5 years ago today I launched the first episode of The Shameless Mom Academy. To be honest, if it hadn’t been for a pushy coach I would likely still be saying, “I think I’m going to do a podcast soon.” 

Starting is the only way to find the magic and I’m so glad I started when I did. I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing and I wasn’t quite sure why I was doing it. I only knew I had some things to say. 

I wanted - no, needed - to talk about the trauma of motherhood. It had shaken me to my core. Nobody warned me about that part. Everyone told me I would be tired. No one told me I would be completely lost.

I also needed to talk about the shrinking of women. I was pissed that I had been a participant in an industry that thrives - to the tune of many billions of dollars a year - on telling women they must be smaller in order to be valuable.

So, yeah - I had things to say.

5 years, 264 powerhouse guests, 528 episodes, 3.5 million downloads.

I’ve a few learned things - and most of them haven’t been easy lessons. In today's birthday episode I will share the top 5 lessons I’ve learned on leadership and motherhood over the last year.

Thank you for listening and inviting me in to your ear week after week. It is a privilege I do not take lightly. I’m so honored to be on this Shameless journey with you.

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As an award-winning business strategist, host of the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast, and best-selling author, Racheal Cook is on a mission to end entrepreneurial poverty for women. Over the last 10 years she has helped thousands of female entrepreneurs design predictably profitable businesses without the hustle and burnout that doing #allthethings inevitably accomplishes. In fact, Racheal is a sought after speaker on entrepreneurship, marketing, and productivity and has been featured by the US Chamber of Commerce, Forbes Coaching Council, Female Entrepreneur Association, and more. Her real passion, though, is supporting savvy, soulful women as they implement the strategy, systems, and support to uncomplicate their business so they can work less and live more.

Listen in to hear Racheal dig into:

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I have repeatedly likened our survival of this pandemic to our survival of Newbornland. We have endured a year of uncertainty and upheaval. We have made accommodations and adaptations to our lives that we never imagined - and often thought were not possible (hello virtual learning).

This has taken a toll on us physically, mentally, and emotionally. And, like surviving Newbornland, we cannot fully process the toll it has taken because we have had to focus on keeping our family units alive and safe - without having the time or energy to give any consideration to our own deep and chronic exhaustion.

We have carried the worry of our family’s health, security, and sanity as we have wondered how much worse things could get. And then we watched them get worse.

We have worried about the lasting impact of this pandemic on our children’s mental health, without considering that we ourselves are also moving through a chronic traumatic event.

We have used wine and workouts and Netflix and sourdough starter as coping mechanisms in hopes of a moment of reprieve. 

We have cried in closets and bathrooms, and screamed at the people we love the most, and thrown in the towel as we’ve thrown ourselves on the floor, and then picked the damn towel back up and dried our tears and tucked our kids into bed - for 365 nights now.

We are not ok.

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Heather Chauvin is a leadership coach and strategic parenting expert who helps ambitious women become leaders at work and home.

Drawing from her professional experience as a social worker and her life experience raising three boys, Heather created a signature approach to focus her clients on sustainability, profitability, and ease in business and life.

She is the host of the Mom Is In Control Podcast where she reveals her most vulnerable truths about womanhood, marriage, parenting, living through stage 4 cancer, and running a successful business—without burning out.

Heather has been featured as a TEDx speaker and on The OWN Network, CTV, and The Jenny McCarthy Show. She has also appeared in Entrepreneur and Real Simple.

When Heather isn’t being a classic Canadian by driving her boys to hockey practice, you’ll find her curled up on the couch with her husband surfing the internet, researching their next family adventure.

Heather is a returning guest to The Shameless Mom Academy. She’s joining us to talk about her outstanding new book, Dying To Be A Good Mother.

Listen in to hear Heather share:

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People are going to tell you NO. 

You will be rejected.

Over and over and over.

One of the gifts of being an entrepreneur is that you get rejected so often (especially early on) that you get a little callous to it - meaning, you let it roll off you easier and faster each time. This is a blessing. 

