I started dreaming up this episode last Sunday. The next day, the Supreme Court was outed on their plan to own our bodies. The next day, our family was hit with Covid.  

By the time I sat down to record this, what I wanted to say shifted quite a bit. I was seeing this conversation through a totally different lens.  

As you listen in, I want you to deeply understand how to honor yourself as well as how to keep showing up for the hard stuff - the stuff that is so critically important in our world right now. This episode gives you permission and guidance on how to do both.  

In honor of Mother’s Day, let me confirm for you that you are an excellent mother. Full stop. And here are a few gifts I share with you, as you hold space for your excellence:

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Leah Carey is a sex and intimacy coach and host of the podcast “Good Girls Talk About Sex.” She works with people eager to explore new avenues of their sexuality and fulfill their greatest desires, like: diving back into the dating pool after a long time away, having first-time queer experiences, investigating consensual non-monogamy, or learning how to communicate about kink.

This work was not an obvious life choice for Leah. Growing up with an abusive father, she learned to be a VERY “good girl.”

She got involved in a series of emotionally abusive relationships, always convinced that SHE was the problem – not pretty enough, smart enough, or sexually skilled enough. And because she wasn’t having pleasure during sex, so she was convinced she was broken.

At age 42, life threw Leah an opportunity to build a new story: with both parents gone and no siblings, she could put aside the family mythology of the “good girl.”

She began challenging her old beliefs about worthiness, attractiveness, and desirability. Watching her phenomenal growth, friends started seeking her out to help them do the same.

Today, Leah works with women JUST LIKE YOU to reflect their true sexual nature back to them, without the judgment, shame, or fear that can get in the way of seeing it for themselves.

Listen in to hear Leah share:

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Last week we went on the spring break trip we had been planning for 4 years. We started planning this trip well before the pandemic hit and then had to cancel it and wait. And wait. And wait.  

Over the last 2 years, we have done a decent job of taking time as a family to get away in ways that felt safe(ish). Things like road trips and camping trips. And these have all been great. But we were definitely missing bigger vacations and longer getaways to places further from home.  

Last week, we spent a week on the tiny island of Isla Mujeres, just off the coast of Cancun, Mexico. It was the dreamiest trip (in spite of me completely throwing my back on Day 2.) The trip was dreamy because of its natural beauty - white sand beaches and the lightest turquoise water - but also because of how we managed the trip.  

In this episode, I share 3 things that made this trip exactly the respite I didn’t know I desperately needed. I hope these 3 things inspire you to take a vacation this summer - in whatever way is accessible to you. I’m guessing you need a break - perhaps desperately so. You might not even realize how badly you need it. I certainly didn’t.  

Listen in for some serious vacay inspo! 

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Amy Green Smith is a certified and credentialed life coach and hypnotherapist, masterful speaker, and personal empowerment expert. Amy uses her roles as coach, writer, podcaster, and speaker to move individuals to a place of radical personal empowerment and self-worth.

With acute focus on helping people “find their voice”, she is highly sought after for her uncommon style of irreverence, wisdom, and humor and has been a featured expert in Inspired Coach Magazine and on Fox 5 San Diego.

Amy and I were connected by our mutual friend - SHOUT OUT to Andrea Owen - who suspected we might hit it off. Well, we totally hit it off. I could have talked to Amy for days. Amy’s energy is infectious. The language in this episode matches the energy, so we have labeled this interview explicit. Hold on because you are in for a fantastic conversation. 

Listen in to hear Amy share:

About her unexpected relationship with Eminem and cross stitch

The story of finding her voice and her confidence after growing up in an extremely conservative evangelical family

What happens if a person is emotionally flooded in a heated conversation

How to use a bridge statement in a hard conversation

How to use conversational consent in your conversation

Why “You are responsible for your intention, not your reception” in conversations, situations and relationships

Why people will not listen to other people if they don’t feel understood

What a boundary hangover looks and feels like

The defense mechanism of fawning that kept us safe when we were young, but has turned women into massive people pleasers

What happens when self-help goes wrong

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Sarah Walton is a business mentor who’s been featured on The Today Show, speaks at women's conferences all over the world, and has helped hundreds of women start and grow businesses they LOVE. Originally from Salt Lake City, Sarah spent her 15-year corporate career in New York City, navigating the male-dominated world of tech, managing a P&L worth hundreds of millions of dollars, working closely with Marianne Williamson, mentoring dozens of women, and balancing motherhood at the same time. She’s the voice behind the Game On Girlfriend Podcast, and she's known for her weekly "Sarah Uncut" TV show on YouTube and LIVE "Coffee With Coach" streaming video conversations on Monday mornings.

