Mommy's on a Call | Wellness & Mindfulness for Modern Moms, Mindful Parenting, Entrepreneurship

Ara Katz is a mother, entrepreneur, author and wellness expert. She is the co-founder of microbial sciences company Seed Health and consumer innovations brand, Seed.

Ara's first pregnancy and breastfeeding experience led her to the microbiome and inspired her personal mission to explore the importance and impact of microbes. 

At Seed Health, she leads fundraising, design thinking, brand, insights, commercialization, and the company's translational work in science communication and storytelling. 

Ara lives in Venice, California with her husband and six-year-old son, Pax and is currently pregnant with her second child.

In this episode, Ara and I chatted about

• The invisible work - childcare and the roles her and her spouse play as two hard-working startup founders
• Mindset going into having two children
• How her mom's pancreatic cancer inspired her to dive deep into health, care for our bodies and preventative health
• How her miscarriage before her current child was an eye opener to what she wanted to do with her life
• What is seeding?
• The effect of microbes in the prenatal period, birth and environmental
• What is vaginal swabbing and the effect of breastfeeding on the child's microbiome
• The differences in vaginal microbiome and how that can affect reproductive health
• What she prioritizes in wellness everyday

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Disclaimer: Seed is not sponsoring this podcast and I am not an affiliate for their products (at least right now). I am a huge advocate for improving the future generations of health and just excited to be a part of sharing their science-backed products.

Follow Ara at

• Website: seed.com
• IG: @arakatz / @seed

Come join me in my sandbox of life and in this podcast to explore, play and discover something new every single week.

Subscribe and tune in weekly because I know you've yelled "Mommy's on a Call" at least once in the last week!!!

For show notes, visit www.MommysonaCall.com

• Stephanie's Website
• IG: @MommysonaCall // @StephanieUchima

Get full access to re:Aligned by Stephanie Uchima-Carney at realignedmom.substack.com/subscribe

Kate Torgersen is the Founder & CEO of Milk Stork, the first-ever breast milk shipping company and the mom to 3 amazing kids (including 1 set of twins).

What started off as a bootstrapped side hustle to her full-time 18 year corporate career at Clif Bar all while raising 3 kids under 3, has turned into a venture-backed company changing the landscape of working motherhood and travel.

In this episode, Kate and I chatted about…

• The importance of sports as a learning zone for kids in building grit and endurance in life
• Life while working full-time at Clif Bar with 3 kids under 3 and launching Milk Stork late at night to transitioning from full-time to part-time to leaving to go all-in
• How she made the decision between her career and entrepreneurship
• Why she didn't quit on her idea and how she scaled quickly
• Her daily wellness routine
• How she adjusted the company in the beginning of the pandemic when travel stopped
• How sports made her a better entrepreneur

Follow Kate at...

• Website: www.milkstork.com
• IG: @milkstork // @milkstorkmama

Come join me in my sandbox of life and in this podcast to explore, play and discover something new every single week.

Subscribe and tune in weekly because I know you've yelled "Mommy's on a Call" at least once in the last week!!!

For show notes, visit www.MommysonaCall.com

• Stephanie's Website
• IG: @MommysonaCall // @StephanieUchima

Get full access to re:Aligned by Stephanie Uchima-Carney at realignedmom.substack.com/subscribe

Jessica Jackley is an entrepreneur and investor whose work focuses on making big bets on the goodness in all of us. 

Currently, she is the founder of Alltruists, offering at-home, kid-friendly volunteer projects for families, and a cofounder and General Partner at Untapped Capital. 

Jessica is best known as a co-founder of Kiva, the world's first crowdfunding site allowing anyone to lend as little as $25 - at 0% interest - to entrepreneurs around the world. Since it launched in October 2005, Kiva has facilitated over $1.5B in loans. 

She holds an MBA from Stanford GSB and teaches Social Entrepreneurship at the Marshall School of Business at USC.

Jessica lives in Los Angeles with her husband, bestselling author and Emmy-nominated producer Reza Aslan, and their four young children.

Follow Jessica at...

• Website: alltruists.com
• IG: @alltruists

Come join me in my sandbox of life and in this podcast to explore, play and discover something new every single week.

Subscribe and tune in weekly because I know you've yelled "Mommy's on a Call" at least once in the last week!!!

For show notes, visit www.MommysonaCall.com

• Stephanie's Website
• IG: @MommysonaCall // @StephanieUchima

Get full access to re:Aligned by Stephanie Uchima-Carney at realignedmom.substack.com/subscribe

The next season of Mommy's on a Call is here with a new set of guests and experts all focused on the different dimensions of wellness and the intersection with motherhood.

In this episode I share about the slight change in direction of the podcast, what does multidimensional wellness mean and what big decision I just made in my life that will also add value to the podcast content... tune in to hear more!

