Motherhood Advantage

What does it take to build a life big enough for Motherhood, artistic ambition, and advocacy?

In this episode of Motherhood Advantage, Dr. Laura Marie Rivera talks with composer, music director, and Maestra founder Georgia Stitt about creating space—for women in theater, for caregiving in professional life, and for the constant recalibration Motherhood requires.

Georgia shares how noticing the absence of women in theater music departments led her to build Maestra, an organization now helping women and gender-expansive musicians become more visible, connected, and hired. She also speaks candidly about the less visible work of Motherhood: the executive function, emotional labor, logistics, and mental load required to keep a family moving while sustaining a creative career.

Together, Laura Marie and Georgia explore why leadership is often less about controlling the outcome than finding deeper ways to trust and collaborate, through listening, respecting, and recalibrating when others share information. They discuss breastfeeding and caregiving in creative workplaces, sharing responsibility at home, the persistent tendency to define women’s accomplishments through the men around them, and what happens when we stop pretending that caregiving exists separately from professional life.

Georgia also reflects on raising two daughters finding their own artistic paths and shares her latest creative work, including her album Bell Tower and its newly published sheet music. 

A conversation about visibility, collaboration, creativity—and building a life where Motherhood doesn’t have to exist in the margins.

Learn more about Georgia Stitt at georgiastitt.com

Listen to the full songs mentioned in this episode at 

https://georgiastitt.com/music-library/get-show-ocean/

https://georgiastitt.com/music-library/kites-children/

Connect with women, gender expansive and under-represented musical theater artists at maestramusic.org

Credits:

“I Get To Show You The Ocean” from THIS ORDINARY THURSDAY

featuring Faith Prince

for MCB on her first birthday

Music and Lyrics by Georgia Stitt

© 2006 Geocate Music (ASCAP)

All Rights Administered by Concord Music Publishing

About Motherhood Advantage

At The Motherhood Advantage, we explore the research, stories, and leadership lessons that emerge when we recognize Motherhood not as a detour from leadership—but as one of its greatest teachers.

If you'd like to learn more about the research or recommend a Mother, please visit us at MotherhoodAdvantage.com

@MotherhoodAdvantage with Dr. Laura Marie Rivera

Content note: This episode includes discussion of infertility, IVF, miscarriage, and a medically complicated pregnancy. Please listen with care.

In this episode of Motherhood Advantage, Dr. Laura Marie Rivera talks with Denise Lieu Kakimoto, a Southern California educator, longtime teacher, and Mother of triplets, about infertility, perseverance, community, and the deep connection between teaching and Motherhood.

Denise shares the emotional road to becoming a Mother—from fertility treatments and miscarriage to the exciting discovery that she was pregnant with triplets—and the difficult decisions, uncertainty, and extraordinary support that surrounded her pregnancy. Through it all, gratitude became a grounding force, as friends, colleagues, and community members stepped in with meals, laundry, classroom help, and the practical care her family needed.

After nearly three decades as an educator, Denise also sees striking parallels between teaching and parenting. Both require patience, anticipation, modeling, flexibility, clear expectations, and the humility to recognize that children ultimately have to become who they are—not simply who we imagined they might be.

Denise’s story is a reminder that Motherhood can be exhausting, complicated, and profoundly demanding while still being experienced as an extraordinary privilege—and that some of our greatest strength is built not by getting everything right, but by continuing to show up.

Key Takeaways

• Motherhood can be both deeply demanding and deeply valued. For Denise, years of infertility shaped her enduring sense of Motherhood as a privilege rather than something she takes for granted.
• Community is a form of resilience. Practical support—from meals and laundry to simply showing up—can fundamentally change how a family moves through a difficult season.
• Teaching and Motherhood develop many of the same leadership skills: patience, modeling, anticipation, communication, adaptability, and knowing when to step back.
• Resilience does not require perfection. Denise’s philosophy is simple and powerful: “I will screw up, but I will not give up.”