When Sarah and I first started talking about things we could talk about on the show, she casually mentioned “high functioning co-dependency” and I immediately stopped her and exclaimed, “THAT’S IT.” There is quite possibly nothing my audience needs more. And, full disclosure… I knew I would benefit from this conversation too - and I did!! For better or worse, if you’re a high functioning, overachiever, people pleaser kinda person, I think you’ll learn a lot about yourself in this episode.  

Listen in to hear Sarah share:

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Nana Eyeson-Akiwowo the co-founder of Fourth Phase aftercare boxes that support women in their 4th Trimester after giving birth. She is a social entrepreneur and seasoned humanitarian with a strong commitment to advocating adequate and accessible health care for all under-resourced women, children, and families. Fifteen years prior, after her dad suffered a heart attack in Ghana, Nana founded African Health Now (AHN), a global public health organization, to provide information and access to primary and maternity health care to women, children, and families living across Sub-Saharan Africa. To date, her work with AHN has serviced over 30,000 people in Ghana and Nigeria who are in need of basic health services readily available in America.

Before AHN and entering the world of non-profit work, Nana had a successful career in media, working for women's titles such as Honey, Suede, Essence, and Seventeen. Over the years, she has been repeatedly recognized for her philanthropic efforts, garnering multiple global awards.  

Nana speaks English and Twi, the latter a language native to Ghana. She and her husband are the proud parents of a beautiful, eight-year-old girl. When she’s not working on Fourth Phase, she is in DIY heaven making balloon garlands, resurfacing furniture, and watching HGTV.  

I immediately hit it off with Nana and want to go do DIY HGTV projects with her now! This conversation is as real and raw as they come. If your entrance into motherhood was not the stuff Instagram photos are made of, you will be able to deeply relate to Nana.  

Listen in to hear Nana share:

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We all have days and seasons where we look around and think things like:

“Why is it so easy for everyone else?”

“If only I had what she has!”

“Why can’t I catch any breaks right now?!”

We look into other people’s apparently bright & lucious lives and feel twinges of envy, if not downright jealousy.  

It happens to me, too. Trust me.  

All of my childhood and youth I was surrounded by kids and families that had a lot more than me (materially, at least) and I spent so much time dreaming about what it must be like to live such a plentiful life.  

What I’ve learned over the years is that everyone has more than me and no one has more than me. It all depends on how I want to look at my life on any given day.  

In this episode, I walk you through 3 simple steps to loving what you already have so you can stop finding yourself in those moments of compare & despair and start finding moments of abundance, joy and MAGIC at every turn.  

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Cara is a Shameless Mom and Stepmom of 3.  She works as a productivity coach and her mission is to help busy moms take massive action on their goals and 3x their productivity without overwhelm or burnout. . She does this via her blog, her wildly popular podcast - The Purpose Driven Mom Show, virtual community groups, and e-courses that help women learn to prioritize their lives!  

Cara came on the show to talk about some of the most common struggles for moms: productivity, being present and preventing burnout. She has great tips on building micropriorities in order to stay in momentum and prevent losing motivation in your life.  

Listen in to hear Cara share:

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One of the most common struggles moms share with me is finding other mom friends. Making friends as a grown-up is so tricky. It can take a lot of time and energy - of which you have little (if any?) to spare.  

My team and I recently created an Attraction/Amplification/Activation framework for my business coaching clients to help them build powerful business relationships. After I taught this framework, I realized it could be applied to friendships. So, that is what we are going to dig into in this episode.  

Listen in to hear me share:

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Kate Swenson is a proud working mama of four living in suburban Minnesota. She lives for coffee, preaches kindness like her life depends on it and is continuously surprised by the twists and turns of motherhood. Her son Cooper was diagnosed with autism when he was three years old and since then life hasn’t slowed down. Her daily life consists of keeping tiny humans alive and writing, creating videos, and influencing. She launched Finding Cooper's Voice 5 years ago for a place to share her feelings and today it is almost a million people strong. 

Listen in to Kate share:

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