Without this gift (which definitely doesn’t feel like a gift early on), you may find yourself crippled by the NO’s.

The rejection you face often has nothing - NOTHING - to do with you. Yet we are masters at internalizing it and defaulting to a place of self blame and self doubt, and sadly, even self loathing when we are faced with a NO.

In this episode I’ll talk you through the actual causes of rejection (vs the stories you make up in your head) and 5 ways to manage rejection in an objective way so you can KEEP GOING and get what you want out of relationships and circumstances. 

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Nikki Tucker is a 16 year Finance Professional, Divorce Financial Strategist, and founder of The FIIRM Approach. She is also a mom of a teenage boy, part-time foodie, and oat milk latte lover who helps female breadwinners prepare their finances for divorce. She helps those early in the divorce process gain clarity and reduce overwhelm by arming them with information, strategies, and resources to confidently maintain their financial security whether they end up divorced or not. Nikki primarily works with clients through her signature program Silent Preparation Series which has both on-demand and live learning options.

Listen in to here Nikki share:

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If you were to sit down and make a list of all the identities you hold, what would be on your list? I made a quick list recently.

I hold the following identities (in no particular order):

woman, mom, wife, infertility warrior, anxiety manager, speaker, leader, hetero, cisgender, white, Seattleite, athlete, skier, writer, ally, podcaster, daughter, sister, business owner, child of divorce, 18 year entrepreneur, CEO, advocate

I’m sure I could come up with even more layers to my identity if I gave it more thought. We are made up of SO MANY layers. This makes each of us a true unicorn.

As we navigate our lives, we have the opportunity to embrace different layers of our identity in different ways during different seasons of life. What layers are you leaning into right now? What ones are most significant to you as we sit here in 2021?

You get to choose which parts of yourself you really want to lean into at any time. So, how do you lean into the most powerful parts of yourself? Here are a few tips:

In this episode, I talk you through how to lean into the layers of your identity that mean the most to you and have the most potential to deeply impact the world. 

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Rho Thomas is an attorney, mindset strategist, and personal finance coach who believes that true wealth is having control of your time. She helps lawyers make intentional lifestyle and money decisions to regain control of their time, build wealth, and live the lives of freedom and choice they deserve. She has been featured in outlets such as Yahoo! Finance, Refinery29, and Mic and hosts the Wealthyesque podcast, which explores how lawyers can achieve lifestyle freedom by reframing their mindset and by managing their money to achieve financial independence.

Listen in to hear Rho share:

Links mentioned:

Book: Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicky Robin

Website: Rho Thomas

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We are coming up on a full 12 months of enduring a pandemic that we initially thought would last 2-6 weeks. How are you? No, really?

This time is very much like navigating Newbornland - that phase when you’re totally sleep deprived, but you’ve been sleep deprived for so long that it just feels normal and you don’t know what it feels like to actually be rested. That’s where we’re at. 

We’ve been in survival mode for a year. So long that it feels normal and we don’t remember what it feels like to not have to juggle constant worry and uncertainty. 

So, in the face of this chronic worry and uncertainty, how are you holding on to hope, power, and connection? We must be able to harness these if we are to stay sane and functional. 

In this episode I’ll give you tactical steps to restore hope, power, and connection in your everyday life. 

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Shaunda Head is a Shameless Mom to her 2 year old daughter and a Shameless full time caretaker of her 96 year old Granny. She is also an Atlanta-based brand strategist and digital marketer who helps women align ALL THE THINGS in their brand so that their brand message can impact more powerfully. She creates and implements strategies in marketing, branding and copy to help her clients SHOW UP as their whole selves, and drive higher connection with their true, dream clients.

Shaunda has 16 years of experience, including brand design, marketing, communications and business development for global companies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UPS and E! Entertainment Television. She now coaches and consults for emerging and growing entrepreneurs — past clients consist of coaches, podcasters, stylists, therapists, bloggers, e-commerce site owners and more.

Listen in to hear Shaunda share:

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