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Find Denise on Instagram: dkakimoto

Infertility & Family-Building Support

If Denise’s story resonates with your own fertility journey, RESOLVE: The National Infertility and Family Building Association offers free peer support groups, information, and resources for people experiencing infertility and navigating family building.  

https://resolve.org/

ReproductiveFacts.org, from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), provides patient-focused information about infertility, IVF, fertility preservation and other reproductive-health topics, plus a directory for finding reproductive-health professionals.  
https://www.reproductivefacts.org/

About Motherhood Advantage

At The Motherhood Advantage, we explore the research, stories, and leadership lessons that emerge when we recognize Motherhood not as a detour from leadership—but as one of its greatest teachers.

If you'd like to learn more about the research or recommend a Mother, please visit us at MotherhoodAdvantage.com

@MotherhoodAdvantage with Dr. Laura Marie Rivera

What if quitting isn’t failure—but a creative act?

Nina Simon has reinvented her career more than once, moving from NASA engineer to museum leader to bestselling mystery author. In this episode, she shares what those pivots taught her about ambition, identity, and knowing when it’s time to let something go.

Nina defines Motherhood as fierce care expressed through action—not biology, constant presence, or self-sacrifice. She also offers a provocative distinction between Motherhood and leadership: leadership organizes people around a shared goal, while Motherhood centers the relationship itself.

Together, we explore the realities of power and choice for working Mothers, why workplace accommodations matter, and how boundaries—even strategic absence—can be part of healthy Mothering. Nina’s story is a conversation about creativity, flexibility, honesty, and the intentional tradeoffs that shape both our work and our lives.

• Quitting the wrong thing can open the door to a more meaningful thing.  
• Leadership and Motherhood call for different kinds of presence, responsibility, and attention.
• Workplace accommodations should expand parents’ choices, not prescribe how they use them.
• Strong families are often built through seasons of intentional tradeoffs, not perfect balance.
• Nina’s bestselling mystery novels emerged from the intersection of caregiving, creativity, and the need to make meaning during a difficult season.
• Strong women are a recurring theme in her life and her writing.

Learn more about Nina Simon at https://ninaksimon.com/

Preorder for My Sister is Going to Kill Me:

https://bookshopsantacruz.com/preorder-nina-simon

At The Motherhood Advantage, we explore the research, stories, and leadership lessons that emerge when we recognize Motherhood not as a detour from leadership—but as one of its greatest teachers.

If you'd like to learn more about the research or recommend a Mother, please visit us at MotherhoodAdvantage.com

@MotherhoodAdvantage with Dr. Laura Marie Rivera

What if Motherhood isn't defined by biology, but by the radical practice of nurturing growth, telling the truth, and helping others become more fully themselves?

In this episode of The Motherhood Advantage, Dr. Laura Marie Rivera sits down with Dr. Amber Johnson—educator, artist, writer, and leader at UC Berkeley—to explore how Motherhood, leadership, justice, and healing intersect. This conversation challenges traditional ideas about caregiving and leadership, arguing that both require deep listening and a commitment to creating spaces where people can thrive.

Drawing from their work in higher education, community healing projects, and life as a parent, Dr. Johnson shares how Motherhood has reshaped the way they lead and imagine a more compassionate future. Together, Laura Marie and Amber explore what happens when we stop viewing Motherhood as a private responsibility and begin recognizing it as a profound source of leadership and social change.

• Why Mothering is about nurturing, creating, and caring—not simply biology.
• How leadership and parenting both depend on empathy, curiosity, accountability, and deep listening.
• Why healing should be communal, accessible, and rooted in connection rather than isolation.
• How forgiveness and accountability can coexist without minimizing harm.
• How academic institutions—and workplaces more broadly—continue to undervalue the leadership developed through Motherhood and caregiving.

This episode invites us to rethink what leadership looks like and challenges us to recognize the wisdom, resilience, and transformational capacity that Motherhood cultivates.

Whether you're raising children, leading a team, mentoring others, or building community, this conversation offers a powerful reminder that the skills we often associate with caregiving may also be the skills our paid workplaces—and our world—need most.

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The Justice League:  https://thejusticefleet.org/

Dr. Amber Johnson's LinkedIN: www.linkedin.com/in/dramberjohnson

At The Motherhood Advantage, we explore the research, stories, and leadership lessons that emerge when we recognize Motherhood not as a detour from leadership—but as one of its greatest teachers.

