and depression, children with autism and developmental disabilities
• Learning how to read research and talk to families about the findings
• Hot button topics: sleep training, breastfeeding, racial bias
  • Biggest thing we can do is model for our children
  • Colorblind approach doesn’t work - talk to them about differences 
  • Have cross-racial friendships 
• Worrying about our kids social interaction in COVID
• Research shows over and over again that a loving relationship with at least 1 adult is what leads to flourishing as an adult 
• Really hard time for teenagers
  • Listen to their concerns and ask what is most upsetting instead of assuming we know
  • Listen and validate instead of jumping in to problem solve 
• Anxiety going back to school especially for young kids. Prepare and talk in excruciating detail about what to expect 
  • Start small - playdate with 1 other child outside and slowly build to school because it's going to be a shock to the system
  • Increased separation anxiety/social anxiety in children 
  • Kids are resilient 
• Signs a child might benefit from therapy:
  • Irritability that's getting in the way of daily living-bathing or going to bed 
  • Changes in sleep/eating
  • How they’re taking care of themselves: i.e. teenagers not showering
  • Withdrawal, isolating and losing interest in things they usually enjoy
  • Nightmares 
  • If you're in doubt, you can always seek out an evaluation for a professional opinion 
• Screen time itself isn’t going to hurt your child, it’s the opportunities they would be missing because of doing screen time instead 
  • Children under 2 are unlikely to learn anything from TV
  • Try to choose times that are predictable to them and quality programs
• Cell phones  
  • We were already at such a risk of having addiction to technology pre-pandemic and now even more so 
  • Model behavior: no phones while driving, at the dinner table, etc. 

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Thanks so much for listening and for supporting our podcast! Please rate the show, leave a review if you liked what you heard and make sure to subscribe on Amazon Music, iHeartRADIO,  iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or TuneIn!

Priya Amin is an entrepreneur living in Pittsburgh, PA and is a mom of 2 boys. She is the co-founder and CEO of Flexable, which focuses on the problem of backup childcare, and what you do when your child care falls through

What we talked about: 

• The economic impact of childcare, and how COVID helped highlight the loss of productivity when there's a loss of childcare
• Starting her company 5 years ago, and it not being differentiated enough 
  • Pivoted to pop-up child care at work or events/conferences
  • Doing really well and growing right when COVID hit. They had to shut down - she had to let go of all her caregivers, her co-founder left as well
  • She started thinking of ways to pivot and saw a lot of research about virtual childcare being needed
  • Within 8 weeks they had done research and launched virtual childcare
  • Scheduling blocks of time with vetted childcare hosts 
    • Yoga, Claymation, magic tricks, story time, etc.
    • Kids get to interact with the hosts, but also the other kids who are on
• Writing an article that went viral about how her son drawing a sad picture of her working
• We discussed talking to our employers about how they can support us so that we aren’t feeling so overworked 
• Never not being a parent
• Her experience being a TedX speaker
  • Mr. Rogers’ wife coming up to her after her talk, giving her a hug and saying how proud Mr. Rogers would be of her 
• Providing child care for a hospital system in the women's behavioral health unit, allowing new moms to receive treatment for postpartum depression 
• Not having family close by when she had her first son 
• Had her second child at 33 and started her company weeks later 
• Her kids getting older and taking on more responsibility 
  • They put their own clothes away 
• Walking and meditating every morning, and starting to crochet 
• Being surprised by the conversations she’s able to have with her kids and how much they understand 
• How amazing it is that her kids are seeing someone in an elected office who has some of the same ethnic background
• The importance of seeing yourself represented in tv/movies/public office
• Tools to help advocate for child care at work that Flexable provides 

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Katy Mallory lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband and 3 girls. She works full-time and also launched SlumberPod with her mom. 

What we talked about:

• Using the pandemic to strengthen her cocktail crafts
• Juggling a bunch of balls-some rubber, some glass and deciding which to prioritize
• Meeting her husband online 15 years ago on Yahoo Personals
  • Decided to start their family 3 years after getting married
  • Had a miscarriage when they first got pregnant, were able to get pregnant again
  • Started trying for their 2nd and 2 years in deciding to seek help
  • With Clomid and IUI she got pregnant with twins  
  • Was a lot easier going from 1 to 3 vs 0 to 1
  • Her mom spent almost her entire maternity leave with her- even took overnight shifts, and allowed her to get out of the house 
  • The struggle to take newborn twins on errands/mom groups because of the equipment/prep to get out of the house 
  • Her secondary infertility experience and struggling with no control 
• Her career in internal communications  
• Visiting her mom during Christmas 6 years ago and sharing a room with her daughter
  • Her daughter slept great at home, but awful at Grandma's
  • Went home a day early because they wanted sleep
  • Couldn't find a solution online
  • While on her maternity leave with her twins, her mom suggested that they try starting their business - took classes/started networking 
• Took 2 years putting together what they were comfortable bringing to market
• Created a Kickstarter campaign in July 2018, which was incredibly successful  
• Went on Shark Tank 7 months after starting sales 
• Sharks were surprised by their revenue-didn’t expect them to have that yet 
• SlumberPod is shaped like a bottomless tent that can go over a crib, pack-n-play or cot. Provides a nearly black out interior, folds small enough to fit in carry on- has a pouch for a monitor and mini-fan 
• Everything takes longer and is more complicated than you expect when creating a product-everything is a learning experience
• Target now selling their product in stores!
• Working another full-time job the entire time
• Balancing work and children right now because they’re home all the time, and having them understand that she doesn’t always have time to entertain them 
• Mommin’ listeners can use promo code: MOMMIN for $20 off your purchase of your own SlumberPod! 

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Kelly Knight is an associate professor of Forensic Science at George Mason University. She's also in her 2nd year of her PhD program for Science Education Research. She has 2 boys and has been married to her husband for 11 years.

What we talked about

• Waiting a while before deciding to have kids-being married for 3 years prior
• After she had her 2nd she started to feel something weird in her stomach-assumed it was a result of C-section
  • In 2019 she showed her husband and he told her she had to see a doctor
  • The 1st doctor said it was a hernia, another said it was scar tissue from C-section
  • She started to feel pain and had an MRI-received an email that the mass was worrisome for cancer 
    • One of the most traumatic moments of her life
    • Biopsy discovered it was a type of rare soft tissue sarcoma and started treatment 
    • Was in her PhD class when the doctor told her treatment wasn’t working-the tumor had grown so she needed to start chemo 
• Had surgery in September and tumor is gone-has to get checks every 6mo 
• Has anxiety prior to every scan 
• Has moments where she breaks down when reliving the trauma and worrying about the future
• Graduated with a degree in chemistry with a forensic science focus
  • Got an internship at a DNA lab her senior year and realized how much she loved it
  • She did not have the GPA to get her masters, but got in
• Her entire academic experience changed-went from being someone who was invisible and not seen as worthy by their professors, to going to grad school and having someone who believed in her, and didn’t use her GPA to judge her
  • Graduated with almost a 4.0, presented her research nationally, and had multiple offers from crime labs 
  • The importance of having mentors
• What she’s looking for at work when she gets samples
• Vicarious trauma that forensic scientists can take on 
  • You’re dealing with people who are experiencing possibly the worst day of their lives and you need to treat that with care
• Her son writing a letter to the tooth fairy asking if he could keep the tooth to donate it to his mom so she could use it to teach her students 
• Saving every bloody band-aid she has to test for DNA because buying biological samples is very expensive 

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Thanks so much for listening and for supporting our podcast! Please rate the show, leave a review if you liked what you heard and make sure to subscribe on Amazon Music, iHeartRADIO,  iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or TuneIn!