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Come join me in my sandbox of life and in this podcast to explore, play and discover something new every single week.

Subscribe and tune in weekly because I know you've yelled "Mommy's on a Call" at least once in the last week!!!

For show notes, visit www.MommysonaCall.com

• Stephanie's Website
• IG: @MommysonaCall // @StephanieUchima

Get full access to re:Aligned by Stephanie Uchima-Carney at realignedmom.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Alison Mitzner is a single mom of 2 (ages 8 and 10), board-certified pediatrician, family wellness and fitness expert, and passionate supporter of parents feeling calm, confident, and healthy. 

After attending medical school in Syracuse and completing her residency on Long Island, Dr. Mitzner worked at a private practice in Manhattan and is now a senior director at a major pharmaceutical company in worldwide safety and regulatory. 

She is the author of the #1 Amazon best-selling book, Calm and Confident Parenting where she shares proven strategies and tools for making small changes to your mindset, routine, and habits to help parents raise their children with calm confidence.

In this episode, Dr. Alison and I chatted about…

• How she structures her day to be able to fit in her full-time career, 2 kids and side hustle as a single mom
• Most important aspects moms should focus on to start feeling less burnout and stress: exercise and sleep
• Starting with working on yourself and learning how you deal with stressful situations
• How to co-parent and keep consistency with your children when you barely communicate with the other co-parent
• Teaching kids how to express their emotions so that they can learn tools to stay calm

Follow Dr. Alison Mitzner at

• Website: www.dralisonmitzner.com
• IG: @dralisonmitzner

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Come join me in my sandbox of life and in this podcast to explore, play and discover something new every single week.

Subscribe and tune in weekly because I know you've yelled "Mommy's on a Call" at least once in the last week!!!

For show notes, visit www.MommysonaCall.com

• Stephanie's Website
• IG: @MommysonaCall // @StephanieUchima

Get full access to re:Aligned by Stephanie Uchima-Carney at realignedmom.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Natasha Beck is a parenting expert and the founder of Dr. Organic Mommy, an online resource focused on pregnancy, parenting, nutrition and non-toxic living. 

She holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, specializing in pediatric neuropsychology from Pepperdine and has a Master's in Public Health, specializing in child and family health from USC's Keck School of Medicine.

But above all she is the mom of 3 (ages 3, 5 and 7) with a 4th little one on the way (due Feb 2022) and is married to her high school sweetheart.

While the conversation was going to be all about environmental toxins and children's diets, we digressed and spent a lot of time talking about how she maintains a thriving relationship with her husband (hint: the secret is in her day dates) and all about boundaries and how she teaches her kids about them.

In this episode, Natasha and I talk about…

• Her childhood diagnosis of ADHD and dyslexia which started her passion for working with children to find ways to help them with disorders - so she majored in psychology and neuroscience

• Her experience researching the impact of diet on children's behavior and how when she changed her own diet and it started to help her ADHD symptoms

• How she communicates with her own children about making healthy eating choices

• Sugar consumption in kids and how to find better alternatives

• What started her deep dive into environmental toxins began when her son was hospitalized at 7 weeks for 29 days

• 3 helpful tips and easy resources for parents who want to start looking at eliminating everyday environmental toxins

• Her morning routine (she's a morning person) in which she incorporates many things to help set her mindset for the day and the importance of setting her circadian rhythm

• Her secrets to maintaining a healthy relationship - especially being married to her high school sweetheart

• The rules of her day dates and how to make them successful

• Teaching kids boundaries and how to communicate them

• What to do when you lose your temper at your kids

Follow Dr. Natasha Beck at

• Website: www.drorganicmommy.com

• IG: @dr.organicmommy

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Come join me in my sandbox of life and in this podcast to explore, play and discover something new every single week.

Subscribe and tune in weekly because I know you've yelled "Mommy's on a Call" at least once in the last week!!!

For show notes, visit www.MommysonaCall.com

• Stephanie's Website
• IG: @MommysonaCall // @StephanieUchima

Get full access to re:Aligned by Stephanie Uchima-Carney at realignedmom.substack.com/subscribe

Michelle Tangeman is a mom of two and a licensed therapist specializing in maternal mental health and pediatric behavior support. 

She is also the founder of Thriving Toddler, an online resource that helps parents navigate toddlerdom and the preschool years, and she is the co-host of Parenting Understood, a research-based parenting podcast with Dr. Erin O'Connor from NYU.

In this episode, Michelle and I talk about

• Her attempt to wean the pacifier - as mom vs. therapist.
• Staying on the same parenting page with your partner. What does the conversation look like? And how to set boundaries.
• Her journey and how her children were the catalyst to start her private practice and Thriving Toddler
• The importance of taking action toward your goals even if it's small steps
• Advice on small things she does to instill mindfulness in her young kids
• Her experience with postpartum depression (PPD) and how she works with clients to work through it
• Importance of sleep, building inner strength and self-care
• How to react to toddler tantrums both toward the child and within yourself - some of these practices are great for any anxiety-driven or heat-of-the-moment type of situations

Follow Michelle at...