If you'd like to learn more about the research or recommend a Mother, please visit us at MotherhoodAdvantage.com

@MotherhoodAdvantage with Dr. Laura Marie Rivera

What happens when the everyday challenges of Motherhood become the catalyst for innovation?

In this episode of Motherhood Advantage, Dr. Laura Marie Rivera sits down with researcher, entrepreneur, and mother Dr. Nia Ruth to explore how the invisible labor of managing a family's health inspired an entirely new way of thinking about caregiving, leadership, and problem-solving.

Drawing on her background in UX research, Nia shares how becoming a Mother sharpened her ability to identify unmet needs, design practical solutions, and navigate the uncertainty that comes with building something new—all while raising a young family.

Together, they explore why Mothers are uniquely equipped to lead through complexity, how technology can reduce cognitive load for families, and why the everyday work of caregiving deserves far more recognition in conversations about innovation and leadership.

Whether you're a parent, entrepreneur, or leader, this episode offers a fresh perspective on the skills Motherhood cultivates—and how those skills can transform our workplaces, communities, and families.

• Why Motherhood often reveals problems hiding in plain sight—and inspires innovative solutions.
• The invisible mental load of managing a family's health and why it matters.
• How research, curiosity, and lived experience can fuel entrepreneurship.
• The leadership skills Mothers develop every day, from adaptability and resilience to systems thinking.
• Why empowering children to make decisions and solve problems begins earlier than we think.
• How workplaces and technology can better support working families.

Motherhood doesn't just change how we care for others—it changes how we lead, create, and imagine what's possible.

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Connect with Dr. Nia Ruth on LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nia-gordon-ruth/

https://everahealth.co/

At The Motherhood Advantage, we explore the research, stories, and leadership lessons that emerge when we recognize Motherhood not as a detour from leadership—but as one of its greatest teachers.

If you'd like to learn more about the research or recommend a Mother, please visit us at MotherhoodAdvantage.com

@MotherhoodAdvantage with Dr. Laura Marie Rivera

What if divorce support looked less like crisis management — and more like community, strategy, and care?

In this episode of Motherhood Advantage, Dr. Laura Marie Rivera talks with Olivia Howell, divorce coach and founder of a first-of-its-kind divorce registry platform, about what women really need when they are moving through one of life’s most destabilizing transitions.

Olivia shares how her own experience with divorce, Motherhood, and raising two boys shaped her work supporting women through separation, co-parenting, rebuilding, and starting over. She explains how divorce coaching can serve as a crucial bridge between therapy and legal counsel — helping women save time, money, and emotional energy while making clearer decisions during a high-stress chapter.

This conversation explores the support gap around divorce, the importance of asking for help, and why rebuilding your life is not a failure of leadership — it is leadership. Olivia also shares how women can create stronger support systems, communicate honestly at home and at work, set boundaries, and invest in their own healing without apology.

At its heart, this episode is about more than divorce. It is about reinvention, resilience, and the leadership required to begin again.

For any Mother navigating transition — or supporting someone who is — Olivia’s story is a reminder that starting over can be an act of courage, clarity, and power.

Starting over is not a failure. Sometimes, it is the bravest form of leadership.

Connect with Olivia Howell on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviadreizenhowell

Fresh Starts Registry

Learn more about Motherhood Advantage

Follow along on Instagram: @motherhoodadvantage

For the complete Intuitionship research results and a free copy of the report, visit https://intuitionship.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Connect with Dr. Laura Marie on LinkedIn for research updates, podcast conversations, and reflections on Motherhood and leadership. https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-marie-rivera-intuitionship/

In Season Two of Motherhood Advantage, Dr. Laura Marie Rivera continues the conversation at the heart of her research and her book, Beyond the Pipeline: what changes when we recognize Motherhood not as an obstacle to leadership, but as one of the places leadership is formed?

This season brings together an extraordinary group of Mother-leaders, researchers, advocates, authors, executives, educators, and changemakers to explore ambition, caregiving, identity, maternal health, storytelling, justice, support, and the systems that shape women’s lives.

The season opens with researcher Dr. Carolyn Burroughs, whose partnership in the original Motherhood-and-leadership research helps ground the conversation in evidence: Mothers develop many of the skills organizations say they value most, from strategic thinking and crisis management to advocacy, communication, and adaptability.

