Please enjoy this look back at some of our favorite clips and guests so far!  Enjoy!

Michelle Goth is a Kansas City based food blogger and cookbook author who has been sharing recipes on her blog, Blackberry Babe for the past 8 years. Her debut cookbook  A Crowded Table was released in 2021.

Michelle's work has appeared in publications like Men's Health, Country Living and Better Homes and Gardens, and she has developed recipes for more than 100 major food brands and grocers.

You can find Michelle on Instagram at @blackberrycooks, or on her web-site, www.blackberrybabe.com.

Lisa Truong is a social entrepreneur with 20 years experience in non-profit and communications sector. She has been working across sectors to build public and private partnerships to address diaper need since 2009. Under Lisa’s leadership, Help a Mother Out has grown from a grassroots, volunteer-run kitchen table idea to a nationally-recognized, policy-influencing organization with an annual operating budget of $2.5 million. During her tenure, HAMO established (2015) and operates the nation’s first publicly funded diaper program, the San Francisco Diaper Bank. Lisa is a 1.5 generation immigrant and grew up in the Bay Area. She is a graduate of the University of California, at Berkeley and is one of Jill's diaper banking idol's.   Please enjoy....Lisa!

The article referenced in the podcast can be found here: https://www.helpamotherout.org/blog/2015/11/4/if-the-government-can-make-cheese-why-cant-they-make-diapers

Hakima Tafunzi Payne, known to her community as Mama Hakima, is the founder, and Chief Executive Officer of Uzazi Village, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating health outcome disparities in maternal and infant health in African-American communities. She holds a Bachelors in Nursing and a Masters in Nursing Education and is currently pursuing a PhD in Nursing Education from Walden University. Ms. Payne is the creator of the Sister Doula Program (a community-based home visiting community health worker program for pregnant individuals), Chocolate Milk Café, (a breastfeeding support group for Black families), and the Village Circle, an Afro-centric group prenatal care model. She sits on her local Fetal Infant Mortality Review Board (FIMR) to address Black infant mortality. Ms. Payne is the owner of a national consulting firm, Global Village Doula. Ms. Payne works tirelessly to make birth safer, the village healthier, and to promote anti-racist care models for Black and African-American families. She is the subject of an upcoming documentary, “Sister Doulas” Ms. Payne resides in Kansas City, Missouri.

Jim MacDonald is the Senior Vice-President for Community Investment and Agency Relations at United Way of Greater Kansas City.  In his role with United Way, Jim is responsible for managing a portfolio of $15 million worth of annual investments in health and human service programs throughout Greater Kansas City.  Jim also oversees a range of projects and initiatives aimed at combating poverty and building financial stability among low-income families.  Jim has worked for United Way in various capacities for 29 years, having served with the United Ways in Kansas City and Jacksonville, Florida. Jim and his husband Andy are actively involved in efforts to promote LGBT equality in Kansas City, particularly on behalf of LGBT youth and families, and live with their daughter in the Volker area.  Jim is a long-standing member of the City of Kansas City’s Public Improvements Advisory Committee and a 25-year resident of midtown Kansas City.  Please enjoy, Jim MaDonald!

Join us as we talk to Jill Bright, founder of The Diaper Bank of the Ozarks.  We talk cloth diapers, the stress of starting a diaper bank, and you'll want to listen to Jill's accent all day long!  The Diaper Bank of the Ozarks has been doing great work since 2012.  We hope you enjoy, Jill!

Rod & Sharon have been married for 8 years, are retired and live in Leawood, KS. They have 5 children between them ranging in ages from 27 – 31. They are members of Church of the Resurrection where they are active in small groups and all kinds of volunteering including serving on international mission trips. In 2012, they founded Offering Hope Foundation which has a mission of “Serving God and our neighbors, near and far, by helping children meet their most basic needs”. Through the foundation, they volunteer and grant funds to like-minded organizations. Their hobbies include reading, golfing, traveling, cooking and of course spending time with their 2 grandsons.

It's time for introductions!  Listen up as Jill and Ashley talk about where they come from, when they learned about poverty, and discuss all that's to come for HappyBottoms in 2022.  Stick around to the end for the new "Man on the Street" segment (it's a working title).  We hope you enjoy, Jill and Ashley! 

Today we talk to pediatrician and HappyBottoms board member, Dr. Lisa Avery.   Dr. Avery talks about the affects of leaving your kiddo in diapers for too long (the skin barrier breaks down), wanting to be a doctor since she was in elementary school and how she's had to learn to speak up during COVID.   In her own words, a bit more about Lisa: 

I grew up in Kansas City and graduated from Oak Park High school. I attended Saint Louis University for my undergraduate education but returned to Kansas City for medical school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. I completed pediatric residency at Children’s Mercy Hospital. I continued to work at Children’s Mercy until 2014, and then I transitioned to outpatient pediatric medicine. 

I have been with Priority Care Pediatrics for six years. I alternate my time as a newborn hospitalist at three Northland hospitals and seeing patients in the office. With my job, I have the opportunity to meet many families for the first time at birth and guide them through the first hours and days of parenthood. It is an honor to use my education and experience to help kids and families navigate through illness, to ensuring that well children stay healthy, my goal is comprehensive, complete medical care.

In addition to the book knowledge and clinical experience that my training has provided me, my two children Emma and Grant have made me an infinitely better pediatrician with the joy, frustrations, and worries that embody parenthood. My husband Jon is an amazing father who has made me a better doctor as well through his love, support, and his own parenting techniques.

When I am not at work, I enjoy spending time with my family, wrangling our two dogs on walks, and snuggling with our two cats. I also have the honor of serving on the Board of HappyBottoms. HappyBottoms has had a tremendously positive impact on both my personal life and my professional life, helping many of the families I see on a daily basis.

We hope you enjoy, Dr. Lisa Avery!

Mark is an extraordinary man with more knowledge than we can capture in 1 small podcast.  He will definitely be a repeat guest, listen and enjoy!