• Websites: michelletangeman.com // thrivingtoddler.com
• IG: @thriving.toddler

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Come join me in my sandbox of life and in this podcast to explore, play and discover something new every single week.

Subscribe and tune in weekly because I know you've yelled "Mommy's on a Call" at least once in the last week!!!

For show notes, visit www.MommysonaCall.com

• Stephanie's Website
• IG: @MommysonaCall // @StephanieUchima

Get full access to re:Aligned by Stephanie Uchima-Carney at realignedmom.substack.com/subscribe

Last weekend I headed out to Joshua Tree for an incredible retreat by my good friend Danielle (@themoonmedicine). It was supposed to be a getaway for me to have some space to work on spiritual practices; however, I accidentally (yes, accidentally) invited my family to come along and tag along to the trip. It actually worked out beautifully and in today's episode I share some takeaways on how we can integrate our personal needs and family and make it work.

On a side note: If you need any tips on how to navigate Joshua Tree with kids (especially young ones) send me a DM @StephanieUchima. I did a bunch of research and created a doc for it!

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Come join me in my sandbox of life and in this podcast to explore, play and discover something new every single week.

Subscribe and tune in weekly because I know you've yelled "Mommy's on a Call" at least once in the last week!!!

For show notes, visit www.MommysonaCall.com

• Stephanie's Website
• IG: @MommysonaCall // @StephanieUchima

Get full access to re:Aligned by Stephanie Uchima-Carney at realignedmom.substack.com/subscribe

Shanna Hocking is a thought leader, keynote speaker, podcast host of One Bold Move A Day, and author of a forthcoming book on women and leadership, as well as the former Associate VP at a global pediatric hospital. She recently left her role in 2022 to focus full time on Hocking Leadership

Her expertise has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, Chicago Tribune, American Express Business Insights, Today.com, The Muse, and Thrive Global, among others. 

Shanna is committed to helping women thrive at work and home, which she navigates, too, as a wife and proud mother of a 7th grader.

• In this episode, Shanna and I chat about…
• As a working mom, how you can be a role model for your team
• The idea of the "primary parent" and how her husband played that role despite being dual working parents
• How to have conversations about careers in your relationship
• How to mentally get to the place to outsource things
• Who is in her personal board of advisors for career, leadership and life advice
• Her definition of rest - doing things that fuel you
• Ways she's been a leader to her team during the pandemic and what policies she created to help
• How to maintain and lead a work from home team

Follow Shanna at...

• Website: www.shannaahocking.com
• IG: @ShannaAHocking

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Come join me in my sandbox of life and in this podcast to explore, play and discover something new every single week.

Subscribe and tune in weekly because I know you've yelled "Mommy's on a Call" at least once in the last week!!!

For show notes, visit www.MommysonaCall.com

• Stephanie's Website
• IG: @MommysonaCall // @StephanieUchima

Get full access to re:Aligned by Stephanie Uchima-Carney at realignedmom.substack.com/subscribe

Jen Saxton is the founder and CEO of Tot Squad, a marketplace that connects new and expecting parents with health, wellness and safety services like car seat installation, sleep consulting, babyproofing, and lactation consulting.

She's an alumna of Duke, has a Kellogg MBA and is a serial entrepreneur having sold her first business in 2020 and was part of the 2020 Techstars Anywhere accelerator. 

But above all, Jen is the mom of Charlotte and Sophie, aged 7 months and 3 years.

In this episode, Jen and I chat about...

• Selling her business in March 2020 (literally when the Pandemic was beginning)
• Her vision and drive for starting a business centered around family and work-life balance and how she launched a baby company out of business school before she had kids or even was married
• Her "infants at work" policy she implemented pre-kids
• She didn't take a break after selling her company (10 years) and dove into something new, joined an Accelerator and became pregnant with her second kid
• What "maternity leave" the second time looked like and her fun out of office response
• How she kept her boundaries within the company while on leave
• How she implements the Fair Play system at home to create boundaries, manage her relationship, and replenish herself
• Advice for founders on when to leave their "day job"

Follow Jen at...

• Website: totsquad.com
• IG: @totsquad

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Come join me in my sandbox of life and in this podcast to explore, play and discover something new every single week.

Subscribe and tune in weekly because I know you've yelled "Mommy's on a Call" at least once in the last week!!!

For show notes, visit www.MommysonaCall.com

• Stephanie's Website
• IG: @MommysonaCall // @StephanieUchima

Get full access to re:Aligned by Stephanie Uchima-Carney at realignedmom.substack.com/subscribe