From there, Stefanie O’Connell, author of The Ambition Penalty, challenges the myth that women lack ambition, naming how systems too often punish women — especially Mothers — for wanting and pursuing power. Rebecca Hogan and Dr. Anne Welsh bring coaching and leadership insight to the emotional complexity of ambition, identity, guilt, purpose, and building a life that honors both meaningful work and family reality.

This season also deepens the storytelling lens. Laura Nespoli explores the power of narrative, voice, and embodied truth, while Catherine Temkin reflects on the foundational, often invisible work of caregiving and how the quiet lessons of Motherhood transfer into leadership, mentoring, and professional life.

The maternal health and caregiving conversations are especially powerful. Ana Rodney, doula and maternal health advocate, speaks to postpartum care, birth justice, and the need to surround Mothers with real support. Rayna Tabanera-Geras brings an early childhood and advocacy lens, reminding us that care, education, and community systems are inseparable from the lives of Mothers and children.

Season Two also highlights Mothers leading in business, law, and public life. Ambika Singh, founder of Armoire, talks about entrepreneurship, identity, and what it means to build differently as a Mother. Judge Sharonda Amamilo reflects on justice, trauma-informed leadership, and the ways Motherhood can deepen empathy, accountability, and public service. And Tiffany Dufu, president of the Tory Burch Foundation and author of Drop the Ball, offers a powerful conversation about support, failure, repair, rhythm, and why women cannot — and should not — lead or Mother alone.

Together, these conversations ask us to move beyond the Motherhood penalty as the only story. Yes, Mothers face bias, exclusion, impossible expectations, and structural barriers. But Mothers also develop profound leadership capacities through caregiving — capacities that workplaces, institutions, and public narratives too often fail to recognize because they were honed outside the paid workforce.

Season Two is a reminder that Motherhood and leadership are not separate identities. They are deeply connected — in the home, at work, in communities, in courtrooms, in classrooms, in companies, and in movements.

Featured guests include:

Dr. Carolyn Burroughs
Stefanie O’Connell
Rebecca Hogan
Laura Nespoli
Ana Rodney
Ambika Singh
Rayna Tabanera-Geras
Catherine Temkin
Judge Sharonda Amamilo
Dr. Anne Welsh
Tiffany Dufu

Logo Art by Erin Swanson McGoldrick

Learn more about the research behind the podcast in Beyond the Pipeline.

In this episode of Motherhood Advantage, Dr. Laura Marie Rivera sits down with Tiffany Dufu — president of the Tory Burch Foundation, author, speaker, Mother of two, and longtime advocate for women’s leadership — for a deeply thoughtful conversation about Motherhood, purpose, failure, and the power of support.

Tiffany reflects on the profound influence of her Mother, Brenda, and how becoming a Mother herself reshaped her self-awareness, leadership style, and sense of purpose. Together, she and Laura Marie explore the difference between parenting and professional leadership, the importance of asking for help, and why solidarity among Mothers is essential for women navigating work, ambition, caregiving, and identity.

From the lessons of failure to the daily practice of repair, rhythm, and intentional living, Tiffany offers a powerful reminder that Motherhood and leadership are not separate lives we are forced to balance — they are deeply connected callings that can strengthen one another.

• Support is not a luxury — it is essential.
  Tiffany reminds us that women cannot and should not have to lead, Mother, work, and care alone.
• Motherhood can deepen leadership.
  Becoming a Mother sharpened Tiffany’s self-awareness, clarified her purpose, and shaped how she leads.
• Asking for help is a leadership skill.
  Letting go of perfection and inviting support creates more space for purpose, presence, and impact.
• Failure can be formative.
  Tiffany speaks honestly about failure as a source of wisdom, humility, and growth.
• Motherhood and leadership are connected callings.
• The episode challenges the idea that Motherhood and professional ambition are separate identities, showing how each can inform and strengthen the other.

LINKS 

• Learn more about Tiffany at https://www.tiffanydufu.com/
• More about the Tory Burch Foundation and Fellows Program   https://www.toryburchfoundation.org/
• Purchase a copy of DROP THE BALL at   https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250071767/droptheball/

Continue the conversation:  

Learn more about Motherhood Advantage, recommend a future Mother-leader guest, or explore the podcast at Motherhood Advantage

Follow along on Instagram: @motherhoodadvantage

For the complete Intuitionship research results and a free copy of the report, visit Intuitionship Research

You can also connect with Dr. Laura Marie on LinkedIn for research updates, podcast conversations, and reflections on Motherhood and leadership. https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-marie-rivera-intuitionship/

What happens when we stop viewing Motherhood as a liability and start recognizing it as an asset?

In this episode, Dr. Laura Marie Rivera welcomes Anne Welsh, a fellow Mom of four, clinical psychologist, executive coach, and author of Ambitious Mother. In this eye-opening conversation, she challenges the assumption that parenting and professional ambition compete with one another. Instead, she argues that Motherhood develops many of the very skills organizations value most: emotional intelligence, strategic thinking, adaptability, prioritization, and resilience.

Drawing from her experience raising four children—including navigating neurodiversity, adolescence, and the daily complexity of family life—Anne explains how Motherhood pushes women to grow in ways few other experiences can. She introduces the "Five P's" of leadership developed through parenting and explores the concept of "growth edges"—the moments that stretch us beyond our comfort zones and ultimately shape us into stronger leaders.

Whether you're raising toddlers, managing teenagers, leading a team, or simply interested in a more expansive view of leadership, this conversation will challenge the way you think about Motherhood—and the remarkable capabilities it cultivates. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Motherhood develops leadership skills that directly translate to the paid workplace.
• Anne's "Five P's" of leadership: people skills, processing speed, prioritization, project management, and playfulness.
• Why managing children strengthens emotional regulation and adaptability.
• How raising neurodiverse children can deepen empathy, flexibility, and resilience.
• Why self-care is often better understood as "family care."
• How recognizing Mothers' strengths can help combat the Motherhood penalty.

LINKS

• https://www.amazon.com/s?k=anne+welsh+ambitious+mother&crid=3JQW563F249CU&sprefix=anne+welsh+ambitious+mothe%2Caps%2C241&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
• https://www.drannewelsh.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/drannewelsh/

Learn more about https://www.motherhoodadvantage.com/

Follow along on Instagram: @motherhoodadvantage

For the complete Intuitionship research results and a free copy of the report, visit https://intuitionship.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Connect with Dr. Laura Marie on LinkedIn for research updates, podcast conversations, and reflections on Motherhood and leadership. https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-marie-rivera-intuitionship/

What happens when a judge brings the wisdom of Motherhood to the bench?

In this powerful conversation, Judge Sharonda Amamilo—Mother, military veteran, and the first person of color elected in her county—shares how Motherhood transformed her understanding of justice, leadership, and public service. Drawing from her experiences in the military, the legal profession, and the courtroom, she explains why truly fair decision-making requires understanding the whole person—not just the facts of a case.

Judge Amamilo reflects on the experiences that shaped her path to the bench, from pursuing a legal career to protect and provide for her children to serving her country and ultimately making history in elected office. She reveals how Motherhood sharpened her ability to lead with both empathy and accountability, and why trauma-informed decision-making is essential to achieving just outcomes.

Together, we explore the surprising parallels between parenting and judging, the power of representation in leadership, and the unique perspective brought by a bench composed largely of women and Mothers. Judge Amamilo makes a compelling case that some of our most valuable leadership skills are cultivated through caregiving—and that justice is strongest when it recognizes the humanity of the people it serves.

Whether you're passionate about leadership, public service, social justice, or the transformative power of Motherhood, this episode offers an inspiring look at how one trailblazing judge is redefining what leadership can look like. Her story reminds us that the skills developed through Motherhood are not a detour from leadership—they are leadership.

Links:  

https://dcyfoversight.wa.gov/board/sharonda-amamilo/

https://seattlemedium.com/judge-sharonda-amamilo-supreme-court/ 

https://www.trialnewsonline.org/trialnews/march_2025/MobilePagedArticle.action?articleId=2047657#articleId2047657

Learn more about Motherhood Advantage

Follow along on Instagram: @motherhoodadvantage

For the complete Intuitionship research results and a free copy of the report, visit Intuitionship Research

Connect with Dr. Laura Marie on LinkedIn for research updates, podcast conversations, and reflections on Motherhood and leadership. https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-marie-rivera-intuitionship/